The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness: Mindset Mondays - February 2, 2026

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Maintenance Mindset Mondays is all about cracking open the conversation about what REAL maintenance looks like – beyond the scale and deep into personal transformation. Join Gina and Odette as they dive into the week’s focus, share insights on all things maintenance, and answer your questions. Whether you’re new or experienced, there’s something for everyone!In this episode, Gina and Odette talk candidly about downsizing week and why it brings up so many feelings, especially in maintenance. They explain that the discomfort, the lingering hunger, and even the resistance are not problems to fix, but clues pointing to what still needs to be learned. From old food rules like cleaning your plate to fears around change and satisfaction, this discussion reframes downsizing as a powerful opportunity to build trust, confidence, and calm around food, not just now, but for real life. It is about learning how to move through challenge without panic, punishment, or quitting, and using that experience to strengthen the mindset needed to maintain your weight long term.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. I think Kim's comment says it all.

It's downsizing week, y'all, embracing my love-hate relationship with it. Yeah. Kim has been vocal today about her love-hate relationship in the group here, so we're ready for it. You know, yeah. I'm here for it too. So, you know, as you guys know, Odette sends me her notes and I start reading and I'm a bit fiery today, but whatever. And I'm like where some members are at.

So I'm excited, sharing they love downsizing. some are nervous about losing more. I mean, come on. You fucking kidding me. If ever there was a good problem to have, it's losing more weight. Like, you know, your body's not a machine. Like, you know how hard it was to lose weight? But I get it. Or that this might trigger old diet thinking. And that had me thinking like, fucking right, it does. Yeah. It does. Get excited about that. It means you still have shit to learn. And then I saw Mary's comment here, happy for downsizing, although it's always a challenge for me as I grew up in the Clean the Plate Club, but portions. sizes have crept up.

Need to remind myself, I don't need the volume. Like, that's it for Mary. What is it for you? Big picture thinking, calm around food, just knowing what you need. If you're going to indulge us because this is so good, I'm going to eat more and I don't give up how it feel afterwards and I'm not going to break myself and punish myself. I'm like, that was great. Hashtag worth it.

Move it along the next day. Know how to get back to feeling your best. And that's it. Like, what is this week for you? I guarantee you. it's in whatever thoughts you're having about it. So if you're annoyed, why? If you're asking why we've got to do it again, then you're missing.

I'm worried about you. I'm worried about you, right? Or you're a new member and you don't quite get it. What you need to do is recognize maintenance is different and there is a rhyme and a reason for everything that we do. Read, read the information and the guidelines from a maintenance perspective and what you need to learn from that. Of course, I know you know how to downside. But why are you doing it in maintenance?

That's what you might not want to know, right? So, like, yeah, get excited about this week. I'm going to say about this week because this week is hard. So it's not hard because we're all walking around a little bit unsatisfied. We're all walking around with this like little bit of lingering hunger. It's hard because we are making change. Like we've been kind of rolling along the last four weeks, getting into routine, following a familiar food plan, you know, relying on we know what, we thought we knew what

satisfied feels like, but did we really? And so this week we're challenging that. We're, this week is hard because you're like, oh, I thought I had this figured out. Oh, I thought that I was doing everything right. Oh, I thought I, you know, was past all of this. And then this week, we throw this change, the shake up into it. And I was like, what the heck's going on here? What did I sign up for? So it's hard. Yeah. What did you sign it for? What do you got to learn? What do you want to know? And get excited, right? We don't want to be fucking trying to maintain our weight for the rest of our lives. I said this in the Weight Loss program this morning. What are you fucking doing here? Like figure that shit out. Why am I here? Why are you here? What are we all trying to do? And it is a little different for everybody, right? And that's what we're trying to,

you're trying to get to a place where you just know how to maintain your weight and you can just live your life and be calm around food physically, mentally, where food doesn't have as big like, it's not like taking over your whole life and all consuming so you can live your life truly, you know? And being here in maintenance is not about just being status quo. That's not what we're learning here. You're learning how to overcome change, how to overcome challenges. So down the road, when things do happen, things do change, you are thrown off course.

