The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness: Midweek Motivation - January 21, 2026

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Welcome to your Midweek Motivation!This week, Gina and Odette get real about the fear of change and the trap of doing the same things over and over, especially when they’re no longer working. Drawing on a powerful member comment, Gina reflects on her own struggles with stress, grief, and denial, and the moment she realized knowing what to do wasn’t enough, she had to do it. From shifting routines to addressing deep emotional triggers, Gina and Odette break down how life, hormones, and old habits can sneak up on you, and why staying the same is sometimes the very thing standing in your way.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've got this. You've got this. Do we though? Do we? Do we've got this?

Well, I think you believe it until you make it true. Make it till you make it? Yeah, think it till you make it. Say it till you believe it. Take that action. Change that thought. pattern, reprogram. You do. You've got this. All right. I want to get right into it today. I was just reading this comment from Ellen. My weight is going up for the first time in six months, not doing

anything different. And I was like, that's the problem. And then I actually read your next comment. The takeaway of this is you may need to do something different. The thing is like, like, if you're not changing the things that you're doing, for sure your life is happening around you and changing. Like even if you're completely static, you need to be adapting to the. the seasons, what you eat in the summer, different from what you're eating in the winter, what you're, the movement you do in the summer, different than the movement in the winter, your metabolism in the summer as opposed to its natural inclination to put you in hibernation mode in the winter, the access to the sun and the vitamin D in the summer versus the lack of

sun in the winter, right? Like this, it's awareness. Yeah. It's like, so much of it is aware. It's like, you know, I hate to beat a, you know, beat a dead horse with what I've been through the last couple years, right, the stress of running a company, my kid with her, you know, mental health and addiction issues, my kid's dad dying, me going through menopause, all of the shit I went through. Like, I wasn't changing what I was doing. That was the problem. And I was so pig-headed or bullish because I'm a tourist, but I know what I need to do. I know what I need to do. but I wasn't really doing the things that I needed to do. I needed to stop drinking a bottle of wine every night.

I needed to stop eating chips for breakfast. I needed to tell people, no, I cannot do this. No, I cannot do that. I needed to tell my kid, that's it, kid. Like, shape up, ship out. I cannot be responsible for you. Like, I had to make some hard, core decisions and choices. The problem with all of it was I wasn't doing.

doing anything different. I was just like, I know what I need to do. I got this. This should be enough. And it wasn't that I wasn't doing a lot. I wasn't doing the things that I needed to do based on where I was at and what's going on in my life. Plus, if I can add, like your body changes. People get so stuck on portions having that one egg, two egg every day. Like six months a year after maintaining your weight and losing it in a healthy way, your metabolism is higher. Your energy output is different. So you're just having the one egg every day when what you need is three eggs some days, right? So that's where you got to make that adjustment. So I love that you put that out there.

Yeah. I think this can also come from a place of fear, you know, of the, they don't want to let go of something that they thought worked so well for them. Like this worked so well for me. If I deviate or if I change or if I, you know, do something different, then that's not going to work for me. Like they're afraid. to move forward. They're afraid to make a shift because anytime maybe in the past they had made a

shift, things didn't go the way they wanted to or it's perceived as not being in control or not you know, doing the thing, doing those things that you thought worked for you all the time. So it's, it's being able, it's, it's that trust piece. It's that confidence piece. And it's that moving through that fear, not festering in that fear. Like if I change something, then it's all going to be bad. Like I can't trust my gut. I can't move forward. I need to just hold on and control what I'm doing because that's that's what I know worked for me before. And I don't want to believe that I have to change and do something different. Oh, that's a good point, right? Like, people would have to be slightly terrified of gaining their weight back if they change anything because that's what's happened to them before.

