The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness: Midweek Motivation - June 18, 2025

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

Welcome to your Midweek Motivation!In this Midweek Motivation check-in, Gina and Odette reflect on the current state of both the weight loss and maintenance groups, highlighting the different mental spaces members are in. While some are starting to eye the finish line, others are shifting into readiness for more autonomy—eager to "live the Livy way." The conversation explores how personalizing the plan is about more than just food; it's about trusting yourself, your body, and the choices you're making. They address common concerns with the current tweak—splitting up meals and snacks—and remind members that eating more often isn’t the same as eating more food. One member’s comment sparks a deeper discussion about portion perception, physical hunger, and the science behind weight fluctuations. It’s a reminder that the real weight gain doesn’t come from nutrient-rich foods—it comes from old diet mindsets sneaking in.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 Livi and welcome to the Livi Method Podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams from 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 relisten 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. To our mid-week motivational check-in! Week eight of the program. How are you doing, Odette? I'm good, how are you?

Good, good. It seems quiet around here, but I'm trying to still bring the hype, still be excited, because we are far from done, far from done. Over in the weight loss program, I always have this problem of people talking about the end of the program.

I'm like, yo, we have five weeks. It's a lot of time left. Are you getting that here in the maintenance program? Yeah, I feel like they're not talking about the end of the program because it's been a little, we are a bit different where the group has been continuous in the past. So they're not feeling like an end is coming.

I feel like I'm having members now saying, I'm ready to live the living way. I'm ready to move on from this. So I think that's where the difference is. It's not like, oh my goodness, the program's ending. You know, how am I gonna be supported through the summer? They don't, they're not looking at it that way. They're looking at, they want to be done with it.

They want to move on to the next stage. You know, one foot in, one foot out. So, so I think that's where they are. And rightfully so, And rightfully so. So tomorrow we're going to start the splitting up the meals and snacks part of the tweak this week. And then skipping right over that, we get to our revamp week and tweak, which is really what's going to give you a lot more flexibility over the summertime, which of course is the setup and the lead up to personal, well, sorry, personalizing the plan, which is really what, I mean, you can do as many rounds of the maintenance program proper, the 91 day program as you need. Just like doing continuous

rounds of the Libby method is super beneficial to help you reach your weight loss goals. Doing as many rounds as you need of the maintenance program is beneficial until you reach your weight loss goals, doing as many rounds as you need of the maintenance program is beneficial until you reach your maintenance goals or feel like you're ready to move on to the next stage, which would be personalizing the plan and doing that until you're comfortable to really just own it all and get to a point where you're living your life, wake up,

look good, feel good. So all of that, again, as a reminder, if you're wondering what's the point, it's leading you to personalizing the plan, which is leading you to just trust when to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat at the end, right? That's the end game for people. Yeah, and I think, you know, this whole personalizing the plan, our members, you know, if they've done it through the living method, lost their weight, which most of our members have, they they've done this before they've done this personalizing the plan they were excited to get there and here is also a big learning opportunity because they get to this place where they are

they think personalizing the plan is you know going back to the way they ate before like oh I can start adding these things in without being mindful or I can just um you know have a few extra bits and bites because I'm using it as a learning opportunity. I think this is still a personalized in the plan is still a place where you need to be super mindful of course you're still testing things out you know you are really listening to your body and you have that flexibility like you said with the revamp you have that flexibility in personalizing the plan to choose what your body wants to choose what your body needs and that's where those aha moments can come

from. And that's where that confidence can really start to grow when you believe that you can make those choices for yourself. I am just, I'm reading the comment here. I don't want to name names with this. Is it the same person for both comments? Yes. Okay. I thought that was interesting because I'm going to share a comment from one of our members and I'm so appreciative that she put this out there. I did split just about all meals and snacks and I gained some weight, which was very uncomfortable for me as it felt like it was too much food. So understand eating more often isn't eating more food.