There is something new you have to navigate. what we're doing here in maintenance and this part of it is setting you up for that. So yeah, we're going to change things up and challenge you this week so that you can dig deeper. You can find that, I mean, self-determination is a big topic this week because it goes so well with downsizing. It's something that you don't want to necessarily do. It's something that doesn't necessarily feel good. But you're going to just do it anyway. You're going to take that action anyway.

And then what happens is that's going to give you the confidence to do something else beyond food later. that, you know, later like, oh, I'm in this situation that feels uncomfortable, feels challenging, but I know I can get through it because I've gotten through things like this before. And that's what this week really is about. Yes, you're unsatisfied because, yes, we want to get you back into your belly. It's just like what you said earlier, portions can creep up. And we're going to get into that and how important this week is for that. But it's also about working through those challenges and set yourself up to be able to work through those challenges and change

later beyond food. Maybe it's figuring out how to, you know, do your new job. Maybe you get a new phone and you have to figure that out. I mean, I hate getting a new phone. Oh, same. I don't know how to, I still don't know how to switch things over. And then you get frustrated and then you get annoyed. And then it's really, it's setting you up to be able to work through any challenges,

whatever that might be. It is. I, yes, that's what I mean. Why are you here? What is this about? Sue, it's the stupid eff and head space. That's hard. Right. Yeah, that's it. That's the food part. It's easy. I like Christine. I say I feel in tune, almost like when I was pregnant and my body would scream broccoli or apple. Yeah, like you knew what you, and you know what you couldn't eat. You know what you couldn't eat. I like, I like Grace. Oh, my goodness. I went down the spiral this Saturday.

Started with half a size of pizza at my grandson's birthday and it just kept going. right? Why? What was that about? You know, like that, that, that's why downsizing it, it brings up the, someone was talking about, I can't find the comment about this being like a diet. Like it kind of brings up the diet feels. I need the counter voice to, to the one that says downsizing equals diet. But it kind of is, it's meant to bring up the feels around diet. Right. Like it's, it's, it's very triggering and, and on purpose, on. on purpose. And that's where you got to like kind of be like, okay, what is the, what is the message? What's the learning lesson here? What is that? And it could just be as simple as your portions

have crept up. You want to get back into one of them. It could be as simple as that. But for most people, it's not, right? For most people, it's not. Yeah. So what's going on, right? I think this is a great week also to remind people that they have the power of choice here. like they have the power to choose to leave those bits of food behind or not. And so if they don't, if they choose not to, why? Is it because you think you're going to feel sad? Is it because you think you're, you know, going to be hungry later? Like, where does that choice come from?

Or if you do choose to leave those few bits behind, how does that make you feel? Like, are you reminding yourself, okay, I'm getting a bit more in tune. I understand how my body reacts at this level. I think this power of choice is really big. And then later on, you also have that power of choice. You have that power of choice to indulge later and not berate yourself after. Or you have that power to choose, I'm not going to indulge because I'm still at a place where I am going to be rate myself after.

So I think this week also gives you that reminder about that choice. You get to choose exactly how you want it to come out. Big feels. And so when you've lost your weight, you're done that actually will you maintain your living your life. You don't have to, it's not hard because the feels are just there. you know when you're actually hungry, you know when you're unsatisfied and need more, right? You know when you're going to take one more bite. You're going to walk away feeling full, right?

That's why these big feels. So there's a couple of comments I want to get to. First, Michelle, where's Michelle? Michelle's going on a cruise. I'm definitely going to be challenged on a cruise. I'm looking forward to being happy with myself when I make great choices. Yeah. So I was on a cruise recently, you know, and you're at a buffet. And every day I had more on my food on my plate than. And I want to try a little bit, try a little bit that I like it. And I'm not eating anywhere near like probably the amount I paid for for that food. So I do get you want your money's worth, but you want your money's worth on the whole trip, which means feeling your best, not wanting to go to bed after dinner, but wanting to walk the promenade or go see that late show or maybe actually hit the club where people are dancing, right? And so even I was just like, why am I doing this? I just, I'm eating so much food. I don't, I don't want to because it's not

