The Livy Method Podcast - International No Diet Day and the End of Food Guilt

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

Today for your Midweek Motivation, Odette and Weight Loss Group Manager Kim get real about the pressure of diet culture, the rules they’ve finally let go of, and what sustainable weight loss actually looks like in real life. They also chat about International No Diet Day and why consistency matters more than perfection. Creating healthier habits isn’t about restriction; it’s about feeling good physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you’re tired of starting over every Monday but want something realistic, this episode is for you.You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/ginalivymaintenanceandmindfulnessTo learn more about The Livy Method and our Maintenance & Mindfulness group, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm going to be honest with you, this podcast is unapologetically a hot mess because that is what midlife feels like sometimes. Why, though? And how do we make it better? Do we all just need facelifts and JLP ones? I mean, let's talk about it. No bullshit, no wellness wangery here because we're trying to make real change and change is hard. But we're in this together. Welcome to the Livy Method podcast.

Hi. That was a quick minute countdown. I was checking all my water and I have none. I have coffee here. There might be water in the water bottle back there. I also have no coffee, but that's okay. I probably had enough today. So hello, Kim.

Thank you for being here today. Hello. Thank you for having me on midweek motivation. I make sure our members finish the week just as strong as they started. Now, I know you've been having a good week. I know you've been busy personally and professionally kind of all over the place. How are you feeling this week? You know, I'm feeling like I'm looking forward to next week getting back to being back on track.

I have had a very chaotic couple of weeks. My daughter's last two weeks of competing in dance ever because she's graduating. And they hammered us at a weigh competition. And then one that has every day, we have to be out late. So yeah, feeling like the out of routine and feeling like the lack of sleep and everything is hitting me. hard. But I think that gives me a good perspective for when I come in here and we talk about those situational changes that hit people when they're, you know, trying to maintain their weight. Yeah, I think that it's so real. Like we, you know, we talk about, like you said, the routines changing

and, you know, lack of sleep and maybe not getting all those meals and snacks in because of situational change. And yeah, we're living it too. We're trying to, you know, live our best lives and get all the things done and feel our best. And it's true. It's when something throws a wrench and what we are used to doing or we think we're going along so smoothly and then all of a sudden, you know, things shift a little bit.

It can be a massive change. So I hope that, you know, joining us today was also not too much of a massive change for you. Let's just throw away at a time and she can join us. I'm always excited to come here. I love it in your group. It's great.

Yeah. It's the best. Oh, thanks. We like it here. We think we're pretty cool around here. So let's get into today. So I feel like there's so much that I wanted to talk about. And one of the first things I want to talk about right off the top is today is no diet day.

And I didn't even know that was a thing. I was online and I was looking around. I'm like, what is, you know, what can we talk about? What will really resonate with our members? And I thought, international no diet day. How is this even a thing? Where did it come from? And I thought, is this the day that you just like have donuts for breakfast?

and chips for lunch and McDonald's for dinner. Is that what No Diet Day is all about? Like when you think of diet and diet dialogue and diet mentality, it's like restriction, it's deprivation. So on this no diet day, is this what we're doing? And then digging more into it, it was like, no, it started in 1992. And it's really a day about releasing what we've come to believe or understand about what dieting is, letting go of those restrictions, letting go of that dialogue,

letting go of those rules that we've heard played over and over and over again. So I thought, what an incredible day. Of course, it's not about going rogue and throwing all your old habits out the window, but it really is this place exactly where we are here and letting go of what we used to believe, reprogramming how our mind works and really broadening our belief system and what we really do believe. So I wanted to start with today. I wanted to start, I mean, we asked in the group, but, you know,

What's one food or exercise rule that you, that you've let go of, Kim? And I remember, like if you're here watching, Catherine, Sue, Marie, let us know. What is one rule or exercise, food or exercise rule that you've let go of? Can I, can I say one of each? Yes. So I think my, the food one that I have most let go of that is not even in my brain anymore is that no fat low fat. You know, for so many years that rule was like you have to watch the fat, no fat, low fat, low fat versions of this.