I think that's really important. Also, it's so problematic to think that you are going to gain actual weight by eating good nutrient rich foods. Like there's science behind what we're doing here and you're not going to actually gain any weight. So you probably were eating too much food, especially if you were just serving one portion and then half hour later serving

another portion, right, instead of starting with that one portion, because I know a lot of people do that, rather than starting with that one portion and splitting that. So if you think that you it felt like you ate too much food, then you ate too much food. That's what we're learning here. Right. But even then, you're not going to gain any real weight by just eating more than you need when you're eating the foods that you're eating on the program. And my portions are not big at all. So again, this is like you're judging your portions on what they look like, not on what you feel like. And so that's is like you're judging your portions on what they look like, not on what you

feel like. And so that's what happens if you judge your portions of what you think they should look like, you might end up eating too much, or not enough at the end of the day. So of course, I'm going to be very tentative to indulge fully this second time. Okay, indulge. Like, I get what you're saying, like be all in, but it's interesting that she used the word indulge here. Well, probably just do what I'm comfortable doing. To me, that is such a lost opportunity. And I was like, and this is where I'm going with this. And this is why I didn't want to name names, because I don't want to

feel like anyone feels like I'm judging them. As soon as I read this, I was like, Oh, oh, oh, you especially have a lot to learn and work through here. Right? You especially should be doing this tweet because big picture is being able to trust when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat. And you don't trust that. You don't trust yourself. So you don't trust knowing how much you eat and you don't trust eating more food, which sometimes you may need more and that's your ticket to easily maintaining your weight. And then later on I see, this is a second comment, feeling very confused and down. I have worked so hard for a full year now on maintenance, my weight is inching up. Even when I went on a two week vacation to Mexico,

ate, drank, didn't work out, other than a walk on the beach, I came home and lost two pounds. I've changed nothing and so uncertain what is going on. So this is where you have to think big picture. One, it's so normal for your weight to fluctuate. So your weight that was up when you did your four days of feeding the metabolism could have been

because you did a workout, could have been because you were fighting a virus that week, could have been that you were extra stressed or busy, could have been that you weren't sleeping. Like all the reasons why your weight up, that's not real weight game. And so now I wonder with you thinking that your weight you gained weight because you just fed the metabolism that you're thinking every time the scale goes up, you're gaining

weight when fluctuations are really normal. And it's the part that you're feeling very confused and down. You are confused because you don't know it all yet. You're confused because you haven't got the mental part and understanding of it yet, which is so important. You are confused because you're just going to do what you're comfortable doing, rather than sitting back and trying to understand what you need to do and work through to have that deeper level of understanding,

right. And so this is where I was like, Oh, I'm concerned about this person that deeper level of understanding, right? And so this is where I was like, oh, I'm concerned about this person. And then of course, this is the follow up question, which I'm concerned. And that is like not really wanting to see what it is. And so if you've maintained your weight for a year, what has changed? Either you are not changing, perhaps you are so stuck on keeping your portion small, yet you've added in exercise, your body is healthier, your metabolism is higher, and you actually need more food, but you're so stuck on what you did while losing that you are not adjusting

to that. Could be that your stress levels have completely changed. Could be, could be a lot of things going on that if you're so stuck on keeping things the same, you're the problem. You're the problem. You need to change and adjust based on what's happening in your life, where you are in your life. I don't know whether maybe you weren't in menopause,

for example, when you lost your weight and now you're going through menopause and you're like, what's happening? And that's, you know, we hear that all the time, I haven't changed anything, and all of a sudden my weight keeps going up. So this is where you have to, even in maintenance, be curious, be investigative, learn what you need to learn.

And these tweaks are to help you learn that you did not gain weight in the four fucking days that you split up your meals and snacks, right? And I'm saying that with love And I'm saying that with love. Yeah, I'm saying that with love. And so where is that thinking coming from? Where is that thinking coming from? So this is where you have to say, what is going on here?

