The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness: Midweek Motivation - February 25, 2026

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Welcome to your Midweek Motivation!In this episode, Gina and Odette shift the focus to what it really means to optimize and feed the metabolism, especially for those in maintenance. They break down why weight loss has never been about eating less and punishing your body, but about consistently giving it what it needs so it feels safe enough to let go of fat. From splitting up meals and snacks to eating to satisfaction and staying hydrated, the conversation reinforces that we feel our best when the body is supported, not stressed. Along the way, Gina challenges old diet culture narratives and reminds members that this process is about rebuilding trust with your body, strengthening your mindset, and creating the kind of metabolic momentum that makes maintaining your weight feel not just possible, but natural.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 Gina Livy and welcome to the Livy Method podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams for my 91 day weight loss program. With a combination of daily lives, guest expert interviews, and member stories, there is something new almost every day. Miss the morning live? Want to re-listen to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place. This podcast is hosted on ACAST, but it's available on all podcast platforms, including the one you're listening to right now, Spotify, Apple, and Amazon music. It's your maintenance midweek motivation.

Some of my favorite conversations are taking place here. Wake up, look good, feel good, no matter what life throws out you. You got this. Oh, man, I did that thing where I didn't think I had to pee and now I'm going to literally pee my pants, but that's okay. I'm here. I can do this. I think you're not the only one in the program that has that feeling.

I think we've all had that emergency. I'm going to pee my pants feeling. I was like, fine, I'm fine and fine. And then I'm like, oh, shit, what did I do? Anyway, let's talk about where we're at. And yeah, how are you doing? I'm good. How are you?

I mean, it's snowed again. So I'm reminded that we're still in a polar vortex. So I mean, I don't know how much longer we can talk about the weather. I feel like that's all I can talk about. Well, I want winter going to go away, but I also don't because we have, we bought like these three pack ski lessons. Not ski lessons, ski sessions. and skiing is not cheap, as you know. Well, I don't know if you know that.

Do you ski? Yeah, well, it's not cheap. Yeah. And definitely don't want to waste our ski sessions because we haven't been once. And so in one sense, I wanted to hurry up and be spring. But then I'm like, I got to get our spring sessions. We have two sessions books, so we'll see. Yeah.

I think you've got some time based on the weather forecast. I think the snow is going anywhere. Let's talk about where we're at optimizing feeding them a material. publicism, splitting up the meals and snacks. Gosh, you know, I know you and I talk about being able, like we used to be able to stream our guest experts and do a dual stream. And Facebook has gone and changed things for us, so it's not possible. But I really think it's worth airing the conversation that we had with Dr. Jason Fung yesterday. Did you listen to that? Yes. Yeah. So I listened to it when I, like, so I'm listening, and I think I like blacked out a

couple times. I'm like, what did he just say? And then I was like, wait, tune back in, tune back in. Because everything was, I mean, everything he said was amazing. Validating. And I know this is after the fact for our members who've already lost weight, but I think it will help, one, give them so much mad respect for how they went about and lost their weight and why all the effort they put into this will pay off and why it's going to help them actually be able to maintain and sustain your weight. Because he talks about how weight loss, it's not calories and versus calories out. because it's what it's, it's, if you ate cookies versus an omelets that are both 500 calories, what your body does with cookies would be so radically different than what your body does

with the energy that it receives from eggs. One is going to go immediately to store fat and one is going to be utilized for energy. Like that's, and that comes down to hormones deciding. So food contains calories. Yes, it also contains information that works with your hormones to decide what to do with those calories. So I talked about that. And so obviously then calories and versus calories,

I eat less exercise more, that's it done. Whereas sustainable weight loss is, yes, what calories matter, but where you get those calories from matter more, what your body chooses to do with those calories, which comes down to digestion, which comes down to nutrient absorption,

and comes down to hormones, right? And so that was really interesting. And it might be after the fact because you've already lost your weight. But I think you big picture, you'll be like, oh, my God, yeah, this is why I'm going to be able to maintain and sustain my weight because I did this work. And so that's where I think it would be a value for our hour. So if you don't know, Jason Fung is the author. He has a new book called The Hunger Code.

