The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness: Mindset Mondays - September 15, 2025

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

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 unpack one of the most common misconceptions about the Maintenance Program: that it’s just “more of the same.” Gina challenges the idea that maintaining your weight is simply repeating what you did to lose it, explaining how maintenance brings a new level of self-awareness, identity work, and intentionality. They explore the difference between using Back On Track as a reactive tool versus proactively following the weekly tweaks in maintenance, and why routine matters more than perfection. If you’ve ever wondered how this phase supports both your mindset and metabolism—or if you’re questioning the purpose of repeating The Food Plan—this conversation will shift your perspective completely.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.

All right. Here we are, week one of the maintenance program. Last week, prep week, your opportunity to get back into things, find your rhythm, start following. food plan consistently and now we are in week one solidifying your maintenance mindset. Hi, Odette. Hi. How are you? Good. Yeah. I'm good. I know you have a whole outline that you want to follow, but I want to bring up a comment that I responded to. It might have been yesterday in the group. I'm very valid. And I'm going to summarize here and I am sorry if you're watching and you made this comment. I can't remember your name. It was, seems to me like this is the same old shit we were

doing before in the weight loss program. Or like, how was this any different? We're just following the basic food plan than just doing back on track the whole time. And my comment was, if that's your perspective, you're missing it. You're missing it. And obviously she said it a lot better. I'm not trying to disrespect her. But that was the gist of it. And I totally understand. Like, isn't this just back on track, right? And back on track is a technique that once you are really just living your life, like there's losing your weight, there's maintaining your weight, actively maintaining your weight, and then there's just living your life.

And living your life is essentially just an ongoing version of personalizing the plan, which looks like, I wake up, I assess how I feel, I go about my day, making choices that make me feel good, trusting when to eat, okay, I'm hungry now, or am I actually just being triggered or is this that a habit, right? What to eat. I want a steak. I want a salad, whatever, and how much to eat. Just being super calm, knowing exactly how much I need, knowing exactly when I'm choosing to eat more than I need because it's delicious, right? That's where I find myself falling back into old habits. My weight starts creeping up. I go away on vacation. I have fun eat my face off. My weight creeps up. That's where I implement back on track. Back on track is really for that.

And yes, you can implement it in between groups. It's something that we introduce and really talk about in week 11 of the weight loss program to kind of help people understand we have a way for you to manage. So if you are actively in this maintenance phase of your journey and you're following along with the maintenance program, you really shouldn't be using back on track because you should be following the tweaks that we're doing each week. Yeah. So yes, the basic food plan is back on track, but that's not why you're following it right now. Your body loves routine.

Yes, the food will be routine. You're going to make the changes each week, which will continue to bring up some issues and associations that you're going to continue to work through to truly get to that place that you're going to be able to go on and live your life. So if your intention is, oh, we're just doing the same old shit or we're just following back on track, you're going to really miss the opportunity. Finally, and I don't want to talk too much, but research is now saying that it takes about two years for someone to solidify their new weight. So after they lose weight, it takes them about two years for their body to adjust to that new weight. that is out there in that world where people are just haphazardly making choices trying to maintain their weight. With the Living Method Maintenance Program, you're actively helping your body adjust to your

new weight, not just physically by that routine and not just getting even more in tune to those portions that we do with the tweaks each week, but also mentally. So we're fast-tracking what would be a two-year process and doing it within a few short months by following the systematic nature of the maintenance program. And so if you are coming in here hot off of weight loss and you don't see the difference just because you're stuck on what you're eating and when right now, you're probably not reading the information. You're probably not really listening to the conversation in that maintenance is a whole

other beast. It's a whole other can of worms. And the way you approach it and your attention behind it is different. than weight loss. I know that was a lot off the top, but I had a lot that I wanted to say. So you know what I'm saying. What say you about that?

Yeah, I think this is actually almost perfect timing to bring this up. Because last week was prep week. We were getting you ready to transition into where we are now. And, you know, we're just laying the foundations, laying the basics, getting into routine, getting into habit. But what we do around here is all very, very intentional. So there is an intention.

