The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness: Midweek Motivation - September 10, 2025

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

Welcome to your Midweek Motivation!In this episode, Gina and Odette catch up inside the Maintenance Group to celebrate Prep Week and reconnect with members making the shift from weight loss to weight stability. They reflect on the emotional high of seeing familiar names in the new space, and how meaningful it is to witness members stepping into their new identity as maintainers. Gina shares insights into the why behind repeating the Maintenance Program and encourages members to go beyond just following the food plan—this round is about digging a little deeper, leaning into intention, and building a life that reflects who you are now. They also touch on the power of habits in times of grief, staying grounded with routine, and how tools like Back On Track aren’t just about food—they’re about living life and navigating through it all with confidence.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. That's right. We've got this. We've got this. Hello and welcome to our midweek motivation check-in here. in the maintenance group it is prep week hello odette hello yeah how's it going how's the vibe

good i members are super excited we were just having a chat this morning actually with um the team behind the scenes and they were saying they are loving seeing those names that they've seen for so long in the weight loss group or you know over the last few groups now they're in the maintenance group and just seeing that transition and recognizing those names. I know I think, you know, our members think we have 30,000 members in weight loss and, you know, do people get lost in the shuffle or do we not know everybody? And it's amazing how many names and how many people, you know, when you read through every single comment, you know, you get to know these people and you feel bonded to them. And then when you see them move on,

it's such this, it's this amazing feeling for us to you. I can only imagine how they feel. It's amazing feeling for us to see their names in there now and seeing them continuing to ask questions, continuing to build that community like we had put out on Monday, build that community for yourself. So that's where the vibe is. That's how we're feeling. That's how I think members are feeling too. So I think it's a great start so far. I love that. There's Judy. Hi, Judy. Thanks for joining us live. Yeah, I mean, we want people to lose their weight. And then we want them to be able to maintain and sustain it. And then we want them to go on and live their life. And I was actually just working on before this a lifestyle program or an opportunity for people

to stay connected to the community because like it is like our community is I mean honestly I think it's I think we have the best community on the planet we have respect we have kindness we have patience we all understand we're just trying to wake up every day and live our best lives. So I've actually just been working on a lifestyle program or after people are done losing, they go into maintenance for as long as they need. After they're done maintaining, they can just go on with living and using all of the tools and skills that they acquire to truly live their best life. And that's the goal here. That's the goal here. So people are doing another round of the maintenance program. Let's just do a recap of what we talked about on Monday. So as they start

prep week whether this is their first maintenance program or their 10th round what is your uh what's your advice and takeaway so my advice and takeaway if you are here for another round and i've been reading what members are saying that they went through the first round of the um maintenance program almost as a tipping their toes into seeing what this was going to be like and just going through the motions and just following the program and not really taking a lot of the other information. in. So I think my advice is if this is, if this is maybe your second or third time doing this maintenance program because you know you still have things to work on, really indulge outside of just the basic food plan. Yes, you're following the food plan. It's this calm

place for your body to be. It's this routine that you can implement if all of your other routines have gone out the window at this point. It's one routine that you can follow, but really indulge in the intention behind what we're doing here, not just going through the motions of weighing myself, having all my meals and snacks, getting my water in, really dive deeper into the intention of the information that we're putting out and the conversations that we're having because we're using the tweaks and we're using tools like the food plan and like back on track later on to help you navigate real life situations, to help you think a little bit more beyond, you know, just those, like I said, going through the motion. So really indulge in the

intention behind why you're here. Yeah, going to of emotions can help you to solidify your weight physically, but more than that, we're also looking to solidify your mindset mentally. And so it just becomes part of who you are. I want to talk about something that can definitely bring up some thoughts and feels and challenge us mentally and that's the scale. But first I see a comment and question here from Lori. Happy to be here. I lost a dear friend last week. Oh, my goodness. So much to deal with. And that's one of those ones like grief is something that you can throw you into that like throw you for a loop which can have you going back into old habits i don't think we talk enough about grief so that's something

where you really want to solidify those habits so they just become part of who you are so even in moments like this you're not going back to those old habits that no longer serve you but you're asking a question how much water should be drinking in maintenance so that 2.5 to 3 and a half leaders, that's like basic body function for everybody, just enough to be hydrated. I think even after you've lost your weight, and you want to make sure you're drinking enough water because it helps with fat loss, but even after you've lost your weight, you want to drink more if you exercise, drink more if you're in a warm climate, drink more if you are drinking alcohol. Like, that's something you want to get in tune with and recognizing signs of when you're, you are dehydrated,