Like, oh, my goodness. I love what Sue said here. I'd ask Ellen about her age. Well, first of all, we love Ellen for putting us out there. Yeah. I was just talking about that. not to talk about her behind her back, but it reminds me of, I'm part of this like business thing that I do. And one of the things we do is we, we tell people, we share the, the issue that we're having and we share and people ask us validating questions. And then you turn your back. And they talk about like, I wonder if Gina realizes this or I wonder if Gina's thought about this. And Sue brings up Ellen's age maybe, right, where look at me, right? able to easily maintain my weight and then this kind of shitstorm of all these things perfectly

aligning which then just caused my way I gained like 20 pounds in a month I went to my doctor I'm like something is wrong with me I'm just I'm I'm following my food plan I know what I need to do this is what I do for a living what is going on with my weight now turns that I did have a gastro issue that h pylori where I had to take into biotics but there was other stuff going on too right so so yeah like Where are you at? How are you feeling? What's going on in your life? What is this about? Are you in the moment? Are you adapting to situational change, physical changes? Like, that's where you have to get that curious and investigative. Because, like, you're not just going to gain weight by eating healthy, nutrient rich foods. Right? Like, you're not. Because the science tells us good healthy, nutrient rich foods don't cause us to gain weight. High stress, lack of sleep, long periods of time without. You eating again. Those are a combination, right? Menopause obviously is a big one. You know, what's going on there? What's going on there? Yeah, I think that's such a valid point that, you know, when she says my weight's going up for the first time in six months, like that is,

that's a big seasonal change. That is big situational change. That can bring stress. That can bring that, you know, change of events in your life. That can bring so much more like, yeah, I'm doing all the same things. I'm following the food plan. That I should work. And not wanting to think about what else is there, that stress, that situational change, like we said, like all of those other things that could come up. That's what we know can make the big difference. And I think it's just letting go of this. Yes, like maybe it is just wanting to be stubborn and holding on to, you know, what works. But it's also this fear piece, I think, is really what we want our members to take away.

Like, don't be fearful of making that change. You're supporting who you are now. That's what this week is, supporting this place where you are now, this body that you have now. And it could be a different body from even just six months ago. You know, your body could be changing. It doesn't have to be on this grand scale where, you know, it takes all of these years and so much time for you to make change. Your body could have shifted just in six months. And yes, an age can be a part of it.

You could be going through those different seasons of life when it comes with your age. Yeah. And this, I mean, and people have the tools and the skills to do that. Right. Like I can't tell you how many women I've spoken to who they're having a hard time with their weight. Their thing is always like, well, I'm eating everything you tell me and drinking my water. And then I get into like, how's your stress? Fine. Okay, on a scale of one to 10, what's your stress? Well, it's low, like four, five. Like, I'm not really stressed. And then I get in and I'm talking to them. And they're telling me how, you know, they're working three jobs or they're taking care of aging parents or their niece and nephew is staying with them for whatever reason or like it just starts. And I'm just like, Okay, do you hear what you're saying to me? This, when I say it back to them, they're like, oh, yeah, that seems that's, I guess I'm stressed more than I realized, right? And then you say, well, what things are you doing to manage your stress?

And they don't have a lot of tools in their toolbox for that, right? They're not really looking at it as being a problem. Therefore, they're not doing anything to help themselves, you know? So sometimes we just don't realize we're in that survival mode or I was like, I swear to God, when I was having all my 10 kids, I was like in denial mode. And I just kept having kids because I think I was in denial about having so many kids. Like I didn't want any kids. How did I end up with four?

I'm fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Right. So we don't know. So that's where you have to be intentional, I think, about being investigative. Like if you were your, if you could like be outside of yourself, look at what you're,

what's going on physically, what's going on mentally, environmentally. what do you think it is? Why do you, why do you think that your weight is going up? Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Getting to that place where it's curious. And I, and I love that Ellen just put this out there because this, this is the first step, right? We talk about awareness so much. We talk about learning so much. She knows something's going on. You know, I think deep down, you know, something's going on because you don't, you know, you don't necessarily verbalize that or put it out there if you feel like everything's fine. What I'm doing is fine. Everything's fine. things good. And that's part of your intuition as well. That's part of your gut talking to you and

