The Livy Method Podcast - What Would You Do If You Could Start Over?

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Most people think maintenance means white-knuckling it forever. Gina Livy disagrees. In this Mindset Monday, she and Odette break down what it actually means to make healthy habits automatic and why it doesn't take as long as you think. They explore the difference between choosing your life and just living it by default, and challenge you to picture what your ideal life actually feels like.This episode aligns with day 57 of our Spring 2026 maintenance program. You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/ginalivymaintenanceandmindfulnessTo learn more about The Livy Method and our Maintenance & Mindfulness group, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm 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 gLP 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.

Week 8 prioritization and habit formation. Yeah. Automaticity. It's a lot of words. It's a lot of fucking words. I'm here for your words though. Yeah. Listen, owning it.

Being intentional about changing who you are, how you show up in the world, the way you live your life, what you want from your life. Like, come on. If you're here and you probably weren't happy with the way you were living before. So what do you got to do to actually change that? You need to own it. Yeah. You need to own it.

And, you know, we asked our members today, you know, what are they doing now that, what are they doing today doing now that's going to benefit them in a decade? Because we are in this world, in this society of instant gratification, quick fixes. Like, I want to see and feel the change. Not only do I want to see my body change, they've done that. But I want to feel now that I am there. I want to believe I'm there. I want to trust that I'm there. I want to be in this life that I see.

I want to feel that now. And, you know, it's so hard to think that what you're doing now is going to actually make that change, make that difference, make it solid for you, you know, five, ten, twenty years from now. So much what we do and what we focus on and stress about doesn't fucking matter. It doesn't matter. I guarantee you at the end of the days you will not regret. trying to take better care of yourself, you won't regret the time spent on really trying to be the person you know you can be. Like, I think we all feel it, what we want. And so many times we don't do the things, we don't make the moves. We don't, we don't, you know, we're choosing our

choice. Like, what are you choosing? Are you choosing to go back into old ways? Are you choosing to not move forward? Like, well, this is a fucking heavy conversation for a Monday. We're just started. It's not going to go. It doesn't have to stay this way. No, I love that I'm here for you. You and I show up and what are we here to do? We try to motivate, educate, share what we've learned about really making change. And when people are in the maintenance program, they've already done so much. It really is worth the effort of taking it to the next level, like solidifying that shit, really owning it, making it automatic. It's like, fuck, you work so hard to get here. Let's go. Like, let's, okay. Like, right?

And if you are not happy with the way you are showing up for yourself, that's the conversation. And if you are happy, oh my God, shut it from the rooftop, celebrate that, all of that, right? And that's like this week of prioritization, not an easy thing. You have to do the work for yourself. Let's make time for yourself. You have to, you know, beyond just wanting it. you have to follow through on it. And then the habit formation is like you spent your whole life living this way.

You need to turn the page on that and start doing the things to live this way and move forward. You know, like, yeah. And I think with the prioritization part too, like not only do have to do it, you have to become to a place where you're okay with it. Like you're okay with prioritizing yourself, not just like, oh, I have to do it because I have to do it. No, I have to do it because I want to do it. to do it because I make a difference. I have to do it because it's important to me, not just I have to do it. I don't think there can be a hard stop after that because prioritizing yourself can bring up those feelings that you're taking away from other things,

that you're taking away from other people. And starting on your live, you, in the weight loss group, you had said something or had a member say something about, you know, a changing friendship or a changing relationship. And prioritizing yourself. And prioritizing yourself. And allowing, allowing yourselves to take care of yourself, you could start to see those relationships changing. You could start to see your normal becoming, your new normal becoming different. And you have to be okay with that. You can't just say, well, I'm going to stop taking care of myself because it doesn't work for this person. I'm going to stop taking care of myself because it's going to change this dynamic over here. You have to be okay with that, the potential of that happening.

Yeah, I'm listening to Christine, stressful, long week culminated with celebration of life for my sis. Lots of laughs, tears, bites and bits, feeling determined and comfortable with using the strategies to be confident in my choices and not slipping back because of events. Not even not slipping back. Just like fucking like moving like forward. Like just like fuck yeah. Let's go. You know, it's hard. I think it's constant work and energy to choose differently.

I think like the old habits are just come so easily. Yeah. And it's really about the conscious choice to choose differently, to choose your mindset, to choose your routines, to choose the things that you need to do, to make the right choices, to get up and go for a walk, to eat this over that.

Like it's, well, and this is where, yeah, like just so you feel like you have to like take a breath and be like, who that sounds like a lot of effort. And this is exactly when we're talking about habit formation and automaticity. It's like flipping that switch from the effort to it just being automatic. Right. It's like, it's like I don't even have to think about the effort it's going to take.

