The Livy Method Podcast - The Research Behind The Livy Method with Ruth Kane - Spring 2025

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

In this episode, Gina is joined by University of Ottawa Professor Dr. Ruth Kane, who is researching The Livy Method. Dr. Ruth kicks things off by explaining why member feedback is key to tracking true progress. She challenges unrealistic expectations around numbers, sharing the average weight loss per group, and reminding listeners that slow and steady is both normal and effective. She talks about habits that start to stick over time, noticing when old patterns quietly sneak back in, and why diets miss the mark by skipping the education and support we really need. Plus, Dr. Ruth weighs in on the role of medications, the gap they don’t fill, and how tuning in and trusting your body makes you the expert.You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodspring2025To learn more about The Livy Method, visit www.livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livi and welcome to the Livi Method Podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams from my 91 Day Weight Loss program. With a combination of daily lives, guest expert interviews, and member stories, there is something new almost every day. Miss the Morning Live? Want to relisten to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place.

This podcast is hosted on Acast cast but it's available on all podcast platforms, including the one you're listening to right now, Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music. It's time to hear from our podcast sponsor today and it's a good one because it's travel. And we're all about the destination. Okay, the journey to but yes, anyways, Cuba, we're talking about Cuba and it isn't just a destination. It's a whole vibe.

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Hi Gina, I'm well, thanks, yes. And yes, the survey is the sort of way that we can monitor from group to group, the patterns of members' achievements and members' challenges, their successes and their challenges, and it gives us lots of feedback that I can send back through to Gina and Tony and the team and they can consider and see whether they want to tweak anything in the program according to the feedback. So it is very, very important. And I also just want to reiterate, Ruth,

that you're not looking for just people who were successful. You truly want to hear from everyone, even people maybe who didn't follow through for whatever reason, or people who just didn't like the program, didn't work for them. We really do want to hear from everybody. Yes. And in fact, this morning I opened the survey

and just to see the responses, sort of how many we've had and we're getting up there. But one of the things that I noticed for some reason, I clicked on a particular response that a qualitative response where somebody wasn't happy with the program and I read through and I thought okay so and I read her comment thinking about your real people real journey with Robin Hart because Robin if anybody hasn't listened to it do go back and listen to it do go back and listen to it during a break when you perhaps when

you're feeling a little bit frustrated or down because she really exemplifies the the personal nature of this journey but also showing up for yourself beyond anything, even at times when she really had no reason to keep showing up, one could say, from the outside. And so I thought of that when I read this qualitative comment from the member who filled in the survey earlier this week, and I felt a little bit sad because if not this what and if not now when sort of if you're struggling reach out, or if you're frustrated reach out, because there could be something that one of the staff members, perhaps, or one of the other members of the weight loss

group might say that might just resonate with you and just help you over that hump or give you pause for thought, perhaps. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you started out as a member You did the program you lost a considerable amount of weight and then you reached out and was like, okay I want to I want to study the living method. How long has it been? I

Did the program I started in? 2019 I think I've got data from 2022 onwards the first year of data was a bit messy, and we don't go back to that very often because I didn't have a statistician on board, and I had to change some of the ways in which I designed the survey, so it's more appropriate and more valid.

I'm not a strong quantitative researcher so I'm more about people's stories and and people's experiences. But since 2023 I think it was when we won the SHERC funding it's been a consistent pattern of surveys and the data is far more rigorous, and we can stand behind it with a lot of confidence now. Yeah, and you've also been doing focus groups. What's, share some of the things that you've learned over the years that can maybe inspire our members to understand that if not this, then what,

and that this is the thing. Yeah, well, what's a little bit, my colleagues who are all researchers and very, very confident researchers can't understand why I'm still running the surveys. I don't do the focus groups anymore. I may have cause to do some later this year but the reason my colleagues are so shocked that I still do it is because the data never

changes. The data is so consistent and like we've had survey responses from over 35,000 members over the last few years and the weight loss and this is something that I really want members. This is the end of your first program. Perhaps perhaps it's the end of your second third fourth program. The consistent average weight loss is between eleven and twelve pounds every single session every single survey and so I want people to sit with that and accept that that I should be expecting to

lose on average say I do three programs a year say I do one on average one pound a week during the programs during the time that I'm applying myself to weight loss. That is an awesome weight loss. It's awesome because it's steady because it's slow and evidence in the research suggests not my research evidence in the wider research on nutrition and weight loss suggests that the slow and steady weight loss is more sustainable than the rapid quick fix weight loss. And there is research on people's expectations.