So there is an intention behind prep week and what we do. There is intention behind following that basic food plan and where is this going to take us? Where is this going to lead us? It's not about just going through the motions and doing what you've done before and knowing what you've known before. And that's all you need to know going forward. So everything is very intentional. So yes. And even when you're using back on track for members that are returning that know what that term is, that know what that tool is,

there's a very different intention behind back on track. You're doing that to get back to your baseline, to get back to that place of feeling good. So while it looks similar to the basic food plan, why you're doing it is different. And it's not actually exactly the basic food plan. Like we have you consider a few extra things in there. You know, like, you know,

maybe you're having a few more extra leafy greens to help things move along. You know, you're not just going back to having leafy greens at every single meal and snack. Yeah. you know, with your, with your meals, you know, it's so that the intention there is a little bit different as well. So it might look the same on paper, but when you are here and you're immersed and you understand and you are in it with the right intention, and that intention can take time

to show itself to you. I think that's the main difference here. So yes, prep week, it looked familiar to returning members, but when they got into it and read the information and listened and looked at it with fresh eyes. We talked about it. The intention is very different. Yeah. You're going to do as many rounds as the weight loss program as you need to lose your weight. And then just because you reach your weight goal doesn't mean that you're done working

through your issues and associations and, you know, are as in tune with your body as you could be or that you're trusting the changes that you've made. And so then you're going to do as many rounds of this maintenance program as you need to do the same, but with the intention of helping your body solidify the weight physically and also help you solidify your mindset mentally to get you to a place where you're ready for that third stage, which is live your life and just, you know, living the liby way, living with those habits that you created to support the change that you've made, right? Being able to trust when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat.

So you really want to be intentional about why you are here and what you are doing. If you're just looking at it like it's the same old shit I did before, you really are missing it. The problem with the weight loss industry is not the losing weight. It's being able to maintain and sustain it. And yes, we go about it in a different way and that helps. But losing weight in the way that we did from a physical perspective, what you eat and when only doesn't help you with the mindset. Doesn't help you when something tragic or traumatic or something that happens in your life that throws you off has you dipping back into old habits, old coping mechanisms, right? it doesn't help you with your daily routine, you know, to continue to do the things that make you feel good

if you fall back into your old routines. And so you really have to understand why you are here. And chances are the why that you are in maintenance is different than the why that you started out with in the weight loss program. Not to bring a heavy, you know, like feel to the conversation today. But I think I really want people to get off the right start. And it wasn't like that what that person said bothered me. I I totally understand where they're coming from. I just, I want them to wrap them in what I can see they need to do and learn and why they are here so that you who's listening or watching today, you are understanding like how important this phase of your weight loss journey is. Like this, this phase is the most important phase. Like this is where you want to be.

And I know you probably works really hard to get here and you want to be like, oh, fine, put my feet up on my desk, chill out. I am here, but that's not it, right? Here's Kath. I love Kath. Hi, Judy. Hi, Kath. Hi, Kath. The intentions in the daily post feel very different.

Really feels intense and direct in a good way. Yeah, right? Because we know how hard you work to get here. Like, we want you to get the most out of it so you can truly move on with your life and move on to that next space, that live your life stage. Hey, I'm working on a third group. I'm working on, you know, we all want to be part of this. incredible community and we kind of don't want to leave. So I'm looking for a place for us all to go

and, you know, to hang out together and work on what's next. But yeah, it is. It is intentional and it probably is intense because I know what's at stake here for you, right? Like I know. And so does Odette, she gets it too. Okay, not to hijack your whole conversation, Odette. What else do you want to talk about today? No, I think this is a great. So I wanted to talk about self tabotage. And I feel like this is kind of leaning. It was down low on the list, but let's go right there. Because I think This is, you know, I think members that have done their weight loss, but in the weight loss group, now they come to the maintenance group, and they expect it to be this magical place so much different than what they saw before.