It's just something that I do now. And I think, you know, we're not, we're not moving on from something. We're moving forward towards something else. I like this. Automaticity, your brain flipping to easy mode for tasks you've practiced repeatedly. It comes from the word automatic, meaning automatic, meaning automaticity happens when repeated actions require little to no thought. It just is like brushing your teeth in the morning. You would never not brush your teeth in the morning, right? Yeah. Listen, some days I don't brush my teeth in the morning, but I don't go more than one morning without brushing my teeth. You know, I think that's also part of it too, right? It's also realizing, okay, I didn't, that happened. Well, you notice when you didn't. Right. You notice when you

didn't. You notice when you didn't. Right. Like it's so automatic that you're like, oh, fuck, shit. I didn't exactly this morning. And you know, there's this whole idea. We talked about this, you and I a few segments ago. We talked about this idea of, you know, it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert. And I was like, okay, what's 10,000 hours? It's 416 days. Four hundred and 16 solid days. I'm like, okay, well, that sounds like a lot of work. So then I started thinking, started researching. I like, where did this come from? Where did this idea come from? And really, it takes 20 hours to be an expert, to be expert enough. So 20 dedicated hours of intentional effort to be expert enough. And that's much more easier to swallow than 10,000 hours. So when you think, you know, 20 hours over a year,

over two years, repeating these habits, doing these things over and over again, you're going to slowly become expert enough that these habits, these routines are just going to be who you are. You're the expert on yourself, right? Like we can say, do this, do that, do these 10 things, but you're the expert. You know yourself. You know what you have to do. What works for you, what doesn't work for you. And, you know, when you think of it in terms of 20 hours, how much time have you already put into, you know, doing these things that matter? And now it's that really intentional effort going forward, really paying attention to your body's cues, really paying attention to have certain foods make you feel, really paying attention to those four steps of

mindfully, really being aware and paying attention. Oh yeah, I didn't brush my teeth today or this morning or whatever it might be. It's that intentional effort, that intentional thought and that intentional awareness. Let's let's let go of this notion that it's 10,000 exhausting hours to be the expert. And it can just be, you know, these small intentional efforts every single day. I like the 416 days to become an expert in yourself. Right? Like, that's like a little over a year. Like, that's like, it's interesting.

I was, I saw a clip from Stanley Tucci this morning. Do you know Stanley Tucci? I love him, yeah. Yeah. And I watch him. Every time I see him, he's eating delicious food. Maybe that's why I love him. Yeah.

He was on a, it was, he does this food show and I love him. And not only he's a great actor, but someone. was asking him, what are your thoughts on, like with those Zembek, these weight loss medications and people's relationship to food, right? And it was interesting because you're like, why I'm asking Stanley Tucci? I'm like, well, he's got a food show, but he's just like, everything's the same now. Like, we don't even know what we want to eat. We don't even know what our style is. We don't know how we want to live. Like, everyone's just trying to be the same, do the same. Like, it just, I don't know, but thinking about being an expert in myself, like, what works for me?

What doesn't work for me? What am I going to tolerate? What am I not going to tolerate? Like, what are the choices I want to make so I can, like, live the way I want to live, right? Like, I know I don't want to be fucking worried about my weight for the rest of my life. I want to love myself, embrace myself, live my best life, but also, like, yeah, if I'm carrying excess weight, be totally comfortable. with that, but at the same time, if I'm not feeling great, do the things I need to do to change that. Like, truly, like, be the healthiest version of myself physically and mentally.

Like, yeah, I don't know. It's just like, it's, you have to figure out what you want and, like, really spend time on that and then be like, okay, I'm going to practice those four questions being in tune. And so I know when to trust Wendy, what to eat, how much to eat, right? I want to, if someone says something offside, I'm going to start saying, yeah, oh, that's not, no, that's not working for me, right? If I'm in situations I don't want to be in, I'm just going to practice leaving, right? Like, it's, it's kind of like, yeah, 416 days of being intentional about making choices that work for you or understanding the ones that don't.

416 days of intentional about trying to be more self-aware, trying to be more in tune, making good choices, creating new routines and habits and stuff, right? Like, I don't mind the 416 days. But I also appreciate this, like, focusing on it that. But I'm also a big goal setter. I love a big fucking goal. Some people like small goals and then they reach them and set new goals. So I think it's like whether you like the small actionable.

steps or you're like the big long term plan, you got to figure out what works for you. Yeah. And sometimes it'll take 416 days even just to figure it out. Hopefully not, hopefully not, but maybe. I don't know that we're ever meant to figure. Like, I think as soon as you figure something out, something changes. And it's just like, this is the way I look at it. Right. Look, hey, universe, I want to work on my shit. I want to move forward. I want to evolve. And the universe is like, okay, June, here comes the shit. And so. the shit get piles up in your lap and then I clear it out.