And he has also written the obesity code and diabetes code. And so his obesity code was geared around fasting. Of course, we did not talk around about fasting. He knows that's not what I do. It's still all relevant information. But he talked about different types of hunger. He talked about there's like physical hunger, right? There's emotional hunger.

And then there's hunger that's based on just everything that you've learned about food, your issues and associations all that tied into food. Conditional hunger. Conditional hunger is all that food noise, right? And so, yeah, I just think it's going to be a brilliant conversation for our members here to listen to. It's available on our podcast. I know that you can get the download and re-upload here. But I think it will really help our members in maintenance feel more calm and confidence about your ability to be able to maintain and sustain your weight just based on how you lost it.

But also now why these tweaks are important, if you're able to see them from a different perspective. So specifically splitting up your meals and snacks, right? you take someone who's tried not to eat most of their life and now you have to eat, which is why you have to eat that second portion. You split your meals in two, eat that first portion mindfully, pay attention, give that 20, 30 minutes for your like your GLP1 hormone to kick in and tell you that you've had enough and you are satisfied. And if you are not hungry for that second portion, still have that token amount, right?

Like that's like that in itself and you have to have that token amount because you don't want to go into that deprivation mindset, right? Also feeding into the fact that your metabolism, your metabolism is higher. Just understanding also importantly, how you eat. Like, do you sit at dinner Kim and I did the tweak this week this morning and people were like, well, I don't want to, my food will be cold 20 minutes, half hour later. And like how long, so you spend an hour preparing dinner, how long does it take you to eat your dinner? Like you're not sitting there for 20 minutes, enjoying your food, having social time with family. Dinner is supposed to be this social time that people want to make sure they can eat with their family, but then what are you spending 10

minutes eating? And that's it. Right. And as a mom, how many times did I, like, feed my kids and, you know, then eat cold food afterwards? Like, warm food was a luxury that I did not have when I had young kids, right? So just the overthinking that goes into it. So now that you've lost your weight, what is the things that you want to focus on. So, And just talking about Jason Hung, too, and that conversation, you know how with them. And you use the word validating. It's very validating, you know, everything that we're saying validates, but also validates that there is science out there. You know, there is research out there. He is an evidence-based doctor. He speaks on that quite a bit. What I also really love about him is his delivery. It's very simple. It is easy to understand.

And at first you're like, oh, what did he just say? that in terms that I can understand. Did he just say that in terms in a way and make these analogies that really clicked and it helps me connect the dots? So I think that's what's also very valuable about, valuable about him is his delivery and the way that he can explain it. So it's so, so, so easy to understand. Because when you say calories in, calories out, that's an easy concept for people to understand. When you say that's not it and then have to explain why that's not it, you think it's going to be this, you know, these big, long scientific words and medical jargon and all of this. And he makes it very simple. And he makes it actually and entertaining at

the same time. Yeah. Yeah. He's like simple and funny. Yeah. And he's not normally like that out there. I think I've been able to pull that out of him a little bit. He's a doctor. He's like, you know, very medical. He can be a little dry. But he's really passionate when you get into asking him about calories and versus calories out. It is a science. And it's reminding me today too. if you are not reading like the why it works post, right? And then we got to, we got to dig deeper into our own science behind the, the maintenance program as well.

I know that's something that we're working on for our next, our next live session. You're kind of missing out on that, like the why in maintenance. So I highly suggest you keep up with those. Does anyone know if the Hunger Code cookbook is linked to him or someone else trying to capitalize on his success? I think he has a diabetes code cookbook.

If you go on Amazon, on, it should fall under the person's name. So if it's not Jason Fung selling the book, because that's what happens to us when people do knockoffs, it's not being sold under me. It's being sold under someone else with the same headers. So look for that. Anyway, I digress. Oda.