you listening. I think that's a that's a confidence builder there like, okay, I'm noticing something's wrong. I'm going to say it out loud instead of like, nope, what I'm doing is fine. I'm in control. I'm controlling everything. And, you know, that's not listening to your gut. This is, this is a first step in listening to that intuition, listening to that inner voice, listening to those messages that your body's giving you and putting it out there. And for so many reasons we don't trust that, right? Fear being wrong. Fear being like are, you know, being too pushy, too confident, too whatever, trying to make

everybody happy. Like there's been times in my life. My comeback book is about this. The comeback book. I don't know. You know, it's available if you're, if you're, I'm getting lots of great feedback from this book. It's a readiness book.

But also a recognition on where you are at book. And so many times in my life, whenever my life has kind of gone sideways, you can hear that in my voice even saying it is when I just didn't, I didn't trust my gut and trust myself and listen to my voice. And I always put it out there as people don't listen to me. They're not listening to me. But really, I am not listening to myself, right? And it's so easy to get sidetracked in your life. There's a couple great comments in here. I want to talk about, where did they go? Sometimes it is changing, supporting a new body when the mindset is still in weight loss mode. Yes. That one too from Kim.

Yeah, right? Because we've only ever known how to lose weight versus now when we're in foreign territory with maintaining it. I have never kept the weight off this long before. And some days I feel like I'm flying by the seat in my pants. Right? And then this comment here, the fear of your own set point being a little higher than you want or if your weight starts to go up and we go into that panic or restrictive or

punishing mindset, oh my God, or sabotage. Look, here we go again. I can't bear it. So I'm just going to, you know, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I knew it. This program didn't work. I wasn't going to be able to maintain and sustain my weight. And it's not as your set point is a range, right?

Like that's, so like say you wanted to be 140. Well, when you saw 140, you did that by every single day trying to see one, your lowest low. And so when you, you know, start implementing more carbohydrates, we're like, you know, breads and pauses that don't cause real weight gain, but your body retains more water in order process and digest those, right? So I, my, my scale is about my weight range is like 120 to 130 through menopause. It went way up to like almost 150. 152, I think I saw. 152. And so I haven't, I haven't, I haven't, I've seen like 127 when I'm really trying and everything's on point, but I haven't seen 120 in probably four years. Now, do I even want to be at 120 again? I don't know,

But like right now I know I'm still got a lot going on just coming on. I'm like now in postmenopause. And there's still some lifestyle changes I can make. But that's my range. That's my range, right? In the summertime, my weight goes up higher because I, you know, drink beer and I eat chips and I enjoy life a little bit more and more relaxed as opposed to the wintertime where I can get into a really good routine. So it's not your set point. Isn't one number.

It is a range. And so if you decided, okay, I reached 160 was my goal weight and now you've been in maintenance and you're like, okay, you know, I'm sitting around 165, then maybe your goal weight is really more like 155 to give you that range, right? Not to say that you have to go and lose more weight, but if you're not happy at the 165 maintenance range, then maybe it's time for you to focus on losing weight again. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with like, I would like, I have extra weight.

I would like to lose a few more pounds. So you don't have to settle where you're not happy. But what you can't do is continue in maintenance and then be upset that the scale isn't moving, right? Like that's the hard part. Yeah, I think that is the hard part because we talk about this. You know, you're trying to get to your lowest low. And then we see this all the time with our maintenance members. We know this is a challenge.

it's a struggle. It's like I'm up three pounds from my lowest low. I'm up five pounds from my lowest low. I'm up eight pounds from my lowest low. But there's never there's been, no, I don't say never because our members that have been around for a while, it's starting to happen for them. This connection that's like, I'm up five pounds from my lowest low, but I feel the exact same. I'm up eight pounds from my lowest low, but my clothes fit the exact same. It's that connection of, of, I'm up from my, I'm up five pounds. my lowest low, but what? Like do I, but do I still feel great? Or do I feel like maybe there's something else going on? I think it's that connecting the dots and that connection. Like make that statement, but put a, put a reason to that statement. Get curious. Why is it? Okay. So I'm up eight pounds from my lowest low, but I feel the same. My clothes feels fine. I feel energetic. But I, you know, did this, this and this over the last couple days. I think when we start to make those connections and

