Never Diet Again with Max Lowery

#83 Done With Diets - How Sharon Lost 4 Inches Without Giving Up Wine or Dessert

• Max Lowery

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Forget cutting carbs. Forget calorie counting. Forget giving up your favorite foods.

In this powerful conversation, Max sits down with Sharon, a 68-year-old model and lifelong dieter, who finally broke the cycle of confusion, restriction, and yo-yo weight gain, without cutting out wine, dessert, or her social life.

Sharon shares how, after decades of chasing diets, gym fads, and food guilt, she finally lost weight and kept it off by doing something radically different:

✅ Walking daily (and loving it)
✅ Eating three satisfying meals a day with zero snacking
✅ Learning to trust her body again instead of obsessing over what she “should” eat
✅ Letting go of guilt, and building habits that actually fit her life

This isn’t just a story of weight loss. It’s a story of reclaiming health, confidence, and freedom in your 60s, and proving it’s never too late to change your habits and feel amazing.

If you’re overwhelmed by conflicting health advice, tired of chasing quick fixes, and wondering if it’s too late to feel like yourself again… this episode is for you.

Listen now and discover how Sharon lost 4 inches off her waist, dropped 6 pounds, and finally made healthy habits a way of life—without restriction, guilt, or missing out.

Watch my The Cravings & Fat-Burning Masterclass:  https://www.neverdietagainmethod.uk/register-podcast

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/max.lowery/

Book a Food Freedom Breakthrough Call: https://www.neverdietagainmethod.uk/call-ig

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, Sharon. Thank you very much for agreeing to have a chat with me today. That's okay. What I want to do today is just understand a bit more about you, where you started, and how you felt joining the program because lots of the clients that we work with are very, very skeptical to begin with because they've tried so many different things. They've lost weight, put it back on, lost weight, put it back on. So I want to just understand a bit more about why you decided to join. 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 Lowry. 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 programme. It's my goal to give you the tools and the understanding so that you never diet again. Could you describe the situation for you before you started the program?

SPEAKER_00:

So before I started the program, I would say, like most of us, I tried all sorts of different diets. The Slimming Clubs, I had had one-to-ones back in the day, all different types of diets. I'd even gone down sort of healthy eating special programs and the weight still wasn't coming off. And then I just happened to, I was on um Spotify and I happened to hear for some reason your one of your podcasts jumped on to make me, you know, and sort of resonated with it. It just sounded so interesting. And I'd got to the stage where, you know, especially with social media, I'd uh sort of looked at all these different diets and all these different influences showing you how if you eat this, you'll lose so much weight so quickly. If you start eating this way and doing this, and quite frankly, I was getting confused with what I should be doing for me, which way to go. And I've also, because I work as a model, you know, my appearance has always been very important to me. I've sort of worked out all my life, I've done classes and gyms and everything. I admit not consistently, but I would say three quarters of my life. And now I'm 68. I was getting to the stage where I felt it's even more important now, as we get older, to look after ourselves physically, mentally, and health-wise. And like I say, I was just getting totally confused with what to do, you know, as I said before, which influence to follow. And your podcast resonated with me, and I decided to follow on and uh take it a step further and find out what it was all about.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for sharing, Sharon. So, yeah, like many women, you tried the typical things, you were overwhelmed with information and feeling very confused about what to do. And then thankfully, the algorithm gods showed you the Never Die Again podcast. Yeah. So I know that although the things resonated with you when you first were thinking of joining the programme, you were very skeptical. Could you kind of describe how you felt and and um what that skepticism was like?