Woo. Okay. Ah. And then it's like more shit just dumps on my lap. So it's like every time you clear shit, more shit. Because I think that's what keeps you growing and evolving and moving forward. If you didn't have any shit to clear, then you wouldn't have any. Like, what are you going to even do?

Yeah. You would, you would stop evolving. You would stop adapting. You would stop doing all of that. you would just merely exist. Like it would just be, yeah, the same day in, day out. And you wouldn't have those. You know, we look, when you think of, just thinking of this now,

like when you think of that shit that drops on you and, you know, we look at that like, oh, it's more instead of like, oh, it's more. What am I going to, what am I going to make out of this lump now? It's like that lemonade of lemons. What am I going to make out of this lump now that's been dropped on me? What can I, what can I learn? from this. How much stronger can I get because I have to clear it away? What do I have to work through so that next time maybe the pile is bigger that lands, I'm still going to be able to handle that

or work through that? You know what I think it's so hard because we live the same existence every single day. Right? Like we live in our homes. We go to our jobs. We do our kids. Like our are like, I watched this clip of this kid who traveled around and he's like, I just traveled. And, you know, my car broke down. I didn't have money. I had to work here. So then I stayed there. Then let me here. I met these people went there. That that, that's existing. That's existing in the moment and survival. Need to eat, need to whatever live. And I'm just like, wow. But most of us are not doing that. We can't simply exist because our existence is waking up in our house, doing our same routines, going to the same jobs. And, you know, I think that that in itself,

it's hard because we that's that structured life that we live and then we're trying to live our best lives from that structure right so it's like it's it's interesting I don't know what I'm saying but I'm there's something there to to really analyzing how you are living what you want how you are living your life and the choices that you're making and the kind of life that you want live. I think there's so much of it too that we can't change. Like I can't change getting up in the morning and going to work. I can't get up and change getting up in the morning going to work. Yes, that's it. Yeah, doing groceries, making dinner, doing laundry. That's the stuff I can't change. But what I can change are those little moments, you know, around that, all those little air,

those little pockets of time, those little moments, I can choose to fill that in ways that do align with what I want, do align with how I want to feel. Because those other things, I mean, life, we can't just pack up and, and move away as much as we want to and leave everything behind and start this brand new life. I mean, that's not, that's just, that's not going to happen. I mean, I would love that for everybody to be able to say, you have a brand new life starting tomorrow. Everything is going to be brand new and fresh.

But no, I still have to wash, you know, I still have to wash sweaty socks. But in the, when I'm not washing sweaty socks, what those most? How can I fill those moments? Where, where, where, what can, how is what I want to do or how I want to feel? How does it fit into those other moments around life? Because life is not going to go away. You know, Christine said she had, she's doing her, she had to, she did her sister celebration of life.

I'm also doing that in a few weeks. That's not going to go away. You know, that's, that's still going to be there. But those other moments where I can, I mean, use the word control, control. control or decide or choose how I want to feel, how I want to live, how I want to be. You have to embrace those moments. I'm saying, well, I have to get up and go to work today. What else am I going to do?

I have to just accept what it is. But it's being able to look outside of that routine, that monotonous, that mundane. And that's where those little pockets of what you want to do are going to be able to pop up. Yes. So let's say for shits and giggles, I'm going to give you a brief. brand new life. Okay. And not like, oh, I would choose the same because of my kids and I would choose the same.

Not that. No, I wouldn't. Not that. I'm saying you still have your family. You still have your people. Brand new life. I live in Italy. I now walk to the store.

I garden. I whatever. Like, whatever it could be. Think outside the box. You could create a brand new life for yourself. forget like the, you know, the financial bits or the homes or the wear, the feeling that would come with it, like that feeling like, oh, being relaxed, being at more, I would love to be more active in my day. I would love to be more social meeting people for drinks and just

time is slow. I would love to garden. I would love like, like what would that look like to? Maybe it's, you would love to be a bike rider. Like, what would this. new life if you had to choose again, no limitations. And yes, you don't have to make excuses for I love everybody and you, but I love my job. Brand new fucking life. How would you feel? And then how can you bring that feeling into your current life? Mm-hmm. Right. Like, how can I garden? Is it gardening? Or I just want to spend more time outside doing things with my hands and being in the moment and less time away from my desk, like more time away from my desk. So how can I create more time away from my desk. Do I want to create something, make something? I used to be a painter. I used to be creative. I don't do that anymore. Maybe I should start painting again, right? Like, how do I want to feel? I want to feel light in my body and I don't just mean my weight. I carry a lot of stress and a lot of responsibility. What can I do to feel lighter? Right? Like, is there a way I can be, man, maybe if I did more meditation and yoga, like my ideal life to create that feeling where I'm happy, physically, mentally, feel fantastic.

