Sharing my experience with the Gina Livy Program and how mindful eating practices have helped me lose weight and become healthier - mentally and physically.
Gained weight over covid - had nothing to look forward to so that turned into food and alcohol
Stage of life where weight is harder to get off - usual tricks weren’t working for me, or maybe I was becoming more comfortable with being over weight.
Creating a strong why - feel confident again, be a good example for my daughters, walk the talk
What I’ve learned:
Scale, couldn’t weigh myself before - learned that my self worth isn’t tied to the number on the scale.
What eating to satisfaction really means and how I may have been eating healthy most of the time, I was still eating too much.
When you’re consistently eating healthy food and drinking a lot of water, cravings fall away because you’re focused on the food you can eat and when you’re next eating.
It’s so much more than just diet and exercise. It’s about sleep, focusing on my mindset while eating and really listening to my body to understand if I’m truly hungry or if I’m eating for other reasons, like boredom, worry, or rewarding myself.
I worry too much about when my next meal will be causing me to overeat.
I feel better when I’m not eating junk. I sleep better, I feel more focused with less brain fog, I can do more physically like in yoga/weight training
In this episode, I'm going to get a little bit vulnerable. In fact, I'm going to talk about something I probably never would have talked about on the podcast, except for I've been doing a lot of work on trying to be more authentic and true and share my heart because I know that if I'm experiencing something, my listeners probably are experiencing something too and they need a little bit of help, or they need my perspective to maybe give some insight into their own lives.
So today I'm talking about my weight loss journey and what I have been learning through this program, which is really incorporating mindful eating practices, and so much more. I don't have a promo code for this program or anything like that. This program does not require any sort of supplements that you take along with it or anything. But again, I'm just sharing simply because it has worked so well for me and I know that I struggled a lot and I was really having a hard time getting some weight off. This has been the first thing that has really worked for me number one, number two is probably the healthiest eating diet plan, program, whatever you want to call it, that I've ever done in my life.
I've done so many different eating plans like the Whole 30 or I've done your super detox, I have done Weight Watchers. I have done so many eating programs over my many years of living and this is truly the healthiest one I believe I've ever done.
First, I just want to start talking about why I wanted to lose weight. So with COVID, I definitely put some weight on. And I will say that even before COVID, I've had a really tough association with the scale. I'm 5’10”. So I'm going to weigh more than most women. I also was bullied a bit as a kid for my weight and those experiences that you have as a child can really stick within you and make certain things of your life harder to deal with. So I've been dealing with that and dealing with clearing my past experiences to help me focus on myself now and not let them hold me back.
The idea of getting on the scale was something I couldn't even do before I started this program. I did try keto for a little bit but again, I still did not step on the scale. Keto didn't work for me because it caused a lot of acid reflux and I think I ended up eating a lot of processed foods, which I know wasn't good for me. You can do keto in a healthier way but with our crazy busy schedule, I just didn't make it work right for me. And so I went directly into this program after trying keto and realizing it wasn't working.
But back to the scale. I've always had a really hard time stepping on that scale because I really identified that number on the scale with my value Whether I was good enough, or whatever that is, and one thing I love about this program is that it's really broken that down and I've been able to disassociate myself and my value with with the number on the scale.
But back to why I'd gotten to an unhappy place with my weight and a lot of it does stem from COVID. You know, we had nothing to look forward to, no vacations, no plans on the weekends, and food and alcohol really became that thing that I could look forward to. I was carrying around probably 20 or more extra pounds and it was weighing on me. I didn't feel good, I didn't feel confident, I didn't feel like I was really setting a good example for my daughters. I was allowing too many unhealthy foods into my diet, and I was ready for a change.
Also, I've come to the stage of life, I'm 44, and I'm starting to have some perimenopausal symptoms. And I know that my being in that stage of life, not only is it going to be harder to get the weight off, but it's going to be even harder as I go through menopause so I really wanted to get on top of this before my hormones made it even harder for me to lose the weight. At the same time, the usual tricks that I had used for years, if I had put on a few pounds, I would, you know, try to eat pretty strict Paleo, eating protein, and vegetables and I would easily lose the weight. That wasn't happening anymore. I was trying those things and the weight wasn't coming off like it had in the past.