No, and then just to go back to what you said about, you know, you did the tweak with Kim this morning talking about feeding the metabolism and people are saying, but, oh, you know, if I sit down and slow down, my dinner's going to be cold 20 minutes later. And I often think I actually was wanted to talk about it today, too. It's the anticipation of the tweak that's usually often worse than the tweak itself. Yeah. You know, like, my dinner's going to be cold 20 minutes later, but you don't know that for sure. You know, like you're anticipating that or you're anticipating like it's going to be awkward.

I have to pull out foods at a certain time that might not be the most convenient. Like you're already thinking in those terms. Like, what is that? Why are we anticipating this change, this tweak to be uncomfortable? When the tweak itself, really, when they start doing it, it's like, oh. That's actually not that bad. No. It couldn't be that bad.

Yeah. It's meant to make you feel uncomfortable and have you step outside of your comfort zone. And it's meant to have thoughts and feels brought up. I like this one from Carrie. I've developed a habit of often standing at my island to eat when I'm on my own. I definitely do not pay attention as I eat. I'm usually taking a bite between doing something. I'm stopping that today.

Right? And then, you know, Judy, during weight loss, I developed the habit of sitting at table during meals, turning off the TV and setting a timer to remind myself to slow down. I no longer need the timer, but I really enjoy the rest of my routine. The TV off is a non-negotiable as I eat. And so that's sort of where, you know, one can have you dipping back into old habits. So that's where you have to make that effort to reinforce your relationship now with food. What does food represent? When you sit down, what does that mean to you? We know that when you sit in a calm state, your food digest better, it absorbs better, you feel more satisfied with your foods.

And indulging isn't just overeating in the sense of fullness. Indulging can be smelling, indulging starts by cooking, the joy and love of cooking. The indulgment could be the conversation you're having around you or if you're by yourself, you know, the indulgence could be the smelling the food and actually tasting the food and being calm while you're or grateful consuming the food. right like this is like i i don't know if you guys are into doing um saying grace before you eat you know i don't i don't know that people do that as much now as they used to but that saying grace was like taking a moment and connecting with your family and being like here we are about to sit down

we're very grateful for this meal we are connecting with our family and we are taking a moment to to sit down you don't have to be religious or spiritual to do that i think it's like the intention of that is to be here I am about to eat this food I'm really grateful for. What is the meaning of this food for me? Right. I think there's a time and a place for on the go. You've got to eat something is better than nothing. But yeah, take a look at your life.

And if you miss enjoying food, what part of enjoying food are you actually missing? If you're not tasting it, you're not smelling it, you're not enjoying it with the people around you and you're just rushing your way through eating it. You know? Yeah. I mean, if you really, when you think about it, When if you people are, you know, when members have said, oh, I miss having the comfort foods. I miss having the, you know, my special treats or the junk food or whatever it might be.

Just like you said, what about it? Are you missing? Are you, you know, did you take, chances are if you were going through a drive-through, you know, to get something that you love. You're not taking the time to sit down and enjoy it and think about it. And I'm going to have this beautiful meal. It's going to bring me so much joy. It's like, no, I'm going to just eat this. The only satisfaction.

was in the flavor in that five minutes or in that feeling that food in your mouth for a few minutes. It wasn't about the whole experience. So I think like you said, like think about exactly what, what are you missing? What are you indulging in? It's the whole experience. It's that sitting down with your food. You know, this like Carrie said, if she's just at her island eating between other things, there's no enjoyment in that. It doesn't matter if it's the most delicious French fry or this beautiful whole foods meal you prepared. If you're just taking bites in between being totally distracted, There's not enjoyment in that either way. So it's not necessarily the food.

It's the whole experience of it. Yeah. And that's okay to be like, oh, you just need to eat something. You've got a million things to do. Like, I'm not saying every single meal. You have to sit down and do a whole meditation before you eat. Like there are times where you just got to eat and eating something is better than nothing. And I got to do it while I'm on my phone and texting and all of that.