like my lips are so dry. And I'm craving sugar because I've just been drinking wine the last couple days. So I'm totally dehydrated. So it's a matter of like being in tune and really getting to know when you are hydrated and when you want more. So beyond just drinking an X amount of water trying to reach that goal, it's like taking it to the next level and being in tune. So do you know what I mean? And that's with everything. I want to talk about the scale because to weigh or not to weigh, right? Like that is the question. I think when you're trying to lose weight, you're looking to weigh so you know what weight loss looks like and feels like to you. To me, I think you want a way in maintenance to get to know what maintenance looks like and

feels like to you. I would like you to get to a point where you're almost, you're trying to guess what your weight is before you even get on the scale because you just know. And that's something I do to this day. Like I got on the scale today and I'm like, oh, I have a feeling like my weight is down a little bit because I'm still trying to get my weight back down from when it went up. And sure enough, I was like, oh, yeah, I knew that. Whereas the other day, I was tired, had a little bit more wine, I did this and that. I could feel a little bloated. And I'm like, oh, I can feel like my weight is up.

And then I said to myself, you know what, I bet you my weight is up because my body is detox on its way down. And so, yes, it might have been up for other reasons, but also up because it's on its way down, right? So that's where I want people to get, to be that in tune that you know. What else do you want to talk about when it comes to the scale? Because I know you had that on your list. Yeah, I think the scale now, we've always said the scale is a, it's a tool.

It's not a measure of success. And that continues here in maintenance. It's still a super powerful tool. I know that, you know, there might be this belief for understanding that we don't want you to use the scale at all. You should be able to live your life and be happy and, you know, not rely on that. But the scale at this point can still be something that is helping you collect data. So it's helping you become comfortable with your normal patterns and fluctuations.

You know, and it's about connect. It's also a tool to help you connect those dots. So just like you said, you're reflecting, you're thinking, oh, is my scale going to be up today because of the things that maybe happened over the last couple days or some choices that I made over the last few days? Is my scale going to be up today? Is that why it's up? Or are you getting on the scale and it's actually down when you think it's going to be up?

And that's also a way to collect data and connect those dots. And it also reinforces that those fluctuations are going to happen. They're going to come. It's one of the most common things members in maintenance are not comfortable with at the beginning because they want to see that low with low. They don't like to be up one to five or five to eight or even eight to ten pounds, which could become your natural normal fluctuations. pattern. So that's why it's still such an important tool for data collection. It's also,

we've come to know over the course of these three years that the scale is also something that can bring you confidence. So when you get on the scale and, you know, you're feeling great. You know that you've been, you know, following the routines and habits that make you feel your best. And then you get on the scale. And it's almost like that reinforcement like, yeah, I am doing the things that I need to do. I am, you know, in the right place. You know, yes, I did have an indulgence or a drink or whatever it might be. But look at, look at where I am.

I'm still in this place where I know myself, I know what to do. And that's, you know, the scale can do that for you as well. It can be an indicator when maybe, you know, things are not going quite the way you want, but can also be a reinforcement to tell you that things are going the way that you want. I love this comment that you wrote down here from Bonnie. back after the summer, I feel like I've lost my set point up and down on the scale by five pounds, driving me nuts. Have I lost my set point? Your set point is that up and down five pounds on the scale, right? Like that's your set point, your new set point, so you lose your

weight, you reach your goal, and now you're working on helping your body adjust to that weight. Your weight is always going to fluctuate. You are not meant to sit at the the same weight every day. Fluxuations are normal when you are having breads and pasta's carbs. They don't cause you to gain weight. But if you weigh yourself, it takes more water for your body to process those foods. So your weight tends to be up. Crappy night's sleep will have your weight up. Working out will have your weight out. Stress will have all those things. So it's like, it's like it's normal to have that range. In fact, we're creating an app version of the maintenance program and that's one of the things that we're going to do not just tracking your weight every day but

showing you the range so trying to stay within that range but along with that this isn't a question for us this is a question for you have you been making choices that would cause your weight to be up or actually cause you to gain real weight right that's the conversation what's going on with the scale fluctuations like in the summer my weight can go up as much much as 10 pounds just from the heat. I'm very reactive to fluctuations. Um, so I'm used to that. I always had a range between like 120 and 130. Now my range has changed to 1.25 to 1.35. So I got on the scale today. Like I said, my weight was down. I was like 127. Like I haven't seen that number in like two years, right? Because I'm actively doing the program and trying to do all the things to get it back

down to that lower range. My weight through a period of stress, chips for dinner and drinking and not managing went all the way up to 146 in the last couple years. So I'm still working on getting that down. So at 146 did I know that I was just like out of controlling gaining weight? Yes, I did. Right. And then I've been working towards getting it back down. So you will know whether your choices are affecting your weight and you're gaining real weight or it's just those fluctuations. So have you lost your set point? Your set point is your lowest low and within a range within, you know, five to seven pounds usually. Have you been making choices that would cause you to gain actual real weight?

