The Livy Method Podcast - Why Your Scale Spikes in the Heat (And What It Actually Means)

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

It's not you, it's the heat. In this episode celebrating Canada Day, Gina Livy explains why hot weather and air conditioning can spike your scale even when your weight is actually trending down, and what to do about it (hint: it involves salt and fruit, not less water). From there she goes deep on set point, the real reason "goal weight" isn't a fixed number, why your body fights to keep you in a range, and how releasing fat is a different process than burning it. She also answers questions on true hunger versus habit hunger and how to navigate a summer full of celebrations without losing your footing.This episode aligns with Day 73 of our Spring 2026 weight loss program. You can find the full video hosted at: www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodspring2026To learn more about The Livy Method, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm going to be honest with you, this podcast is unapologetically a hot mess because that is what midlife feels like sometimes. Why, though? And how do we make it better? Do we all just need facelifts and JLP ones? I mean, let's talk about it. No bullshit, no wellness wankery here because we're trying to make real change and change is hard. But we're in this together. Welcome to the Living Method podcast. I talk a lot about living lighter and I'm not just talking weight loss. I'm talking about the the weight that we carry, that has nothing to do with the size of our bodies. And so many women I know, especially in midlife, are looking to pivot. They are looking to design the life that they know they are meant to live. And so I went and wrote a book about it. It's called Live Lighter. And starting

on June 28th to July 5th, Indigo is going to add it to its most anticipated Canadian titles. And you can pick it up for 30% off. It doesn't actually hit the shelves until September 8th. then when it does look out. Because I want this book to not only be a gift to you or a book that you gift to someone else in your life, I want it to be a whole movement because I don't know about you, but I'm ready to change. And everything in this book is everything that I've learned

from helping hundreds of thousands of women make change, including myself. So if you want to pick up your copy and pre-order it today, go to indigo.com. Day 73 of the program. Also Canada Day. Happy Canada Day, everyone. my goodness, I am in the best place to celebrate it. I am in beautiful, gorgeous, stunning PEI. I want to do a shout out to everyone who commented on my social media post yesterday and

today that is from PEI. So we're actually thinking of finding an indigo and which is in Charlottetown, Charlottetown, Charlotte Town. Is it Charlotte Town or Charlotte Town? Charlotte Town. We're going to go to the Indigo store either like tomorrow or Saturday. So stay tuned. We'll let you know when we are there so we can do a little pop-up, hang out, meet in chat, and whatnot. I also hear that those of you near Toronto where I live or southern Ontario are having a massive heat wave. I think it felt like 46 degrees yesterday. I talked to Tony last night.

He didn't even like go outside. He's like, I don't know what it's like out. I haven't been outside. So a couple things I want you to know. First of all, when it is that hot, it is almost impossible to stay properly hydrated. One of the things that you can do is add some salt or some electrolytes to your water. That'll kind of help your water stick. If you feel really bloated and poppy, it could be if you've been following the program detox and your weight is about to drop, even though it might be registering really high on the scale.

So just like anything, your body expands in the heat. Your body is just, you know, desperately trying to retain as much water as possible. So that's where you feel like if you're drinking so much water and just feel sloshy and you're just like, oh my, gosh, I can't drink more and yet you don't feel like you're hydrated. That's where adding the salt or the electrolytes will really help. The other thing that you might find is that you are either really hungry craving carbs and sugar because you are dehydrated or you're not hungry at all. And so this is where things like fresh fruit popsicles or any all natural flavored popsicles. Obviously you want to avoid the popsicles that are high in sugar and artificial flavors and whatnot.

