The Livy Method Podcast - The Food Part Is Easy: The Real Work of Maintaining Your Weight

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Gina Livy and Odette open week one of maintenance with a claim that sounds backwards: the food is the easy part. Knowing what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat is learnable. What's harder is everything sitting underneath it; the fear of gaining it back, the old habits that feel comforting because they're familiar, and the quiet belief that once you hit your number, the work is finished."My diet is over" is the thought that undoes years of progress, this is how fear of regain can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.This podcast aligns with Day 8 of our Fall Maintenance Program, members can find video in our Livy Method app or Maintenance and Mindfulness Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ginalivymaintenanceandmindfulness Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New season, new name, bigger conversations. Welcome to Live Lighter with Gina, because lightness isn't something you find. It's something you create in your body, your mind, your home, and in your life. Real conversations, no bullshit. So let's lighten things up for you. If you're looking to lose weight and you want to keep it off, you have got to check out the Living Method. Our next live session starts September 14th.

better than ever, easy to follow. We have the most incredible community, and it works. Head over to living method.com to sign out today. You know, hi, I just figured out. So I was trying to pull up the maintenance support group on my iPad so I can review comments. And you know how people pop into Facebook. They're part of the book. Well, you know, because I have like 64,000 groups that we've done.

and I just realized now you can pin the ones that you actually need at the top. So apparently I had them all pinned. And so now this is going to make it so much easier. It might be a tip for some of our members, especially those who have, who had that access to the Facebook support group and they follow along solely by using Facebook. Easy way to find out groups pinned to the top. There we go. Hi, Odette.

Hi. I'm just going into mine as well. I was a little bit delayed. I was behind the scene sending Drew an Amazon purchase that I did for my cat. So that's why I'm a bit delayed. Well, just to make my life easier with feeding the cat while I'm away. So I'm just pulling out my group now. But yes, having them pin makes a huge difference because like I've been around since

2018, not as an employee, like as just a person, a member. Yeah. So I had all those groups from back then. So yes, I pin. I pin them. I know. It's nice. Same.

Same. At this point, is this so many. It's, you know, I'm, I can't keep track. I don't want to. I've got this new. I'm trying to figure out a microphone situation. So I feel like I'm strapped into a ride at like Wonderland. Buckle up.

Keep your hands. It feels like that. It feels like that around here sometimes. It feels like this week. So I'm excited about the first week. So over in the weight loss program, we're talking about fine-tuning and adjusting. So really just stay focused on a specific thing each week. Last week was prep week in both groups.

I know people just kind of getting back at it, all of our new members who are new to maintenance. And so what's the focus for this week? So this week, it's really about leaning into and being open mind and accepting that maintenance mindset. Really being open to changing your expectations of what your day is going to look like and what sort of rewards you're going to get for yourself each day. So just being open to change, being open to change in your routine, being open to to change in your thought process, being open to change when those self-sabotaging thoughts might

start to creep in. So just being open to them. And, you know, we talked a lot last week about food. Like food is never really, food is super important. You know, when we're talking satisfaction and the four sets of mindful eating, food is important. But it's how we react to things day to day, how our mindset has us believing things, understanding things, seeing things. I wrote something down actually about the food. I'm going to get back into my notes. It was about, what did I write down that I wanted to say? It was really riveting in the moment.

The food part is easy. That's what I wrote down. The food part is easy. You know, it's what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat. But it's all those feelings and associations that come up with it. And this week we really want to talk about that. How do we change that mind? mindset so that maintenance feels like it's just like this small extension of your journey, not all

this new work, not all this big thing that you have to accomplish, just, you know, starting to go with the flow of it all. That may seem like oversimplifying it, but here's the thing about it is what other animal, mammal species on the planet that is so fucked up over knowing what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, right? They're not sitting there like thinking about it. They just eat when they are hungry or if there's a grazing animal, they just graze all day. Like, I don't know what it is with us that we are so messed up over this. I mean, I can tell you, you know, ultra-processed foods, periods of starvation, this society put pressure on you to look a certain way. So we're trying to control. And we just get so messed up about it. And what we've been doing

