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People think that if they consume high amounts of protein, it’s going to equate to bigger biceps, but it’s the same as fats and carbohydrates—if you consume excess amounts of calories from protein, it’s going to get stored as fat. Most adults would benefit from having closer to 1 to 1.5 grams (g) per kilogram (kg) of body weight per day. When you start pushing past the 2.5 g per kg mark, you can run into issues such as kidney strain, increased risk of kidney stones, constipation and simply displacing room in your stomach for other nutrients, like heart-healthy fats and fiber.

The short answer is: No. I haven’t seen anything convincing on the benefits of cold plunges. It’s a very overhyped modality.

There are people purporting various changes in hormones from cold plunging, but there’s too much variability to really know if the changes are directly from that. Honestly, it’s more of a perceived feeling. Some people enjoy being in the cold plunge and feel better after. And my advice to people who enjoy doing it is to go for it. But you’re not going to recover any faster utilizing a cold plunge.

Wearable technology is a pretty good way to monitor and track progress within an exercise program. With AI coaching, I inform people to err on the side of caution. I’m sure that with time that technology will continue to improve and could be utilized in a more sophisticated way.

Wearable technology has really grown and become more reliable, especially with tracking heart rate during cardiovascular exercise. A lot of professional sports teams are even using these wearable technologies to help determine when their players need more recovery time, so it’s a good tool and there are some products out there that are more accessible now than they were a few years back. As far as AI coaching goes, it’s just a little early to give it a strong recommendation at this point.

There are human trials where there have been reductions in fat mass and improvements in blood sugar levels from intermittent fasting, but when compared to general healthful eating or calorie restriction, there hasn’t been much of a difference. I do know there are a lot of populations where intermittent fasting wouldn’t be helpful: people who have diabetes where their blood sugar is poorly regulated; very elderly populations, because of the increased risk of nutrient deficiencies, muscle loss, and bone loss; the pregnant population, because you don’t want to restrict yourself in a time of higher nutrient needs; and athletes, because you don’t want to impair your training by underfueling.

Anyone in a severe caloric restriction who’s losing weight is not just going to lose fat mass, but also lean body mass. So, it’s important for people who are on GLP-1s to resistance-train to minimize that loss of lean body mass.

Aside from preserving lean mass, which is critical, you also want to try to maintain metabolic rate—that doesn’t happen with just taking GLP-1s. The other piece is the importance of exercise in maintaining good cardiovascular health, so it’s imperative that aerobic exercise is incorporated as an adjunct to GLP-1 medication.

There’s a time and a place for sports drinks. If you’re exercising at high intensity, especially once you pass that 60-minute mark, sports drinks are actually recommended because they’re going to provide the right ratio of carbohydrates to sustain your glucose levels. It’s also going to contain electrolytes that you lose through sweat, things like sodium and potassium, that’s going to prevent cramping and help with muscular coordination. But if you’re drinking sports drinks consistently while you’re not engaging in exercise, it’s going to add calories quickly, and it can lead to unwanted weight gain and high blood sugar..