But if like that, how is that affecting? Like you have to take a bigger step back at your relationship with food. And what are your issues now? now that you're in maintenance with food. And, you know, that's what tends to pop up with this week this week. Um, use four steps like it's your job. Yeah. You want to do it now so you don't have to do it later. And, you know, that post came out yesterday. And it was, it was a little bit polarizing a lot of the comments on there. We touched on them on the check in today. But, but some saying that, you know, I use them 50% of the time or I'm really good up to step three.

and then step four is like, I forget about it. Or some members that are like, I feel like I don't even need to ask these questions anymore because it's not like it's a step for me. It just is. It's just what I do. It's just who I am. So that's the part about, you know, building these habits. It's repetition.

It's practice. It's making them ingrained. It's having them be that part of what you do every day that's going to make it be part of who you are every day. Yeah. If you don't need to ask the four sets of mindful eating question, I'm expecting you know the difference, like when to eat. I'm actually hungry versus triggered versus habit versus like, oh, I need to eat now,

what to eat. Like, and I want to get to a place where I can, oh, I can like visually open up my fridge. I know what's in there. What am I hungry for? I actually just, I just had salmon and salad. So I'm not actually hungry at all. So it's hard for me to picture because I don't want any of it. But that's how I would go.

I would be like, okay, I'm hungry. What do I need to eat? Do I need fruits, veggies, salad, protein? It happens within seconds, right? how much to eat. Like I already know before I sit down if that's too much, not enough for me. Right? And, you know, Tony's plated me some food today.

It was already too much. My salmon piece was way too big. I ate it while I was on a meeting before I knew it. It was gone. I was like, oh, fuck. Well, it was good. Whatever. But like I already knew at that point could have cut a piece away and been like,

let's save this for later. And I didn't because I didn't take a minute. I was in a meeting and just ate it while I ate and ended up overeating. So it's not like I, I overeat it. accidentally, I already knew I was overeating as I was eating it because I had already decided before I ate, I knew it was too much. And so that's where you want to get to. If you are not there that you can 100% trust when to eat what to eat, how much to eat, keep asking those four questions. Do the work now. So you don't have to do it later, right? Like that's what that's about.

It's a practice. It's a routine. We're going to start talking about automatic so that you don't have to, so you might not need to have to answer those questions to be able to maintain and sustain your weight, but that doesn't make it easier for you in the long run to be able to maintain and sustain your way. You need that automaticity to kick in, not when everything is sunshine and rainbows. You need the automaticity to kick in when you are going through stressful periods in your life, when you are dealing with situational change, when things are difficult, that's where you need that automaticity to kick in, right? So that's where you want to do the work now. And these you know, we talk about these four steps as, you know, do the work now, you'll always have them.

You know, there could be these ebbs and flows where you, you know, it could be a couple of years from now and you're like, okay, I need some support. And maybe that support comes in those four steps. Maybe that's what you need in the moment. You will always have them. You could be, you know, rolling along and everything feels great. And then all of a sudden, you're like, okay, I need to just slow down here. I need some extra support. Something is going on. So, you know, you can always pull back those four steps whenever you need them. Yes, the point now is to do them over and over again so they become more natural. They become part of you are. They become automatic. And your belly will always tell you, even if you feel like you need more support in the moment, really what you need

is just to get back into your belly for just a moment. And those four steps can help you get there. Yeah. These are all great questions from Carol, Debbie and Bab. If you ever part of the program, it's been a game changer, although I have to admit, I still forget to do this every now. And guess what? I overeat when I don't take time to ask myself these questions, right? So that's a sign. Keep asking. Like, double down like it's your job because you will get to a point where you won't have to ask.

But then that's where you'll, like, you won't be then overeating because it's just you'll know, right? Slowing down. This program has given me the tools to slow down. Feel the emotions that pop up. Love that. And listen to how my body reacts. In the past, I just kept moving, thinking that busyness will keep things in check. And this is a lot of people.

their bodies were feeling a need to store fat because they just kept going all day long without eating. And I am guilty of this where if I am really like zoned in on doing something, I, like I probably still wouldn't eat. I mean, it's only 12, 22, but I've been sitting here. And the reason I sat at my desk is because I have meetings back to back to back all day and wouldn't have eaten if Tony didn't bring me food. Right. But I know that about myself.