You know, it's to invoke these new feelings, to have these new patterns, that it's a brand new program that should look different from the other program. And so they're telling themselves, oh, this is just the same. How is this different? Why am I here? Why bother? Why should I do this? It doesn't, how is this going to get me any closer? So it's that questioning. And it's not questioning with curiosity. It's questioning with doubt. So I think, you know, when we talk about self-sabotage and not coming in with fresh eyes and open eyes, what we're doing is we are already putting up a bit of a barrier. Well, this looks no different. This feels no different. I don't need to indulge in the information. I don't need to be open to. normalizing different expectations or not only the fluctuating scale, but my fluctuating feelings, you know, and I think they want to put up this barrier so that they don't have to go there or they don't need to accept that. This is new. It's different. It's going to feel uncomfortable. And if you just keep it looking the same and feeling the same with the same

intention, that's a comfortable place to be. And I think that that could be part of self-sabotage, not being open to a lot of change that needs to happen here and a lot of different intentions that need to be written. Well, the weight loss program helped you lose weight and the maintenance program is going to help you maintain your weight. Maybe it's the low cost. So you're thinking, what the heck am I going to learn for the price that I paid to get in here, you know, at the end of the day, but it's nuanced. And again, it comes back to that routine. Yes, we are doing the same thing physically because the body loves routine. Like that's a, you know, know, that's a consistent takeaway with our guest experts.

The body loves calm. The body loves routine. Then it can just, like, do its thing. And then you can focus on a lot of the physical stuff. When it comes to solidifying your weight physically, that's it. It's routine, just allowing your body to adjust to your new set point. That's what set point is all about, homeostasis. Your body adjusting around this, you know, this set point, which is, you know, not just one

number, but, you know, give and take a few pounds here or there. it's the mental part though like that's that nuance that that's where you want to look at it with those fresh eyes is like what do you need to work through in maintenance to solidify that that really the changes that you've made mentally and and that is that is really nuanced I love what sue sharing here it's great to be here and looking again at the issues that send me back to food fear of giving up comfort food I haven't let go of that dumb ass belief that chips will fix everything can I laugh and cry at the same time. Yeah, listen, I, chips are my fix too, right? Like, whenever I'm down, I'm like, I want some chips. I want to just, I love chips. I love chips. Do I use them to cope?

Yes. Are they also delicious and they're my jam? Yes. Right? And so I still eat chips. I've been able to maintain my weight for 30 years. You guys know if you've been following long, that got tested in the last few years with some stress and, you know, grief and stuff.

I would, menopause I was dealing. with. And now my weight's coming back down. And I had some truffle chips last night. I love truffles. I took my mom out for her birthday lunch yesterday. And it was at a restaurant that's attached to a marketplace, you know, one of those specialty places. And they had truffle chips. So Tony picks up a bag of truffle chips. And so last night, I'm like, I worked really hard on this speech that I'm giving in Arizona next week. And I've got a lot going on. And I'm like, let me just have some chips. So I open the bag. I dig into them. And I'm like, you know, you can't even taste the truffles. So I had a couple of them and I was like, yeah, it's not like, it's not what I wanted.

It's not doing anything for me. I was happy that I had some and just Tony sat there and ate the rest of the bag. Right. So, so this doesn't mean you can't have chips and that they won't bring you comfort. Right. In fact, that's the whole point is like once your body creates a set point around your new weight, you'll be able to have chips and not gain five pounds every time. you have them, right? Or you'll be able to have them and not feel like, oh, well, just because I had, now I've had a few. I've ruined everything. So let me just eat the whole bag of chips and I'll just punish myself and starve myself to death tomorrow. Right. So that's what I mean by that mentality is that like your weight, you're not going to gain weight by eating a few chippies

here and there. But it's bigger than just maintaining your weight. It's that that mindset doesn't have to be all or nothing or just because you have a few chips doesn't mean you're bad or you ruined everything, right and it's you and i hate the word being in control but you do have control here because you can't control and moderate your way into anything but it's you being like oh i want to have a couple chips and then also be able to have a few and be like okay i'm good you know close up the bag and be done with it like that's that's where the live your life part includes all the yummy bites a bit so so in your case right in your case it's like sue you're like that's your that's your that's your work, your work is to be able to enjoy the foods that you love. And I hate to save moderation