connect those dots, that's going to make that range even more comfortable. Not just seeing it and being like, oh, I'm up five pounds. That's my range. Oh, I'm down two pounds. That's my range. But why? What's going on? Get curious. Connect the dots. And that's going to make you feel more comfortable in that range. That's where I love the gesture weight before you get on the scale. Yeah. Right. Like I've got this ear and throat thing happening right now. So last night I took a whack of drugs. So I didn't need to get on the scale to tell that I was bloated. My digestive system is sluggish from all the drugs I'm taking. like although you know like i slept i didn't really get a good restful sleep so i could easily tell where my weight was up today and why right so that's a good like kind of guess your weight

based on how you are feeling i like this comment from christina i wanted to be 160 then 150 i'm now in the 138 to 45 range just followed the program and my body did what it obviously needed me to do well here's what here's what i want to read mary's here too i thought it was at my goal so i joined the maintenance group, but I've discovered I'm not. Now I'm in the winter program as a squad leader. What an amazing motivation. Right? Like you're allowed to change your mind and where you're at. And this is one of the cool things that we're doing with our app is where you can kind of like kind of go between programs to weight loss program maintenance program, kind of check on where you're at. I don't want to get into any up stuff right now because I don't have the energy for that.

However, I do want to talk about Colleen here. I've been on maintenance for a year and a half until I went to Mexico, been up five pounds since then and haven't been following the program. And I feel like garbage, bloated, no energy, stomach pains. I don't feel like that when I'm following the program. I mean, what is the program? Yes. Right? Is that where you're going with this?

Yes. Odette, and for all you guys want it, Odette to send notes and talking points, gives me an idea to help keep me on track with these conversations. My thing is where, or what is the program, you've been in maintenance for a year and a half. I'm assuming you're just living your life, right? Like you are past beyond. solidifying your weight. You've kept your weight down now. You've been through a cycle of a year of stuff. So I would check like what is going on in your life first of all. And it's probably not the

program, but you're probably not moving your body. You're probably not managing your stress. You're probably staying up watching Netflix or whatever you're doing. Your food choices are a little off, maybe not getting that water in. And this is where the motivation changed just from needing to lose weight, needing to maintain your weight to doing these things because you feel good, right? You have to be healthy in order to lose weight. And this feeling that you have of not feeling good is probably because you're not doing those things that maintain your health and wellness, right? Like going back into old habits, for example, is causing your weight to be up or you're just not feeling as good. You could also, it could be as simple as you caught a bug, like while you're away on vacation.

That's happened to me where I went away to Bahamas one time and came back and had like a stomach bug needed an antibiotic for it, right? I just felt like garbage and whatever. So it could be something as simple as that. But what did you want to say about this? That's exactly. I wanted to, I really focused in on this word program because I haven't been following the program. And I'm like, is it the program or is it the principles that were that you learn here, right?

I know we've talked about principles before. It's their principles, their habits, their. their actions. Maybe that's not what's happening right now. So it's not about following this program of 91 days, doing the tweaks every single week and, you know, following how the, how the food plan changes and putting your focus on downsizing one week and feeding the metabolism. That's, that's the program. What I think you're with calling, it's those principles, like you said off the top, right? It's, it's making sure you're getting leafy greens. Are you only getting them sometimes? Oh, sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I am.

Is it your hydration has changed? You know, you know that you work well within this range. And maybe you haven't been getting there because Mexico or whatever has been has changed that routine for you. It's those basic principles that we want to always remember and carry forward. And that's what we're learning here. We're not learning to live the program forever. We're learning to take those principles and use them day in and day out. Like you said, so you're feeling good.

