The Livy Method Podcast - Lost your weight? Who are you now?

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Life continues after weight loss. What does that look like? Gina Livy and Maintenance Program Manager Odette kick off a new week by reframing what it really means to maintain weight loss, emphasizing that the work doesn’t end once the weight is gone. They explore the importance of solidifying a new set point, building belief in long-term success, and shifting identity from dieter to someone who simply lives their life in tune with their body. From navigating real-life moments at your goal weight to reinforcing routines, mindset, and mindfulness, this conversation highlights why maintenance is a critical and often underestimated phase of sustainable weight loss.This episode aligns with day 1 of our Spring 2026 maintenance program. 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 gLP ones? I mean, let's talk about it. No bullshit, no wellness wankery here because we're trying to make real change and change is hard. But we're in this together. Welcome to the Living Method podcast.

Welcome. Welcome to Maintenance Mindset Monday. this is where Odette, who is the manager of our maintenance program and I get together at the beginning of the week. And then we also check in midweek 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Of course, if you can't join us live like many people can't, we always repost this segment in the guides. And it will also be available in the app for you to watch whenever it is convenient. Or you can also download it by way of our Livy Method podcast as well. So hello, Odette. How are you? I'm good. I mean, we spoke this morning quickly and I told you I was

tired. I was so tired up last night about starting today. And I don't know if it was, you know, the app is coming and or it's just the energy of a new group. And, you know, I was hoping the weather would be nicer, not so much. We're here. It's spring, summer. It's fresh. It just feels really great to be here. And then just being in the group this morning. And that energy was, it was echoed back at me. You know, it was just, people are, members are just, they're happy, they're excited. There's, I mean, there's some like nervousness and a bit of anxiety for first timers, but it's, it's a great, it's a great vibe today.

Yeah, I don't know what was up with the fucking snow this morning for our spring program, but I was like, okay, well, whatever. Yeah, we are a small but mighty group compared to our, obviously, our huge weight loss groups, But we love engagement. We appreciate our members. And there is so much to talk about. If you think maintenance is just kind of same old, same old, you are going to miss it. It is a whole other can of worms.

It's a whole other beast. It's a whole other conversation. The goal in weight loss, as you know, lose your weight in a way you can maintain and sustain. So physically, you've done the work. You've done a lot of that mental work. Just because you're done losing the weight physically doesn't mean you're done, solidifying that mindset mentally. in maintenance, we are focused on helping you help your body adjust to your new weight. So your new weight becomes your new set points.

And more so learning the things that you need to learn to be able to live your life. Live your life. I saw so many members on the weekend. I was out at a couple events and people who had been maintaining their weight for like four years. And they're like, you know, I do a lot of the things that we talked about. But I'm just living my life. And I'm like, yes. You're not supposed to be following a plan, living the livy way, for lack of a better term for that.

But like taking what you've learned and implementing that and know how to support yourself and really being into when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat. So we are doing good work, important work here in maintenance, almost more so than in the weight loss program, I would say, honestly. Yeah. And just to go back to what you said there about, you know, what we're doing here and helping you solidify your mindset. in maintaining your weight long term. I think what we're also doing here is allowing our members to believe that they can actually do this. Yeah.

Like just believing that, yes, I can maintain my weight. I mean, we see members so many times, I've lost it and put it back. I've lost it and put it back. Why is this different? How can this be different? And so right from day one, we want to instill that. You can do it. It can be done.

It can happen. We have members that are doing it. So just having that belief that it can happen, that it doesn't have to be that cycle. Yeah, so there's a couple of things. Read the post. All of the, it's the same routine because your body loves routine. It really gives you that ability to really focus on that mental part of that. Read the post.

We obviously don't want you to feel like you're overwhelmed. You never have to worry about being behind because everyday counts. Of course, if you have a question, you're using our new app, you can you can use our new AI maintenance-based to ask any questions you have. And of course, if you don't have access to that, you can pop into the Facebook support group at any time and ask questions. Maintenance is its own thing.

