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A former stockbroker turned personal trainer tells us why eating 2 meals a day is the best way to lose weight and feel less hungry

Fasting has nothing to do with starvation, according to Max Lowery, a 27-year-old personal trainer and health coach.

Max Lowery, 27, has just published a book on his intermittent-fasting weight-loss plan, the 2 Meal Day.

Max Lowery was a stockbroker in the city for four years leading a booze-fuelled and sleep-deprived life before he became a heath guru.

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He quit the banking world and went travelling around South America, where he accidentally fell into intermittent fasting.

He told Business Insider that while doing lots of hiking in Brazil, "I was trying to save time and money, so I started eating one or one and a half meals a day."

He discovered the local buffet restaurants, known as "kilogramas," which, as the name suggests, sell home-cooked food by the kilogram.

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"Some of them were actually working out quite expensive, but I found one where for a set price you could eat as much as you like, and got into this habit of having just one huge meal a day at about 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.," he said. "I felt amazing."

Upon his return to London, Lowery reverted to eating three meals a day. "I started to feel really lethargic, was always thinking about my next meal, and my body fat rose from 7% to 12%."

"I started to feel really lethargic, was always thinking about my next meal," he said, "and my body fat rose from 7% to 12%."

He began researching intermittent fasting and realised he had been following a long version of that. Unknowingly, he had trained his body to be self-sufficient and put it into fat-burning mode.

That was four years ago. Now, Lowery, a 27-year-old personal trainer and health coach, has written a book on his intermittent-fasting weight-loss plan, called the 2 Meal Day.

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The premise of 2 Meal Day is that by eating two meals a day — either breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner — thus introducing a daily 16-hour fasting period, you can retrain your body to become "fat adapted," meaning you burn stored body fat for energy rather than depend on sugars from food.

"It's not just about skipping a meal — it's about spending as much time as possible in the fasted state," Lowery said.

The health benefits of prolonged fasting are scientifically recognised and can include weight loss, muscle preservation, reduced cholesterol and blood pressure, and higher levels of endorphins and energy.

According to Lowery, following his diet plan will not only help you lose weight, have more energy, and stop being dependent on caffeine and sugar for boosts, it will also make you less hungry.

"When you're in tune with your body, you can understand what hunger really feels like; it's something that happens every 16-24 hours, not every four," he said. "The Western world spends next to no time in the fasted state, just one or two hours max.

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"It's a very beneficial state to be in," he added. "Your body starts to cleanse and heal itself."

He said it's important to get into a routine of skipping the same meal each day and stick to it.

"Once you start burning fat for energy, you can start mixing things here and there to suit lifestyle changes if you need to," he said.

About 80% of Lowery's clients skip breakfast rather than dinner, he said.

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"For most people, it's practically and socially easier to skip breakfast," he said.

Lowery usually has his first meal around 3 p.m., sometimes later.

"It completely depends on what's going on," he said. "If it's a training day I'm a lot hungrier, but on rest days I eat a lot less. And that's the way it should be."

For people taught that breakfast is the most sacred meal of the day, Lowery could be in for a tough sell.

However, Lowery said, "there are lots of studies to suggest that we're not as good at tolerating food in the morning, which means you're going to be more affected by spikes in blood-sugar levels.

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"Not only that, cortisol is higher in the mornings," he said. "The combination of glucose (sugars from food) and cortisol in the bloodstream can cause insulin resistance."

The 2 Meal Day has been dubbed in "the new 5:2" — a popular diet in which you eat normally for five days and restrict your calorie intake to 600 on two "fast" days. But Lowery argues they're very different.

"With the 5:2, you're only restricting your eating twice a week, and you're also calorie counting on those days — which you don't do with 2 Meal Day," he said. "With this plan, you're doing it every day, so your body adapts and eventually stops feeling deprived. For those reasons, about 30% of people feel restricted doing the 5:2, compared to 10% on 2 Meal Day."

Much of Lowery's initial research on fasting methods was through men's-strength forums, but he wants to bring the concept into the mainstream.

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"I'm trying to bring something quite niche and male-based and make it more accessible," he said.

For health tips, food inspiration, or to keep up with his energetic lifestyle, you can follow Lowery on Instagram .

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