Are you interested in free, personalized health coaching? It sounds too good to be true, but it’s available at your fingertips, and includes a personalized fitness and nutrition plan, and more! All you have to do is ask…ask ChatGPT that is!
Here’s how I’m using ChatGPT as a wellness tool, at five months postpartum:
I started by telling ChatGPT my overarching goal, which is to lose my last 10-15 pounds of baby weight by one year postpartum, while maintaining milk supply (note: I gained 50 pounds in pregnancy). I included personal details like my age, total number of pregnancies, ages of my children, general health status, what types of exercise I enjoy, and that I am a stay-at-home mom.
I was then prompted with some questions to personalize my plan. Here’s what ChatGPT asked:
To get you started, I’d love to know a few more things (totally optional—answer what feels helpful):
1. Are you breastfeeding? (Impacts calorie and nutrient needs)
2. How’s your energy right now? (This helps guide the intensity of workouts)
3. Do you have access to any equipment or a gym, or prefer at-home workouts?
4. Any postpartum complications like diastasis recti or prolapse?
5. What’s your current activity like—walking, workouts, anything else?
6. How’s your eating right now? Any specific preferences, allergies, or struggles?
Once I have a little more info, I can build a basic plan for meals, movement, and realistic progress. But if you’d rather dive right into general guidance, I can give you a starter plan today too!
I simply copied and pasted the above questions with my answers into the chat. I was impressed that I was asked specifically about breastfeeding, prolapse, and energy levels, because these are all important considerations for postpartum exercise and wellbeing.
Once I answered these questions, ChatGPT recapped my goals:
Goal Recap:
• Lose 10–15 lbs by 12 months postpartum (in ~7 months)
• While breastfeeding
• With bladder prolapse (so prolapse-safe workouts only)
• Low energy and broken sleep
• Walking daily + gym 3x/week
• Needs support with food, especially macros
I was given a plan for nutrition that included macronutrient breakdown for breastfeeding and fat loss, a daily meal structure, and a prolapse safe exercise plan. I asked it to format my workouts into a printable PDF template so I could take it to the gym and track my progress.
I decided to go even further with the nutrition plan: I told it our family’s weekly grocery budget, what types of foods we like to eat, and where we shop, and asked it to create a weekly meal plan that fit my macronutrient goals. I told it to focus on simple meals that could also be fed to toddlers. Again, I had ChatGPT create a printable PDF for the meal plan and even asked it to create a grocery list for me.
I then started a separate chat where I track my food throughout the day. Instead of paying for MyFitnessPal, ChatGPT can instantaneously show me the macronutrient breakdown of a meal, for free! It can serve as a log to track daily and weekly totals, and monitor progress.
If my experience has intrigued you, play around with it! You can get as personal as you desire. You can enter recent bloodwork results or share a specific health challenge (say: high blood pressure), and get a plan tailored to working on addressing a specific problem. If you are traveling and don’t have access to a gym, you can quickly ask ChatGPT to create a body weight workout for you. You can also ask ChatGPT for current research on any type of wellness trend.
There are a few things to consider when using this approach. First and foremost, ChatGPT should not serve as your doctor. It is simply a tool for healthy lifestyle change. Additionally, you may need more support from a personal trainer or physical therapist if you are starting a new exercise routine and don’t have experience performing certain movements. Furthermore, ChatGPT is not going to provide accountability the way a human health coach would. To see progress with this method, you have to be very self-disciplined and consistently follow the plan provided. Lastly, it’s important to remember that wellness encompasses more than just diet and exercise, and ChatGPT won’t be able to support you in facets of health like social connection and emotional wellbeing.