because that's not it, but being in tune to your needs. I'm going to choose to have the chips today. And then maybe the next day, I can be like, no, I'm good. I'm good. I don't need the chips, right? So. Yeah. I love that word choice more than control. You know, you have the choice. It's not like you're controlling if you have it or not. You're choosing. You're choosing to have it. That's your choice. You're choosing to how you talk to yourself after you have it. You're choosing to decide how you use those chips. Is it just because you like them and you want to have them fine? If you're choosing to use them for comfort, that's where your curiosity can come in.

Why is the chips that give me comfort? What is tied to that? You know, I think it's having that choice where you don't have to control your action, but you can choose your action and then, you know, come to the conclusion after that. Or like Rob says, apparently chewing crunchy food, chips gives our lizard brain. Well, I thought we had a fish brain, but whatever. Our lizard brain, a sense of chewing the bones of our enemies like the bear. A, you know, that sounds really hokey, but there's a lot in that how our bodies still function on this, like, primitive level.

Right? Like, we think that we've evolved so much because technology and stuff, but our bodies actually haven't. And there's probably something that goes along with it. So sometimes we have to let our primal flag find. I mean, you could chew on the vegetables too, you know. I'm pretty sure back in the day we did not have chips, but I know what you're saying. Like sometimes it's eating the food because it is, it is represents something else other than nutritional value. And there's nothing wrong with that as long as you feel into, like you're making that conscious choice and you don't feel like, oh, I had some chips.

So I've ruined everything. Now I got to punish myself or I've eaten the chips. So I might as well also have the cookies, then the ice cream and then all of that, right? like yeah and the reality i'm on i'm with you on that i'm with you on that yeah and i think the reality is many of our members that are new around here are not at that place yet they're not they're not at that place yet where they are having those conversations with themselves that they are like if you're really honest about it you know are you still having those chips like i i read a member comment in the group i can't remember who it was but it was just this morning and she had a

girl's weekend she went on this girl's weekend and i wanted these amazing hikes and she She said, I know two years ago I wouldn't have been able to do these hikes and, you know, what did it make sense? But I still regret my indulgences from the weekend. I still regret eating all of the things. So here we all have this empowering moment where your physical body is able to do these things that you couldn't have done two years ago. And you fueled it maybe with food that wouldn't have been your top choice, you know, when

your regular routine, when you come out of that weekend. And rather than having that amazing milestone of doing these hikes, it's that mindset. of the regret of, you know, I did these things that go against everything that I've worked so hard to do. And that's the mindset. That's the work that we need to get to. And you may have lost your weight and felt amazing and know your physical body can do. It looks different, feels different, is stronger, just works differently. But that mindset is still way back there. It's still there. So we're trying, this is what we're doing now. We're still only one, we're only eight days in, you know, and this is where we're trying to get to, is that mindset shift that you

come out of that weekend saying, I hiked those miles. I never would have been able to hike before. And that's it. Period. Oh, here's Judy. That was me. I'm sitting here thinking about those indulgences and wondering what happened and why I thought I knew better. Okay, without me knowing any context here, I'm going to probably say, okay, you had this amazing hike. And then why did you have those foods? It could have been situational. Maybe I don't know you went away for the weekend and you only brought what you thought you needed and then everyone else ate all your good snacks. So you were left with all the crappy snacks. That happens a lot, right? You bring what you need for yourself, other people and up, oh, I'll have some of your vegetables. Also have some of your food and you're sharing

because that's what we do. And then you have none left for yourself. It could have been that comfort piece that we were just talking about. Like you're like what's one thing that's one thing food does it bonds people it connects people it's it's that the the the comfort in food doesn't come from you eating it by yourself in your room it comes from the feeling that you get when you are around other people laughing and indulging and yes we tend to overeat because we are not paying attention and we're just snacking and eating and then we get that euphoric high right and so this is where you say to yourself, okay, what, if I was to do that whole weekend again, what could I have done, right? Maybe stayed on top of my water a little bit more because I was pretty tired and dehydrated and

