Never Diet Again with Max Lowery

The Fast 800 - EXTREME diet...(why this is dangerous for women over 40)!

• Max Lowery

Share episode

Send us a text

The Fast 800 promises quick weight loss—but for women over 40, it could be doing more harm than good.

In this episode, Max Lowery breaks down the physiological and psychological consequences of extreme calorie restriction and reveals why diets like the Fast 800 often leave women heavier, more frustrated, and stuck in a cycle of guilt, cravings, and metabolic damage.

You’ll discover:

  • Why eating too little backfires for women in perimenopause or menopause

  • How chronic dieting leads to sugar-burning mode and metabolic inflexibility

  • The emotional toll of restrictive plans—and how to escape the binge-restrict cycle

  • A powerful 3-step method to reset your body, rewire your brain, and realign your habits for sustainable fat loss


If you're tired of dieting, tired of starting over, and ready to finally lose weight in a way that lasts—this episode is a must-listen.


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

Max Lowery:

The Fast 800 promises rapid weight loss, but if you're a woman over 40, it might be the worst thing you could do to your body and your relationship with food. In this video, you'll discover the truth about the Fast 800, why it backfires for women over 40, and I'll share the simple three-step method I use to help my clients lose weight without cutting down to only 800 calories. 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. 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 I show you the safer way to burn fat, let's talk about the Fast 800 itself.

Max Lowery:

So the Fast 800 is a rapid weight loss diet created by Dr Michael Mosley, a British doctor and journalist. It combines elements of intimacy, fasting, a low-carb Mediterranean approach and extreme calorie restriction. And what's the promise? Eat just 800 calories per day and lose weight fast. That's. It Sounds simple, right, but the simplicity hides something dangerous, especially for women over the age of 40. Dr Mosley originally developed this plan. After experimenting on himself, he popularized the 5-2 diet and then refined it into what became the Fast 800. The idea is rooted in clinical trials that showed short-term benefits of very low calorie diets for people with type 2 diabetes and obesity. In those medical settings under supervision, 800 calorie plans can help to reset blood sugar and trigger fast fat loss.

Max Lowery:

But here's the problem these were done in controlled environments, often short term, with ongoing medical support. They weren't designed for the everyday women juggling careers, children, the stresses of life and reality, and they definitely weren't designed for women over 40 navigating the change in hormones with the perimenopause or menopause. So now you know what it is, let's outline the key issues with it. Firstly, the physiological issues. If you're a woman over 40, eating just 800 calories a day isn't just extreme. It's a physiological disaster waiting to happen. Because let's talk about what 800 calories a day does to your body, because, remember, this is less calories than a toddler needs to eat for optimal health and growth, not a fully grown woman navigating hormonal shifts, life stress and a slower metabolism. The moment you drop your intake this low, your body doesn't cheer you on, it panics. Here's what's happening behind the scenes On only 800 calories, your body can sense a threat and shift into survival mode because your brain is wired for one thing survival. So when it detects that food is suddenly dropped to starvation levels and, yes, 800 calories qualifies as almost starvation it thinks we're in danger.

Max Lowery:

Slow everything down. And that's exactly what happens your metabolism slows to conserve energy, your thyroid hormones downregulate, which reduces how many calories you burn at rest, and your body could start breaking down muscle tissue. So you might lose weight at first, but it's not all fat. A lot of it is water and muscle, and the more muscle you lose, the further you slow your metabolic rate, which makes future fat loss even harder. So if you've ever done the fast 800, lost a lot of weight quickly but then ended up heavier than you were at the start, this is why.

Max Lowery:

So now let's talk about cortisol, your main stress hormone. Eating too little is a major physical stressor, and women over the age of 40 are already more sensitive to stress due to the perimenopause and menopausal changes. When cortisol rises, it increases belly fat storage, especially visceral fat. It can raise blood sugar levels, which can lead to energy crashes and cravings, and it disrupts sleep, making recovery harder and hunger hormones worse. And the end result You're hungrier, more tired and less able to burn fat, also known as being metabolically inflexible.

Max Lowery:

And eating too little doesn't just affect your energy. Eating too little also affects your hunger hormones, and not in a good way. Grelin, your hunger hormone, skyrockets, and leptin, the hormone that tells your brain you're full, drops. So you feel more hungry and the food that you eat doesn't satisfy you as much. You're likely to start craving sugar, carbs and fast energy, not because you're weak and lack willpower or discipline, but because your body is trying to protect you. It's fighting against the shocks of the system. This is why women who do the Fast 800 often feel obsessed with food and they're constantly thinking about when they can next eat and eventually they binge. Because this is not a willpower issue. You can't just try harder and will yourself out of this situation. You're fighting against your basic biology Because, look, 800 calories is not enough to fuel your body, your brain or your life. The most common symptoms that women over 40 feel is brain fog, irritability, mid-afternoon crashes, zero energy for exercise or family or friends, and disrupted sleep. This isn't health. This is barely functioning and for women over 40, the long-term consequences, like muscle loss, metabolic damage and hormonal dysfunction, are serious.