The tweaks are going to be very similar, but the rhyme and the reason behind them is going to be completely different. I see some of our members already talking about I need to focus on portions this time. Like, yeah, doubling down, asking those four sets of mind-pleading questions. You have so much advantage.

You're just building on everything that you've already known. Good morning. my first day in maintenance. Hi, Sally. I'm excited to be here and learn all about what maintenance entails. Yes. And it's about after you lose your weight, it takes a couple years for your body to adjust to your new weight. If you've just lost your weight, the traditional way, counted weight, measure, eat less exercise more. We fast track that with the method. And so you're going to encounter your first holiday right at your goal weight, your first memorial. day at your goal weight. Like you're going to counter like a whole cycle, a whole year of things that are going to pop up. And it's learning to navigate life at your new weight. So that's really

what we're here for. Okay, where do you want to get into? Oh, Dad. I hear people excited that maintenance is now connected to the app. Right. This is my third try at moving into maintenance. I'm feeling confident that this is it. Yeah. Can we also talk and normalize the ebb and flow? People jump into maintenance. They think like that's it. Then they decide they want to go back and lose more. that's fine. People in the weight loss program, I've signed up for the weight loss program. And then they'll be like, what am I doing? I'm ready to maintain my weight so they'll pop into the maintenance group. That's really normal. That's really normal. All right. Go. What do you want to talk about? Okay. What I want to talk about is this excitement that we have today, this energy that we have

today. And you said ebbs and flows, that's exactly going to keep happening as you move through the maintenance journey. You know, you're going to be on this high. I've hit my goal weight. I am now ready to move on to maintenance. And then we find sometimes members get here and they're like, oh, well, now what? What am I working towards? What's my goal now? What's going to keep me going? What's going to keep me motivated? So that glimmer of hitting your goal can start to get a little bit dull because you're now thinking, oh, I don't have anything that I'm working towards. Where, you know, what's my purpose now? And so I think we have to have that at the front of mind knowing that that can happen, but also knowing that when we come into this part of the journey,

And we're going to talk about it more as the week goes on, especially on Friday, finding what your new Y is now. Why do you want to maintain your weight? What is it, you know, like what's going to keep you motivated? Is it going to be the learning? Is it going to be seeing yourself, you know, 91 days from now, 180 days from now, two, three, four, five years from now? Like, visualize that.

We really have to make that normal, that your Y needs to change. It can't be the same why that you had in weight loss because that's not, you know, it's, you You're different now. You have this different mindset, this different purpose. You're here for a different reason. So that's where we want to start is that that is going to, it's going to come and get you. So you want you to be prepared for that, knowing that you need to change that. Why?

Think about it. You don't have to have it figured out today, but really visualize what's going to keep you here and keep you checking in and keep you showing up for yourself. Yeah. Motivation is an issue in weight loss. It's also an issue in maintenance as well. We hear it all the time where members are like, okay, I'm doing the thing. that I'm not feeling as good as I felt before.

So when you're trying to see the scale move, this is where you might be putting more of an effort into, excuse me, managing your stress, trying to get better sleep, moving your body. And so why are you doing those things now, right? Like what's that motivating factor and what's that why? A big part of this too is ownership. A lot of times when people reach their goal,

it really is about owning who you are now. learning to trust that and really solidifying this lifestyle. There's three reasons why people gain weight back, not giving your body time physically to adjust to your weight and you just go right back into old habits. Number two is situational change. So something happens to you, rocks your world, rocks your routine. And why does that cause weight gain? Because you fall back into old habits. The third one is not being mindful, right? Like not being mindful about portions, for example. The reason why you want to continue to ask those four sets of mindful leading questions is so that one day you get to a place where you don't have to ask them. You know the exact

moment when you've had enough. You know the exact moment if you take one more bite, you're going to walk away feeling like you ate too much. And not that there's anything wrong with that because I intentionally do that all the time, right? So not being mindful because it has you going back into old habit. So this is sort of where you can reframe things. Let's reframe things. Let's say you're going away on vacation. Who is this version of you? And how do this? they go on vacation, right? How does this new version of you navigate holidays, vacate, celebratory days, you know, not so fun kind of memorial type of days, right?

