Colt Ford Lost 60 Lbs. After a Near-Fatal Heart Attack Made Him Ditch Fried Chicken: 'I Was a Terrible Eater' (Exclusive)

Colt Ford turned 55 in August, but when the country-rap star went to celebrate his birthday, he realized that his best present was something he didn't want.

“When I woke up, my wife Megan goes, ‘ I’ll take you to Waffle House,’” the country singer tells PEOPLE. “And I said, ‘Nah, I don’t want to go.’ That’s when I knew I had won. I broke the habit.”

Kicking his junk food habit was an unexpected, but welcome, consequence of Ford's frightening health crisis 10 months ago. On April 4, the singer suffered a heart attack that put him on life support and left him in a coma for eight days. It was a turning point.

Related: Colt Ford in ICU After Suffering Heart Attack Following Arizona Performance

“I’m wearing a 32-inch waist now instead of 44 — but I’ve told everybody there’s much easier diets,” jokes Ford, who co-wrote Jason Aldean’s 2012 hit “Dirt Road Anthem” with Brantley Gilbert, and who’s collaborated with the likes of Toby Keith and Jermaine Dupri. “I’m looking at it as a blessing. I’m going to be healthier than I’ve ever been.”

Ford, who began his career as a pro golfer, didn’t used to think much about his health. Mountain Dew and fried chicken were staples. “I loved that stuff,” says the 5’10’’ Ford, who weighed 340 lbs. at one point. "I was a terrible eater."

He began reconsidering his lifestyle in 2022 after he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness. At the time of his heart attack in 2024, he had already slimmed down to 250 lbs.: “I was working on losing weight and feeling great. Then all of a sudden...”

His bass player was the first to find him collapsed on the floor of his bus in Arizona after a show. Ford flatlined twice and underwent a 10-hour surgery before being placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine for a week. He ended up in the hospital and rehab for two months. “It was life-changing,” he says of the experience. “My doctor said, ‘I have no idea how you survived.'"

Since then, Ford, who’s now 190 lbs., has transformed his diet: “I've changed everything. If I go by Whataburger, I'll eat a grilled chicken sandwich. I don't do all the fries and stuff," he says. "McDonald's used to be my sh-- and I loved it but I haven't even craved it.”

His wife also bought him a treadmill, which he uses regularly. "I can get on the treadmill, if the TV's on, next thing you know, I'm like, 'Oh, sh--, I walked eight miles,'" he says.

The singer is releasing a new single this month (“Hell Out of It” with Michael Ray) and while the song was written before his heart attack, "it has a whole different meaning to me now," he says. "I'm going to be down here just living and loving the hell out of it. Just everything I do."

That includes going back on the road in March, despite a few nerves. "Complete honesty, I'm feeling a ton of anxiety," he says. "Never was scared of anything before except the good Lord and my mama. And maybe Megan too. But now I am, because I am not a hundred percent back strength-wise."

Related: Nurse Recognizes ‘Snoring and Breathing’ as Heart Attack Signs, Saves Man’s Life at Airport

After his heart attack, Ford says he lost muscle and is still trying to build it back up. "I couldn't pick up a styrofoam cup with crushed ice in it and feed it to myself," he says, of waking up from his coma. But, he adds, "I look good and I feel good. I'm feeling like it’s my Rocky comeback moment."

And, he says, he's fueled by a sense of gratitude — for the staff at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., who "treated me unbelievable"; for friends like Gilbert, who visited him in the hospital; and for his wife ("she's freaking superwoman") whom he married in 2023 and who was by his side every day as he recovered.

“God has more for me to do," Ford says. "For some reason he saw fit to give me another chance, so I intend to do something positive with it.”

Read the original article on People