but if you can find yourself some natural popsicles, those can be really great. Fruit as well, especially watermelon, to get your energy back up. So that's where you might feel like, oh, I'm hungry, but I'm actually not hungry or you're starting to feel your energy dip. That's where you're going to want to replenish those glycogen stores. Now, the reason why fruits are so appealing and so great to have this time of year is that digestion creates a lot of heat. So digestion is one of the hardest things that the body can do. And so when it's hot like that, your body is desperately trying to keep you cool. So the last thing it wants you to do is eat foods that are very hard to digest. So for example, fruit, watermelon can break down and you can get energy from it within 20

minutes, whereas state can take like five hours for your body to process and get the nutrients it needs from red meat. Right. So obviously one is a protein and one is a carb as well. So that also helps with replenishing your glycogen stores. But this is where you want to bump up your fruit intake and decrease any of your heavier carbs, which is perfect for this week that we are focused on. So you can add something like blueberries or, you know, some type of fruit to your, to your breakfast in the morning. Obviously, you can have fruit for morning snack. You can add berries or whatnot to a salad at lunch. And then you can also have fruit in the afternoon as well, right? So, people can tend to be a little bit weary of fruit because sugar is sugar. But in this case,

sugar is not sugar because it depends on the nutrient value, the fiber that you are getting from the sugar that you are having. So all sugar is not created equal and fruits are absolutely fine. So scale will be up? Absolutely. So if it is super hot where you are, even if you're inside in air conditioning, because the air conditioning is very dehydrating. If your weight isn't up, then you can pretty much bank on the fact that your weight is actually on its way down, but your weight can be up and down at the same time. This is why I would never start a weight loss program in the summer. Continuing, yes, with our summer club, absolutely. Summer's a great time to focus on fat loss. But if you were to take someone new who is trying to start to lose weight today, let's say,

for example, and knows nothing about the living method, I would spend all of my time convincing them that their weight isn't actually up and it is possible to lose because of the craziness that happens on the scale when the temperatures are really hot. So that's happened to you. You're wondering what's going on. Why do I feel bloated? Why is my weight up? It's probably just the heat or even if you're not outside in the heat, the air conditioning is very dehydrating and so it's almost impossible to get properly hydrated. So heads up on that. Let me see if they got any questions and see where you guys are at. Happy Canada Day. Happy Canada Day. Finally able to see you live, right? That's where I thought I would go live, even just, you know, for a little while,

answer any questions that you have, just to remind you that days like this and we're celebrating. It's also on Sonia's my bestie's 50th birthday. So this morning, we're going to go to our friends, and we're going to have a brunch, which includes fish cakes, which are going to be delicious. And then we're going to go to the beach for a bit. It's not super hot here, but it's nice enough to go to the beach. And then we're going to a restaurant, this culinary experience tonight. It starts at 3 o'clock with a walk in the woods.

They obviously grow all of their own food where we're going. And it ends at like 11 o'clock. So lots of fresh seafood, of course. And so I plan on absolutely indulging to the point that I could barely walk. So that is my plan. That is my plan. Today, I'm going to overeat. I'm going to over drink.

I'm going to do all of the things. And then tomorrow I'll probably take a break from the drinking. get back to eating. They have things called cows chips here, also cows ice cream, where they are literally chips covered in chocolate. So I might have had some of those for breakfast. I've eaten two bags of lobster flavored chips that I found. I have had three lobster rolls,

and we'll be on the lookout for more lobster rolls, probably today for lunch. We plan on eating as many lobster rolls as much usually possible over the next couple days. So this is where the summer is, right? But here's the thing. I can't keep that going all summer, or I'm just going to feel awful. So this is where I'm going to plan this out, right? So this week, I know that I'm here. This is what I am doing. Thursday, I'm going to take a break, get back to following the program, get myself back on track. Friday, I know I'm going to have a big seafood dinner. So I'm going to eat, you know, make sure I just eat really well leading up to that dinner.

Saturday, I probably get back on track and then all Sunday get back to doing my workouts, which I'm going to be doing live 7.30 a.m. workouts, 20 minute workouts if you want to come and join me. I'm going to be doing all that next week and then going to be making a plan. And then I'm going to go away for the first two weeks in August. So that's where I want to feel my best to go on my trip. We're going to take the family. We're going to go to Europe for Tony's 50th anniversary. So I'm going to want to eat everything, drink everything,