this whole time is rewiring how your body's come to function, your brains come to You are making new connections, changing your relationship with food, with yourself, with others, where you fit in the world, the kind of energy you show up, all to make it really automatic. And that's, we're going to talk about automatic as we go, but you are asking the four questions for as long as you need until you do not have to ask anymore. I do not have to ask four questions. I can see the waiter coming with my food and already know before it's in front of me

if it's too much, not enough or just right. I know the minute when I scoop something on my plate that I'm like, oh my goodness, who do I think I am? There's no way I'm going to eat all of this. I can tell that there's not enough food on my plate. Like, I don't have to ask those for questions. So all the things that we ask you to do with the changes to the food plan and the tweaks each week are designed to help you learn more about yourself and to trust that when to eat,

what to eat and how much to eat. That's what this is all about. And to your point, yeah, the food part's the easy part. It's the life part. It's the second thing. It's falling back into old pattern of thinking. Oh, I had chips. So I blew it.

I got on the scale today. My weight is up. Oh, my gosh, I'm getting my weight back. I can't do this. Or feeling like you're not worthy. Oh, there's so much if you really think about it. Yeah, there's so much. And, you know, we think, you just said there, like, we think society's trying to make us

look a certain way. I need to restrict. I need to control. I need to, like that history sticks around. So when we say like we're trying to help you learn, we're trying to teach you or help you acquire the new skills, in the process, you have to unlearn and let go of those beliefs that you had. And that can be hard because that's when those what ifs start to creep up again. Like, well, what if this or what if that?

Like I don't want to do that because what if or I can't let go of that because what if? Because that's your experience. That's what you know. And until we can slowly start to create those new, I think we talked about this last week, those new learned experiences, those new realities, we really have to start, you know, accumulating those to be able to let go of the old stuff. And this is where we talk, like self-sabotage is something that we've talked about so much in the past.

It's those conversations that you have with yourself. It's those reasons why you hold yourself back because it feels safe, because it feels familiar. You know, like I need to reward myself somehow. Look at this great work I did. How do I reward myself now? How do I, instead of how do I reward myself differently? How do I, you know, how do I treat myself because I've done so much great work or I need a break? This is too much work.

So it's trying to unlearn those things and learn new things that takes so much, that takes more of the time and the brain power. You need to adopt the person you've become, like fully embrace. the person who shows up differently in the world. And that can be hard. Even like your relationships with other people can change, right? Like if you've always been the fat friend, for lack of a better term, of your friend group and you're no longer the fat friend. I mean, someone else has to be. You know, change isn't necessarily as hard for us. Sometimes it is for other people, right? You have a girlfriend, you go out, you know, we meet once a month and we have our burgers and fries and our

drink and you no longer want to order the burgers and fries. So, you know, you're no longer fun anymore, right? Like it, it shouldn't change the conversation. It shouldn't change your friendships, but it does change things, you know. And so that's that sometimes, again, people will sabotage themselves for other people. I heard from someone not too long ago who said, I gained all my way back because my daughter was really uncomfortable with the new me. And I was like, oh, my God, that's so loaded, right? So, yeah. And I think it's different for everybody.

And when you talk about the maintenance mindset, and this may seem like really deep for like week one of the program, but what are the thoughts and the feels and the insecurities and the things that are popping up for you this week? This isn't necessarily to do anything about it. it week. This is just like, okay, what is your intention of being here? I want to make sure, no matter what, I know what I need to know to maintain this weight, right? And so just be aware of those thoughts and feels that can pop up as you start your maintenance journey or you continue

your maintenance journey. Here's Sue, I agree 100% that it's the mindset piece that is the hardest work. And that was a surprise to me. Yeah, right? Like you just, you, you, you think it's more just the food stuff when it's a lot deeper than that. Here's Marcia, from four years in the weight loss program, I have the confidence that I can follow the plan and lose weight. I think it's going to take a while for me to trust myself not to regain what I've lost. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And sometimes it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm so afraid of that that we actually do it. I was going to say, And that familiarity of gaining weight back is almost comforting to some. Like it's like, oh, well, that's just my cycle.