That's the one where the food that is gone. I am now looking for healthy fats. I'm looking for more fat in things. This is too low in fat. What are they put in here to take out the fat and all those things? And the exercise one is that go hard or go home. That, you know, what's the point of being here if you're not going to go hard and put 100%.

there is so much benefit in putting in even 10 or 20% if that's all that you have at the moment. That 10 or 20% of you just even walking in the door of the gym, that could be the 100% of what you've got in your tank that day. And that is better than like sitting at home and eating a bag of potato chips even if you only stay at the gym for 10 minutes. Yeah, I love that. And so many members are agreeing with you. like Judy, I love getting rid of the no fat, low fat stuff. And Sue, same thing, no fat, low fat foods and eat less to lose. Like those things that we've heard over and over and over again and finally releasing them can be so free.

And I think I'm looking at you on that. The no fat, low fat, I mean, is huge. Like I, you know, to really taste what these foods are supposed to taste like not these watered down filled are sweeten versions of foods. that's a big one for me too was just getting over the fact that carbs are bad for you carbs are going to make you fat like think about a potato you know like avoiding potatoes and and and these this beautiful vegetable that's you know got fiber in it and all of that and and and thinking about like grains what grains are working against you and making that I think that was something that you know was just I avoided for so long breads and wraps and

and rice is and all of that. And, you know, more so not even that it's, that they're bad for you. But being in tune to how do they make you feel like, yeah, bread never made my tummy feel well. And pasta never made my tummy feel well. But potatoes and, and those rice as like I said, in kinoas and being able to put those back in. Ooh, food is too high in carbs.

You don't want to eat that. Like, I can't even imagine now walking by grapes and thinking they're, you know, they're the enemy not to have those. Yeah. And then, yeah, with the exercise, like you said, the all or nothing, I think it was also, for me, was like going to a gym and thinking that you had to do what everybody else was doing. You know, like, oh, I have to do that class because everybody's, that's the trend now. Everybody's doing these high impact step classes. I have to do it, even though, like, it hurt my knees and I didn't feel good after and I wanted to throw up.

But that was like your, like, I guess like what you said, that all or not. nothing that, you know, had to be super intense, go hard or go home. I think being able to let go of that and being like, no, my body needs a walk today. No, my body needs a great yoga class today. No, my body needs to just stretch today, still moving, still focusing on being strong, but in a way that works for you, not just what everybody else is doing. Totally. Yeah. There's so many great comments in now with people with like the food and and exercise like judy said accepting rest days are also important that's a huge one like i remember back in the day going if i didn't go every day one day off would set me out of my routine and my consistency would be gone i would beat myself up about it and recognizing that

importance of rest days is it's a huge one i think that's i know i love that that about rest days because it's true it's like you know yeah my legs hurt I'm going to push through though. I have to push through. I have to have that intensity. I can't allow myself to be soft. I can't allow myself that that bit of reprieve and break. And that also goes with, I think with that diet mentality is if like I have one off day. Yeah. It's going to ruin it. Yeah. Yeah. Right. It's so it's kind of goes hand in hand. So yeah, I love that. Oh, Judy. And that eggs are bad for you. Oh my gosh. We're pushing yourself through when you're. Yeah. Pushing. Yeah. Oh, Judy, food tastes so much better now and also accepting that rest days are also important, that eggs are bad.

Judy, you have all the rule. You're breaking all the rules now. Yeah, it's such a good one. Here's Catherine, here's Catherine food. There is no bad food, just better choices and exercise. Don't have to work. Don't have to have hard workouts to lose weight. It really is about loving your body, right, and not punishing your body.

And it's like, you know, you have to punish your body to. to get it to work the way you wanted to. You have to punish your body to have it look the way that you want it to. And I think, you know, being able to be free of that. I love, I love international no diet day. I think it should be a national holiday. I think we should all embrace us and talk about it every single year. So May 6th, every year, we're going to bring this up.