Max Lowery:

Now let's talk about the second big issue with 800 calorie diets, because we've covered the physiological issues of the fast 800, but what about the mental, emotional and psychological issues? Because here's the truth every diet trains your brain. It teaches you how to think about food, how to think about your body and, most importantly, how to think about your worth. So what does the Fast 800 teach you? If you want to lose weight, you have to suffer. It teaches you that feeling hungry all the time means that it's working and that if you're not depriving yourself, you're doing it wrong. And that mindset is toxic and unfortunately it's incredibly common, especially for women over 40 who've been dieting for decades. It exacerbates and perpetuates all or nothing thinking, which looks something like this you start with motivation I'll be good, I'll stick to 800 calories, I'm finally going to do this. But by day four you're starving and by day six you're emotional, exhausted and craving chocolate at 10 pm and eventually you break. And then what? The guilt hits, the self-blame kicks in and you tell yourself I always mess this up, I can't be trusted with food. I don't have willpower, I just need more discipline. So what do you do? You double down. You promise to start again Monday, harder, stricter and even more perfect this time. And this cycle repeats sometimes for years, and years, and years.

Max Lowery:

This kind of extreme restriction isn't just unsustainable, it's a gateway to disordered eating patterns Obsessively tracking every bite of food, labeling foods as good or bad, feeling anxious around meals, avoiding social events because you can't control the food binge, eating on the weekends and then punishing yourself restriction during the week. I've seen this so many times in the women I work with, women who are successful, intelligent, accomplished, but completely stuck in a prison when it comes to food. Not because they're weak, but because years of dieting have rewired their brain, because ultimately, it teaches you not to trust your body, which I think is one of the most dangerous consequences of the Fast 800. It disconnects you from your body. Instead of asking am I full? Do I feel satisfied? What foods give me energy, you're asking is this under 200 calories? Can I fit this into the plan? Have I failed today? You stop listening to your body and start micromanaging it and eventually you forget how to eat like a normal person. And the worst part is that it perpetuates this belief and this idea that to lose weight, you have to eat less than a child, be hungry all the time and cut out all the foods you enjoy. That is simply not true. In fact, that belief is the very thing keeping most women stuck. Because the moment you start believing weight loss equals restriction, you've already lost the battle. And the third and final reason why 800 calorie diets are so detrimental is because they don't actually address the root cause of the problem, and neither does any diet out there. It only tackles the surface. It doesn't fix the real reason why you're struggling with your weight in the first place. Because, after working with thousands of women over the age of 40, I can tell you this with total certainty the real problem has absolutely nothing to do with lack of discipline, lack of motivation or lack of willpower. The real problem is that most women are stuck in sugar burning mode and most women use food to manage stress and emotions.

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.

Max Lowery:

So what do I mean by sugar burning mode? Well, your body is supposed to switch between burning sugar, glucose and burning fat for energy. This is known as metabolic flexibility. But if you spent years dieting, snacking, skipping meals or relying on quick carbs for energy, your body can get stuck. You become what's called a sugar burner. Someone who's stuck in sugar burning mode is going to crave sugar and carve constantly. They're going to crash when they go too long without eating. They feel shaky, irritable, foggy and exhausted when they skip meals and their energy levels are going to be like a roller coaster.

Max Lowery:

The fast 800 doesn't fix this. In fact, it worsens it. By starving your body of energy, you don't reset your metabolism, you shock it. You stay stuck needing quick hits of food to survive, and you stay stuck obsessing about food all day long. And here's the other side of it. Most women don't overeat because they're physically hungry. They overeat, because food has become their emotional life raft Stressed Eat, exhausted Eat, lonely Eat, celebrating Eat. Punish yourself, eat.

Max Lowery:

And diets like the Fast 800 completely ignore this. They give you a meal plan, they give you a number and they give you hard, strict rules, but they never teach you how to handle the real triggers, the emotions that drive the cravings in the first place. And if you don't fix the root cause, the cycle never ends. And the most depressing part about all of this is that most of the women I work with are brilliant. They're CEOs, doctors, entrepreneurs, mothers and leaders. They've built businesses, families and careers. But when it comes to weight loss, they blame themselves. They tell themselves I've tried everything, nothing works for me. Maybe I'm just broken, maybe this is just how it is. But in reality they haven't tried everything. They've only tried surface level fixes. They've never actually addressed the root cause of the problem the fact that they're stuck in sugar burning mode and the fact that they need food to process certain emotions. And because diets like the Fast 800 appear to work quickly, when they inevitably crash and burn, the women I work with usually internalize it as their failure instead of seeing the truth it was never a sustainable solution in the first place. So if you're starting to realize that extreme diets like the Fast 800 only treat the symptoms and not the real problem, let me show you a better way. So this is the same three-step method I use with my clients to finally break the dieting cycle for good. I call it the never diet again method.