And you will continue to feel very confused and down until you get curious, investigative, let go and be here and learn. That's what this is about. Learning the skills and the tools that you need to not just lose your weight, to not just maintain your weight, but be able to live your life. Be able to live your life. And after you're in maintenance, there's still more for you to learn. There's still more for you to learn, which makes so much sense.

So, and again, I appreciate this share for sure, but that's sort of sometimes you can't see the forest from the trees and you gotta take a step back. I know I jumped the gun on addressing those. No, that's okay. I really wanted to address these comments because I think if one person is thinking that, that means there are others thinking that too. We're a group of almost 8,000 people.

So it's not just one person is feeling this way. We revisited the scale this week and using the scale and what's going on. And we had those mixed comments where some were like, I'm using it for accountability. I'm using it for confirmation. I'm using it to solidify my mindset and my trust and my calmness. That is some of our members.

But some of our members are still feeling ways about using the scale. You know, they're allowing that number to take up that space in their mind so they're not able to see, like you said, the forest from the trees. They're not able to allow themselves to become investigative because they're so focused on that number. And when this member says, I've changed nothing and I'm so uncertain what's going on, this is like, we're so like, have we changed nothing

because we're allowing the scale to tell us what's happening versus allowing ourselves, like you said, to be curious. I've changed nothing. Maybe there are 10 things you need to change at this point to your to your point before you are different now you are somebody different now you can't just the only constant is change, right? That is the only thing that we know. The only constant is change. And, you know, your mindset has changed your body has changed your knees have. What you did while you were losing your weight is I would almost guarantee is not gonna work for you now.

Of course that basic food plan will always be a calm, safe place or a familiar place. But so much about you has changed that you have to be open to change. You have to be open to, like you said, being investigative, being curious. And if you're allowing that number on the scale to just consume you so much,

then that capacity is not going to be there. Your whole approach is going to be to get the scale to move based on what you did before, not based on what your body needs now. That's it, that's it. I love this comment from Risa. Hi everyone. When Sandra Alia said, repetition creates progress. Yes, it. I love this comment from Risa. Hi everyone. When Sandra Alia said repetition creates progress.

Yes, it's the whole foundation of the program. It was one of my favorite quotes that I'm living by. It doesn't matter how many times I do the program. I'm learning and growing and I feel so ready for maintenance. So that's exactly it. The program doesn't change. Science is science. The method is the method. You, you are changing. You are changing weight loss program to weight loss program.

You are changing maintenance program to maintenance program. And that's why you're gonna either come back and do another round of the maintenance program in the fall, or you're gonna move on to the maintenance stage where you're just personalizing the plan and testing the waters and filling it out until you are truly ready to be like, I got what it takes. I am so calm, physically, mentally, like I'm good. I'm ready to just live my life. If I, I know my choices.

Listen, I drink alcohol and eat chips, my weight is going up because I'm feeling bloated and it's going up because I'm not sleeping. Right? My stress levels are going through the roof. I'm feeling bloated and it's going up because I'm not sleeping, right? My stress levels are going through the roof. I'm not exercising. I'm not managing. My weight is going up. I also know my stress levels are through the roof. I know what I'm doing.

I know what I'm not doing. Like you can't pull the covers over my head. Like I am so fucking self-aware that I know why the scale is going up. I know what I need to do to have it go back down. And so that's, I've been maintaining my weight for 30 years. There've been times in my life, it's on the higher end, times on my life where I'm on a health kick

and I'm on the lower end. That's, your set point is not a one weight. That's really important. And how are you in maintenance a year later and you don't know that, right? And I'm not placing blame, but this is knowledge. And how you gain that knowledge is by showing up, by being all in, by working the tweaks,

by asking the questions. I noticed in both of these comments, there were no questions asked, just a statement. Just this is how it is. I'm just gonna do whatever the fuck I want. And then now I'm confused and now I'm whatever, right? So this is where you have to want this and you have to do this for you