Maybe every day. Maybe every day. Every day. Yeah, we'll bring that focus. I love that. I love that. So I'm glad we, you know, started it off with, with that today. So the thing we're talking about in the group is, it's week two in the maintenance

program, as it is in the weight loss program, but of a different focus for the two weeks. So in maintenance, we're really talking about supporting the new you and who you are now and what you do now and how you live now and what's working for you and not necessarily doing all of the things all of the time because that's just not, you know, a sustainable way. to live. And we know that it's important to follow through on your habits, of course. You know, you drink your water, you eat nutrient dense foods. But it's getting out of this mindset of like, I have to do more, I have to do it all. I have to do everything where we're shifting to, no, this is, you know, these are the things that I do now because I feel good. I'm not pushing for more

and more and more. This is now my baseline. This is my foundation. So I think supporting the new you is also about supporting the changing you. So what you, what worked for you before may not work for you now. What you did in the past, are we continuing to do it just because that's what we did? Or are we really taking stock of what is working for us now? And I love this, this comment from this member that we had. And she said, my weight is going up for the first time in six months. I'm not doing anything different. And I thought, okay, this is perfect about, this is a perfect statement about supporting who you are now. So you're not doing anything different. Six months ago, what was six, what was six months ago? So six months ago was winter. We were coming into this cold,

into these colder months, into this colder season. Maybe we're starting to shift into that. And now here we are, six months later, we're in the spring. You've changed. Your body's changed. Your body's picking up that there's seasonal change. And I think the real takeaway here is maybe it is time to do something different. Maybe you do need to change. Yeah, there's so many different, like those seasonal change is a big one. And I think even just sort of changes going on in your body is a big one for that. I think about like myself back in, you know, sorry, my dog's going crazy right now.

I'm going to keep you. That's okay. Well, listen, we're our real life around here. The doorbells ring. The kids come crashing through the door. There's a crow yard. I was going to say I, when I was younger, my go-to was always boot camp. I loved a hard workout that I felt taxed at the end of the day.

And I felt like I left it all on the mat at boot camp class. And I recently, over the last couple of years, rejoined a boot camp class, looking to get that motivation, that, you know, drive and also, you know, looking to get in shape and stuff. I came home from every single one of these boot camp classes feeling exhausted, not wanting to go the next day. It had nothing to do with the class or the teacher. The problem was I think that when I was doing it before and it was working for me, I was a stay-at-home mom. I was at home with three little kids all day.

That going out and leaving it all out was not just me doing something for myself. I also didn't have a lot of the same kind of stress when I was a stay-at-home mom. Like you could make your own schedule. something went wrong in the day, you could adjust it. Fast forward now, I have a very busy job. My kids are super active and they are like running around everywhere. My cortisol is through the roof all day long. I'd go to this boot camp class.

My tank was already empty and it was trying to empty it even further. And I recently switched over to doing yoga and Pilates instead. I look forward to going to the classes. I feel amazing when I come home. My body's still getting sore. I'm still getting sore. workout, but it's filling my cup versus emptying it because I have a different lifestyle now than I did say 10 years ago when I started doing a boot camp and recognizing that the same thing that

worked for my body five years ago, 10 years ago is not what my body needs right now. And I think we all go through these cycles when it comes to, like, whether it's your life, your situational change, your hormones, you know, your age and everything where you do have to reassess, like, what do I actually need? And I think if I didn't have this. program sort of under my belt as a foundation to be able to say, hey, what is different this time? What's wrong? And recognizing listening to my body, my body's trying to tell me it doesn't want to do this. And it wasn't just like a, I don't feel like going.