You're feeling your best. I feel like garbage. I have stomach pains. I have no energy. well, that's not only the, it's not the program that's going to do that for you. It's those actions and those habits and those principles that are, that you implement each, you know, each and every day that are going to make the difference. I love that. The principles or the sustainable lifestyle changes. And maybe you're popping back into old habits like that the program is the system or the

method to help you lose weight. The system or the method to help you actively maintain your weight. And then you would be more in the living your life phase a year and a half. after maintaining your weight, right? We don't want you following a program, but following those principles is, is, that's huge. Yeah. So that's where I wanted to go with that, is that sometimes it's that language.

It's that narrative we tell ourselves. I have to follow a system. I have to follow a program. I have to, you know, do this regimented, structured thing where now it's just a system, it's your own personalized system you've created. You put those principles into play the way that works for you, your habits and your actions at that point.

are are reflective of a way that works for you, not reflective of the 91 day program. That's what you want to get back to. You want to get back to that, to those principles. Or it could be something as like you have been easily maintaining your weight. So you stop taking supplements. And now we're in like dead of winter and your, your vitamin D levels are low. And it's affecting your energy. You're not taking your magnesium anymore. Like it could literally be something as simple as that where we're not even looking at, you're looking at maybe something is wrong or what's going on or I, you know, I got to do this or I got to do that. and maybe you're just your vitamin D levels are tanked and you need to reevaluate your supplements, right?

I'm not feeling really good and low energy. Like it could be like you. Oh, Dad, like recognizing your iron is low. Like that's not something that we talk about in the program because that you don't want to be just taking iron. Um, you're checking with your doctor. But it could be something that's completely unrelated and you're just, your iron level is low. And all the everything in the world is, you know, all the healthy eating and moving your body and managing your stress. it's not going to fix that if your iron is low.

So it could be something like that, right? That gets get investigative. What is going on with me? Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. So I love that Colleen brought that up too.

And I think a lot of our members might feel that way that have been here. I mean, just to be clear, like we have members here who had just starting maintenance. Maybe they've been with us for run. But we have members that have been here for support for a couple of years. They go. They come back. They go. They come back.

And a lot of our members. long-term members who have been here a year and a year and a half could be feeling this way, right? Something shifts. Something changes. Those habits and principles are, you know, put to the side a little bit. And then they're like, why don't I feel as good? What's going on with me? So I love that she brought that forward.

Can I just stop and just, and I don't want to make this about the app situation. But, you know, people talking about the, you know, the, there was never a lifetime. But buying the maintenance program as it was because it's evolved from just a support group. to now, you know, running the maintenance program 91 day proper. Like that is the benefit, right? Where we have had people who've been in here for years that go away for a year and then come back in and then, you know, ask for support and help. Like that, that's a huge massive benefit.

When people talk about the program, like that hasn't changed for those of you who purchased that and got in on that deal. You don't have to keep doing the subscription service forever, right? You don't have to keep buying the 91 day programs. And that's what we wanted maintenance to be initially was just a support group where if you felt like life was kind of going a little crazy, there was this place for you to pop in and say, hey, I'm struggling, pick up some tips and whatnot, right? And that's how it should be. Like, there are times where you're going to easily maintain your weight. And then other times you're like, whoa, what is going on, right?

Like what? And just be reminded of kind of some of the, you know, things that you can do to keep your weight in check there. This might this just makes me what you just said there takes me back to that comment we had from Kim where she said she felt like she was flying by the seat of her pants sometime and I think that can be so normal especially if you're just starting your maintenance journey right you're like what am I doing here what's going on I am I coming or going I think that can be normal you that can be normal in any situation too like you get a new job and you might have an onboarding session you might do training but at the same time you're like I don't know what I'm doing here day to day. It could be raising kids. I don't know what I'm doing here day to day. I'm flying

by the seat in my pants. But with time and with routine, that's going to start to feel a little bit better. Like if you're just here and you feel like, I don't know what's going on, I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Just keep checking in. Keep coming back. There is a system. There's a structure here. And that's going to get easier. You might feel like you're flying by the seat of your pants, but you're actually doing exactly what you need to do. Yeah, such a good point. O'Dededed, if you are new to the program. This is, it is the maintenance program is same but different. It is built on science and different pillars from the weight loss program. And you may think that you kind of know it all from before the weight loss program. It is different. The intention, it's all about intention. The intention is different in