That's what I know. That feels comfortable for me. So I'm just going to, you know, oh, yep, here are my habits coming back. Okay. Oh, here are my cravings coming back. Oh, here's my nighttime snacking coming back. Or, yep, that's what happens. That's comfortable.

That's my pattern because that is more comforting. It's more familiar. It's that fear of, well, if that doesn't come back, then what do I have to do? Like, if those habits don't come back and I really enjoy who I am and where I am now and I allow that person to be here, what does that look like now? What does success look like? You know, how does it feel? So I think that's a lot to uncover and work through.

And that's why we say, like, oftentimes you're not going to lose your weight in 91 days. oftentimes you're not going to solidify this mindset or this belief system in 91 days, because it does take a bit of time. And that is the benefit of doing the 91 days with the tweaks and the weeks and all that because those tweaks or the changes that we're making to the food plan, they're always less about what you were doing when it came to what you were eating and all of the thoughts and feels that would pop up during those weeks, right? Like it can be terrifying to think of this new you and everything that comes with it.

And that's where people, when they had their weight loss, well, is when I lose weight, I'm going to start dating again. I'm going to quit my job. I'm going to start a new business. I'm going to go out more. I'm going to learn a new thing. And as exciting as that can be, it can actually end up feeling quite terrifying when it comes time to do those things. Also, how many of us you just cannot stomach after trying so many times, you would be absolutely gutted to gain that weight back. And you're so fearful of gaining that weight back.

oh my goodness i just you almost look for for reasons for you to be right that you're going to gain it back right so you keep looking for proof that this isn't working that you're going to gain it back and oh i overate here oh my goodness i'm not going to be able to do this right so you're what happens in your mind is what you draw into your view so when you're terrified about getting your weight back it can be the very thing you are creating in your life you know um my goodness me too i can't wait um um um my goodness The trust, you need trust to replace the fear. Ooh. Yeah. And that, yeah, and it takes, it does take a bit of time. We would love to say it's this line in the sand where one day you, one day you're like, I'm, I'm not there yet. I don't feel it.

And the next day you wake up and yep, you're there and you feel it and you've got it. And it doesn't happen that way, unfortunately. So just like staying engaged and learning and being open and honest and learning from other members as well, like being in the community, learning from them, reading what they're saying. You know, we saw one member today say, you know, my weight is creeping back up. And then another member's like, oh, mine too, I wonder what's going on or why that's happening. You know, instead of like, oh, mine too, well, we must have blown it. You know, like, oh, we must have like let it all go. So just having each other that way too. And that's going to, that when you see that other members are having same conversations or same situations, that is going to help you build trust. This is normal. Okay. I see, I see my, my, my, experience and somebody else's experience. This can be a new experience, a new reality. Yeah, and get really curious about what is going on. What is going on? Why is my weight creeping up? Like, why am I feeling extra tired? Why am I just in a really negative head space? Like, you are your number one cheerleader,

right? You are your number one caretaker. Like your life, your body, your responsibility. I don't think we get curious enough with what's going on with us because we're so busy blaming that there's something wrong with us, right? And this is where if you're struggling, that's just all that is is highlighting an area that there's still stuff for you to work on or work through or do, right? Like, again, close your eyes. Are you at that? So, you know, I think we put so much on arriving at our goal weight, right? Which really is just that feeling where you know you are happy and comfortable and confident at this weight. And we arrive here, but like, is that, like, is this everything, is this the person right now that's showing up and when I envision myself having lost this weight,

am I living the life that I envisioned to go with it? Am I, am I showing up with new energy and excitement? Or am I still walking into my closet every day unhappy with everything in there and how it fits? Right. You can lose 60 pounds. It doesn't mean that you're getting up any earlier. It doesn't mean that you're moving your body more, meditating more, showing up in a more positive mindset. It doesn't mean that you go into your closet and all of a sudden you're like, yeah, everything's amazing. Right. And so, so this is like that version of you that you wanted so badly to achieve through a number on the scale, is that matching up or aligning with how you thought that version of you would feel, how that version of you would show up. So you can reach that physical number and

still have a whole shit ton of work that you get to do. Not that you need to do that. You get to do. This is learning and growing and evolving without having to worry about the number on the scale anymore. Yeah. And that getting to do it is what's going to take you past that fear, right? If we just keep that wall of fear in front of us and like, I'm not going to do it because

of because I'm going to stay on this comfortable side. Yeah. And that's going to hold you back. It's not going to allow you to move into this place of feeling like, yes, this is me. I'm here. I'm happy. I can do this. So you can walk into your.