It was a like, this is doing nothing for me, but emptying me. Like it's not making me feel stronger. It's not making me like feel more energetic. It's not filling my cup. And I think that's a big piece of it. You really got to sit back and think like, what do I? need right now and what's changed like you said in the last six months what's different and why might yeah and i love what you said there about um the cycles and aging like let's all be honest we're not

we don't have the same bodies that we had when we you know 10 15 even 25 years ago and we were doing those types of workouts our bodies change our needs change you know and yeah i want to hold onto my youth as well. I want to believe that my knees can do what they did before. I want to believe that my back is going to hold me up and strong just like it did before without any effort. But the reality is, like you said, our ages have changed. The cycles have changed. Our needs have changed and really being in tune to that. And just sometimes it is just taking that hot minute to listen. Is this working for me? Like, am I doing this because it's working for me or am I doing this because I feel like I should or I have to? Now, there's lots of should.

of course, you should move your body. You should try and stay strong. You should, you know, get your water in. Of course, those are all those non-negotiables. When we're talking about supporting the new you and optimizing doing things that really work for you, it's taking it to that next level. Gina was saying this last night on her Q&A. I know that she got cut off, unfortunately, for everybody that was listening, that her after-hours Q&A session that she does here in the group. She was saying this. It's about getting deeper into those whys. Like, okay, moving my body, why? Because I, it feels good. I'm moving my body because it feels good, but the exercise that I'm doing actually feel good. Like, get deeper with those questions.

You know, what am I actually doing here? So I think it's so, it's so important to recognize that, yes, we are changing, that yes, what we always did before may not be the answer to where we are now and what we need to do now. So I think, you know, supporting the new you is really supporting that changing you. And that's why I love this week. You know, we've worked on the basics. We've worked on getting back to routine. And now it's really about fine-tuning those areas. I love this comment from Sue here. I'm doing things now out of love for my body and not to punish it. And that's exactly right. Your body is here. Your body wants to stay alive. Your body wants to feel good and feel strong and feel agile. You know, once we just, we give it what it needs and just take care of it, it's going to come

back to us tenfold for sure. I see a comment from here from Marie. She said aqua fit is fun and a good workout. Oet loves aqua fit. Can we just talk about aquifid for a minute? I am obsessed with aquifid. So this started back in, well, when we were in St. Lucia in September, so how long ago was that? I thought, oh, aquifit, okay, you got to get in the pool. I could not get out of that pool. I would have gone twice a day every day that we were there. I loved that was rounding up you and Gina and Sonia. I'm like, let's get in there. And you think you're in the pool

and you're just bouncing around and that's not it at all. I mean, your body is working, but you feel supported. You feel like you're not going to hurt yourself. There is the sense of buoyancy and lightness. And Marie, I am with you. Aquafit is, I mean, it is an amazing workout.

I mean, to be fair, they did one time deliver us drinks to the pool while we were doing Aquafit. So they don't have that at most pools in China. They did bring us Proseco and Margarine. If somebody could start an aqua fit class that does have cocktail service. Yeah, might get more people there, right? That could be a change I could get down with. I think I could get into that. And it's not, you know, and maybe part of it too was being there.

You know, it's not as easy here. It's December. It's January. You're cold. You're getting in the pool. You're getting out of the pool. You're wet. But I think that that feeling of when you are in the pool and doing that workout. I mean, it's, I agree. I think it's such a, it's such a great workout. And I love it. I'm a little bit obsessed. And I thank you, Kim, for indulging in my obsession when we were in St. Lucia, you came into the pool with me quite often. Good. It was good time. Yeah. So everybody should go try, go try their aqua vet. Okay, so that's what I really wanted to, just, you know, touching on that about this change and I know I said this a couple times, but supporting who you are now. Really just take that deeper look at what you're doing and what's working for you

and what's, you know, what you're doing just because and what maybe you could shift to help you feel good, just like, you know, came you with your boot camp and changing that up. You know, if there's something there that doesn't feel quite right for our members, like have a look. Just back, I think, is this really working for me or am I doing it just because I need to do it? Not about holding on to doing the same things over and over and over again just because that's, that's, you know, all we know. really being open-minded to seeing what else is out there. The other thing I wanted to talk about too were this conversation about non-scale victories and rewards and where do we find that dopamine hit and where do we find.