So in creating this change and in dedicating myself to this program, I've learned that creating a strong Why is really important. So if you're thinking about making a change in your life, whatever that may be, whether it's weight loss or something else, you do need to create a really strong reason for why you want it. And a good way to do this is just to ask yourself, why do I want this? And then when you say your answer, you ask why again, you just keep asking why over and over and over again and you'll get to a stronger why that you can use to help motivate yourself. I have my why in my bathroom right next to my mirror so that I can be reminded of why I'm doing this. And for me my reason was really again, to be confident again, to know that as I go through menopause in the next coming years that I'm not going to have an even harder time taking off any weight that comes up. Also to be a good example for my daughter showing them what healthy eating is, but within a balanced way. You know, restricting myself so much, or only eating certain foods or not eating other foods, but still participating in our family life. But yeah, eating in a healthy way and being a good example for them. So those are a few of my why's. Also walking the talk. Here I am having this podcast about toxin free living, but yet maybe I'm eating Doritos or whatever it is, you know, eating unhealthy food that really doesn't live up to the example that I hope to have for my listeners and for people that follow me. It was really a lot of those things that really led up to my why.
The program is called the Gina Livy Program. Gina Livy, is a woman out of Canada, the program is very affordable, I think I paid $75 Canadian for the program, period. That's it. $75 Canadian, which is like $60, American or something like that. There's a free app, and a free Facebook group, and lots of support throughout. I still am shocked at the price and the value that I get from it because it is so affordable and yet it is still so very helpful. When my friend first told me about the program. I was like, Oh, what is it $1,200 or something like that? No. It is so affordable.
But basically what the whole program does is you eat on a food plan that she gives you and it's not eat this exact thing for breakfast, like a recipe or anything like that. It's a plan where for breakfast you have the focus of your food is protein, you have a morning snack where you have some fruit. For lunch you have the focus on vegetables, but you also have some leafy greens and some proteins and some healthy fats. Your first afternoon snack is vegetables with some sort of healthy dip, if you choose. The second snack is nuts. Then your dinner is a focus on proteins with leafy greens, healthy fats and vegetables. It's very, very simple. And I love the app. If I eat my breakfast, I just click, Yep, I ate my breakfast. So that's the food plan. But the program involves so much more. And it's not just about the food. Are you drinking enough water? It's also about getting enough sleep. Are you doing things that will help you release your stress and reduce your stress load? It looks at the really everything that could potentially be making your body hold onto weight. And then slowly through the program there are slight adjustments that help you realize what you're eating, why you're eating and if you're eating too much.
If you do the program, the next program starts September 11. You'll understand a little bit more, but it is very simple. It also has really changed my perspective on eating. So some of the things that I've learned from doing the Gina Livy program is really about the scale. Now every single day, I step on the scale. For example, today my weight was up. I had hit a new low, I think on Friday, and my weight was up a couple pounds. And do I feel a little bit like that sucks. Yes, I did. But Gina provides all sorts of helpful information through the app and through the Facebook group and through her posts and what I realized is that even though my weight is up, I realized you know what, yesterday I did some weightlifting and my body is probably trying to recover from that. So it's holding on to extra water. Number two, I had a hot flash in the middle of the night so my hormones are a little bit crazy and that could be why my weight is up. Number three. I had some cheese which I probably shouldn't eat and I'm pretty sure my body does not like any dairy. I had some cheese, not only last night I had it on Saturday night too, so my body could be inflamed. Dealing with those food sensitivities that I chose to eat anyway. And so I had a realization from doing this regularly and from hearing Gina talk about why the scale could be up over and over again. So instead of thinking, the weights up, I'm going to quit this sucks. This doesn't work. I realized my personal value, who I am is not tied to a number on the scale. So I can use that scale as a tool to understand I maybe need to not eat cheese, or maybe I need to be drinking more water as my body is going through, you know, the hormones that they're processing, or maybe I need to take an Epsom salt bath to help, you know, calm my system down and take some more stress relief. So that's one of the best things that I've learned. I'm not scared of the scale anymore. I don't fear stepping on the scale. I know that it's a tool. It's not attached to me and who I am in my values.