closet and feel super excited. But it's that place of, I mean, I know in the weight loss group, you say festering in your funk. Yeah. Festering in your funk. And then in maintenance, we say we're festering in our fear. Yes. We can allow that fear to keep us back. And this is, you know, another topic we'll get into later on. We're just working on the mindset right now. And then we'll have the mindset for not pestering in the fear. We're just the first day of week one. Here's Sue, a friend of mine who never really had many food or weight issues reminded me the other day that every single person has food cravings. Yeah, because cravings are just messages. Cravings aren't your body trying to screw you over and make you fat. They're like, hey, drink a little bit more water,

right? Like, hey, you're stressed out. We could use some more good fat for that, you know, brain fuel. And every now and then, she actually told me to stop catastrophizing. Yeah, and this is the same thing. I know you wanted to talk a little bit about this, and maybe not to get into it too much, but the scale is going to fluctuate. And that's the hardest thing for people in maintenance, I think, because they think I've reached this number. That's where I'm going to stay. That's where I got to stay. But fluctuations continue to happen. They happened while you were losing weight. They're going to happen while you're maintaining your weight. And it's about ebbing and flowing with life. There are times in your life where you're able to do all the things, go to the gym, feel well,

rested, blah, blah, blah, blah, have great relationships and others where everything is just going to the shitter and you're just hanging on by the skin of your teeth, right? This is ebbing and flowing with life, taking care of you, cheering yourself on, figuring out what you need, especially when it comes to maintaining and sustaining your weight, right? And it's all just avoiding going back into old habits that created the situation you were in the first place. You were a direct result of how you were showing up, living your life, and the choices that you are making. You made different choices. You show up differently to lose your weight. Now you've got to to continue those to maintain your weight. So it's really about how do you just not fall back into old

habits. Yeah. And I'm, we may have said, I don't know if I said this if we've talked about this last week or if maybe you just, just you and I talked about it. But it was, you know, it's this mentality that my diet is over now. So that part, like my diet is over. So what I did can also be over because my diet is over. I hit that number where, yes, it's losing your weight. We call it a diet. We're changing the way we eat. We're changing the way we behave. That's a diet. So, so that doesn't change. Your diet is never, I mean, I don't want to put anybody in a doom and gloom mindset here, but your diet is never over because it's not a diet. It's the way that you live. It's the way that you think. It's the way that you move forward. So, you know, if we keep telling ourselves, my diet's over, I'm going to

just start doing what I did before again. Then that's where those old habits have room to come back. Well, my new habits were part of my diet. They're not part of who I am. The way that I eat was part of my diet. It's not part of who I am. So that's also that shift in the mindset that my, that 91 days or nine years that it took me to lose my weight is over. But who I am and how I live and what I eat, that is not over because that is who I am now.

So it's not telling yourself that your diet is over. Your weight loss journey is over. weight loss. Yeah, that's so important. Your weight loss journey because people talk about a healthy diet. They're talking about how they eat every day. But, you know, when you, when you were describing that, for a lot of people, I think they're constantly trying to lose weight has become not only just a hobby, but part of who they are. Right? It's kind of like, it's kind of like, it's kind of like, you know, you have people who constantly have fucking drama in their lives. Like it's, they constantly have drama. And it's like the minute there's no drama. They create drama because drama is what they're used to. So what happens

if you've been solely focused on losing weight and gaining weight, losing weight, gaining weight, feeling fat, trying to feel better, all of these things. And then finally, you just reach your goal. We can very easily create all sorts of problems for ourselves because it feels uncomfortable to just be here. And to your point, you need to shift that you have all these things used to focus on before. What are you going to put that energy into now? Right? You need to put that energy into like, who are you now? What is your new routines now? What is like, you know, it's almost like you're owning this new identity. And all of that is in your is in your past. And it's kind of like, okay, who am I now? Right. Oh, God, this is, this is so deep. I like Alessandra here. I'm up eight pounds for my lowest low. I've been doing lots of strength training and see a beautiful sculpted body. I no longer let the scale dictate how my day is going to go. I mean, this is. is where you can think you want one thing. Did you really want to weigh that number on the scale? Or do you just want to feel really good in your body? Right. Did you really want to lose weight?