So I have to be extra mindful to be like, why am I irritated? right now. Oh, yeah, shit, I need to eat. So understanding more about yourself. And then Bab, I discovered, what I discovered is I didn't need to eat as much of the second half. My stomach felt satisfied. I'm always amazed how giving just an extra bit of time when eating your brain catches up to the true feelings of your stomach. Think about the way we live our lives, right? Like everyone is like, oh, well, I have to have dinner. I can't eat anything weird at dinner because I have to eat with my family. And yet, are you really indulging in that? Like, We created these, the thing is that we don't actually need more food at lunch or more food at dinner.

Right? It's not like you can eat more food and have it last you longer. So we created these social times to sit down and eat. We're also, you know, not meant to be sitting down and eating so often throughout the day with all these meals. Like back in the day, we would catch food, prepare food, maybe have one big meal a day and that's it. Right. So obviously our stress has changed. Our routine has changed all of that.

But we wouldn't be sitting down, like we would sit down and eat our food, probably socially around people, or we would eat small portions on the go, right? And we've just created a society now where we just don't take time to, you go to Europe, and people are sitting there for hours eating their food, hours eating their food, right? So it's just different. Like what kind of food culture or relationship have you created, not just with food, eating food, eating food. Yeah. I think that that feeling of busyness and pushing through, I think that comes a lot from from old diet dialogue and old diet culture as well and letting that

resurface. I think, you know, if you've struggled with your weight for a long time, that shame of eating, you know, I shouldn't be eating because I'm overweight. I shouldn't, I shouldn't be doing that because I'm overweight. So then you're like, hurry, I'm going to hurry and eat it. I'm going to just get it done. I'm just going to. get it in. So I don't have to think about it. I don't have to see it. Nobody else will see me. So there's that rush can come from that place as well, almost that old shame, that old guilt, that old fear like I shouldn't be eating because I don't deserve to be eating because of the size I am or because of the choices I made. I haven't earned this meal. So I need to quickly get it in before

anybody else can make me feel any more guilty than I already feel. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's real. It's a real feeling. And that doesn't go away. way, you know, overnight. Like, you know, I don't say, I still struggle with this, but sometimes, you know, you're, you're in the pantry and you're like, oh, I really want that, whatever's in the pantry. I'm just going to eat it before anybody sees me eat it. You know, like, like that, like that thought can come up again or that, you know, when Michelle was talking last week about that trauma, it's, it's not the thing that happened. It's how you, it's how it made you feel. It's that wound that it opened it.

So eating itself wasn't the action that made you feel wrong or made it feel wrong and it wasn't the reason you had to eat fast. It was how it made you feel or how somebody else was going to make you feel. So now you may still want to eat quickly so you don't have those same feelings coming up for you. Well, I'm seeing Cass here. Are the only person who's uncomfortable is my husband who clearly doesn't understand what or why I'm splitting like this this week, right? And I'm thinking like, how many times have you sat at the dinner table being on a diet and trying to not eat food, right? And this was like, right?

Like we wouldn't think about that. Oh, I'm on a diet. So I'm just trying to eat a small little amount of portions. Like how many times have we been at a table on a diet trying to not eat food rather than really working on, you know, slowing down, eating that first part of our food, you know, giving our body time to process and digest, really assessing how we are. feeling, our relationship with food and all of that before we consume that second port. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, this is like, I get that, right? That's hard to explain some people who aren't doing the program. But it could just, because it could, is it uncomfortable because you're making your husband sit there for 20 minutes while you do this, right? Like that,