but I want to feel my best rolling into that summer vacation. So this is where I'm taking a look at my summer and being like, okay, what's my plan? What's my plan? No. Lobster rolls are delicious. I'm living vicariously through you. Yes. Well, this is where, so, so, so the other day when we first got here, we had a, we went to Finn, Finn. I can't remember it, what the name of it, Finn something. We had a warm lobster roll. Then we went to, um, the place down the street. God, what is the name? I can't remember. Um, Dory, Golden Dory. Golden Dory, which is kind of like, um, kind of like an outside, like it's, um, in the country, but a little pop-up stand. And then theirs was good, but it had like spicy. mayo so you couldn't really taste the kind of the lobster and then yesterday we went to the lobster

shack and that was probably my favorite like super buttery lobster and whatnot and fresh oysters. I was told that there was a oyster shortage because they have something affecting the oysters. Then I got here and I asked them about it and they're like, don't believe everything that you've read. So, oh, I can hear someone cutting the grass. I don't know if you guys can hear that or not. I might have to go inside. Looking at hi M.J. How are you? Hit my lowest load today. Only 1.2 pounds away from my ultimate goal. I'm going to go inside because someone is literally cutting the grass here. Let me go inside. So only 12 pounds away from my ultimate goal, but not really sure I'm done. Let me see if I can find a spot. Here. Maybe I'll do this. Okay. There we go. Not really sure I'm done. I think I'm going to go for it and hit the number I never thought I'd be able to dream of. So we haven't talked. about goal weights in a while. But there is no, so when I meet with like personal clients,

oh, and they talk about their goal weight. I, I always talk about the lowest weight they weighed after the age of 21 that they were easily able to easily maintain and sustain. So that's a realistic number. And then people will be like, well, I was in my 20s, I was smoking cigarettes, I wasn't eating, I was doing some crappy diet or like, whatever. It is absolutely possible to be healthier than you ever have and weigh less than you have ever weight. So if you have, a weight issue from childhood, there is no reason why you can't weigh less than you wait in your 20s. But that's kind of like a general rule that would be like a no-brainer. Like yes, whatever I weighed after the age of 21, you're able to maintain the sustain. But this happens a lot.

And MJ, I know you've been through a lot, right, and struggled a lot. So I'm so excited for you. But this is where even in the maintenance program, and if you're part of our membership, maintenance is included in your membership. So after you're done losing weight, you go into maintenance to highly suggest. Maintenance is a whole other thing over there. We have people who are like so happy reach their goal and then after they maintain their weight for a bit, they will go back and realize, oh, I actually want to go back for more. So then they'll jump back in the weight loss program, lose more weight, and then go back into maintenance. We've had people who go into maintenance and we're happy with where they're up, but continue to chase the scale just because that's what they've always done.

And so of all the people that I've spoken to about goal weight and being happy at their all weight, it was never about the number on the scale. Every single person I ever spoke to talked about how it was really about how they felt, how they just kind of knew. Or we had people who were in the weight loss program who kept signing up and kept trying to lose weight, but also not trying to lose weight. They were disappointed when they didn't see the number that they wanted to see on the scale, but yet at the same time, they were really happy with where they are at. So a lot of our chasing the number on the scale has to do with like, that, that's the way our brains are wired.

And even though you're happy at the weight you're at, you get on the scale and you're disappointed because it's not down because you spent 20 years trying to see it down. And so when it comes to the weight that you, it's really to me about the weight that you're calm and comfortable at. And then the other thing is once, and this is a conversation we have a lot in the maintenance group is once you reach your lowest low and you have to think about when you see that lowest low, you're trying to do everything you can to see your lowest low. And that's not really how ideally you're going to live your life.

you're going to do all the things you can to feel healthy and feel your best, but not to try to see your lowest low, like, maximizing and, you know, making sure every night you're getting a good sleep and drinking your water and doing all these things to try to see that low, low and get that scaled move. So your set point is the way that your body adjusts everything around. So your blood flow, your body temperature, your hormones, everything is adjusted around your set weight, but your set weight is actually a range. and so my set weight or my range weight was 119 to like 130 so that was my range and

throughout the last 30 years of my life maintaining and sustaining over 100 pound loss there's times I'm at the lower end sometimes when I was happy and sometimes when I was not happy and then there's times when I was at the higher end sometimes I was happy sometimes I was not happy depending on what was going on in my life and sort of what I was focused on right so there'd be times where I'd eat really well and be exercising and no stress in my life and I'd be like seeing my lowest low and there would be other times in my life where life is chaotic and stressful. And then other times in my life where I was super happy. And so I was like happy eating and you know what I mean? So, so your range, your set point is a range of about 10 pounds. People will tell you it's