Or you just want to felt strong and confident. Sometimes we put it into that number when it was never really about that number to begin with. Yeah, it's about the feeling. So it's like, so when you think about this end game, like, I want to be 130 pounds. Okay. Okay. But what, Why? What is that? What does that feel like? And we haven't talked about Brenda Huxley in a long, long, long time. But when we think about Brenda, she was a member for, if new members don't know, Brenda was a member. She was a vocal and important part of our community. And her goal, she didn't have a number. She wanted to go outside. She wanted to leave her house. She left her house in four years. Yeah. I want to be able to lose my weight to go outside. That was a feeling. It wasn't like I want to lose weight to be. 130 pounds. I want to lose weight to have that feeling of going outside, fresh air and sun. So what is it? So you want to maintain your weight for what? And we ask people today to redefine that why. You don't want to lose your weight. You don't want to maintain your weight to just be

130 pounds. You want to maintain your weight for that feeling of how you feel, of that feeling of accomplishment, that feeling of pride, that feeling of just living lighter, not living lighter weight-wise, but just living lighter, letting go of that. And that's all part of where this mindset shift has to go. And why we also talked about the scale today and those fluctuations, like, yes, it's going to change. But it's the feeling in your body at this time is what you work towards, not that, not just what that number on the scale is telling you. That might be when you mentioned the why, right? Because we have that why in weight loss is like, why are you continuing to show up every day? And when you're no longer chasing that number in maintenance, why? Like, we hear this so much

is that people are able to maintain the number in maintenance, but they don't feel as good as they felt when they were chasing that scale. Because when they were chasing the number, they were exercising more, managing their stress, managing their sleep, maybe a little bit more. And they were mindful because they were trying to see a result, that number on the scale. And when you no longer have that tangible number on the scale anymore, what is your why for continuing to do the things that you need to do to look and feel your best? Because let's face it, that's what you're doing it for now, right? Just to live your best life. And so this is where having a why, having a different, your why in maintenance should be a heck of a lot different than your why in weight loss and

and really going deep with it and making it really tangible and actually spending some time with some pen and paper and what is my why and you can break it down like what is my I do like for my work like what is my like one thing that I'm dealing with uh in work stuff that's important for me to change or one thing family wise that's important for me to change like I want to have Sunday dinners every Sunday why because I feel like everyone is here there and everywhere and it's so easy to not get together and time goes by why right because I feel like we're losing the family connectiveness and family is such a gift,

you know, and you have to put in effort. And I find us older generations are not putting in the effort and we're not as committed to our families as we were before. And why? Because I want my kids to know that there's always family because it's one of the most important things in life. Maybe not

you're born into family or maybe your friends or your family or whatever that is. But it keeps you grounded. It makes you feel like there's a safe place. It's a place for you to belong. Right. So that's that kind of deep that you want to get into. You can do it with your family. You can do it with your personal.

But really, like, why is, what is, why are you working so hard to maintain and sustain your weight? And I guarantee you it's, it's so much more than just because you don't want to gain your weight back. It's not about, you can't do that or you're going to forever, if that is your perspective, you're forever going to be terrified of gaining your weight back. It has to be more than just a slapping a bandaid on and hoping it sticks. You know. Yeah. And I, and, you know, when we're asking them to, what's your why? And they say, this is just to your point, you know, I want to be healthy. Well, what does that, what does that mean? Like, does it, is it your physical body is healthy? Okay. I feel less creaky. I feel less tired.