So that's what this is all about, not just solidifying the body physically, which is just a matter of time and routine, but more so mentally to go from a weight loss mindset into a maintenance mindset. You've got to turn that off and you've got to make that switch. You've got to make that transitioning from losing to maintaining. Yeah, it's exactly transitioning. And we have a lot of members asking us to, you know, why are we doing the same tweaks? You know, what is the point of doing the same tweaks that we've done when we followed the weight loss method? You know, where does that come from?

What's the purpose? You know, if we're not trying to lose weight, why are we doing that? And like you said off the top, it takes two years. It can take two years to solidify your new set point. It can take that long to solidify your mindset. So when we're working these tweaks, it's going to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't like the word is trigger, but it's going to invoke some of those scenarios and situations that you're going to need to work through. You know, it can be uncomfortable to prioritize yourself.

So when we get later on in the program where you're splitting those meals and snacks and having to prioritize yourself more, that's uncomfortable. You have to work through that. And what does that feel like? When we have a tweak like downsizing, you're leaving a little bit of food behind, that's going to invoke feelings of, oh, my portions have been creeping up a little bit. I didn't realize, oh, I have an old, you know, my old habits are starting to creep back in. How do I feel that I still have to, you know, work this tweak? How do I feel leaving a few bites behind? Am I in my head and out of my belly?

So it's going to start, it's going to bring up different issues, different emotions, different feelings. So we really use those tweaks. Yes, to get the body's attention. And because it's routine and it's familiar, but also to invoke some of these feelings and scenarios and situations a little bit quicker so we can, you know, fast-track that two-year solidifying. Yeah, the tweaks hit the tweaks hit differently when you're in maintenance, which is why you

do want to read the coffee. So we just didn't make this shit up, right? Mm-hmm. tweaks are the same because your body loves familiarity. Familiarity. I'll work on that. Your body love that. But it does give you an opportunity to go a lot deeper with that mental part of it.

Listen, the weight loss part, the food, what's eaten when it's not rocket science. That's not the hard part, right? It's learning to be able to maintain and sustain. Food noise, for example. So when we do downsizing, yes, you might notice that maybe your portions were creeping up and eating more food isn't going to cause you to gain weight. But you can also notice you're still dealing with food waste issues, food scarcity issues, able to lose your weight just fine, but still dealing with these underlying food waste issues.

So that food noise, it's really about rewiring that brain. Here, Sue, the biggest thing I've learned is that I need to unlearn the diet mentality. Oh, now that my weight is down, I can go back to eating how I did before. The diet is over. Right. And you were a product of how you were living your life before. So you do have to make changes. And I'm always so hesitant to say that because it seems like, oh, my God, it's so much to change.

You've already done the work. Yeah. You've already done the work. Like you want to be the person who goes away on vacation and not at the end of the week. You ate so much, drank so much, treated your body like garbage so that you can't wait to go back. home. You want to be that person on vacation who is feeling their best, having the best time, mindfully indulging and enjoying the desserts, the margarita. Maybe you were getting up early and going for a beach walk, which you never did before, or trying to get into a swim before dinner.

Like, do you know what I mean? Like, this is, who are you now? It's like this transformation. You have to complete the transformation. You have to own who you are now that you've lost weight. this is the part that no one else has figured out. You all know I go to all the obesity conferences, even weight loss medication. So I was at the recent one. And Ruth Kane, and I want to talk about Ruth in a second because she's the foundation of the changes that we've made to the maintenance program. She went to this like drug company and was like, so, okay, so when it stops working or

I get off and weight comes back, what do I do about that? They're like, oh, don't worry about that right now. we're working on something that's going to help you with that. They don't have answers. They don't know. You know when people stop taking medications, they gain that weight back. Why? Because the food noise comes back because they never addressed it.