And they talked about this at the obesity conference in Malaga, Spain the last couple of months. And they talked about how they interviewed or they surveyed people before a program of weight loss. They surveyed them afterwards. And they surveyed them before about their expectations and people's expectations were grossly over rate over too high. One you could lose weight like that but it wouldn't be healthy and it

will come back and so they they were quite puzzled because people had these very high expectations of weight loss and then they were very disappointed if they say lost ten pounds I've only lost ten pounds yeah so if I could urge you to to be a little bit more realistic members and and think wow if I lost a pound a week that's fifty something pounds a year and I know some of us I had more than that to lose but it will take a year and it will take two years for some but

steady as you go means that as you're losing it you're also your body's getting used to that new norm, the new way a diet, I'm not on a diet. I lose my weight, I go back to eating whatever, and I put it all back on. It's more a process of learning a new way, a new, I think Robin spoke about a new identity, no longer a dieter, but somebody who knew her body is better in touch with her body, perhaps kinder, more kind to your body. Yeah. So more realistic expectations. I want to talk about maintenance in a second, but I just want to reassure anyone who's lost

more weight than that, that it is equal and opposite reaction. I would say it's one to two pounds per week on average throughout the year. So you could do your first program and lose 30, 40 pounds. And then you might notice the second program, it seems like your weight isn't moving much. That's where sometimes people lose larger mounts, but then they also have longer plateaus. Whereas someone who's losing a bit every week, right, they might have some smaller plateaus. Whereas this is where you hear someone who's like, I did one program, I lost all this weight. The next program, I barely lost any. It's equal and opposite reaction.

It takes the body time to adjust the weight. So whether it's slow and steady or larger chunks with longer plateaus, it's all kind of same same. And that's where you we hear people like they've lost 100 pounds, but then they've also done like six programs like that means that it's taken them two years to lose that weight. So you originally came on board, I believe Ruth to study the online learning process, how people were learning online and making change, then you got into the efficacy of the program itself. And now you've been researching or studying maintenance. And what are you learning about maintenance?

Which of course, that is what the foundation of the maintenance program is built on. So yes, it's similar tweaks and weeks, but the conversations that we're having and the focus is based on the pillars that Ruth came up with when she was studying maintenance. So what do people need to know about maintaining their weight? Okay, it's very different to what we did when we were dieters. It's extremely different to what we imagine it is and what we're sold in magazines. We're sold in magazines. We're gonna lose

this weight and everything's gonna be fine. But during your weight loss period, whatever that is, one session, four sessions, ten sessions to get to the weight where you feel comfortable saying, okay, that's it. I'm not focusing on weight loss I'm going on to maintenance now. You've got to the people that maintain successfully must take all that you've learned in your weight loss journey with you into maintenance. This is very, very important. Like my background is education. I'm a teacher educator. I'm not a health researcher. But and that's what as Gina said, I was more interested in the beginning how she held the attention and commitment of people online for three months.

online for three months. And it's the same as when you're learning some anything new, you're learning these behaviors and habits to build into your normal everyday way of being. And you've got to carry this through. You don't. I remember one in one of the first programs that in one of the first programs that I did, somebody wrote in the members wrote in the comments of the day, when I've lost my weight, do I still have to eat green leafy vegetables, or green leafy greens? And yes, you do. You do. You do. This is the research behind that is

aligned with the Livvy Method is everything that's good about nutrition. Fibre. Most of you will be eating now more fibre than you've ever eaten and you've got to maintain that. Vegetables, leafy greens, etcetera. Fruit, grains, nuts, all those contribute to your fibre. The average American, North American diet has 15% fibre. The average, the original or not original. A traditional diet and say Tanzania in Africa has 90% fiber.