and you have to be accountable to yourself. And so what you're learning is, what are the things that I do that actually caused my weight to go up, make me feel like garbage? And what are the things I can do to make me feel my best? And that is sometimes in life, that's just how it is. Right. And that's what you're juggling, whether

you get on the scale and need that it to tell you or you just know I don't need to scale to tell me when I've been drinking wine and eating chips and I'm not sleeping and I'm staying up late and watching Netflix and I'm, you know, I don't need a scale to tell me that at the end of the day. Right. So, so I love that, Risa. That's exactly it. Right. Like you are changing. The constant is the program and the process and the method.

Here's Joanne back from Portugal didn't gain an ounce walking is a challenge in Lisbon and like is real, just jumping back and moving forward. That's it. That's until you're at that place. There's probably work to do. It's time for today's podcast sponsor, and this is a company that I can feel good about. It's Bombas. Did you know that socks are one of the most requested items by organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness? Yeah, socks. The thing most of us take for granted every single day.

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and don't forget to use the Livy discount. Yeah, and I, yeah, that's awesome. I love this because I want people to move on, I want them to get it, But sometimes there's a deeper layer. There's a deeper layer. You gotta go there. There's a deeper layer. And we don't know a lot about this member.

Like I said, there weren't a lot of questions asked and we're not really sure how we can help her at this point. If we had those questions, that would be amazing. But just for them to be able to ask themselves those questions, like, why? Like, okay, I was in, you know, I was in Mexico, ate, drank, didn't work out other than a walk on the beach. What else?

Were you feeling less stressed? Were you feeling, were you sleeping amazing? Were you not thinking about what you need to eat and when? You probably didn't have the scale with you then, so you weren't able to get on it until you got home so that that number wasn't playing into your mindset while you were away. You know all of those things I think just this part about you know we want you to get it and we understand like there is a trust piece there where if you have done diets in the past where

you all of a sudden stopped following them, the weight came back. You know, and that fear can also be here. Well, if I stop following this plan, if I stop doing exactly what I did to lose my weight, then my weight's going to come back. And that mindset takes time to work through. It's you know, even though you've been here for a year talking about it, maybe it's going to take you longer than that. Maybe it's going to take you time to ask the

questions, you know, what do you need to know what questions you need to ask yourself to be able to get to that mindset piece. And I think, you know, even just going back to this example of being, I just keep reading it, this example of being in Mexico and understanding what was different there. What was going on there that's not going on here? What was that, where was that, what was that feeling there? What was that mindset there?

What was going on there that's not going on here? Well, and this is where I, someone who took a long time, they've lost their weight, they're now in maintenance. And this is one of the things we hear a lot. I don't feel as good as I felt when I was losing weight. Right? Well, are you still doing the things that you did to lose weight? And this is where the conversation changes, the motivation changes, because maybe while you were trying to lose weight, you were more active, you drank more water, you were mindful of your stress,

you made an effort to get better sleep, you did all these things. We get this a lot, where people are able to maintain their weight just fine, but they don't feel as good as they felt when they were losing weight. And that's because they weren't, they're not diligently doing all the things because there's, there's no motivation to lose the weight anymore. So the things that they were doing though, beyond helping them lose weight, also help them feel really good. And so maintenance isn't going to, this maintenance program isn't going to cause you to gain weight. Following this maintenance program is not causing you to gain weight. What are you not doing anymore that you did before that maybe you're motivated by weight loss but was actually making a big difference? Trying to get a better night's sleep, probably

you were motivated while you're trying to lose weight. Now that you're maintaining it, maybe you're staying up and watching Netflix all night, right? Maybe you're doing deep breathing exercises while you were losing weight. Now that you've reached your goal, you're like, yeah, who needs that? Maybe there's a whole list of supplements that you were taking just so you could lose your weight. And the minute you lost your weight, you're like, I don't need them. Meanwhile, you don't realize what a big difference that they were factoring in, right? So, yeah, but I think it's probably more, Odette, what you mentioned, the fear of it, fearful of gaining the weight back, and this is why you feel confused and down. I shouldn't say your fears are valid, but it's why are you feeling confused and down. It's

all very clear. It's all very outlined for you. It's all very clear. So what part of it? Now, maybe this is the whole Dr. Beverly cognitive behavioral therapy model. Is it thoughts? Is it feels? Is it behavior? What is it? And name it. Name it.