Because they fall back into old habits because they didn't change anything. So this, these changes that you're making, that's how you're able to maintain and sustain your weight. So there are pillars. There are foundational pillars to the maintenance program. This program was created. It originally started out just as. a support group. There was no program. It was just a support group. That's why you might see members if you're new to Ed who kind of have been in here for a while. They come and go.

We created the program based on Ruth's research. What are the commonalities between people who are able to maintain and sustain their weight and people who had a harder time maintaining and sustaining their weight? What are things that people need to do and know and work on and work through to successfully be able to maintain their weight? The standard is two years. She actually just presented this information at the most recent obesity conference in Montreal. So you absolutely can lose and maintain your weight. I am a product of that for over 30 years. It's just nobody is teaching you this and there is work to do with it. And that's what we're focused on here. Yeah. And to speak on those pillars. Those pillars, we actually, it's public. Everybody can know what those pillars are, what this program

stands are. It's in the group. It's in the maintenance. Sorry, the welcome guide. It used to be called the maintenance guide. It's in the welcome guide. There's a post in there called program overview. And we go into those pillars. And it's like your roadmap of what we're talking about, what we're dealing with over the next, you know, 91 days. So you can find it in there. Program overview. A program specialist can help link it for you if you want. But you can see those pillars. These are, this is actual data, actual facts that Ruth and her team have collected and that we've been seeing in the group too. Like we listen to our members. We know what they're doing if they're successful. And, you know, if members are in that, in a bit of a blip, we know why. They're vocal about that. So we're learning from them. And they're learning from themselves.

So it's there. Yeah. If you are using the app to go along with the maintenance program, you have that whole Livy AI that. that is geared specifically to maintenance. So you can ask as many questions as you need with that. Some people are asking about recipes and whatnot. We're going to be loading those into the app. It's a soft launch with our app.

There's still some bells and whistles that we're going to add. So make sure you're constantly updating your app. And you have a couple weeks to kind of flip back and forth between this program and the maintenance, the weight loss program as well. So if you're looking for some recipes, you can pop back into the weight loss program and find those there in the app. I want to just give you a round of applause the whole new look and feel. Did you guys notice?

Oh, that's working so hard on a look and feel that she believes, we believe, is representative of where we are at now, having gone through the weight loss program. She worked very hard on that. I think it looks amazing. More importantly, it feels amazing. We want this to be a place where you can grab your coffee in the morning or your blast of wine at night and you can pop in, review the information, share, share how you're, what you're thinking, share how you're feeling, ask any questions, have support.

We want to be your partner. We want to see this through for you. We want you now that you've lost your weight to be able to maintain and really just move on and live your best life. And that is like solely our mission here for you. Yeah. You know, our members have elevated themselves. They've elevated their lives.

elevated their routines. They've elevated, you know, who they are. And they deserve a program and a group that meets them there that is also elevated. It also, you know, makes them feel part of this part of their journey. And we hope that we see them, they see themselves as part of this calm, but still fun community. We're not going to let go of that part. You know, we're going to still have a good time in here. So we want them to feel part of that as well. We want this to be reflective of where they are. It's an elevated place to be because you are elevated now. You've done that. Yeah. Terry is saying the app look the same. Am I missing something? So you should be in the maintenance version of the app. It's at the very top of the app. You can choose maintenance or you can choose weight loss program. And yes, it functions very much the same. In the fall, it's going to have its own look and feel. Color-wise, we'll be adjusting that. But use-wise, it works exactly the same as our weight loss app. So you can link directly from the app into the live segments, into the check. in videos in all the content. We are working on building the recipe guide, the exercise guide,