impossible to lower your set point. It's not impossible. It just takes time and effort like you're putting in with the program. So your body increases at set point. That's a learned behavior. So your body learns that it needs to store more fat. So that's the deal. So that's the difference if you go back between fat, your body burning fats and your body releasing fat. Two totally different things. And that's when they talk about in menopause that the things you do to try to burn fat to lose weight are not the things that you need to do to help your body release the fat. And that's why it's so difficult in menopause because just eating less and exercising more is not going to get you the weight results that you want to see. Your body is always burning fat.

always burning fat, always burning glycogen for energy. And then there's your body releasing fat that no longer feels the need to store because you created the environment and you helped your body focus on it. And so that's why lowering your set point is so hard because everyone focuses on the burn the fat, the calorie restriction and not helping the body release the fat. So you gain weight because your body felt the need to store fat probably through all the restrictive diets that you were doing. so you're forcing your body to burn fat it will use that fat and then store more right um high insulin so all those um high sugar um processed foods that cause a lot of inflammation in the body and then combine that with long periods of time and then combine that with stress and so your body learns that it needs to store a certain amount of fat we heard about this a lot through um like the biggest loser right so

every time you lose weights and you gain it back it lowers your metabolism your metabolism being the amounts of calories for lack of a better word that it burns, the amount of energy your body burns just by doing nothing throughout the day, right? The energy output is your metabolism. Every time you lose weight, you gain it back. It lowers your metabolism. So this is why it gets harder every single time you try to lose weight. So this is why what we're doing is eating so often that you're giving the body what it needs to help increase its metabolism. So that's why our feeding are feeding the metabolism in the last previous weeks, really effective, making the body work extra hard for its food. Hey, telling the body more food,

more food, more food, more food. So the body's like, well, shit, why am I holding on to this fat? Let me get rid of this fat, right? So that's what it's about. And so when it comes to your body being able to release the release fat through the same metabolic process, this is like, okay, making sure you're creating the environment for the body to do that and helping the body focus on that, drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, moving your body, not skipping meals and snacks, right? So next week, we're going to get even more in tune to that by personalizing the plan, which is checking in at every single meal and snack time and assessing your situation. Because at this point, your buddy wants that fact gone just as much as you do. So back to you, back to you MJ and set point.

What you're doing is we're lowering set point, right? So you lose the weight, your body adjust to the weight. You lose the weight, adjust the weight, lose the weight, adjust the weight, adjust the weight. And then so you're going to keep doing that until you reach a goal, a weight that you feel. calm and comfortable at and you're like okay this is where I want to stabilize my weights and this is where you might decide to stay there forever or you might stay there for a bit and then be like you know what I think I want to go back for more so really it comes down to how you feel at the end of the day so how long for your body to accept a new set point this program

works so fast for me I appreciate when I'm on a plateau so my buddy is saying okay this is happening right this is such a great question so research is showing because they've just started researching this. You know, for example, Ruth Kane was, I did a presentation on, a knee presentation on her findings from maintenance at Malaga Spain in the World Obesity Conference a couple years ago. No one else is talking maintenance. No one is talking maintenance. So it takes about two years for your body to adjust to a new set point. That though is just someone who has counted weighed measured and ate less and then burn the fat and their body's just trying to figure out. Like, that's no system. That's no method. There's no rhyme and reason in order to that,

right? That is just someone who, chaotically, counting calories, ate less, exercise more to lose the weight. And then they're trying to maintain and sustain their weight. But it takes about two years for your body to adjust to your new weight. Now, obviously with the living method and the maintenance program, we're fast tracking that because it's, it's all about why do you gain weight back? Usually because you go back into old habits. You don't give your body time to adjust to your new weight. So that's really important. This is your body temperature, hormones, blood flow, like everything needs to adjust to homeostasis around that weight. So that in itself takes time. That doesn't take it's, that doesn't take two years. However, after you lose your weight, then you have a year of like trigger days,

anniversaries, memorial days, things that can cause you to go back into old habits, right? So the other one is falling back into old habits. So situational change is a big one. Anything traumatic, change in your environment where you live, your workplace, anything that changes your routines and then causes you to go back into old habits and then not being mindful is number three. I'm back. Oh, there we go. And then I'm back in the long life. I'm kind of even closer.