SPEAKER_00:

Was it just another influencer, another website, another one? But I think what you were talking about made sense. And of course, the thing that appealed was, you know, I've um helped clients over however many years you've been doing this, lose weight, and uh a question of you know, that you don't diet. That's the big thing. It's not a diet. And um, you know, it was just because you said it's not a diet and your clients have puddings, sweets, cakes, alcohol, and I mean, you know, there is a there is a line with that, but obviously it drew me in. I thought, well, how can you do that and still lose weight? I I can't understand how that works. That can't be right. So that's where I was quite you know skeptic. But um then obviously, you know, we had a long chat for an hour and a half. You've also introduced the psychology behind it all, whereas before it was, you know, you're hearing don't eat carbs, don't eat this, don't eat that, only eat protein, don't fast. You know, I was absolutely bamboozled, so I needed to be focused on something that made sense. Of course I was skeptical because I'd, you know, for years I'd done what everybody else does, and it got me nowhere. And obviously, you know, I know with age your weight does creep on, but you know, you can help, you can help yourself, and and I've proved that with being in the program, even though I'm sort of not quite at the end of my 90 days, but um, it's I haven't got a lot to lose, and it's still coming off. I think if you've got a lot to lose, you see results very quickly.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure. Yeah, and I think it isn't a diet, and it can be very difficult for me to explain, even on a podcast, even on the hour and a half call that we had, what this is and how it works, it sounds too good to be true. How can you possibly have dessert, have a you know, a glass of wine, enjoy that your favorite foods and lose weight at the same time? It sounds too good to be true, and obviously a lot of the time, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. But in this case, uh with the way that we help our clients, it is true. Um and you've experienced that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I have. I've been, you know, I have a very busy life, I have a very busy social life. I go away, uh, travel a lot, um, I entertain a lot, um, and you know, even on the programme, I've been on a cruise, I've had weekends away, I've had dinner parties, and I've still managed to lose weight. Whereas before it would be, you know, a few pounds off, back on, and one extra and a yo-yo of that. And this time it hasn't.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what happens when you address the root cause uh instead of just surface level fixes. Was there any specific things you thought wouldn't work for you before you started and right at the start?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I was a big snacker, that was a big thing for me, um, snacking between meals, and that was because obviously I wasn't eating the right foods at the right time. And uh the programs taught me to do that, to have three healthy meals and don't snack in between. And that's been life-changing for me, actually, because I was even though I was snacking on healthy foods, you know, those calories, although we don't count calories, those calories soon add up, even though you're eating something healthy, but you're eating in between, and I've stopped that. So for me, that was a big, big thing.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember it being quite scary for you initially, because we actually got you to eat more at mealtimes, didn't we?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes, yeah. Three big meals, well, three big yeah, for me, big meals, yes, yeah. And then, you know, as I was actually saying on on the call last night, on the group call, I don't even think about snacking now. Doesn't even enter my head to start snacking.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, which is incredible. That's a a sign that you've improved your metabolic flexibility, got you out of sugar burning mode into fat burning mode, and now you feel more in control and enjoying your meals, being satisfied at the end of the meals, going out for dinner and losing weight at the same time.

SPEAKER_00:

I am enjoying my meals as well. You know, I'm I'm now having a good breakfast, whereas before I wasn't eating enough. And I'm finding when I have that big good breakfast, it has a long-lasting effect throughout the day. I'm finding that's that for me, that's the key for me.

SPEAKER_01:

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 die 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. What would you say is the biggest difference between what you've experienced with us and what you've tried in the past?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, a couple of things. First of all, obviously the coaching is a big thing to guide you and to help you and you know, sort of plan what your week's going to be and how you're going to navigate it, and how you're gonna, you know, cope with situations. Um I think introducing the fact of no snacking and having those three good meals a day. And also, although I exercised, I probably was exercising then sitting on the settee. And you've sort of shown me, you know, that to be more active is more important. And of course, since I've started, I mean I used to love I've I've always walked on a Monday, but that was it. The rest of the week I might do gym a couple of times. But you know, I think as you get older, you do need to be more active for more reasons than one: your mind, your body, everything. Um, and I've enjoyed doing the steps, and I, you know, I every day I make sure I do a minimum of 7,000 steps. Some days I've done 15,000, I've done 18,000, 12,000, and I've enjoyed it. And it's actually it's be it's become a habit now, it's become a way of life for me. You know, even if I'm busy and manage to get my steps in. And that's been a big change for me.

