Never Diet Again with Max Lowery
Tired of losing weight only to gain it back? Sick of feeling out of control around food? Welcome to The Never Diet Again Podcast Weight Loss Coach - Max Lowery. If you’re a woman over 40 who’s tried every diet, struggled with cravings, or felt stuck in an endless cycle of overeating and guilt—this podcast is for you. Max shares real, no-BS strategies to help you lose weight without restrictive diets, punishing workouts, or obsessing over every bite.
Each episode dives deep into what actually works for lasting fat loss—so you can stop dieting for good, regain control, and feel confident in your body again.
Ready to break free? Hit play and let’s get started.
Never Diet Again with Max Lowery
3 Hidden Reasons You Crave Sugar
If you feel like sugar has a grip on you — even when you’re trying to eat healthy — this episode is a must-listen. Max Lowery dives deep into the three hidden reasons behind sugar cravings and why willpower isn’t the answer. You’ll learn how metabolic inflexibility, emotional triggers, and deep-rooted beliefs are sabotaging your progress — and what to do about it.
Packed with real client stories, actionable tips, and mindset shifts, this episode gives you the tools to reset your metabolism, rewire your brain, and take back control without cutting out your favourite foods.
Key Topics:
- Why willpower fails (and what works instead)
- The role of metabolic flexibility in reducing cravings
- How emotional eating and childhood patterns play a role
- The dopamine-sugar connection no one talks about
- Shifting identity and beliefs to break the cycle
- Why most women are unknowingly keeping themselves stuck
If you’ve ever felt out of control around food, this episode will change how you see cravings — and yourself — forever.
Listen now and learn how to finally make fat loss sustainable and sugar cravings a thing of the past. 🎧
Watch my The Cravings & Fat-Burning Masterclass: https://www.neverdietagain.uk/register-podcast
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/max.lowery/
Book a Food Freedom Breakthrough Call: https://calendly.com/maxlowerycoaching/food-freedom-breakthrough-call
Picture this you wake up feeling tired as usual. You tell yourself today I'm gonna eat healthy, today I'm gonna be good. But by mid-morning you're craving something sweet, even though you just ate breakfast. So you resist for a while. But then, of course, you give in a biscuit with your coffee, a little chocolate after lunch, but by 3 pm, again you're reaching for another pick-me-up, and after a lovely dinner, you need something sweet. You can't possibly go to bed without eating something sweet, and this cycle repeats every single day. Does this sound familiar? If so, you are not alone.
Max Lowery:Over the last 10 years, I've worked with thousands of women who feel stuck in this exact same pattern. They know sugar is holding them back, but no matter how hard they try, they can't stop. If that's you, make sure that you keep watching, because today I'm going to show you the three hidden reasons why you crave sugar. And not just that I'm going to show you exactly how to break free without feeling miserable. By the end of this video, you're going to have answers to these three key questions. Why do you crave sugar even though you're not hungry? Are you unknowingly making sugar cravings worse and working against your body? And, most importantly, how do you actually stop these cravings without feeling restricted and deprived, so you can still enjoy your favorite foods. How do you create a life that allows you to lose weight, eat the foods that you love and sustain the results? Over the last 10 years, I've helped thousands of people do exactly that.
Max Lowery:I'm Max Lowery. I'm an author, personal trainer and weight loss coach. In this podcast, I'm going to share my top tips and tricks from within my one-on-one coaching program. It's my goal to give you the tools and understanding so that you never diet again. But before we get into that, let me tell you the biggest mistake that I see people make when they try and quit sugar, and that is the willpower trap.
Max Lowery:Most people try and quit sugar cold turkey. They tell themselves that's it, I'm never going to eat sugar again. They rely on willpower and motivation and for a few days, maybe even weeks, they do great. But then guess what Life happens. They get tired, they get stressed, they get emotional and suddenly they're back to square one. Whatever weight they have lost has come back on, and more. Here's the problem. Willpower is a finite resource. It's not something that you want to depend on in the long term and, essentially, when you're just using willpower, you're not actually addressing the root cause of your cravings and they're likely to come back stronger than ever.
Max Lowery:Using willpower to quick sugar is like holding a beach ball underwater. At first, you can do it, you can push it down using all your strength and will, but the longer you fight it, the harder it pushes back. Eventually, your arms get tired. You slip up for a single second and boom, the beach will burst through the surface stronger than ever before. This is why quitting sugar with willpower never works. When you do it like this, you're literally fighting against your psychology and your physiology, and that's why today, we're going to go deeper. I'm going to share with you the real reasons why you crave sugar all the time and how to stop them for good. When you incorporate these tips, you will take back control of your eating. You'll even be able to enjoy sugar and regulate with it. So let's get into it.