hungry after that, that, you know, hike. I could have brought more snacks for myself. I could have, like, what could you have done? Or why did you make those choices, which it's probably something more to it than, oh, you just gave in and you had no willpower. and whatever. Maybe you were like, what's it called when you give yourself something because you did rewarding yourself. I feel great. I did the big hike. So I should be able to have these chips that bring you joy or whatever it is that you ate that is clearly not bringing you joy because you're stressing about it today. Maybe you need to be like, oh, I always thought eating that or drinking that was bringing me joy. Is it bringing me joy? Is it bringing me joy?

if I'm full of regret from having it. So that's a lot to unpack. This is the work. This is the reason why people have a hard time maintaining and sustaining their weight. Because look how far you've come. Look to where you've got. You did this amazing thing where you did this hike. And yet you're pulled right back into that diet mentality, right?

Or that punishment mentality or that shame mentality or guilt or whatever it is. So that's the work for you. that's that's the work for you so these things that you are thinking is just highlighting your work for this next 91 days right yeah and I think you know once we talk about that work and what happens and what comes out of these weekends eventually you know there's going to be this time where it's going to be Monday after a girls weekend Monday after a holiday weekend Monday after a big celebration and you're going to say to my you say to yourself I had those things. And instead of regretting and feeling bad about myself, I'm going to now take action,

step into the place that aligns with where I am and who I am. And that was just a weekend that came and went. It was just this weekend that came and went. And maybe the euphoria wasn't in the indulgence in the food. Maybe the euphoria was in the conversation, in the energy and all that. And that food was there and part of it. But that wasn't what you were bringing you joy. That was just associated with the other, you know, that other energy, that other joy. So I think it takes time. Like you said, it takes work to get to that place where Monday rolls around.

And instead of regretting it, you just release that it happened. And you come back to this place that aligns with who you are and where you are and you just take action to move on. Yeah. Jody's like, I brought the healthy food and loved it, but also ate all the treats and chips that everyone else brought like if this is a one-off and these are your girlfriends that you go away with once a year like who the fuck cares right you ate the stuff you drank the stuff whatever that's part of it too that's part of it too because even after you are out there living your life for a year you come back to this girl's weekend next weekend and if you want to do that again that's

not going to ruin anything you're not going to gain your weight back that's going to nothing that's just going to be a weekend away with your your girls that you do once a year I think bigger picture is you want to take your maintenance journey just as seriously as your weight loss journey. And if every weekend you are feeling the same on Monday that, you know, two steps forward, two steps back, then fucking knock it off, figure out why you are here, what you want to do and what you are here to accomplish and do it. I think sometimes people look at maintenance as this Lucy Gooseley, just kind of like whatever, when it's almost like your, your maintenance journey needs to be taken just as seriously as your weight loss journey, right? Not a series of back on track,

back on track. No, you're signed up for the maintenance program, do the maintenance program. Now, with that said, we do have people that are in different stages of maintenance, right? So we're kind of generalizing talking to everybody, but I think you need to be that comes back down to your intentional. Like you're not done yet and take it just as seriously as you did when you were losing weight. And at some point when you were losing weight, if you kept every weekend indulging and feeling like you felt on Monday, that's like madness, right? But the thing is, it's tricky when you're in maintenance because you've already reached your goal. You probably already feel great. You don't, for lack of a better word, feel as desperate to achieve the end game as you did in weight loss, right?

But the end game here is even bigger than losing your weight. We're talking about moving on and just live in your life, right? like that's that's unicorn status right there that's unicorn status that's that's what you're after so that's what you got to make that really resonate with you know yeah and part of this week too we we are talking a lot about setting intentions and how setting intentions can be um this roadmap to help you feel comfortable in this day to day it can even help you uncover your why if you're setting these intentions if you're trying to identify with the version of you that you you are now or the version of yourself down the road, you might not know who that is yet.