Do you feel like it's real weight? And that's, I think that's the question, not losing your set point, if that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, it makes sense. And, you know, when we talk about set point, like you said, it's not just that lowest low, it is that range. And I think what I like from this question, when I look at this question, Bonnie says, I'm up and down. Yeah, I'm up and down on the scale by five pounds. Okay. So let's read that again. You're up and down on the scale and five pounds. So it's not like you're up and then you're up and then you're up and then you're up. You're up and then you're up. So I think this is where that whole mindset shift comes in. So when you're trying to lose weight and you're up and then you're up and then you're down, you want to keep going down. When you're here in maintenance, you want to be comfortable with those ups and downs. Like, yeah, I'm up and then I'll be down. And then I'll be up. up and then I'll be down. I think it's also, it's like I said, that mindset shift of we're not

trying to keep going down, down, down. We're just trying to stay comfortably within that up and down. So I think that's what takes time too. When you've been trying to just keep going down all the time, that's your measure of success. That's your comfort zone. And so we have to shift that and it takes time. It's not going to happen on day three of the program. But, you know, being comfortable with, yep, going up, going down, going up, going down, and then connecting those dots. well that's like this comment that you put here from Nicole wang and daily help me to learn how my body responds to sleep hydration types of food I eat stress etc as hard as it was at first to get on the scale every day it was an important habit to incorporate right so that's when losing weight

it's collecting your data along with how you're feeling and some of the thoughts that are popping up that you know if the scales ruined your whole day right when it's up and really it's up right before a drop. In maintenance, it's getting to understand what maintenance looks like and feels like. And you're right. Still the same thing, how your body responds to stress and sleep and all of those things. I also like this comment here from Sharon, weighing myself daily is important. It keeps me accountable. If I am avoiding the scale, then I know it is because I'm sliding into old habits and avoiding the truth. I mean, this is interesting because you and I've talked to people who just love getting on the scale and maintenance because every day it reminds them of

they have accomplished this goal, right? Like some people are like, I just want to see that number because I'm so happy to be here. It brings me joy every day even when it's fluctuating, right? Whereas other people are using it to be accountable. Maybe you don't trust yourself yet to, you know, or you feel, or maybe you haven't solidified those habits yet. So maybe you're on shaky ground. and then you're using the scale as being accountable. But there should be growth there, right? Like you're not like, oh, the scale is up today. So I'm punishing myself.

You should be like, oh, the scale is up today. This is why. Okay, I'm starting to fall back into old habits. Let me get myself back on track, right? Like I think we want to continue to not buy into diet dialogue or that like the detrimental mindset. And the scale should be a tool. it collects data to help you learn, right?

I don't have a problem with people using it to hold themselves accountable, but there's got to be growth there, right? Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, with this comment too, like, I love the awareness part of it where it's like, oh, why do I not want to get on the scale? That's telling you something in itself. Like, I'm trying to avoid it. I don't want to face that the old habits are coming back.

I don't want to, you know, have to take action because I'm kind of. comfortable here. So I think that is a great an awareness piece too. And that's also what the scale can show you. You know, it's, if you're looking at it and you're like, I don't want to face the truth, like, you know, Sharon's thing, I don't want to face the truth. You know, it's also reminder you're like, yeah, face it because you know you can get, you know past it. You know you can get to the other side. It is time to hear from our podcast sponsor today. It is Colgate Peril Guard. Let's have a real conversation about health and wellness because I think talking about oral health is underrated. I mean, we need to talk about it more. Think about it. Your home is probably