Maybe still tired, less tired. I feel, you know, a little bit more vibrant. And then maybe it's also mentally healthy. You've got more, more brain capacity. You're kinder to yourself. You, you you know, you're kinder to other people. Maybe you're a bit more compassionate. Maybe that's what you're healthy looks like. When you're in a body that you feel comfortable and good in, it can also help with, you know, some of that brain space and that capacity that you have. So it's really defining what that healthy actually looks like. Yeah. We've had members say it's being on the ground with my grandkids. Well, now my grandkids are grown. They don't want to be on the ground and I have to pivot again. You know, now what does healthy look like for me? Is it going for walks? Is it,

you know, being able to bend over and tie up my shoes, you know, what could it, what could it be? Yeah. Well, a lot, we brought up a lot. Well, my head, we jampacked this session. And that's what it is. That maintenance mindset is going to be different for everybody. So this isn't a walking away with their to-do list. I think it's just having those like, aha moments where you are like, oh, yeah, okay, oh, yeah. And then this week is about honoring the thoughts and feels that pop up. What are some of the things that are popping into your mind? How are you feeling? You know you're on a mission. You know you have a goal. You know there is work to do. But at the end of the day, it's not going to be any one big thing that you do. It's going to be all the little things that you're doing each day to

embody and become this person that you know you are meant to be because you already are that person. So it's just really getting to know and learning to trust the person you are now and the changes that you've made this week. Before though, I know we don't want to give people a homework, but if we were to give people homework this week, what would it be? I think this week would be being open to, so because we talked about the scale today, getting on it and really recognizing what it makes you feel, how it makes you feel when you see that number. Yeah, like get real about it.

Yeah, get really real about it and be like, oh, Are you pissed off? Are you angry? Do you feel like you need to change something about the day you had planned? Or are you like, okay, this is the number. You know, get curious about it. Like, what, where do you lie still? It's only the second, well, first, second week of the program, it's only the first week.

Yeah. But where do you lie now right now? Let's get right into it. We're not fucking around. This is, you know, this, getting on the scale is physical. you're stepping on it, you're looking at it, it's a number that you can take in. But then when we add that mindset piece, what is it about that number? Because we're going to, as the 91 days go on, we're going to flip-flot. We're going to talk mindset. We're going to talk physical body. We're going to talk, you know,

feelings. We're going to talk being hungry. You know, like it's, there's a little bit of everything. So I think this week, let's just see what comes up. If you're stepping on that scale and those fluctuations are happening either way, what is coming up? What is coming up? What's coming of you? Because we've seen that, We've seen it already like, oh, my scale is down. It's going to be a good week. Why? Why is that going to be a good week? Because your scale is down.

How are you feeling? What's going on? So I think getting really curious about how you're feeling with that number this week. Yeah. It's like intentionally stepping up to get smacked in the face because, you know, when you get on that scale, you're going to have feels. You're going to have feels. So it is really an opportunity to be like face your feel. How come I can't say feels and fears at the same time?

Maybe it's both. face your fears. It's your NyQuil. Face your fears. I am so fucked up over NyQuil. I've got that bad cold flu that Tony and I have just been like disgusting mess.

And yeah, it messes with your brain. I don't even like I don't even know where I am. Yeah, you're, listen, that's talked about being proactive and talk about like going straight for solidifying the mindset. Bring it on. Bring it on. And there's no better way to bring it on

and get your ass on that scale. Hey, and listen, if this isn't the weekend, and you've got other bigger things you're dealing with. You don't want to get on the scale. That's okay, too. You're not doing what you need to do by not getting on that scale. But if you're up for the challenge, we're not going to give you a longer to-do list. It's a to think about list.

To think about list. A way in, a way in list. I love it. All right, thanks, everyone. You guys know this is my favorite conversation. Don't tell the people in the weight loss group. But I love it over here. And I love these conversations because, like, this is next, next, next, next, next level kind of stuff.

All right. I'm going to join everyone tomorrow. So make sure you let us know. the questions that you have for me. I'll see you tomorrow night. And then Odette and I'll be back on Wednesday. Otherwise, have a fantastic next couple of days. And we'll see you then. Thanks, everyone. Okay. See you later. About Odette.