Max Lowery:

Step one is to reset your body and your metabolism, because right now, if you're constantly hungry, craving carbs, crashing mid-afternoon and feeling out of control with your food, your metabolism is likely stuck in sugar burning mode. So when we reset you into fat burning mode, you'll crave food less, you'll feel fuller for longer after meals, you'll have stable energy levels all day long, no more slumps and you naturally eat less without even trying. And the best part, you don't have to cut out your favorite foods or spend hours in the gym. There's no straight fasting window, no brutal workouts, just simple tweaks to how you eat and structure your day to support fat burning instead of sugar chasing. This is the foundation, because when you're metabolically flexible, weight loss doesn't feel like a battle. It feels natural and automatic, without the restriction.

Max Lowery:

Phase two is to rewire your brain, because here's the truth that most diets ignore Most women don't just eat because they're hungry. They eat because they're stressed, exhausted, overwhelmed or looking for a little reward at the end of a hard day. Food becomes the fastest dopamine hit. It's an escape from your busy, hectic life and it numbs the pain. If you don't fix this emotional wiring, no diet plan will ever work long term, because the moment life gets hard and it will, old habits will kick back in. When we rewire your brain, you'll learn how to spot your real emotional triggers, how to handle stress, boredom and loneliness without food. You'll crave food less and you'll feel far more in control of your food. You'll be able to self-regulate like you never have before, because turning to food in times of stress and emotion is a learned behavior and you can unlearn that behavior as well.

Max Lowery:

As a consequence of rewiring your brain and not needing to turn to food in times of stress and negative emotion, or as a reward your brain and not needing to turn to food in times of stress and negative emotion, or as a reward, you eat less food. So being in a calorie deficit becomes much, much easier. So phase one and phase two aren't magic. They work in exactly the same way that any other diet does create a calorie deficit. The only difference with this way is that we're working with your mind and your body and it's not dependent on willpower and motivation. It becomes automatic without the restriction.

Max Lowery:

And the third and final stage is to realign. We want to realign your life and your mindset, not in the way that diets try and force you into crazy routines that don't fit into your real world. We realign your habits and your environment to support fat loss, naturally, especially for a woman over the age of 40. And this realigning means that you'll keep the weight off for the rest of your life, because after the age of 40, your body, your hormones and your energy and, frankly, your responsibilities are very different to what they were in the 20s and 30s. You cannot rely on sheer willpower, two-hour gym sessions or just eating less hacks anymore. You need to shift your habits, your lifestyle and your mindset to your new reality.

Max Lowery:

Because when we realign your habits, your lifestyle and your mindset to your new reality, because when we rely on your habits, you'll build simple daily routines that support fat loss without thinking about it. We'll set up your meals, your movement and your mindset to work for your changing body and not against it. We'll create flexible systems you can stick to, even during busy weeks, holidays, stress or low motivation moments. It'll make fat loss and weight maintenance feel automatic, not like a part-time job you're constantly struggling to keep up with. This isn't about being perfect. It's about designing a lifestyle where the easiest thing to do is also the right thing for you and your body, because when your habits, your mindset and your environment are all aligned with what you want, weight loss stops being a struggle and starts being your new normal.

Max Lowery:

So if you're tired of extreme diets that leave you exhausted, hungry and stuck in the same cycle, and if you're ready to finally reset your body, rewire your brain and realign your life for lasting fat loss without restriction, without guilt and without giving up the foods that you love, then the best way to move forward is by booking a food freedom breakthrough call with either myself or one other team. This isn't a sales call. This is a real conversation. We'll dive into what's really keeping you stuck, even if you feel like you've tried everything. We'll find out exactly why your body and brain are fighting against your weight loss efforts and how to fix it, and we'll give you a clear, personalized plan to help you finally take control of your body, your eating and your life.

Max Lowery:

Imagine what it would feel like to stop obsessing about food, to stop starting over on Monday and to actually trust yourself again. That's exactly what we'll start to build together. On this call, just click the link below and book in a time. This call is the fastest way to get yourself out of this situation, but if you aren't ready for a chat, that's no problem at all. Just make sure you watch this video right here, because I'll share exactly how women over 40 should eat and exercise for effortless fat loss. Just click right here and go straight to the video. I'll see you there.