But if you keep setting those intentions, it's going to slowly uncover that. It's going to show you, you know, what is there, what's to come. And you're going to start to shift from, you're going to start to shift to who you are now versus the weight that you want to be. So like when you're setting your intentions in weight loss, it's, I'm setting these intentions because I want to be this number on the scale. I'm doing these things because I want to be this number on the scale. So when you're setting your intentions now in this part of your journey, why are you setting those intentions? What do you, what do you see for yourself? Yes, you want to stay within that comfortable

range, of course, but why? Why do you want to stay within that comfortable range? And what are those intentions telling you and helping you plan that roadmap to get there? Yeah. You know, people know, you know, you know, I can even envision it myself. Like when I think about the things I want to accomplish my life, where do I go, what do I want to do? I know that version of me that I want to be. And sure, I don't need to lose weight, but I need to, you know, be more, I want to be more organized in my home. I want to be better prepared at work. I want to work through my fears of, you know, reaching out, asking for help. Like, there's a lot. And, and, and so, you know, in my calendar, I have booked off time for me to do the things that I want to do. Time to journal. Time to

reflect, time to read over my notes, time to whatever. And sure, some days I'm like, oh, my gosh, I did everything. I'm amazing. And other days I'm like, oh, my God, I'm never going to get there, right? It doesn't matter. It's not tied into weight. You know the version of you that you, those glimpses in your mind, that feeling that you're when you're hopeful and when you're thinking about something that you want or like, you're thinking about losing your weight and you've already done that so you're here, but you think about just like being done with it. Like you can feel it, right? How does that version of you show up in the world? How does that version of you navigate the weekends?

How does that version of you navigate girls' trips and vacations, right? How does that version of you show up at work with your pack snacks or you just really, you know, like I'm going to be in the moment, but you always make those good choices because you trust yourself to do so, right? So, man, yeah, there's so much to it. I like Kim. Honestly, if I indulge often, sometimes I have a food hangover the next day and I physically feel like crap. You always felt like crap eating those foods. It's just your body was like, should we tell her we feel like crap? And your body was like, nah, Shane listening. This is just dealing

with it ourselves. Right. And that's good. This is why your body's on your side. And you may think in your mind, oh, I want that. But if you were listening to your body, so this is something you can do now. That's that mindful piece, right? How would I feel if I ate this? A lot of people think they don't have to do that in maintenance. But how would I feel if I ate this tub of ice cream? And my body my belly right now is immediately like please don't please do not we don't want ice cream right now in your head you could be like oh great it's yummy he's fine but pull it into your body because your your body is telling you after the fact it feels like crap guaranteed you don't need to eat it to know that you will feel like crap just think about it right that's how in tune

you are so you're coming you're approaching at this at a whole other level having gone through and done the weight loss program we got to go our time is up um terry tell your friend, Terry's asking it a mint question, tell your friend to reach out to customer service and she can switch that end of day today. She'll be able to switch that up. Homework for people, O'Dek, because yes, we love doing the work. Give us some stuff to do. We love doing the work. So homework, yeah. So homework this week is around intentions. Ooh, I love that. So it's about setting those intentions. If it's a practice, maybe you had let, you know, go by the wayside or maybe it's fleeting, going to come back to that practice. But we want you to be intentional with your intention. So it's It's not just about eating your meals and snacks and being hydrated.

I want you to set those intentions to help you uncover what your new why could be. So set your intentions. I'm going to do this today because I want to feel like this tonight. I'm going to do this today because I want to feel like this at the end of the week. So I want you to try that for a few days. Not the intention of I'm going to get all my water and all my snacks and because that just should come automatically. You already have that laid out with the basic food plan. We know it's work.

It's not easier. It's easier said than done. some days, but you have that part already. We know you're working towards that. But what are those intentions that are going to how to pull you a little bit further and get you where you want to be at the end of these 91 days? Because it's not about hitting the food in the water

to get that number on the scale. It's about hitting all those routines and habits and mindset shifts to get you to be that version of yourself that you want to be. Love it. There you have it. There you have it. All right, Odette. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much. I will see you on Wednesday. Thanks for one joining us live for listening after the fact. We'll see you then.

Bye. Bye-bye.