AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

Brianna Battles  00:01

Welcome to the practice brave podcast. I am the host Brianna battles, founder of pregnancy and postpartum athleticism, and CEO of everyday battles. I’m a career strength and conditioning coach, entrepreneur, mom of two wild little boys and a lifelong athlete. I believe that athleticism does not end when motherhood begins, and this podcast is dedicated to coaching you by providing meaningful conversations, insights and interview topics related to fitness, mindset, parenting and of course, all the nuances of pregnancy and postpartum, from expert interviews to engaging conversations and reflections. This podcast is your trustworthy, relatable resource for learning how to practice brave through every season in your life. Hey everyone, welcome back to the practice brave Podcast. Today, I’m really excited to have Dr crystal Guevara on the podcast, and we’re going to be talking about, honestly, a variety of subjects, because she is obviously incredibly intelligent, really involved in the fitness, nutrition, wellness space, but like, also she does Jiu Jitsu. And so I feel like we are just like kindred spirits, where we can, like, nerd out on all things science as it relates to health and fitness, but also bro out on Jiu Jitsu. And honestly, that’s my favorite combination, especially with with women. So thank you so much for being here. Oh, thank you

Dr. Christle Guevarra  01:25

so much for having me. I’m super pumped about this talk. Yeah, me too.

Brianna Battles  01:29

So give us a little bit of like, your background, so that people get an idea of, like, just how awesome you are.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  01:34

Gosh, it makes me feel feel old whenever I am like, oh, gosh, how far back do we need to go with all of that stuff. So I feel you, yeah, I, you know, grew up in California. I wanted to be a chemist, originally casual. Wanted to want to make big molecules. Moved out to and gained a lot of weight, most of my weight, I had put on during undergrad, and we can get into that the specifics of that moved to the Midwest for grad school kind of realized, one, I need to change my lifestyle. And two, what I wanted, like the thing the day in and day out of being a PhD chemist and a very research heavy University was not my jam, and I actually wanted to go to med school and be a part of, you know, actually taking care of a patient. And so ended up leaving with a master’s degree, ended up preparing for med school, moved back down to Southern California for med school, and then did my family medicine residency in the Philadelphia suburbs, did a year of sports medicine fellowship in Las Vegas, and then moved back to move to Michigan, to settle and start working. So it’s kind of, I guess, that’s kind of literally done

Brianna Battles  02:58

everything in all of the places.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  03:00

So, so now I’m back in the Midwest, and, okay, really enjoying it.

Brianna Battles  03:05

Well, that is awesome. I mean, obviously, like, you are a very intelligent and experienced woman, so what, what do you enjoy about the work that you currently do? Like, you’ve obviously been it, like, from chemistry to working as a doctor, but then, obviously, like, really involved in health, fitness, nutrition, like, what do you like? What do you like to do?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  03:28

So I wear a couple of different hats. I wear a lot of different hats. I do. I have a very small telemedicine private practice that I still that I maintain. I do event coverage for some, you know, as a medical volunteer, physician volunteer for you us figure skating. So I’ve done that for a couple of years, and I hopefully, I think, later this year, will be covering USA weightlifting. And so I get to travel for, you know, a couple days at a time. And then my other thing is that I am the production manager or operations manager for the RP YouTube channel. So I think when, and that is where I spend majority of my time, kind of, you know, working on the YouTube channel. And I think, you know, it took me a while to kind of figure out, like my place, like, where, you know, I have all this knowledge, but I how to communicate it. I think the big thing for me that keeps me happy and really motivated is that we’ve got a really great group of people to work with, and I think that makes all the difference in the world, especially when things get hard, right? Like, because, you know, there’s times where you don’t want to do work, you don’t want to show up, like, you know, things get stressful, but knowing that everybody else is on the same page and really, like, excited to come to work and really just get a chance to actually freely have conversations. Because if I stayed in a traditional medical practice. Under a big healthcare organization or an academic institution, I wouldn’t be able to have this conversation with you. Somebody would find it. Somebody would have a problem with something I said or sharing bits about who I am as a person outside of medicine, and it would just kind of, yeah, I’ve seen it really kind of either destroy people, or people leave academia to pursue, you know, other