making me feel good. But why? Because I'm on vacation and I'm around family and we're all eating and we're laughing and I'm not really being as mindful. And then there was like a couple of days in where I was like, okay, knock it off, Gina. Like knock it off. I'm tired of this bellyache I have every day or wanting to, wanting to knock out at night or feel like it was a struggle because I was so tire because I ate so much. So then I'm like, I'm going to eat in a way that makes me feel good when I walk away. Have I had enough? Do I feel good? And not really restrictive on what I ate. Like if I wanted the chocolate chip pancakes, I'm going to have the chocolate chip pancakes. And then I'm just going to eat enough that I feel satisfied. Right. So, so it wasn't I restricted and

made myself salads, but I just got so sick of myself and my choices. And it just didn't feel good and was affecting my money's worth on the whole trip, right? So I find don't even restrict yourself. You can downsize chocolate chip pancakes. You can downsize dessert, right? Or just get used to leaving that food on your plate. There's another one here, Sue, where she said, okay, so when we feel diet triggered, what do we do?

That's exactly it. Maybe there's nothing you do. You're just aware of it. And you say, well, what is that about? am I actually hungry for this next meal or snack or because I downsize my lunch I feel like I'm starving when I am I actually starving? No, I'm not hungry. Like that's where you turn up the fucking volume and you're like, what is this about?

Like, and if you don't have the capacity to do that, right? Like that's a whole other thing. We don't know what you got going on in your life. Like if you're like, Gina, I'm dealing with shit. Like honestly, I'm just so happy to be here today. that you don't have to do all the things, right? Like you can just, this can just be a week of you just trying to keep your shit together, you know?

Mm-hmm. I think also, like when you're feeling diet triggered, like you said, what is that all about what, like, why are you feeling diet triggered? Like, is it because do you feel like you are restricting yourself? Do you feel, like, is it those words that are coming up? I'm depriving myself. I'm restricting myself. You know, and is this where this mindset shift has to change where now you're in maintenance

and you're not, you're not doing this to restrict yourself and deprive yourself. You're doing this to learn. I'm doing this to learn about myself. I'm doing this to grow. I think this is, you know, the discomfort that we're having here, the uncomfortable feeling that you're having with this, it doesn't mean you're doing it wrong or it doesn't mean you're going backwards. It's this where this, it's exactly the reason why you are doing it.

So you can have this place of growth. You can have this place of learning. You can have this place of getting curious and getting to know yourself better. So yeah, you're uncomfortable. You're being triggered. These thoughts are coming up. Don't fight them. Don't think like, oh, gosh, I can't, I can't do this.

I don't want these thoughts. I can't have them happen. Because guess what? They're going to come back. They're going to wait for you. These thoughts and these feelings, they're going to wait for you until you do allow them to come in until you do sit with them, until you do talk through them. And seven days is probably not enough time to help you work through

everything. So let them come up now and let's just continue to work through them. Let's continue to have that thought until you have that confidence. Like, yep, I can do downsizing. I can be a little bit unsatisfied. I can even be a little bit hungry and be okay with that. You know, I don't have to allow that those limiting beliefs, those mental models to come back and tell me how I'm going to make this week go. Yeah. I mean, this goes back to Sue. What do we do? You don't know. necessarily have to do anything. But the awareness part of itself is huge. Oh, they seem to have an issue. Right. So when we feel diet triggered, what do we do? Just being aware is enough. Right. That in itself is huge. And be like, oh, what's going on with me there? Oh, this is really interesting.

When you were talking, I was thinking, okay, let's talk about the maintenance program. Because, you know, I think the maintenance program can be a place where no matter how you lost your weight, this maintenance program would help you be able to maintain and sustain it. And we're taking liberties that you found us through the living method simply because we don't really advertise our maintenance program. But we know we've had people who've lost weight other ways, keto, GLP1s, whatever, come into our maintenance program. So what is maintenance for someone who just, for example, not just, but took a GLP1 and just ate less of what they were used to eating? So you can lose your weight. You can lose your weight that way. But how do you know if you're really in tune to what you're.