Max Lowery:Reason number one think of your body like a spaceship, and this spaceship has three fuel sources. You have the sugar from food. This is like rocket fuel. It burns fast, gives you quick energy boost, but it's gone in seconds. Then you have stored carbohydrate, which is known as glycogen. This is like a backup battery. It holds a little extra energy, but it runs out, and then we have body fat. This is like a nuclear power source. It burns slow and steady, providing long-lasting energy. It basically doesn't run out.
Max Lowery:But here's the problem. Most people are stuck in sugar burning mode. They can't easily switch between these different fuel sources. They need a constant stream of food to function. This is known as being metabolically inflexible. Your body is stuck burning on rocket fuel sugar. It looks something like this you eat sugar, you get a quick energy boost, you burn through it fast, you crash your body, panics and then you crave more sugar and this cycle keeps repeating over and over again. This is why you feel hungry all the time, it's why you feel tired and irritable if you go too long without eating and it's why cutting out sugar feels almost impossible. It's because your body doesn't know how to effortlessly shift into the different fuel sources and how to burn fat for fuel.
Max Lowery:When you fix this and you teach your body to use fat for fuel, it means stable energy levels all day long. It means fewer cravings for sugar, carbs and snacks. You're going to feel less hungry and it leads to effortless fat loss without hunger and deprivation. And, the best part, you won't have to rely on food every few hours just to function. But how do you know if you are metabolically inflexible? So in my 10-year career, I've seen some key signs, some key red flags. Number one you feel hungry all the time, even after you've just eaten. Number two you crave sugar and carbs. Number three your energy spikes and crashes throughout the day. And number four losing weight and keeping it off feels almost impossible. If you recognize any of these warning signs, then it's likely that you're metabolically inflexible and you're stuck in sugar burning mode, and this can get pretty desperate.
Max Lowery:Sarah, one of my clients, was so afraid of crashing and the energy fluctuations and cravings that she had to hide food, sugar and snacks everywhere at the office, in the car and in her handbag and she struggled with her weight. She could lose weight when she had motivation and willpower, but it would always come back on. We helped her reset her body to burn fat. When this happened, her cravings disappeared. She lost 40 pounds in 90 days. So how do you fix it? These tips I'm about to share with you have been tried and tested on thousands of women over my 10-year career. Anyone can incorporate these tips into their life.
Max Lowery:Number one eat larger meals less often. This stabilizes blood sugar and forces your body to burn fat. It's also more enjoyable you get to eat big, satisfying meals and not feel deprived at the end. Number two fill up on protein and fiber. Protein and fiber will keep you full and reduce cravings. This will again further stabilize blood sugar levels and force you into fat burning mode.
Max Lowery:Number three stop fucking snacking. Snacking is a huge problem. I cannot overstate this. Snacking keeps your blood sugar levels all over the place and keeps you stuck in sugar burning mode. You end up dependent on a constant stream of food to function. This keeps your energy levels like a roller coaster and makes staying in control of your calorie intake almost impossible.
Max Lowery:And number four try a 12-hour overnight fast. This gives your body a break and resets your metabolism. Don't think of this as intermittent fasting. It's not, but I know many of you watching this video right now likely eat right before bedtime, let's say 10 o'clock, and eat first thing in the morning. So at most, you're maybe getting nine or 10 hours without eating. Pushing it to 12 hours will stabilize your blood sugar levels and force you into fat burning mode.
Max Lowery:This can take time when you initially transition out of sugar burning mode into fat burning mode. It can be challenging. You can get headaches, irritable, moody, you can feel really hungry and it can be a real challenge. But ironically, if you find this really difficult, it's further evidence that you are stuck in sugar burning mode. So do push through. After a few days maximum a week you will start to burn fat for fuel and you will feel very different.
Max Lowery:Really quick one for me. Guys, I don't run ads on this podcast and I do aim to give you as many high value tips and tricks as I can for free. All I ask in return is that you help me spread the word. That way I can help as many people as I can to never diet again. The way to do that is to rate, review and share this podcast. A review will only take 30 seconds, but it would mean the world to me. But, more importantly, it could help change the life of someone else to me. But more importantly, it could help change the life of someone else. Cool.
Max Lowery:So let's now talk about the second hidden reason behind your sugar cravings. I'm going to tell you a story about one of our clients. Meet Janet. Janet grew up in a house where food equaled love. Bad day her mom baked a cake. A good day, her mom baked a cake. So, as an adult, when Janet felt stressed, sad or overwhelmed, her brain told her sugar will make me feel better. And for a brief moment it did. But over time this habit led to weight gain, guilt and frustration. She felt stuck in a cycle she couldn't escape. She could lose weight when she had motivation and willpower, but as soon as life happened, she would turn to food and the weight would come back on. So why does this happen? Your sugar cravings have nothing to do with willpower. In reality, they are wired into your brain chemistry.