So we've come a long way from the amount of fiber that we used to eat and processed food has very, very little fiber in it. Meat has no fiber, fish has no fiber, chicken has no fiber, it's really those vegetables. So those habits you're developing when you're eating the basic program or all the tweaks. You've gotta carry those through into maintenance. So what you learn through weight loss, you carry through

maintenance. You don't have to be extreme. People do live their lives. Successful maintainers just live their lives successful maintainers just live their lives but on the whole and this may sound scary to some people but believe me just go with it enjoy the process they identified differently than they used to when they before they lost their weight and I think Robert mentioned she used to feel like a dieter. And now that's not part of her life. Well, yeah, I mean, as you know, a big part

of the conversations that we're having in maintenance is people learning to trust themselves and owning the changes that they've made and it becoming who they are. And they're just the person now that makes sure they get the leafy is, they're just the person now that make sure they get the leafy greens in. They are the person now that is constantly trying to get the best sleep possible, manage their stress. It might seem like a lot of work living your life, the livy way for lack of a better term.

It's not like you're trying to maximize and do all these things like you're doing now and it's all consuming. It just becomes part of who you are but that takes time. I remember you once shared that people who've done more of the weight loss programs have an easier time in maintenance and I think it's because they've spent more time working on their issues and associations and spent more

time working on themselves. Yeah, I think it is. I think the more you learn these new practices and they become part of your life, whether it's your new relationship with food, whether you get into movement, whether you get into taking time to wind down before you go to bed, all these things that are introduced during the program. The first program you're not going to get all those. There are things that Gina says, every single program, that may not resonate with you until program number three or program number four. They may go over your head. You may think, oh yeah that's not me. It just doesn't speak to you at all. But the more you practice and the more

you adopt certain practices like eating protein for breakfast. You don't think about it anymore. That's what you do. You don't reach for the sugary cereals. You your norm is to have protein for breakfast. There is huge amounts of research on that. So that's one one of the elements that is covered by research. But so if you do multiple programs, you have time to get the breakfast cemented in your daily habits and then you learn new practices in the second program and new practices in the third program.

So when you go into maintenance, you're already doing these things. You're already getting up in the morning because you want to and going for a walk if that's how you like living and people I speak to who are successful in maintenance They don't do it To lose weight they don't eat protein for breakfast to lose weight They don't eat leafy greens. None of it is to lose weight anymore. That is not an issue anymore They do it because it feels good. They feel good. They are more, their body feels

good. So their whole motivation for eating and moving and their relationship with food has shifted dramatically for many. Yeah, well, because when you've spent many years of your life motivated to do things to lose weight, when you finally reach many years of your life motivated to do things, to lose weight, when you finally reach your goal and you need to keep doing things in order to maintain your weight, what is your motivation for that?

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they donate a pair to someone who really needs it. Same goes for the insanely comfy underwear and tees, which just so happen to be the most requested items by shelters. So far, Bombas has donated over 150 million clothing items. That's not just doing good. That's doing real good. But let's talk about how they feel. Every sock, slipper and tee is made from the softest, dreamiest materials. The underwear, effortless, the t-shirts,

they're gonna be your new fave, and the socks, game changers. Especially if you're working out, walking lots, or just love a cozy vibe, they even have compression socks if you're into recovery mode, like me. And the best part, Bombus has 100% happiness guarantee, meaning you can return, exchange anything,

anytime, no questions asked. So if you want to feel good and do good at the same time, just go to bombus.ca slash livi. Use the code LIVY at checkout for 20% off your first purchase. Again, that's bombus.ca slash livi. And don't forget to use the livi discount. Let me look at it from a different perspective. What are the commonalities between people who don't successfully maintain their weight?

Okay, stress. Okay, letting stress accumulate. I think, who's the book that you used to talk about, about habits? James Clear, Atomic Habits. Yeah, Atomic Habits. Somewhere in his book, he says, yes, every now and then you may miss a day when you're trying to develop a new habit. But it's when you miss three days, people tell me that then it sort of just drops away. It's sort of if you if you have made a commitment to yourself or you've developed

this habit of having having a walk every day and then something happens and you miss your walk. That's okay. No big deal. You walk tomorrow but if that happens three days in a row or if you eat sit sit down, watch a movie and have a beer and chips three days in a row, something's happening there. It's not the one-off that matters. The one-off doesn't matter. But it's when your habit falls away. And James Clear I think said three days is sort of a magic number or when you start doing things that are not in line with your best goals or best choices like having a beer and potato chips at night when you wind down on these hot