One of the other things that I've learned is what eating to satisfaction really means. I remember when I started with the program, Gina always says, you eat till you're satisfied. What does that mean? And what I realized was that I was eating way beyond being satisfied. I didn't learn this that first week, it definitely took some time. And Gina teaches you to ask questions, like when you serve up your meal, you ask yourself, like, does this look like it's enough for me? While you're eating, you ask your questions, like, if I stopped right now, would I be full? And then after you finish, you ask more questions, and it really changes your mindset from I want this to do I need this.
I was really eating for so many emotional reasons. You know, because I was bored, because I had cravings that could have been related to maybe not drinking enough water, and such and such. I just really have learned that even though I ate a healthy diet, most of the time I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, a lot of protein, I didn't eat a lot of carbs, like, you know, like processed carbs. But I was still eating too much for my body. And going through the program, especially because you're eating so frequently you just don't have as many cravings because your body is getting the nutrients it needs. So you're not craving things that you shouldn't be having. But also I remember even in the beginning of the program, I would think, Gosh, what if I'm hungry? I'm only eating until I'm satisfied. What if I'm hungry in a little bit? Well, guess what, I had my snack coming up next. So I can kind of break that habit of overeating because of the thought, what if I'm going to be hungry?
As I said earlier, too, I've learned through the program that when you're consistently eating healthy food all day long, and you're drinking a lot of water, the cravings truly just fall away, because you're focused on the food that you can eat, and you're getting all those nutrients. Gina talks about how if you are craving sugar, then it's your body really, truly craving fruit, which has a high amount of water in it. So if you're craving sugar, you should just be drinking more water and that craving will likely go away. I really haven't craved a lot of sugar because I've kind of cut it out of my diet. And I don't know if you've ever been a sugar addict before but the more you eat sugar, the more you want sugar and it's so important to really stop that process and just get in, eat more nutrients and drink more water so you don't have those cravings anymore.
I've also learned that it's really so much more than diet and exercise. I've always been a person that thought I could out exercise my diet. And that definitely doesn't work. What I've learned through this program is that it's more than just diet and exercise. It's sleep. It's focusing on my mindset while I'm eating and truly listening to my body to understand if I'm hungry or not. Or if I'm eating for other reasons, like I'm bored or I'm worried about something or I'm rewarding myself for doing something.
I've also realized that I have this issue where if somebody else is eating something I want to be able to eat that too. And I've kind of figured out that it's probably related to being a kid. I'm an only child and I've kind of always felt like I was missing out on something like having a sibling. It's interesting to have this introspection to think, oh my gosh, it goes back to when I was a kid. Well, I know that I am not missing out on life. Which means I know that I'm not missing out on food and I don't need to feel like just because they're having ice cream, I Should get to have ice cream too. It's made a real impact on me not only with my food, but also just in general.
When you have this opportunity to really develop your mindset when it comes around eating, it can impact other parts of your life as well. I've also learned that I frequently, like I said earlier, worry too much about what my next meal will be, which is just so funny.
I mean, I could probably not eat for many, many days and still survive, right? We live in a very abundant society where food is everywhere. I don't need to be worrying about what my next meal is. I'm not as hungry in the evening, because I know I get to have breakfast in the morning. I'm not hungry in the evening, because I have eaten nutrient dense food all day long. I also have learned that I feel better when I'm not eating junk, I sleep better, I feel more focused, I have less brain fog, I can do more physically in yoga, I can push myself harder, I can do deeper stretches and hold my poses longer. I can do more weightlifting when I'm eating healthier. And that has been such a great benefit to this program as well.
So if you're interested, you can go to ginalivy.com and sign up for the next program, the next session which starts on September 11.
I cannot say enough about how this program has really changed my mindset around how I eat. I'm really looking forward to continuing to lose weight. So far, I have lost 12 pounds. I am very close to hitting my first goal. But then I have another goal that I'm working on. It's also helped me with figuring out goal setting around weight, which I've had a really hard time with because of course I was too scared to step on that scale. I'm going to keep doing it and then once I hit my goal weight, I'm going to go through the maintenance program so that I can keep it off. And if you're curious, I would be happy to share my experiences and share any other information with you. Gina does have a podcast called Weigh-In with Gina. And it's super helpful. And she has experts on there all the time that talk about other things that will help you with losing weight for good.