I know you guys are talking about non-scale victories in the weight loss group today, I think, right? Your post came out today. Yeah, we are. And actually, if anyone here is in the weight loss group as well, go check out the comments. It is amazing to read some of the things that people are sharing in the. they're about, you know, just different things they're noticing when the scale isn't, when the scale isn't moving and, you know, or even when it is that they've learned to sort of

embrace those already. They're not in maintenance yet, but they've learned to embrace how they feel or, you know, mental shifts and things more so than even what that number on the scale is doing. Yeah. And, you know, and I think in my check-in this morning, I said that we just don't talk about that quite enough. We know that in maintenance, your body can still change. You can still see those physical non-scale victories. But it's really about what else is coming to light for you now? Like, are you slowly starting to understand those fluctuations on the scale? You know, is your mindset changing a little bit there? Are you slowly starting to notice that you're feeling a little bit calmer around food, that you know that, you know, what you're doing today is not going to, you know,

derail everything tomorrow? I think it's a lot of that mindset shift that we want to bring to the focus with these non-scale victories. Of course, you know, those physical ones can still happen. You can start to feel stronger. You can notice your clothes fitting differently. But it's really about also noticing those other mindset non-scale victories and bringing those to the forefront. I think that's one of the things that we really don't talk about enough and we want to really

bring a highlight to. And, you know, we were talking about rewards. And this conversation started last week or maybe even in prep week about how do you, where do you find that reward now that it's not the lowest low on the scale. It's not seeing that number continuing to go down. Where do you find that reward? And we say using the scale now for accountability can be a great tool. And I think it's still, I think you can find that reward when you do find yourself staying within that range. I think the question I want to ask, though, is, you know, lots of members still said, I still use the scale as a reward. And I think that it can be

uses an reward. But I think we're going to go deeper with this is what happens when it doesn't give you that feeling of reward that day or a couple days in a row. Because that's not there, is that going to now change your mindset to one again of frustration and control? And then that's how you're going to make your decisions. Or are you truly in this place where you can still be confident that this is just a fluctuation. Like how does that, how do you keep that reward system balanced when you're saying, I still use a scale as a reward, but there's going to be many days where it's not going to give you that feeling?

I honestly think with, if you want to finally let go of that attachment to the scale and having it affect your day for good, you absolutely have to try to work your way out of that, the scale, the number on the scale is my reward mentality because you're constantly going to be chained to it and looking at it for approval, looking at it to state your worth for you. You need to be able to find that from within yourself versus trying to get that from a scale and a number because you're going to be chained to that scale for the rest of your life if you can't let that go. That's like the thing you need to work on. It's interesting somebody in the weight loss group this morning said something about accountability.

two about how they had done something with a personal trainer and a nutritionist or whatever, like done something else prior last year, finished it six months ago and they're almost back up to where they started. And they put the piece to it's because I'm not checking in with them every day and being accountable to them. So I love the app because it's making me accountable to the app to put everything in every day. And I was like, that's really interesting. It's, you know, you feel sad for somebody who recognizes they have to.

Great that she recognizes what she needs, but we hear that a lot at the end of a programmer when somebody moves into maintenance about how it's Gina's check-ins, it's the daily lives that keep them accountable and that's what keeps them going. But at some point, we have to get to the point where we have that intrinsic motivation to keep going ourselves without somebody else having to motivate us, somebody else having to be that carrot that's being dangled, that's keeping it, doing it, and trying to figure out what we need to do to get ourselves in the mindset and that headspace where I'm doing this for me because of me and you don't need to be accountable to anybody else for it. You can be accountable to yourself,

and that's enough for you. And that's what I kind of think I would like everybody to get to, where that number on the scale, it doesn't matter what it is, who you are in that moment is enough for you that it doesn't matter to you what that number is, if it's up or down. You know, I heard, I saw, I think it was Sue saying that she doesn't panic the same way when the scales up a few pounds. She understands her range. And that's the mindset you want to get into where that number being up doesn't send you in a panic and you don't start to spiral back into that old diet mentality and thinking where I can't have something now because my scale is up or I had something. That's why my scale is up, just recognizing that that's going to fluctuate up and down.