someone's asking about so all that is coming as well. So this is why you want to look for those constant updates. For now, though, if you have the membership, you can go into the weight loss guide and check out any recipes or have that exercise guide. You have access to all of the content in both programs right now for the next few weeks until we switch everything. over and then you'll have to decide where you want to live. Do you want to stay here in the maintenance program for the next for the rest of the 91 days or do you want to be over in the weight loss program? So we're going to give you a little bit of time there to decide. Yeah. And you know, Terry's comment to that the app look the same. It is going to look the same. Some of the language is

the same until we want to be different. The content is totally different. The content is all maintenance. You know, but the entries are going to look the same. The way it's set up is going to look. the same, but we are, it's evolving. I mean, we, that's what we do around here. We evolve. We grow. We learn from our members. You know, we learn from experiences that we're having. So this app is going to do that as well. But even as it is today, to open it up and have it at your fingertips like that to be able to navigate through, I mean, it's, it's, it's so user-friendly. It's, if you've been using the weight loss app, there's no new technology onboarding that you have to go through. It works the same way. So it's simple that way. But it's all of your information, all of your maintenance

information is there. Yep. And Terry's asking again, can we watch the experts from the weight loss? Yes, you will be able to do that. All of those expert conversations will be stored in the guides as well. So you'll have access to all of those. For anyone who is just on the previous way to purchase the program, which is a pay one price, get into the Facebook support group, you can still continue to use the app in freemia mode, obviously checking into the Facebook support group every day as well. So you'll have access to all the content in the Facebook support group. Yeah. So yeah, it'll take a, you know, a bit of time to get it, you know, locked and loaded. But we're working on it every day. So that recipe guide, like you said, is going to be created,

the exercise guide, the guest experts. You'll be able to watch this, these lives from this group in there as well. The food plan is in there. It works the same. Like I said, your topic guides are there. your weekly guides are there. So we're just, yeah, we're still working on getting it all loaded in, but it will be there. Yeah. And then after the 91 days is done, we are going to be doing our Libby Light summer program. So you'll have access to that, ongoing content. We're going to continue to upload new content, provide support and whatnot. Anyway, we got to get into day one. So before we go, what else you want to talk about with day one? What do people need to know? I think for day one, what people want to know is, you know, we talked about at the top, read the guidelines.

Make sure you read the guidelines. So you're super clear not only on what we're doing in terms of this week, but what the focus of the week is. So each week going forward, your guidelines are going to tell you what the tweak is. So what are we doing this week? What's the focus? And then why it matters, why you want to do it, why you want to really put, you know, put that time into reading those guidelines. And the other posts, you know, they're going to look familiar. So like, you're like, oh, I've read the coffee post before, but you haven't read the maintenance copy post. It's different. Yeah. So it's same but different and it's different in so many ways. That is really important. Show up with fresh eyes. Whether this is your first time through the maintenance,

first maintenance round or 10th maintenance round, show up with fresh eyes and say, what do you want to need right now today with this season of my life, right? Not just the season of the program. What, What tweaks do I need to make moving forward? As we roll into spring and summer, right? The things that you are going to be appealing to you will change. What's in season, food-wise, will change. Remember about making those small little adjustments. I will be going live.

So we're adding a new Q&A segment Tuesdays at 7 p.m. So if you want to come hang out with me Tuesday nights, we're going to do a Q&A. So come hang out, bring your questions. We're going to chat about it. And then Odette and I will be back on Wednesday. days. And if you can't join us live, they will be accessible in the guides. And you can also download and listen at any time by way of our podcast as well. Yeah. So I think I think that's, you know, the gist of it. We're here all week. This is your transition week. This is your get settled,

get comfortable week. I just had a comment from somebody in the group that I wanted to say. And it was from Joanna. She said, this is my first time in the group. I'm so relieved to see everyone else here doesn't have it all figured out yet either. Oh, God. Julian, we don't. We don't, we don't don't even have it figured out yet. No. So it's going to showing up. We're here. We're going to work through this together.