Brianna Battles  05:24

things, yeah, like, I love that you have the autonomy, even though, like, you’ve come from more of a formal education background that you’ve been able to like, make it fit your life. And again, like, fit, make it fit your autonomy. Have you always been a really, like, high drive, high achieving person, yeah.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  05:44

And I think my why kind of has always sort of shifted, you know, growing up, I’ve always kind of struggled with my weight and hunger, you know, but I always knew that, you know, grades and, like, studying and being organized always came sort of naturally to me. And so for a really long time, my grandma, you know, would always, you know, come time, grades come around, I would always get, you know, very well compensated, or like, rewarded for that. And so that’s kind of where that cycle started. So, you know, even in undergrad, when I had put on a lot of weight. The kind of thinking was, well, you know, dieting just seems really hard for me, like, and I really enjoy, like, I excel at school, so I’m just going to completely shift my focus and and just be a school person and not really think about, you know, taking care of my body, physically or mentally or emotionally, I’m just going to be good at school and nothing else.

Brianna Battles  06:44

Yeah, you know, I feel like that’s probably a really common experience in, like, high level, like academia, where it’s like, you can’t have both. It’s like, kind of like you’re in, you’re either in this world or you’re over here, and doing both is just like it pulls away from something. And again, when you’re really high achieving, you’re pouring yourself into that one domain,

Dr. Christle Guevarra  07:05

oh, yeah, yeah. And then you realize it’s not sustainable. Like, that was cool when you’re in your early 20s, but, you know, I was like, I can’t this is yeah. Me like, I’m not gonna survive 40 if I continue down this path of, like, physical self destruction, essentially,

Brianna Battles  07:23

yeah, so what did that physical self destruction look like for you? Like, how did that like, manifest? What it happened, and what was the, okay, I’m like, over this shit. What’s, what was the turning point?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  07:33

Oh, boy, yeah, it really started. I think I really started kind of getting it like I had gotten a C a couple times in my freshman year of college, and then I turned it around and I realized, like I was just gonna have to sit a lot and so, you know, sophomore year to even like I had received a bunch of research fellowships, you know, basically got paid to go to school. So I extended it out for another year or two. So four years I, like, had stopped exercising completely. Was doing cardio stuff, but, like, I was at least going to the gym. So I went from, you know, doing some cardio to kind of sitting on my butt. 24/7 I was getting take out every single meal, like no joke, you know, I was getting snacks from the gas station that were very highly palatable. Like, think about a family sized bag of combos, those little pizza flavored combos, you know, were my favorite. And then I was smoke. I picked up smoking. I smoked a pack a day. So that’s so I think we estimated I went back and kind of went through, you know, talked to one of my colleagues about what my day looked like in undergrad. We estimated somewhere between 4004 500 calories a day that I was consuming, no exercise at all, and smoking. So, yeah,

Brianna Battles  09:01

and isn’t it crazy too? Because, like, obviously you, like, from an education standpoint, like you knew the health side effects, right? Like, you, like, know that. But then I think that’s that battle, and we kind of talked about this online of, like, almost like our athlete brain or academic brain versus like, our like we are, I don’t know, like, just that athlete versus coach, like, you logically, know better. But then, like, the human experience, yeah, sometimes Trump’s illogical, you know what I mean? And like, we just, I feel like so many people battle that in so many different capacities.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  09:34

Yeah, anytime I’ve tried to diet in the past, any sort of calorie deficit, my brain would shut down. So I just was like, I really want to get this a i really want to do well. I want this. I want my name in this publication. So I am going to I my brain needs to be working at like, peak capacity. And if I the rest of my body, whatever like it’s. Nine trade off. I was thinking about the now and not, like, you know, totally. So it’s kind