summer days when that becomes an every night occurrence, that isn't time gonna have an impact. So the people that cannot maintain, they get stressed. Stress is a big one. They don't sleep well, which is related to stress. And they let these, they look back and back and think oh I had chips that night or I started doing that and now I do it every day or now I have dessert every day which is not something they wanted to do and so it's

letting less than favor. I don't want to say bad things because having chips and a cold beer might be the best thing, decision to have on a hot summer's day. But it's when you let things back in and they become the norm. You've got to be mindful. Mindfulness is huge. Yeah. Yeah. What's um you've you've been been obviously kind of all in and and you're not just looking at the Livy Method. You are looking at what's going on out there in the world. You're attending obesity conferences. You're at the European World Obesity

Conference. Um what what do you think about the diet industry? Having been someone who spent years dieting yourself and where it is now and where it's going and where the Libby Method fits in? The diet industry now is GLP ones. The latest obesity, European obesity conference in Malaga, Spain was like a trade show for GLP medication. And that's not a bad thing for many many people that's a that's

a choice they have to make but what disappointed me is that and I read something about this just the other day that in the obesity guidelines for Canada, the first guideline is to speak to your patient if you're a doctor, and I'm not a medical doctor, but say you're a medical doctor, face facing somebody who's living with overweight or obesity who wants to lose weight. And you would like them to lose weight because of the health concerns you have as a doctor. The first thing you're meant to talk to them about is diet and lifestyle. That's the first

priority of the obesity guidelines. Nobody does it anymore because nobody believes that the patient has the intestinal fortitude or the capacity to follow through with diet and lifestyle. And so people go straight to medications and even people themselves now have tried so often to lose weight and then put it back on that they don't believe in themselves anymore either. So I think the missing link is the living method. I don't particularly see it as a diet so much as a learning process. Call it lifestyle but learning a new way to live in

your body and to respect your body. I mean for many of us who have lived with overweight for a long time and cyclical dieting we've hated our bodies. I was 61 years old before I could look at my body and say no you're okay you're okay this is the vessel I was given to live my life and And up until then I've hated my body. I thought that it was against me. I thought it did everything You know it fought me at every stage, so We have that missing link is learning about yourself and your body and trusting your body and all the other mental things that happen with your guests Dr. Beverly etc and we don't get

that with medication and so I would like to see the medical profession put more effort on that what I saw in Malaga was that the manufacturers of GLP1, the big huge pharmaceutical companies who sponsored the conference and whose presence was just everywhere with flashing lights and everything, they are now developing apps like the Livia to help people self-monitor their new lifestyle behaviors. So people are recognizing that the GLP ones are fine, they work, but you have to be on them for the rest of your life. And they don't quite know what the consequences or implications of that might be, even though they're very confident that they're safe.

But because of that, or because of the patients that cannot tolerate GLP ones, which there are a percentage of patients, the big companies are now developing apps to help you monitor, to track and everything like that. But I actually think the living method sort of is the link between all of that between medications between you don't sort of you're not negative about the medications you recognize that some of your members are on them some people need them some people see them as a kickstart perhaps some people need them to be prepared for surgery or other life changing

interactions, but this taking medication doesn't teach you anything, the Livy Method teaches you things. If you're open to it, you could go through the Livy Method and do as you're told and not learn much at all quite. Well, that's right. And then that's where maintenance is the work for them. Every time I talk about the A type people who do the program and they're just like easy peasy,

lost the weight, where they have the hard time, you got to do the work somewhere is in maintenance now. That's where they have the hard time. You know, people in here are going to hear more about GLP-1s and weight loss medications. For know, people are people in here are going to hear more about glp ones and weight loss medications. For years, I work with people who had gastric bypass. And as we as I learned, it was not the easy way out and people also gain weight back from that. And this glp ones in

many cases are much safer way and potentially might replace gastric bypass as we've learned from Dr. Sean Wharton who was on. And the thing about GLP-1s, that's not the diet. They help you eat less, they help you with the food noise, they are learning, they do some other things, but you still have to change the way that you're living, the way that you're thinking, working through your issues and whatnot. So, people are going to hear more and more about that as the living method presents itself as a compliment to your loss medications, right? You have the medication. We have the method. We are we'll never get into never say never, but we'll never get into selling pharmaceuticals. That's not where my passion lies.