Confused down is like, what are you confused about exactly and why? Like really try to get in, again, be curious and get investigative, right? Yeah. why, like really try to get him again, be curious and get investigative, right? Yeah, I think that's, I think that's such a valuable point when you're talking about confusion and making that statement, I'm confused. And like you said, what are you confused about? Are you confused why the scale is up? Are you confused, you know, that you haven't changed anything and why are you confused as to why you have to change things? You know, I like really nail down with that, where that confusion is coming from and what part is it? Is it just the scale?

Are you just confused by the number? Are you confused by the process? Are you, what are you confused about exactly? And I think, you know, if we take some time to be curious and do a bit of a deep dive, I think that confusion can be lifted. I think you're just gonna get a bit more insight, you're gonna get a bit more understanding. And so, yeah, maybe you're gonna feel down.

I mean, I don't wanna discount that feeling of being, yes, okay, you're seeing the scale go up and numbers going up, that's bringing up past patterns, past feelings. So yeah, okay, I can understand how you're feeling down when you're seeing that happening because that's bringing those emotions back. But we don't want to be confused by it. Let's, you know, let's put some understanding to it so that like, okay, I'm feeling down because

the numbers going up. But these are the reasons I don't need to feel down because I understand now. I'm not confused. I understand. Yeah. And I do want to say, we're so grateful for the comments, because like Kathy said, the feedback on the comments are really helpful. And I do want to say we're so grateful for the comments because like Kathy said, the feedback on the comments are really helpful. And this is why I don't stop this. And when we are answering this, we're not speaking to one person. We understand, like Odette said, that there's lots of people who feel like this and may not be the exact circumstance. I also wanted, before we move on, the comment, I've worked so hard for a year and now, guess what? You might have to work just as hard, if not harder in maintenance, but in other ways.

Like it doesn't stop because you lived your life a certain way for so many years, and now you have to put time in to live your life in this new way. And so until that becomes normal, until you understand it and get it, because think about the way you lived your life before. Were you confused, frustrated, down, what was going on then?

Right? And it could be in your life you were feeling down. And sure, it's great that you've gone and lost weight, but maybe it's the same things in your life that had you down then that you haven't changed that still has you down now. Right? Like weight loss can change a lot of things things but it also doesn't change a lot of things either better self-awareness is a huge tool when dealing with with confusion absolutely and that's where like it's not what's wrong with me what is going on here what is going on here for the sake of time i know we want to get to our WLBG activity

challenge. Yeah. So we're having a big team challenge here. I gotta go. That's why I gotta go. I gotta go get my activity in before it starts to rain. I've been wearing my sweatpants since this morning. I've been wearing the same sweaty clothes. I'm wearing my running shoes on. Can I show you? Look, I still, cause I'm taking them. I don't even know what you want to talk about here, but so every year our team, all of us and 40, 50s of us, we break into teams and we have this activity challenge. And for every minute of exercise, we donate a dollar to a charity, the winning team's charity choice. And I know, like I talked to Kim today and she's like, if I hadn't, if I didn't, wasn't doing this challenge,

she's like, I feel bad I only got an hour in yesterday, but if I wasn't doing this challenge, I wouldn't have got in any. It is amazing how you find time when you have to find time. Like I got to literally go on the dot because I got to get my clothes on and then I got to head out before a big thunderstorm hits. So what do you want to talk about this? Because I know that's probably part of it. on the dot, because I got to get my clothes on and then I got to head out before a big thunderstorm hits.