your body needs. And what happens if you stop taking the GLP1 and you haven't worked through their issues with dieting and associations and all of that? Like you can have taken a GLP1 that cuts down the food noise and help you lose your weight and now you're in downsizing and still freak out about food waste issues, being afraid of being hungry, you know, food scarcity issues, have all that diet stuff pop up too, right? Again, this comes on just because you have lost, you're done losing the weight doesn't mean that you're done working on and working through the things that are going to help you be able to maintain and sustain your weight too. And I think here too, you know, if you've lost your weight and other methods and, you know,

you've only ever felt hungry or full, like starving, deprived or full, that middle ground there where you're just satisfied, that's an unfamiliar feeling. They don't know what that mean. They don't know what that feels like because not being hungry doesn't mean physically full. You know, it does, you shouldn't have to feel, you shouldn't have to have a physically full belly to feel. Okay, hold on one more I'm trying to say. You don't have to need a nap after you walk away.

Yeah, right. Like, you don't, you don't, that physical feeling of having a full belly does not mean not hungry. Not hungry is, is just not hungry. You don't, it's not about the amount of food that's in your belly or not. It's how your hormones make you feel. It's all of those other things. So I think when we talk about satisfied and unsatisfied, there's still that connection between

satisfied means I can feel food in my stomach. I know that I've just eaten versus just feeling okay, just being able to walk away. That's the difference. You should be able to walk away from your food, not feeling like you ate anything. You shouldn't feel any physical effects of eating food because you're not trying to store fat and gain weight. Back in the day, we'd have one meal. So we overeat as much as we could when we could to try to get our bodies to store that fat to give us the energy so we wouldn't literally starve to death. Now the food is coming and coming and coming. Think about it if you've

done the program before. Think about feeding the metabolism, right? The same people who are worried now, right, about being hungry or what if I'm not eating enough or any of those things, when it comes to feeding the metabolism, you're going to take those same portions, split them in two, and you're going to be like, do I have to eat that second portion? I'm not even hungry for it. Like, why do I have to eat the second portion? But like now, if I was to say to you now, I want you to take the exact same foods that you are eating, same portions and everything, I want you to split them in two and you can only have the first portion. People would feel like they were dying. They would literally like, oh my God, I'm starving. This isn't healthy. I'm deprived. I mean, you're not eating enough.

but when you have the choice and you have to eat that second portion, not only when you split them up, but you eat the first person and you have to eat the second portion, people are like, ah, I don't want to. And that just shows you the mental part of what's happening with downsizing because we're not asking you to split your portion in half. We're just asking you to just eat slightly less, a few bites less, right? That's how much that like mental part. Does downsizing affect the leptin and the ghrelin? Yeah, yes, in a good way because you can have, just like you can have insulin resistance

from having too much sugar, high carbs that require way more insulin than your insulin sensitive. Your body keeps pumping it out. The same thing with leptin. That's the next thing people are going to talk about, leptin resistance. Your body has gotten so used to large portions that your leptin doesn't tell you when you've had enough because it's so used to you overconsuming. So you can lose your weight and still be overconsuming, right? So let's talk like people are worried that they're not eating enough.

Well, if you were eating breakfast and snack and lunch and snack and snack and snack and dinner, right, and you're eating good nutrient-rich foods and you feel great, you have good energy, sleeping good, great energy, all of that, then, and you were eating enough last week, you felt fantastic even when your portions are on the smaller side. Now, the problem is, are there days that you are hungrier and yet you are refusing to eat more because you're just trying to keep your portions small, that's the other side of the coin, right? This isn't about keeping your portions small. So if you have a day where, again, you need three eggs to feel satisfied. And then the next five days, you only need one egg to feel satisfied. It doesn't mean that you only need one egg moving forward. You need to be in tune to needing more.