Brianna Battles  10:04

of like the nicotine and then, like the dopamine from the food and like, all these things just sort of like fueled, like your academic pursuits. Yeah, it did, yeah, yeah. Well, I think it’s just, I don’t know, I like, love how open and honest you are about it, because I think, like, so many people have different backgrounds and like, traumas and behavior patterns related to, well, during this season of life, during residency or during my undergrad, or during pregnancy or during post part, like, whatever that season is where it’s like, there’s a lot of self sabotage, and then there’s a lot of, like, triggers or things that just kind of get brought up, and then they follow you, yeah, throughout your life. And so it’s almost like you got to keep, like a finger on the pulse of, like, what your tendencies are under high stress or when you’re depressed or when you’re anxious or whatever it might be.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  10:51

Yeah, I spent a lot of years kind of ruminating on it, journaling about it. You know, I probably should have gone to therapy a lot sooner, maybe to kind of work those out. But I guess, you know, first, you know the at least owning it in some sort of capacity, with the journaling and thinking about it like, How can I do what happened here? How can I do better? The next time is a fine place to start, I suppose.

Brianna Battles  11:19

Yeah, it’s a lot of great self reflection. So what was like? What was that turning point? When were you like? Okay, freaking enough. Like, enough. And then what did those changes look like?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  11:29

Oh, yeah, graduation day. Well, it kind of, I started to not like what I looked like, you know. And I hope that that’s not going to trigger too many people, you know, I had an article written about me about the scholarship, and I was actually really just kind of shocked to see what I had looked like, because I hadn’t, you know, I’ve been living in the library. I hadn’t seen a mirror. You know, I go home to shower and like, sleep, and then immediately, like, wake up and go back to the library or the lab. And so it was a little bit of a shock. And then the graduation, I just I noticed I was just like, not breathing, well, I wasn’t moving. Well, everything hurt, and I didn’t know, like, I knew why, but it just all sort of hit me so that the day after I graduated, I quit smoking cold turkey. I kind of went back to Weight Watchers. Kind of went off of it, and then really started to just go back to the gym. And it wasn’t like I have to do all this stuff. I have to be where I am. I’m at I could start. You know, I was on the elliptical for 10 minutes at a time because my lungs were cached, and kind of worked from there, tried to figure out how to cook, because I hadn’t cooked in years. So that was, like, a good number of years before, like, I even got to, like a place to, you know, the lifestyle changes where, you know, that seems similar to myself right now today?

Brianna Battles  13:01

Yeah, yeah. And I think one thing you said was interesting is, like, you know, you’re in a library. You didn’t, like, even kind of recognize what you looked like until, you know, a little bit later. And sometimes I think Body Dysmorphia can look like that, like, I think we assume that body dysmorphia is only like, looking at yourself in the mirror and being like, really thin, but only seeing a larger body. Sometimes I feel like we can we don’t even know. Like, we’re so unaware of like, I have gotten bigger, I have put on weight, but like, we don’t really recognize that either. It both. It works both ways. But I don’t think we traditionally hear that. And I know personally, like, there were seasons where I got, like, a lot bigger than like, I prefer to sit at. But I almost, like, didn’t realize that because I was managing other like my mental health, or big life changes and events that was just, like, took so much mental energy that I didn’t even realize the physical changes until I was like, oh shit. Like, I don’t like how I look, I don’t like how I feel. I gotta make some

Dr. Christle Guevarra  13:56

changes here. Yeah, no, totally, you know, just, yeah, hyper focused on that, you know, other things, until you finally look in the mirror, and even if you pass by, you’re just like, I have so many other things right now. I can’t even be bothered,

Brianna Battles  14:09

can’t worry about this right now. And so you’ve been on a journey for a while. Then, of like, navigating your health, your fitness, while still being, you know, really involved in your work and evolving your work. So what does right now look like for you in terms of your health and your fitness?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  14:28

Yeah, yeah. Right now I’m actually, you know, I guess, about six weeks, yeah, six weeks in, a day out from elective cosmetic surgery. So I am just, you know, eating a very high like, I they say, eat a high protein diet, and God bless, you know, physicians and surgeons for really, like, really hounding in on the protein. I’m also very glad that for the last 15 years I have had a balanced diet that’s a very protein forward diet and all this. Stuff. Because when they say high protein, I’m just like, rolling my eyes in the back of my head, like, Yes, I get 30 to 40 grams of protein per meal. I eat four meals a day. They’re pretty consistent macros. So, yeah, I’m not trying to diet. It’s, you know, I’m eating a gram of protein per body weight, you know, a decent amount of healthy fats that fruits and vegetables for my carbs, you know, so and then I just started back in the gym two weeks ago, like, just doing very gentle, like D load style stuff. And then now I’m actually starting to kind of work up to, like, respectable, like weights, you know, keep it still, keeping it higher rep for this upcoming mezzo. And then after this mes cycle, I’m gonna start probably drilling, like, easy drills, yeah, and kind of, you know, once the 12 week mark hits, we’ll see where I’m at, and probably step onto the mat for a little bit more, you know, maybe some flow