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Yeah, here's Linda. I don't trust myself yet. That's okay. That's okay. That's some of the fields that come along with it. Do you really need the scale to hold yourself accountable? right like yeah right now you might but we would like that's what i mean that growth is getting to a place where you know like you don't need just thinking about it on the scale you know you don't need to get

on the scale to know that your choices are making you feel a little off or your weight is going up or your pants are fitting a little tight right so i think it's a personal choice i there's i think there's pros and cons and i think as long as there is growth there what you don't want to be doing is avoiding the scale because you know that it's going to tell you maybe a truth that you don't want to hear. But then maybe you do want that to come up so that you check yourself before you wreck yourself to, right? I think what you also don't want to do is allow the scale to dictate how your thoughts and day are going to go. You know, I don't think you want to get on the scale and it's not the number that you want to see. And then that drives the choices you make

during that day or that plate is an influence on how you go about your day like you can't you don't want to use a scale and be like oh it's up so i need to make sure that i am eating a little bit less or i need to you know exercise a little bit harder or i need to talk to myself in a way that is not compassionate and kind that's not how you want to use the scale so i think that's an important point to make too so if you get on it and it's not what you want to see that's that is that's a catapult into thinking a little bit differently. It's a catapult and analyzing what might be going on. It's not a dictator of how your day should go and how you should make decisions that

day. Yeah, there's Judy. It may be accountable is not your word, but it reminds her to be honest with herself. I just want to say hi to Debbie, Debbie Boyce. And Sandra is coming to us from Germany. She's in Germany on vacation. I love that. enjoying my first vacation with no guilt just enjoying all the brat worst i love that um and sanders's been

here every day like she was here i'm pretty sure she commented on monday and commented on tuesday so she's on vacation but she is not letting the fomo get to her she is here so well this is it right like you've gone and you've lost this weight you are now a person who is maintaining their weight or actively doing now what is what do what does a vacation now look like to you right who is this person version of you who goes on vacation. I know you wanted to also cover a nighttime snacking today. I mean, this is also a conversation in the weight loss program. I had a really interesting conversation. Jason Fung, who is the author of the book The Obesity Code. He's also a kidney specialist and he's a doctor. And we're just talking about fasting, which is essentially we do a

version of that on the program, not eating after dinner or, you know, and breaking the fast in the morning. And yes, you're no longer looking to lose weight. So could you snack in the evening? Yes, you could. But snacking in the evening really messes with your sleep. And your body needs a break from eating to not just focus on fat loss, but to also repair and rebuild and regenerate and rejuvenate. And just because you have reached your goal like fat loss wise doesn't mean your body is done making change like repairing and rebuilding and regenerating and rejuvenating and more important solidifying the weight that you've lost so there's a lot that goes into like when basically you had a set point you lost weight you hit a plateau you

you lost weight you hit a plateau you lost weight you hit a plateau you lost weight you reach your goal and now you want to put yourself on a big long ass plateau and there's a lot that goes into solidifying your weight. So your set point is your blood flow, your metabolism, how much energy your body is using, your hormones adjusting to your new weight, which also includes your hunger hormones as well. And you really want to give your body time to adjust to your new weight without challenging it. So not eating at night, although it's not going to cause you to gain weight and you'll be able to maintain your weight just fine, really is messing with how quickly your body will be able to adjust to your new weight. So there, we know, the new science is saying

it takes two years for your body to adjust to your new weight. Let's just say you're a person out there, you lost your weight however way, and then you're just trying to maintain it without any structure. Two years. With the living method, it's a method, right? So it systematically creates routine, allows your body to be calm, but also focus on these other things. So that's why you're able to solidify your weight a lot quicker with the living method than just like haphazardly out there. So, so this is why you don't want to be eating at night. But what exactly are people struggling with, Odette? What is it that you wanted to say when it came to snacking at night? Yeah. So snacking at night, of course, for all of the reasons that you said, you know,

disrupting your sleep and, you know, keeping the body, keeping routine and keeping that, the body in this place where it can really adapt to its new set point. But I, I'm nighttime snacking, I think is really, it's what people have been talking about this week, but I really wanted to talk about this as a, as a, for me, it's, it's like this little sign that it's so easy for old habits to start creeping back in. And, you know, does nighttime snacking lead to, you know, going too long between meals and snacks? Does it go, does it lead to, pardon? Slippery slope into all your old habits. Yeah, right. So I think nighttime snacking is one example. but I think it's such a good example about how old habits can sneak back in.

And, you know, members in maintenance, it's super important that, you know, with prep week and as the weeks go on, we remember that we're still trying to allow the body to adjust, like you said. Now is not the time to relax and think, well, I've hit my goal. So now I can, you know, take my foot off the gas and let things start to relax around here. Now is the time to really double down and remind yourself and reinforce how all of those amazing habits, how that routine shift has got you to this point. And it's not about going back to what you did and who you were before. That's not the goal. The goal is to continue what you were doing.