Okay, so back so. So here's what I can tell you. And I love that you said you lost your weight really quickly because we know, because Ruth and her team study the fact that people who spend more time in the weight loss program have an easier time in maintenance. That is because they spent more time working for their issues and associations and all the thoughts and feels. I've never been here for a live. Hi, happy Canada day. So people spend more time losing weight, have an easier time in maintenance because of the time that they spent working on those things. So that's what I'll tell you. So I love this. I love this

approach of like, okay, loss weight really fast. Let me like, so what's going to help you solidify your weight sooner rather than later is that sense of routine. being able to trust when to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat, and being really super, super in tune to that. So, like, asking the four sets of mindful eating questions to a point that you don't have to ask anymore. Like, you can look at your food and just know, right? Like, okay, this is going to be too much, not enough, just right.

Knowing that exact moment when you've, if you take one more bite, you're going to, you're going to feel like you over-aids, being calm around food, like being able to go to get ice cream with the family and choose not to have one because you actually don't want it or if you're going to have it get a you know a kid size cone to be able to pick up a donut you know take a few bites and be done with it to not feel like you have to finish everything that you eat so it's it's it's the physical thing like giving the body time to adjust but then it's the big part is that mental piece which prevents you from going back into those old habits right oh boy the heat and humidity has my scale up past two days as it hit my lowest low but

thankfully understand the reason yeah we just talked about this right right Pam at the beginning, where your weight is going to be sky high because of the heat. It is impossible to stay hydrated, add some salt to your water, add some electrolytes in. That'll help the water stick because that's what your body's trying to do, is trying to retain water in order to keep you hydrated and keep you alive and survive. Bump up your fruits, right? If you're looking for that quick energy, and you're craving a lot of sugar, your body just wants you to drink more water.

When you get to a point we just can't drink anymore, this is where bumping up your fruit which is perfect for this week with our revamp so you can have add fruit to breakfast, add fruit to morning snack, fruit to lunch, fruit to afternoon snack. You can do grilled pineapple, add fruit to dinner if you want. Decrease your heavier carbs, but bump up your fruits will really help with this. I noticed adding new supplements for inflammation affects my appetite. So I am missing a link with appetite cues. What's the best way to deal with this following a plan? Okay, so this is interesting. So like if you're, okay, Okay, this is interesting. So adding in supplements affects your appetite. Oh, God, I have so many

questions about this. Because let's say, for example, omega-3. You need to supplement with omega-3 because without enough good fat coming in, your body's reluctant to let go of the fat that makes you fat. And then also omega-3 is so important because if you're not eating fish, at least a couple times a week, you can get it from other ways, flax and whatever, but it's harder to get, then you're probably not getting enough omega-3. Right? So if you're craving like salty foods, it could be due to high stress. So your body associates high stress foods with high fat foods. And then for that, you're craving salty foods because you're not getting enough good fat in your diet.

I'm trying to think of what else. Like, if you're getting a better sleep, you add supplements in like magnesium. You get a better sleep. You might not be as hungry because you're actually getting a deeper sleep. Because when you are, when you don't get a good night's sleep, when you're randomly running around the house trying to close all the windows. When you don't get a good night's sleep, you tend to crave 30% more carbs. has you hungrier. So supplements aren't going, if supplements are affecting your appetite and you're

not hungry, you were probably never hungry to begin with. People, and if that makes sense. So if you are eating five, six times a day, you are probably eating before your body lets you know you are hungry and your body's just more calm about letting you know that you're hungry. Hunger is not an immediate need for food. That's really important. So hunger is, well, there's a couple of things. hungers can be triggers, emotional, conditioned hunger out of habit and all of that. But the true hunger is not an immediate need to eat. So your body bases your hunger on your glycogen stores, your glycogen, right? You eat a carbohydrate. Your body breaks it down in glycogen stores in your liver and your muscle and your fat. Right. So this is where your, when your glycogen levels get low, it triggers, oh, we need to eat. But your body knows it's going to take your time to find food, prepare food, eat food, and your body to process and digest foods. You're talking hours. So whenever you are hungry is not like, oh, I need to eat now. That's the body saying, hey, heads up based on our glycogen reserves, you might want to think about eating.