Max Lowery:Sugar floods your brain with dopamine. It's a feel-good neurotransmitter. Your brain releases dopamine when you do things that it perceives is going to benefit survival, like eating, connecting with others or accomplishing a goal. But sugar hijacks this system. When you eat sugar, it triggers a massive dopamine spike, far higher than what your brain is used to, because these food-like products, these sugary foods, don't appear in nature. They are engineered by human beings to make them as palatable and as addictive as possible. This feels amazing for a moment, but the problem it doesn't last. The dopamine hit fades quickly, leaving you wanting more and more and more Over time, your brain can build a tolerance.
Max Lowery:You need more sugar to have the same effect. You need more sugar to distract yourself from the stress or negative emotion. Your brain doesn't like extreme highs and lows. When sugar overloads your dopamine system, your brain adjusts to protect itself. It does this by reducing dopamine receptors. This means that the same amount of sugar doesn't feel as good as it used to.
Max Lowery:So what do you do? One cookie used to be satisfying. Now you need three to get the same dopamine rush. This is exactly the same process which happens with drug and alcohol addiction. The more sugar you eat, the more your brain adapts. You need bigger and bigger hits to get the same pleasure and when you try and quit, your dopamine levels drop. You feel irritable, tired and low energy. But here's the good news you can rewire your brain. By changing your habits, breaking free from the dopamine cycle and rewiring how you process emotions, you can break free from this destructive cycle. So how do you rewire your brain and your emotions to stop the cravings If you struggle with emotional eating? Here is exactly what we do with our coaching clients.
Max Lowery:Number one identify your triggers. Spend a week journaling when you crave sugar. What are the specific situations, environments and people that lead you wanting to turn to food? Step two get really clear on your emotions. Exactly how are you feeling in that moment when you're craving food? You can use a feelings wheel to get really clear and precise on exactly how you're feeling. Number three once you know exactly how you're feeling, list three to five alternative coping strategies which will help you process that emotion and that feeling. For me, personally, it's doing some exercise, going out for a walk, doing some breathing, doing some stretching, doing some meditation, drawing a picture. The list is endless, but there are going to be three to five that you know are powerful for you. Number four next time you experience a craving, try one of those alternative strategies before turning to food. Once you've finished, assess how you experience a craving. Try one of those alternative strategies before turning to food. Once you've finished, assess how you feel and I'm willing to bet that most likely you're no longer thinking about the food. Step number five rinse and repeat.
Max Lowery:This can be challenging. The longer that you have struggled with this destructive cycle, the harder it is to get out of. This is the bulk of what we help our clients with. You're not going to get this right first time, you're going to make loads of mistakes. Janet followed this exact process with our help and, in 90 days, lost 44 pounds without cutting out her favorite foods or spending any time in the gym. She even went on three different holidays during this period. If you want to learn how we can guide you through this, click the link below and book in for a food freedom breakthrough. Call All right.
Max Lowery:So now let's talk about the final reason why you crave sugar. Have you ever said any of these statements? I have a sweet tooth. I'm a sugar addict. I cannot just have one chocolate bar. I have to have the whole tin. If so, this is exactly what is keeping you stuck.
Max Lowery:Your beliefs and your identity shape your actions and reactions. If you believe you're a sugar addict, your brain will look for proof to confirm it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you tell yourself that you have no control over sugar, the more it is likely to be true. Essentially, you are a victim of your circumstances, and victims have no power in their situation. It's also known as confirmation bias. Your brain works hard to prove your beliefs are true and every time you eat sugar and feel out of control, you reinforce the belief and the identity that you cannot control yourself around sweets. So how do you fix it?
Max Lowery:Step number one start noticing the story you tell yourself. For the next seven days, listen to your thoughts about sugar. Anytime you catch yourself thinking or saying anything about sugar, write it down. And then pause and ask yourself is this really true or is this just a belief I've repeated for years? Is there any evidence to suggest the opposite? And then shift the story. You can tell yourself that, yes, you have struggled with sugar addiction for most of your life, but now you're working to change that. We help one of our clients, alice, bring those limiting beliefs to the surface and shift her identity. In 90 days she lost 32 pounds and kept it off.
Max Lowery:Because once you change your beliefs and your identity, your habits, actions and behaviors will follow. So to stop your sugar cravings for good, you need to reset your metabolism so your body runs on fat and not sugar. You need to rewire your brain so you don't use sugar for emotional comfort. You need to realign your beliefs and your identity so sugar cravings lose their power over you. But even if you fix all of this, there's still one more thing standing in your way. Society is designed to keep you addicted. We live in an obesogenic environment. Ultra processed foods, sneaky marketing and the food industry are setting you up to fail. If you want to understand the real reason weight loss feels so hard and how to break free from the system keeping you stuck, make sure you watch this video. Thanks for watching, guys. See you on the next one.