for Tony, that would be very uncomfortable for him because he's used to eating fast and getting up. And now we have a new dining room table. We're changing that. We're actually spending time at dinner, hanging out and talking, which is like, it's a different, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's uncomfortable. Yeah. What are we going to talk about? We're just looking at each other across the table. Yeah. Here's Sue. I, I, I relate, I did a lot of car hiding and eating back in the day or, or Dave's like the old. If no one sees me eat it. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. So all of those feels back. Yeah. And I think that still comes up. It still comes up to this day, especially when you have to do something that doesn't feel normal or it doesn't feel like it's how it should be done. Splitting your mouth and snacks is not

normal. It's uncomfortable. It, you know, it's inconvenient. And you're like, why are those feelings coming up again? And it's just, this is just another one of those examples, another one of those tweaks where we're trying to help you figure things out, right? We're trying to help you figure it out so that when something bigger comes along or something else comes along, you're going to be able to figure it out. You make things work. And big picture with the maintenance program too is we do that personalizing the plan in the end. And if you are done doing your rounds of solidifying your weight, this is where you're going to move on to that stage where you are personalizing the plan and getting one step closer or just waking up, looking, feeling good and living your life, right? That that's the next evolution of this maintenance phase for you. So to as many rounds of the maintenance program live sessions as you need to solidify your weight, feel confident, mentally and then you want to move on to personalize the plan that's where you really need to be able to when do eat what eat how much to eat although when you are personalized in the plan you are still

checking in at every single meal and snack time and assessing your situation maybe choosing to stop using the scale if you haven't already done so you know you're kind of phasing into that just learning to trust phase where then you are going to be like I don't need to check in at every meal and snack I'm just going to wake up look good feel good trust that I know how to maintain my weight, right? And so, yeah, so that's the bigger picture of all of this is helping you to get to that place where you can trust that. So you're no longer following a program anymore. What's coming up, end of the week? What do you got going on? Do you have any guests coming this week? What are you doing? Yeah. So we have, so tomorrow we have the why it work.

So like you said, this is a post that a lot of people should. Most people, I think everyone should read. It actually dig into like what is happening inside of your body? What is happening inside of your brain when you work through these tweaks. So we're going talking about that. We're revisiting protein fats and carbs. So just to give you a bit of a reminder if you want to, you know, you don't have to change things up, but if you want to change things up, you can. And then Friday, we have Dr. Paul here. So, yeah, Dr. Paul is coming to talk about mood, how to support your mood, how to do a mood reset, because your mood can play into decisions you make each day. It can really make, have an impact on your choices. So it's one of those things that can have you thinking right away, what's wrong with me,

what's wrong with me instead of what's going on with me? So it's how does this time of year affect your mood? How do your hormones affect your mood? And how can we just realign it so that you can just feel like you are moving through each day making the best decisions you can? Or when you feel like you don't want to make those best decisions, this could be a reason why. So, I mean, we always love Dr. Paul. And I just, so I'm happy to have him here. You still have to have like conversations in here to and talk about different things, right? Like he wants to get into that piece of it, I would imagine, because that's what he does. He tries to get people to a place where they can be healthy and move forward with their lives,

you know? Right. And I think our members are ready for those conversations beyond, you know, what they, you know, just having that optimal health, helping them rebuild, helping them build that optimal life and that feeling, they're ready for those conversations. So it's not a lot of repetition with our conversations. It's not like Dr. Paul already talked about that. who's coming back to talk about it again.

This is something new, something fresh. And all of us previous conversations, we still have them. But that's what I love, too, about, you know, our members and the level that they're at and the conversations they're ready to have. Great. I'm ready to pee. Okay. You should go.

Bring you down the level of conversations that we're having. You should go. I'm going to end this the way I started. I did it. Yay. Yeah, get curious. Get excited. Like, what do you hear?

Like, what's the opportunity for your growth? What do you learn? What do you need? That's what this is about. What do you need? Okay, got to go. Thanks, everyone. Yeah. See you bouncing. Get out of here. Okay. Bye. I'm going to chat. I'll just get off. I'm assuming okay. Okay, bye. You're good. Bye. Bye.