Then your body has your migrating motor complex. That kicks in for about 90 minutes after you eat. This is why eating six times a day, anyone outside would look at the program be like, you don't need to eat six times a day to lose weight. No, you don't, but you need it to address your metabolism, to address your body's need to store fat. Like there's a rhyme and a reason to why we eat six times a day, right? This is why we're going to tailor that off next week. So you're probably picking up on the fact that you don't need to eat six times a day.

That probably has more to do with your appetite than the actual supplements you're adding in. So people tend to arrive at this place before we introduce the tweak next week. So next week, you're going to be able to check in at every single meal and snack time. And it says if you're hungry, need to eat, what's the best thing to eat? This is where you're still following the program, still protein focused at breakfast, still making sure you're getting the components that you need at meals and snack. So nothing changes. You're not on your own, but you have more flexibility.

So you're hungry and need to eat. What's the best thing if it's breakfast protein, right? If maybe you could eat. So you're not, you check in, maybe you had breakfast. You checked in at morning snack and you're like, I'm not really sure I could eat. So then maybe you have a few token bites, right? And then there's should eat.

So should eat be, oh, I got up at 5 o'clock. morning. I didn't have breakfast. It's now 10 o'clock. I should eat because if I don't eat, that's going to have me going way too long without eating. So that's where you're going to check in and be even more in tune to your body's needs. And this is where you might end up just having your meals that day. You might have your meals and a snack. You might have, you know, one meal and just your snacks. This is where you might not be hungry for dinner and you'll choose not to have dinner as long as you've eaten enough through the day and you're not going to risk like dipping into the chippy bag at night right so you're probably picking up on that ahead of time because the supplements

the supplements aren't going to make you feel more satisfied on your foods it's probably just addressing and need right and so if it's if your supplements are helping you get better sleep for example then you're probably not craving as much carbs the next day so so it's kind of all how to works together so so so this is where that doesn't affect how in tune you are am I hungry out of my head into my belly do I feel like eating right now like if I actually think about do I feel like eating right now? No maybe because I just had some chocolate covered chips for breakfast and that's probably why right so this is where I'm going to be like I'm going to skip I'm going to skip it although I know that I'm going to go to a brunch and I'm going to I'm going to

eat closer to lunch so so your probably is picking up on that so your cues about satisfaction and hunger is like is actual hunger whether you're hungry or not. It can also be out of habits. Lunchtime. It's whatever. So you're just eating. So that's why this week you drop your two afternoon snacks down to one. You might notice that you're hungry. But up towards the end of the week, you're actually just your final one snack. For example, right? And then it can also be emotional. So you're stressed out or whatever that might be. So that's where you want to get in tune with that. Am I actually hungry? Right? It is that I'm actually hungry and need to eat. a could eat, should eat, or is it habit, or is it emotional? So just really being aware to that.

Being aware to that. I've been so hungry these past few days. Yes, that is the heat. If you're craving carbs and sugar specifically, that is the heat. It's your lack of dehydration. I mean, lack of hydration. Your body's probably dehydrated. So make sure you increase your water. But more than that, add in some high water content foods like fruits and make sure you're adding salt or electric. Okay, I got to go. I got to pee. And then I'm also moving over to Instagram. I'm joining the ladies that I wrote the LiveLiter book with Norma and Lynn. We're going to talk about the book, how it all came together. So if you want to join us over on Instagram, I'll see you there in a few minutes. Happy Canada today, everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow. Dr. Gavreley is going to join

me in the morning, and then Alyssa Steinberg's going to be joining us in the afternoon for a fun cooking segment. Have a great day. Happy Canada Day, everyone. Bye.