You know, some people's weight is up before their period. Some people's weight is up during their period. Some people's weight is up because they worked out. Some people's weight is just up for, you know, whatever reason. You don't even know what it is, but having it be okay and not having to think like, oh, why is my weight up every time? You know, it's almost like that scale noise versus food noise is part of, you know, your mentality.

And when you get rid of that and let go of that, that's when you can really relax into maintenance when you just naturally are drawn to loving how you feel, doing something because it makes you feel good and not because somebody tells you have to do it, not because the scale says you have to do it, or not because you're trying to take a box. I love that scale noise. I think that's such, I don't know if anybody's ever called it scale noise before, but that's true. You know, it's like you are, you're thinking about what is it going to say?

why is it going to say that? What did I do wrong? You know, how can I get it to say what I want it to say? You know, I think that that's so true if that's always going through your mind there. Yes, there's that food noise, but there's also that scale noise. I think that's huge right there that you just said that. And it's true about that accountability piece where you don't want that scale to have to give you the reward. Because what you did, you didn't do anything wrong to have it be it a number you don't want to see. So you don't have to be rewarded when you don't, we don't want you to feel tied to that reward. if it is at the number that you see that sorry if it is at the number that you you perceive to be

the right number like oh that's my reward I must have done something right I'm successful because that's the number it says on my balance because it's also the accountability because you're like yeah look all of my habits and my routines are working they are helping me feel good they are helping me be where I want to be I think it's such a tricky thing when we talk about reward or accountability or what is it. I think it's a much bigger conversation than we'll solve today. But I think it's very interesting. I wanted to make that point about, you know, yes,

if you're using the scale still to be your reward system, remember your language matters and your mindset and your perception matters, that if it's not at the number that you want it to be, do you still feel rewarded for doing amazing things the day before? Do you still feel awarded for where you are now and how far you've come and do you feel like you're able to see to see that. Well, that's a lot of questions to ask yourself. And I think maybe, I don't know if you know this, but Dr. Beverly is coming on tomorrow to

join us. So maybe she'll help solve all of our problems. We'll see. No pressure. Great. She'll have some sort of, what does she have? She does her little acronyms. Her acronyms.

She'll have a little acronyms. I didn't talk about an acronym. So I don't know. She just usually comes up with them on the fly, I think. Is she? I hope so. I think our members want, I think our members do want that for sure. So I think that's a great note to end on. I always love when you come on here because your perspective is so, I think is so valid and so refreshing and so great to have you in here. I think you see both sides of it. You see that weight loss side where people are still working and you

do see this maintenance side where our members are and you truly understand where they are and what they're working through. So I thank you for being here. Pardon? Thanks for having me. Oh, yeah, of course. Thanks for adding it to your plate. I know it's not, it's one of those things that, um, surprise.

Kim, you're joining me on Wednesday. I would never say no. I love coming into these lives. You and your dog and your little puppy. So I'm glad she came to. All right. We're just,

I'm just procrastinating now. But, um, again, so talking about today is no diet day. Think about those rules that you've let go of. Be proud of yourself. Let that be the rule. reward for you, knowing that you've been able to shift your mindset that way. And sometimes you

need to make change. You know, sometimes supporting the new you is about supporting the changing you. And of course, non-scale victories, they are there. You just have to see them. You just have to look for them because they are still happening now that you're in maintenance. Kim, thank you so much for being here. And we'll see you soon. We'll see everybody soon. Bye, everyone. Thank you.