SPEAKER_01:

That and how have you felt as a consequence of that?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I felt really good. Yeah, because you know, the whole thing, I can see the weights come off. I feel fitter in myself. I enjoy going the walking. I think mentally it's given me a boost that, you know, my trainer said to me at the gym yesterday, gosh, I can see you've lost weight, you know, and it's not just, you know, the scales are okay, but you know, if you've been out for a Chinese the night before and you get on the scales the next day, it's gonna say you put on three pounds or whatever it's in kilos. But measuring yourself, and actually the biggest thing for me was doing the photographs every four weeks because I can see from where I've started to where I am how in just eight weeks I've changed my shape. You know, I've worn the same outfit to have my photographs done in, so I can see exactly how it's fitting where things are sitting. And I and um with my coach Molly, we've we've sort of, you know, the difference in eight weeks has been amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you've done really well. I mean, people always want to hear specific numbers. Do you know off the top of your head um how much weight you've lost and most importantly how much how much?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm in I'm in pounds. I'm afraid I'm else.

SPEAKER_01:

Pounds is fine.

SPEAKER_00:

I've lost six pounds and four inches off my waist. I'd rather have it chipping away. I I'm quite happy that it comes off slowly. I think it's better for me. And it's uh it's chipped away and chipped away, but I've seen the the measurements, and my waist was 88 and my last measurement was 79 centimetres. Yeah, centimetres, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like four inches.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I was going to a charity uh function last week and I put on a trouser suit, and the trousers were hanging off me so much so I had to roll them over because they were too long, because it's gone from the middle as you get older. And I mean I never used to have a tummy, but obviously after you get 50 or whenever your body starts to change, and you know, I've hated having a tummy, and uh, I'm not saying it's flat as a pancake, but the fact that I've lost all that that weight around my middle has made a huge difference in my clothes.

SPEAKER_01:

What would you say to someone that was sceptical about working with us?

SPEAKER_00:

I can understand it because, like me, you'll have tried everything, but somehow this does feel different. There's a lot of psychology, there's a lot of help, you know, you sort of delve into why you're doing it as well and how to come out of it or think, you know, get your mindset about it. Now, before I don't know anyone that does that. I think it's just a question, eat this, don't eat this, we'll give you a list of what to do. You know, these are forbidden. You see a list of things, or if you're on a slimming club, you know, it's they've got red lists, different plans to show you what you can eat and what you can't eat. And the other thing I like about the plan is that no food is forbidden, which is a big thing because I've learned not to feel guilty if I do want a dessert. Whereas before, you know, I'd think, oh, I shouldn't really have it, but I really want it. And, you know, as you always say on the podcasts, one meal, one dessert's not going to ruin your whole programme that you've been on it for eight weeks. Obviously, you can't carry on eating and eating and eating. But um, the way you sort of train our brains to think about it differently is a is a big thing. You know, the advice is is has been life-changing for me. Things I hadn't even thought about.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thanks so much for that, Sharon. And I think you're encapsulating something which is really important, and especially what you said last. You've worked on things you didn't even know you needed to work on. You didn't even know they're a thing. And this is the the most difficult thing I have is lots of the women we speak to are experts in weight loss. They've read every book, they've, you know, they've done every diet, they've downloaded every meal plan. So they're thinking, what could I possibly learn? I have nothing more I could possibly learn from a coach. What are you going to teach me? And that's like the biggest frustration and difficulty I have is trying to show and portray what we do online on social media and podcasts. But yeah, it means a lot to hear you say that you've learned things you didn't even know you needed to learn.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thank you very much for your time today, Sharon. And yeah, thanks for trusting us. Thanks for trusting yourself. You're a great example of approaching this with an open mind, even though you felt skeptical, even though you maybe felt a little bit scared. So well done for you and looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in the next few weeks.