This community is nothing but amazing. So if you don't have questions, that's okay. You can still share. You can still comment because chances are if you're thinking it or feeling it, somebody else is too. And so that's what this is all about. This is a whole group of people who are just learning how to maintain their weight, live their best lives, feel as good as they can,

and just move on from this whole weight loss journey. Yeah. Like really, I would like be excited about it and be really open about it too. And, you know, also very patient and kind and compassionate to yourself. It's a lot. Like we are having the conversation. Nobody is talking about this. We've had a jump for over the like, like, what, three, four years ahead. Now we have learned so much from all of our members here in maintenance. Plus, Ruth has done hundreds, if not thousands of focus groups, surveys. Like we have really worked on what do you need to be able to truly maintain and

sustain your weight. And it really is, it's just, it's not anything anyone is talking about. So with that said, too, it shouldn't be a lot of work. And you'll never be behind. You're not missing anything. So if you can't watch some of the lives, can't watch some of the check-ins, no big deal. That's why I love the ab. You can just ask the questions, get the information. that you need pop into the Facebook support group. It's just like the weight loss. It's all about learning to maintain your weight one day at a time. That's it.

That's what it's all about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, you know, we've said this a few times. It's that mindset. This week is we're working on that mindset, change in that mindset. How you talk to yourself.

Oh, this seems really hard. Oh, this seems like a lot of work. Oh, this seems like a lot of information. Understand if that mindset is coming through, if that language is starting to come through and look at this as an opportunity. Yeah, it's going to be a little bit of work. but it's also an opportunity. It's a learning experience. It's a, it's a period of growth and building. So that's what that's the mindset. That's the language we want to have.

Who the fuck are you now that you no longer have to focus on weight loss, right? Even spending your entire life what feels like trying to lose weight. You did it. Now, who are you? Who, who do you know you want to be? This is an opportunity to design the life that you want to live, especially, you know, obviously the program is for everybody, especially in this, this midlife. It's all about that transformation that you're making back to yourself, right? After maybe raising your kids or spending time in your career or constantly compromising for this, for that, for making your way through all the bullshit you've been through in your life to truly now live that life that you're just, I had an opportunity.

Oh my gosh, to speak to a member. Wendy, hi, if you are, if you are listening and I'm not going to share it too much, but she recently went on vacation and she was so proud of herself for just the choices that she made and including making the choice to go away, which she wouldn't have done before. And so often in her life, she didn't put herself first. And sometimes we can't. But at some point, we have to reclaim our lives, right? And it was just she showed me one of her journal,

entries and she's like look what I wrote like I did this and I was just like oh my god I love this for you she's like I have changed I like just slowly but surely putting the time in day by day like who am I now right like who are you now and you might not even know but listen and I'm doing the same I'm trying to figure out what the fuck I'm doing with my life where I'm at and what my I don't some days as I said 28 minutes that's pretty good 20 minutes to drop an F-com I think you had one earlier. I don't know. You know, look out because I'm here to have fun.

We're in it with you. As you guys know, Odette's had a really rough last couple years. There are new members. You lost your father. You lost your sister. You kept showing up for us anyway. We were all in this together. And we're going to fucking get it done.

We're going to fucking get it done. We're going to be real about it. We're going to be honest about it. And, you know, nobody's, nobody's road here. nobody's, nobody's path is, is invalid or off limits. Like, if you're feeling it, let's talk about it. Let's, let's do it because that's how we're going to end up where we want to be. Yeah, love it. Love it. Love you. Thanks, everyone. We are so grateful. And we're excited. We're excited that you're going to be joining your job is to show up when you can, as often as you can.

So small little things that you're doing are add up. Take some time, though, today and reflect on your why. Because you're going to need that motivation along the way. What's your why? What's your why? What's your why? It's no longer moving down the scale. What is it? Have a fantastic rest of your day, everyone. Tomorrow night, join me for my first ever

Q&A. Bring it questions. Ask me anything. Ask me anything. We're friends now. And then I'll see you back on Wednesday. Of course, Odette will join you in the morning for the check-in. Have a fantastic day.

Thanks, Odette. Bye. Bye, everyone.