how do I bring that into my current life? Sometimes you have to take it out. You have to like, you know what I mean? Yeah. And I think, you know, many of us, when we say like, how do I spend less time at my desk? Well, many of us can't spend less time at our desk. But what we can do is be super intentional with the time that is away from our desk. So it can be easy to say, okay, you know, I close my computer.

I close my office door and it's 6.30 at night. That's the time away from my desk. So how am I going to be intentional with that time? Am I going to do scroll? Am I going to just flop on the couch? Or am I going to get outside and play in the dirt with my hands? Or am I going to go for a walk? Or am I going to, you know, start painting again?

So, yeah, I can't, you know, let's be real. If you can't have less time at your desk, because, I mean, we would all love that. But that's maybe not reality. How can you be super intentional with that time that you do get to spend away from your desk? Yes. Are you choosing things that you really want to do? were you just choosing what's the first thing that comes to your mind, which is, I'm going to go on Instagram. I'm going to go on TikTok. I'm going to go and, you know, just mop my floor. Well, that,

you know, that's be real intentional, but with the time that you do have away from your desk. Well, you just called me out on that because I have lots of time to garden. I have a garden in the front. There's some weeds that could go out and pick today. But why haven't I done that? How much time have I spent doing doing doing doing doing them scrolling? How much time have I spent watching Netflix? How much time have I spent? Do you know what I mean? Doing everything? everything but that. Like I have the time. It's like I don't have the time. I'm just not prioritizing and creating a habit out of it. I love this. Christine, relax in the moment, no schedule. So how can we be more relaxed in our current day? How can we be more in the moment?

And is what kind of schedule are we following now? What can we take off our schedule or do what I mean? Rather than spending time doom scrolling, what can we do in that moment? But like Linda, one day I was so done with everything. I started Googling how to be an expat living in the south of France. What would that look like? Right? Because if you're just in an apartment in the south of France, dooms scrolling and send out your computer all day, like what would you change?

What is it about the change of location? Well, I would get up and walk every morning. Why can we walk now? Where I would get up and go get my groceries every day. Well, why do you do one giant grocery shop at Metro? why don't you go find a smaller market or a farmer's market? Farmers market on a Saturday. Like this is what I mean, right?

Like you have what you have. You got what you got. You get what you get and you can't get upset. But at the same time, we can figure out what, like, take that and be like, how can I create that here? How can I create that here? When I think of being an expat in the south of France, I think of, yeah, taking my, taking my canvas shopping bag, going to a farmer's market.

having a baguette sticking out of it maybe you know finding some water to look at or sip aside you know that that's that sitting in a park yeah that's that feeling right what so what would maybe you know in the south of france you don't have to work well you may you don't have to work every day of the week so on that one day that you don't that you're not working how can you create that south of france feeling whatever feeling it might be no this just can't be it no this just can't be it no You know, and what keeps us here is those moments where we do spend time with friends and family and whatever. Or like, what do we need? Maybe we need more of that.

Right. Like just creating the life that you want to live. Like, that's what you're doing here. You're starting with your body and your mind and the energy you're showing up in the world with that that will trickle down through your environment, your home. Right. Like is your home set up to support. the person you are now, right? Are your relationships set up to support the person you are now?

Is your work environment set up to support the person that you are now, right? Like when I'm realizing even in weight loss, it's so much more than, it's just so much more than what to eat and when. Yeah. Right? And same thing with maintenance. It's so much more than just maintaining your weight. It's like, okay, you've got and done this thing.

You've made a lot of change. How does that filter into the rest of your life? life, right? Yeah. Yeah. And how do you carry that feeling of, of, you know, losing your way, being successful there? How do you carry that feel good feeling? You know what it feels like now to feel good.

You know what it feels like you feel lighter and accomplished and excited for yourself. And how can you find those little things every day? And Linda just said, thank you for opening my mind to consider how I can create more moments here without moving to the south of France. But if Linda does move to the south of France, you know, we'd be all up for that too and coming along with them. We don't need to change your mind totally, Linda. Yeah. Here's Christine.