Maybe in, you know, maybe the routines look a little different. Habits start to look a little different than they did during weight loss, but it's not going back to old habits. And if nighttime snacking and going too long between eating and not prioritize it, your sleep and never drinking water or old habits, that's not where you want to go again. So I think this is just a reinforcement to our members that it's not time to relax. It's not time to take your foot off the gas. Now it's time to double down on those routines and habits for the sake of making them part

of who you are and automatic, which is such a big conversation we're going to have later on. I feel like I want to just say it all now. But that's really what I got from this comment about the nighttime snacking. I love your double down on that because how intentionally or actively you follow the maintenance program, it matters. Yeah, listen, there are a benefit to just going through the motions. If that's your capacity and you're just going through the motions, like the good on you. There's a lot of value in that. But you're going to get a lot.

And that's I think that's where you hear some of our maintenance members coming back to do another round of maintenance because they're like, oh, yeah. And that's why I love that gap, right? That gives people an opportunity to see what they got. and they're like, oh, yeah, I got that, I just, now I'm falling back into old habits or yeah, okay, I might have put the time in, but like mentally I can see how there are still things that I need to work on, right? So I do want to also mention about the nighttime snacking. There could be something to the days were longer in the summer. So maybe you extended or you had dinner a little later.

Like we were eating dinner sometimes, seven o'clock, eight o'clock at night because it was still light outside. So your body is just kind of used to you eating later in the evening. And there could be something to that where now maybe you're back into your routine or your kids are back to school or whatever that is. And now you're trying to shift into an earlier eating routine, which is still leaving you a little nausey, habitually in the evenings, right? We have a little bit more time. What do you want to, what do you want to talk? First of all, I want to say hello to Renee. This is her first maintenance program after doing two weight loss programs, winter, spring, lost 35 pounds and now fluctuating between three to five.

So we're going to talk a lot about that. And I know Odette has posts on the scale. So your set point, and if you missed it from the beginning, is like you're not going to stay at one weight. And you're going to have some fluctuations. And your set point is a range. So it's normal to have your weight fluctuate. You don't really want to live a life or you're seeing your lowest low every day. Now, you might.

Some people realize that although they're able to maintain their weight just fine, they don't feel as good as they felt as when they were losing weight. Because when you were losing weight, you're motivated to manage your stress and maybe move your body. more and stay more hydrated and all of those things. So this is where in the maintenance program, you want to make sure you figure out your why. What is your why for showing up and doing all of these things to help solidify your weight physically and mentally that are maybe different from your why that you're using to lose weight, right?

But I just wanted to say, welcome to our maintenance program. Two minutes before we have to go, Odette, what do you want to leave our members with? So two things, I can talk fast. So the other thing, I didn't really take it in my notes, but just came to my mind. We're talking things this week like dairy and alcohol and coffee. And the conversation is not, can I have it or not? That's the decision you make for yourself. With the information in the maintenance program and the posts that are coming out now,

it's thinking about these things in, you know, not can you have it or not, but do you want it or not? how does it make you how does it make you feel you know so we those those post too you know if you're like oh i i think i understand coffee and and and dairy and this came from a comment from a member in the group and she said i always had cheese because i just loved it and now when i think about it every time i have cheese i feel awful yeah so it's not about not being able to have it or not it's it's making that connection of how does it actually make my make me feel and same with coffee like do you have your coffee in the morning and because you love it, it's part of your routine, but it makes your

tummy hurt and it makes you jittery and it, you know, it can be anxiety inducing for some people. So what are your alternatives? Or do you have coffee in the morning? And it's such an amazing part of your routine and you feel good. And it's something that you can keep in. You know, so this is also where we want to go as maintenance moves along. We want you to be feeling your best. So it's not just about, you know, can I have it or can I not have it? But how does it make make me feel. Do I, do I really enjoy it? And does it, you know, does my body feel okay with it? So that's the other thing I wanted to mention about some of these posts that are coming out and some of the, you know, intentions behind the information that we're putting in. We want to just get a little

bit deeper and think a little bit harder on some of these things. I love that. Between our conversation on Monday and our conversation today, I think we've given our members a lot to think about. My final tip before we go and something to think on is your new routine, right? Maybe these change is part of who you are. So, you know, where that's popping into the group, watching the check-in video, just saying hello, continuing to journal, continue to use the app in general tracking mode if you have access to that, is like, think about the new you, right? You're not just solidifying what you've done. You're also actively creating who you want to be, how you want to move and show up in life, right? So this, again, bigger picture.

Weight loss program, we're talking bigger picture, everything we do in the weight loss program to get you to maintenance. Everything we're doing in maintenance is to get you to where you're just living your life. All right. Everyone, have a fantastic rest of your day. Odette. Thank you so much, as always. A lot of these conversations. I know me too. More to come. We'll see you next time. Thanks, everyone. See you next week.