So what do you want to talk about this? Because I know that's probably part of it. Yeah, so this whole challenge, like you said, we're on a team, so our team is talking behind the scenes and I was the same as Kim. So yesterday was a busy work day. So I got in, I think, I got more than Kim, I'll just say that.

I think I got like 70 minutes or something. And today I'm like, oh, I'm gonna try and go for more. I'm gonna try and go for more. But how am I gonna find that time? Where am I gonna find that time? How am I gonna do it? And I'm seeing my team members, you know, this morning we had one team member

that was out paddling first thing in the morning. And, you know, they said, I have to fit it in now because I don't think I'm gonna be able to fit it in later. And I think it's amazing how, when you don't think about how I have to fit it in now because I don't think I'm gonna be able to fit it in later. And I think it's amazing how, when you don't think about how you are gonna fit it in, but why you're fitting it in, I think that's what's gonna help you prioritize the time. And this is not just priority around movement.

This is priority just around yourself and what you need. So, you know, this challenge is bringing up, you know, it's bringing to the light that we have to prioritize movement, specifically, that's what we're talking about this week. But it's also bringing to light how hard it is to prioritize yourself, how that guilt surfaces, how, you know, that resistance surfaces, and how if we can just flip the switch on the mindset to how I'm going to get this in, How am I going to spend time on myself? How am I going to make it work? First, that's why this is the reason why I'm going to make it work.

This is why I'm going to get it done, whether it's feeding Kim at giving my minutes in because she's not on my team or whether it's, you know, I'm going to prioritize myself and split my meals and snacks because this is I need to learn. That's my why. or I'm going to prioritize my sleep because my why is that it's going to make me feel better. I think if we get past the how am I going to fit this in but focus on why I'm going to fit this in I think that's going to help people just find that priority you know over the next few days. So yesterday I went

to the gym and then I stayed on the treadmill and went longer because I didn't want to let my team down. But what about letting ourselves down? What about so many times I'm going to this, I'm going to that I'm going to whatever I'm going to whatever the thought of letting my team down. I'm like, I can't, I have to go no matter what if it's pouring, if it's what I gotta go, I gotta get this done because it's for my team. But I gotta go I gotta get this done because

it's for my team but why can it be about for you every single day of your life this like that's the that's where you got to stop and this happens every time every time I find hours to exercise this week and yet last week I didn't have five freaking minutes to exercise so I gotta go because I got to go. I got to go to my. You and I are also not on the same team. So we are not. No, not this year. Get curious, get investigative.

You are not done. You want to get to a place where you are freaking done. Wake up, look good, feel good, know exactly what you need to do, no matter what life throws at you. You got this, the last thing you're worried about is your weight because you are so in the moment with your life. You know how the choices that you are making are affecting.

You do not gain 10 pounds back and not notice. At some point you're gonna notice, you have to get real and not be like, oh, it is what it is. I guess I'm just gonna do what I'm gonna do. No. This is where you gotta be like, okay, I have the tools. I have the skills to do something about this.

End of the day, your body doesn't want this fat any more than you do. So if it's storing fat, there's something off. There's something going on and you play a huge role in that and you have the so much ability to do something about it at the end of the day. So again, you may not feel like you're there yet. That's why you're here. That's why you're here, acquiring those tools and skills to get there. Got to go. Got to go speaking of get there. I got to go. Thanks everyone. Honestly,

we're so grateful for all of you. We love this conversation. It's my favorite conversation hands down of the whole week. This is where we really, this is the work. Although it should be kind of less work, but sometimes more work. This is the work. This is it. The weight loss part at the end of the day, that's almost the easier part. So yeah. So if you're feeling some feels and you feel in some ways good. You're doing the work. You're doing the work. Thanks everyone. Thanks for that. Bye. See you next week. See you next week.

See you next week. See you next week. See you next week. See you next week.