My passion has always lied in helping people make change. Ruth, we've got to wrap this up. What do you want our members to know? You know how it is. Some of them are finishing their first program. Some of them are, you know, many programs in or going into the summer. What's your takeaway for our members? What do you wish people could just like,

what do you want to, the knowledge you want to wrap them in? Summer is horrible. I don't, yeah, don't be too hard on yourself over summer folks. Summer can mess with your head when it comes to the scale because of the heat and everything. Although if you're down in New Zealand where I'm from, you're going into winter so you're going to have an easier time. But just take the time for yourself. where I'm from, you're going into winter, so you're going to have an easier time. But just take the time for yourself. Like life is so short and the majority of your members are female, the majority of your members are mature, and the majority of women have cared for others before they've cared for themselves. And so just try and

See the living method as a moment each day for yourself and Try and take the time and show up for yourself Because the results the results aren't the weight loss. They are the weight loss, sorry, that was a bit superficial and flippant to say because it is the weight loss. I am very grateful that I've lost all that weight. But the payoffs are the way you can live your life as a person without all that excess weight and all this excess crap in your head that you dealt with every day. The way you can look at life with joy. You can walk through life with comfort. You can not

agonize over what to wear every day. The payoff is the freedom to live the life perhaps you were meant to live that you haven't had the chance yet and so it's worth giving yourself some space and time and be kind. It'll happen. It'll happen. but you do have to do the work. I'm sorry. You do have to do the work That's okay, we're here we're doing the work There are a lot of people to support you the community will support you and never judge you Yeah, which for somebody who's been in a larger body most of my life

that Is a gift that people don't judge you. Sometimes they were never judging you, but you thought they were. Yeah. And so that's important. I don't think people are judging me anymore. I love that.

And I love you and I adore you. Please fill out the survey for Ruth. Please take, even if you've already filled it out before. Also I know Ruth wanted to mention when you're filling out your program start weight it's your it's your not all time it's your your this program start weight Ruth. Question five asks you what was your weight when you started the spring 2025 program, not your start weight when you tried the first program of Gina Levine, but the start weight of this program. Okay. Yeah, I've got a feeling that some people misunderstand that we've got to try and make

it clearer. So thank you very much. Do fill it out and we will give you feedback. Yes, we will. We will make sure that we give people feedback. Maybe we'll send out a summary in an email or we'll post it on our website or we'll share in the summer group as well.

Thanks, Professor Ruth Kane. I adore you. I love you. I'm just so grateful for your passion about the program. Thanks everyone joining us live or listening after the fact. This is our last live of the program and we'll be checking in over the weekend. We are around so just be sure to stop in, ask as many questions as you need to

be super clear on next steps. Thanks everyone. Thank you, Ruth. Bye. It's time for today's podcast sponsor and this is a company that I can feel good about. It's Bombus. Did you know that socks are one of the most requested items by organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness? Yeah, socks. The thing most of us take for granted every single day. That's why I love Bombas. They make the most comfortable socks

in the history of feet. Seriously, once you wear them, you'll never go back. And for every pair you buy in Canada, they donate a pair to someone who really needs it. Same goes for the insanely comfy underwear and tees, which just so happen to be the most requested items by shelters. So far, Bombas has donated

over 150 million clothing items. That's not just doing good. That's doing real good. But let's talk about how they feel. Every sock, slipper, and tee is made from the softest, dreamiest materials. The underwear, effortless, the t-shirts, they're going to be your new fave, and the socks, game changers. Especially if you're working out, walking lots or just love a cozy vibe. They even have compression socks if you're into recovery mode like me. And the best part, Bombus has a hundred percent happiness guarantee, meaning you can return, exchange anything, anytime, no questions asked. So if you want to feel good and do good at the same time, just go to bombus.ca slash livi use the code livi at checkout for 20% off your first purchase.

Again that's bombus.ca slash livi and don't forget to use the livi discount.