It's sometimes daunting to try to dream small when our minds think of only the responsibilities we carry here, not the day by day, you know, eternity in France or Italy of slow meals, walking to buy foods, friends and family priority over work, seems like a dream. But we do have to try to make a little lemonade. with the lemons and hopefully it will get bigger as we age, retire, and learn to put life first. Yeah, like, I don't know if it's this midlife. And let's face it, a lot of, you know, a lot of people who do the program are midlife. And this really is an opportunity.

And I don't want to say transformation or transform or take back your life or come back to yourself. It really is like you've gone and done this work. Okay. Like, fucking enough already with the weight loss bullshit. Like, we've fucking done it. We want to make sure we like know what. we do to be able to, and it's not just maintain our weight, but take care of ourselves in a way

that we feel fantastic in our bodies are the best we possibly can, right? And how does that trance, like, how does that trickle into our lives and how do we want to live? Like, I think that is the conversation for us. You lost the weight, did that check. Now you're learning to maintain your weight, did that check. Now, this is like, okay, how does that translate into the rest of our lives? How does that affect the rest of our lives? And so it becomes, like, the, the automaticity, the prioritization is like, this is what I'm choosing for myself. You know, and I'm going to fucking create it. Like, I don't want to be that person who dreams about being in Italy and never fucking goes.

You know, or the person who says, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that and never fucking does. And, you know, I get, not everyone has money to move to Italy. So bring Italy to you. What, how can you, how do you, in whatever small ways can you, you know, give that to yourself? Mm-hmm. Yep, and that's all you have to think about this week. Just that's all.

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, I think if we wanted to break it down and tie it back to what we're doing here in the group and the work that we're doing and we're talking about this prioritization, it can start in those small steps of doing the tweaks, of being here and doing the work. And, you know, I said to you last week, this word catalyst has come up so many times this session. And I think that this is where these tweaks really are the catalyst to making, to helping you see this, bringing this to reality, this prioritization to reality, how your habits are going to serve you later on. This is all what these tweaks and what we're doing here really means. Like, yes, we want you to think about the life that you want and the life that you want to have and how you can bring that feeling here. you can't get to it. But, you know, doing the work now through these tweaks, through the conversations we're having,

this is where this is how it's all starting. It's just where it's getting those wheels turning, helping you connect those dots. I love it. Somehow this conversation, I didn't even look at your notes, really, like, fit into the notes and the things that you want to discuss today. I love the taking the label off maintaining. Yeah, I think when we think, because when we talk about prioritizing ourselves in weight loss, it can be, you can, you can. can feel more confident weight loss. It's to prioritize yourself because like, well, I'm losing my weight. This is my start date. My end date is when I hit my goal. And then that's it.

When you think of maintaining, it can feel heavy because you're like, I have to maintain for the rest of my life. What do you mean by that? I have to maintain my weight for the rest of the rest. Yes. Carrying that for the rest of your life. Yeah. And so I think take that label off of it. Take maintaining. I have to maintain my weight for the rest of my life. No, you have to live your life for the rest of your life and you want to live it in a way that feels good to you. You want to live it in a way that you have worked so hard to create. Take the label of maintaining off of it if that's going to make a difference for you. Don't have to think about that it's a task. It's not a task. It's not something that you have to do. It's something that you're

just living. You've created and now these habits will take you through. Your new belief system will take you through your confidence, your trust that will take you through. You're learning to live your life at this weight. Yeah. Well, that's pretty profound. Really? You think about it. There's a lot of weight to carry the weight of maintaining having to maintain my weight. Really, no, you're just learning to live at this weight. Yeah. Wow. That's great. That's brilliant. I agree, Kath. She said that, oh, that's brilliant. Yeah, it is. Okay. Great. So we are feeding the metabolism again later in the week. So a great time for prioritization and seeing what that brings up for you.

You know, if you're feeling guilty taking that time for yourself or having to explain yourself or having to move yourself into a different situation because, you know, you're with people and you're like, oh, I have to just take 20 minutes before I eat my next half or 30 minutes. See what that brings up for you. That's all part of prioritizing yourself. your time, you're forced to do it with this tweet. So it feels uncomfortable. What does that, you know, what does that say for you? And this week we're also talking, protecting your progress.

So you can call it self-sabotage. We're going to call it protecting your progress this week. I love that. Yeah. Yes. That's what we got going on this week. Okay. Yeah.

We're into it. All right. I'm looking forward. I'm going to see everyone tomorrow night for our Q&A session, which I love. And then I'll see you on Wednesday. Yeah. I'll see you Wednesday. Thanks, everyone. Have a great rest of your day. Bye.