maintenance. So make sure you are reading over the pillars that the program is based on. Make sure you are reading over the guidelines. And I would say all the information as well, if you have the capacity for that, because it is all geared towards maintenance, right? So this is a, about intentionally, actively solidifying your weights or your new weight becomes your new norm or your new set point, which we know is actually a range, right? So I just want to get back to that. So this week, we are all about being really consistent and optimizing our efforts. Next week, we're going to be rolling into mindfulness. So what do you want to, what do you want to say for people the rest of this week and then going into next week?

So for going into mindfulness next week, it, you know, a lot of our members think, I have to be mindful forever. I have to do this mindfulness practice forever. And yep, you do. But it's being mindful forever, but it's not a mindfulness practice forever. So we're going to get into what that's all about. I think people are like dreading like, oh my gosh, I have to do my mindfulness practice every day for the rest of my life for this to work. And that's not what it is. Of course, mindfulness is a big component, but it's also, if you want to,

if you need to shift the narrative from mindfulness to awareness, and that makes it more digestible, that's what you want to do forever. So that's what I want to know what people think about next week, that mindfulness is not just this practice. I mean, it is partly that. It's not just this practice where every day you have to sit and be mindful and meditate on everything.

That's not what it is. it is, but we're going to talk about that more next week. And the rest of this week, we taught, we brought up non-scale victories today. I feel like we don't talk about that enough in maintenance. Just because I know non-scale victories, the whole point is they're not tied to the scale, but, you know, it can, people can still think of them as physical. Like, you know, okay, my clothes feels, my clothes is looser. My wedding ring fits better, like those physical signs. But now in, in maintenance talking about these non-scale victories, I want everybody to just think, about it for a minute. Some of the things I'm reading were increased confidence in my knowledge

around food choices. It's the confidence. The scale goes up, but I don't panic. Those are non-scale victories that we don't talk about enough. Of course, there still can be some physical ones that can hit you in the face or you see in the mirror. When you take a minute to think, yeah, I am more confident. Yeah, my trust is slowly starting to creep back up. I'm loving the way that my body works now, not the way that it looks, but the way that it works. I saw a member today saying, I can get out of the bathtub easier because I'm not, you know, taking this extra weight with me. And you don't think about that. That's mobility. That's agility. That's not just, you know, your body is lighter. Those are those are little moments to celebrate as well. So going for the

rest of the week, that's what I want to be able to think about are those victories that maybe haven't been quite as obvious, but they are there. I like the what you said about the mindfulness. it is work, but it's that automatic. It's so that you just, you keep doing things right now so that just become automatic. It just becomes part of who you are. And then one day, you'll just be like, oh, and then you'll know when you start to feel off, you'll be able to say, okay, what's going on with me? What do I, what do I want to do. Yes. That's, that's what mindfulness is. It's not those four steps of mindful eating every single day for the rest of your life. It's the of like, oh, okay, I recognize that. Oh, okay. Yep. I accept that. Oh, okay. I need to start making change.

that's where mindfulness can go. Yeah. Love it. All right. Great conversation today. Well, I love having these conversations. I don't know about everybody else. But we always appreciate everyone your comments and your questions.

You know, I was thinking today the way we used to do this because, you know, Facebook changes its platform and stream yard. Remember we used to be able to like pull members in on the conversation and, you know, be able to highlight and share and whatnot. I miss those days. We used to bring members on with us and be part of the conversation. conversation when we had our way in Wednesdays and we have members come and join us and weigh in. Hopefully, you know, things evolve so that we're able to do that again. But we appreciate each and every one of you sharing your time with us today.

I hope you have a great rest of your week. Thanks again, Odette. And I'll see you next time. Thanks, everyone. See later. Bye.