Same thing with downsizing can look like this, right? So I, you know, I'm having lunch. And so I pour my food on the plate, whatever, how's this portion for me? I think it's okay, whatever. Fully prepared to leave food on my plate, but I'm still hungry. I'm like got my last few bites and I'm like, shit, I'm still really hungry. It's just as much going back for more, putting that on my plate and then downsizing that second portion as it is. So don't get to big mistake people make when it comes to maintenance or even after losing weight and doing another round that they try to keep their portions small and they completely lose sight of actually being in tune to their body's needs. Yeah, when we talk realigning portions, like this is a great week to realign portions,

that means not enough, too much, or just right. And I think that not enough piece, people, it's easy to forget that part. They always think, you know, I'm realigning my portions because my portions must be too big. I need to readjust my portions because my portions must be too big. That might not be the case. you might not be quite eating enough, you know, like you need to realign your portions day to date as well. There might be a day that you think, oh, like you said, I am hungry today. So be like, be aware of that. Don't think, you know, I'm downsizing. I had half an egg today for breakfast. So tomorrow I'm only going to have half an egg.

You might need more than that, even to be slightly unsatisfied. So when we're talking realigning portions, it's not just because they've crept up. It's not because it's too much. It's because we want you to be even more aware of when it's not quite enough when it is too much or when they are just right. So that's what this week is also all about when we talk realignment. Big picture when we're done this round of maintenance and you do as many maintenance program as you need to feel confident moving on. The last couple weeks are personalized in the plan, right? And Grace just reminded me like so many times we want a formula, this is about being so in tune and bringing up all the feels all the time that you're just in tune with that and so self-aware that the calm part comes when you're just, you already are really self-aware

and in-tune. And then this is where living the life place, there's losing, there's maintaining. And then the switch to living is I'm not planning my day. I, some days I have breakfast, some days I don't. Sometimes I have breakfast and then a snack. Sometimes I don't have breakfast or a snack. And then I come around to lunch. Like there is no rhyme and reason to my days other than I check in with myself and be like, all right, am I hungry? How do I feel for breakfast? Do I want something to eat? And then what's going on with my day, right? So if I know that there's going to be a big chunk of my day where I can't eat like four hours, five hours, where I know I won't be able to eat, then I definitely make a plan and I'm like, okay, well, if I'm not hungry for lunch,

that's fine in the morning probably, right? Am I hungry? And I'm not really hungry. Okay, well, I may have to eat at some point before I leave because otherwise I don't want to get caught not eating anything. And so then I might factor in at lunch and be like, okay, I'm not really all that hungry for lunch, which I just went upstairs. I wasn't. My kid had some mosa's left over from last night's dinner. So I ate two of them. I'm like, oh, shit, let me get this in now. Because if I don't, I got like back to back to back to back the rest of my day. So I'm like, that's the planning that I do. But every day can look a little different. Some days I eat all the meals and snacks. And then other days, hardly anything and because I'm not really hungry, right? So we always talk in weight loss,

big picture is learning and doing the things you need to do to help you maintain. And maintenance is learning and working on and working through the things that are going to help you get to that place where you just live your life. And you're just trusting when to eat, what, eat, how much you're not following a plan. You are just living your life and also, you know, maintaining the lifestyle changes that you made that are going to keep providing that life. You can't fall back. and old habits, right? Yeah. And I think this place, too, of creating this awareness, you know, when you, we talk about this place where you're just living your life. And I know that can seem so foreign to people who are not there yet. Like, what do you mean? Like, when is this going to

come? When is this going to happen for me? Like, when is this? When is this? When is this? You know, then later because you don't want to spend the whole rest of your fucking life consumed about food. Yeah. Yeah. To lose weight maintaining. You just want to live your life. Endults what you want. Help your body get back to feeling it's best when you can. Like, that's it. Right. So I didn't interrupt it. No, that's okay. And I think the more that we work through this, the more practice we give it, the more awareness that comes from it, that's where that calm is going to come from. You're going to understand. You're going to be more, there's there can't be a formula because you want to get to a place like you said where one day doesn't necessarily look like the next. Like that, you have to be okay with that formula not fitting. And that's where that calm is going to come from. So there's going to be days where, you know, you're making the choices like, I'm not that hungry. I'm just going to eat my bits and bites. That's what one day looks like. Then the next thing, you're like, I'm star. I'm starving. I'm eating all the meals and snacks. I'm, you know, making sure I'm getting all this nutrient rich food in. And then that, but when those days come where you feel like you're eating more,

the awareness that that's just how your body reacts, that's just what you need. That's where that calm is going to come, not like, why did I eat so much today? Why am I so hungry? Did I do something wrong? No, that's just how, that's just the flux. That's the ebb and flow of your day. So more that you can do that, the more that we have that awareness, that's where that calm is going to come from. It's going to just have that understanding that each day is going to be a little bit different. And it's not going to happen overnight. You know, we'll get there eventually. We will get there eventually.

You will be there eventually. But it's this practice. It's this time. It's just working these tweaks. It's allowing these feelings to come up. And it's allowing that awareness to come out. Yeah. And that is where like the formula, you're creating that in.

real time, right? Like by being self-aware. Like you're going to have your own formula for living your life and whatever that. You know, it occurs to me, people have just been, a lot of people have been on a diet for so long, trying to follow this, trying to follow that. I'm working with a client, which I never really do. And she's doing so great. So she's eating really well and she's exercise. She's so great. But then she has these stressful times where she'll like indulge. And of course, her weight will up, but I know it's going to come right down. But she's just like, oh my God, I blew it. And I'm like, no, it's going to come back down.

I said, your weight is really this. I said, by the end of the week, your weight's going to be this. And of course, shit happens, right? Like so many things happen. And I'm just like, oh, God, like, here she goes. I know what her weight really is, but she's not seeing it. She wants it so badly because, you know, a late night and then something impromptu. And like, she's giving me all of the information.

So I'm collecting all the data. I got all the information. She's got all the feels. I have none of the feels. and it's just so like, it's like you do this, your body responds like that, but she's just making it and so does everybody, it's so stressful because of all the feels. I'm over here. Like, I'll bet money. I'll bet my children on her. Like, I can tell exactly where her weight is at, how much it's going to go up or, you know, her pattern when it's going to drop again. And people have a hard time

doing that because they don't trust. My point is there's so much thoughts and feel. And that we're bringing into this, I just know by trust. I know by, because I've learned. I just know without a shadow of a doubt how the body functions and responds to certain things. I've seen it enough time. So you have to see it enough times in yourself to know exactly what's going on with you and be confident, oh, my scale is up four pounds today. Yeah, it is because I've had a crappy sleep.

I drank some wine. I'm stressing about this. My body sore from the workout. I pounded the crap out of myself yesterday. Like that's it, right? That's where like that guessing the scale and how you, based on how you feel is, it's kind of a really good way of really trusting that you know how you feel. And I know it's based on a number, but it's not.

Go by how you feel physically, mentally. What do you think your weight is at today, right? I know this is not about weighing, but. Yeah, what do you think your weight is at and why? I think the why part is important too. Like, oh, I think my weight's going to be this today because of these reasons, you know, because of the way I feel, maybe because of the way I feel, maybe because I did this yesterday, like connect those dots, right? And then you get on, you're like,

okay, I was right. I was wrong or whatever it might be. I love the guessing the number. Mondays are my day. Like, Mondays are my day when I get on the scale. I'm like, I'm going to guess based on the last couple days what was going on on. You know, like I know this, maybe this was going on on Saturday, this was going on Sunday, or I had a great day Saturday, had a great day Sunday. And that Monday morning, not that we're starting every Monday, but that seems to be a day where I can like get on, I can guess. Most of times I'm not surprised. You know, I know where it is, either way. You know.

You start your way, not stressing about the number, but knowing that you know exactly where you're at. We've got to get going, Odette. I just want to real quick, someone says worried about losing. I mean, your weight might go down because, you know, whatever. But, you know, it's just, if your weight's getting rid of excess fat, that says how it is. You got like 10 seconds to tell us what are we focused on before Wednesday. So before Wednesday, I just want everyone to take a quick minute, you know, ask themselves before they eat. How hungry am I between, you know, give yourself a scale, one to ten.

Just, I know we like our numbers around here. How am I feeling? Am I really hungry? And then at the end, ask yourself, you know, how did I do with this? Am I slightly unsatisfied? Did I maybe eat too much? Do I need to adjust? So just those two things.

Take the time. Take the time. Take your down. Talk to yourself. Love it. Thanks, everyone. Join us live. We're listening.

Have it. Have a great Monday. It's going to be a great week. As always, Odette. Thank you. See Wednesday. See Wednesday.