Brianna Battles  16:01

rolling, yeah? No, that is, that is awesome. So how much like, when you look back on, like, say, maybe the last 15 years, you mentioned that number, like, what has your weight and health range been like, I know you said like you were eating gas station and smoking all those so they made that’s one end of the spectrum. Yeah. But what has it looked like across this 15 ish year timeline of like, weight loss, body comp, changes, training style. Just give me like a highlight reel. Oh, boy.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  16:29

So, so I put everything down that was 2006 I think 2007 or 2008 I did my first and last half marathon with no weight training and so, and I didn’t like the way my body composition looked. I was very, you know, so I was like, screw this. I’m gonna pick up, start picking up weights, and see where this takes me. And kind of realized I’m less of a endurance runner, and it just, you know, I just, kind of, that’s where I started lifting weights. I didn’t really start to diet, like, really think about fat loss composition. Until maybe 2011 2012 I had lost quite a fair amount of weight, but because of various reasons, ended up losing quite a bit of muscle. Realized that, like, you can’t be in a calorie deficit forever, and so really had a bad bout with that, rebounded the weight back up. Kind of thought about hired another coach who kind of helped me get get to, like a maintenance weight. And then I spent a fair amount of time just kind of being in the fitness space reading, you know, that’s kind of when I met Mike from Rp. Bought the RP the diet 1.0 book, bought all the other books to kind of see, like, you know, what can I take away from my previous experiences? And then, you know, kind of, how do I, you know, what do I need to change? Still lifting, still doing a lot of power lifting was power, you know, power lifting from, I’d say about 2012 to about 2018 you know, that was where my huge focus was. Did a couple of cuts, but it was always still a huge struggle. And then it wasn’t until 2022, that I had started on some aglotide as a medication for weight loss. I had failed a bunch of other medications prior to that, and really it was always about the calories like I unfortunately have the genetics of a very high food drive and my maintenance calories is embarrassingly low. Even with how many jiu jitsu sessions I do, with how many lifting sessions I do, you know the amount of like muscle mass I have, and even like my level of leanness, we’re still looking at like 1600 ish at maintenance. And this was, this was prior to my cosmetic surgery. So I’m being very curious to see what that’s like, you know, after removing a bunch of fat cells. But yeah, yeah, I was doing, what about like, seven sessions of Jiu Jitsu, lifting three times a week. And, yeah, 16, 1650 was my maintenance calories

Brianna Battles  19:19

for that to, like, cut beyond that, like, starts to self sabotage the performance output. Like, talk about that, because I think this is really like, especially for those of us who grew up in heavy diet culture and maybe did a lot of like, the different diets, or just like pendulum swing belief systems in the fitness industry. We got like, bro science. We got like Pilates girlies. We got muscle mommies. We’ve got, like, all the information online. It is so confusing. And I feel like a lot of us have, like, you know, a lot of women unintentionally have sort of, like, hurt our metabolisms, because we’ve lived in a cut and called it a maintenance for so long, myself included, like, without even realizing that, because, like, we’ve programmed our body. Buddies to, like, under eat, and then was also, like, pendulum swing the other way, and then just like, binge on a Saturday or whatever, right? So it’s like, thrown all over the place. Can you share your perspective on that, both, like speaking, obviously, from a personal perspective, but your knowledge and education too?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  20:16

Yeah. You know, with maintenance, it just, and I think actually, just don’t think that people actually talk about that. And also, the other thing too is, you know, thinking about scale fluctuations, you know, the scale is already a triggering place. And I think working on the habit of trying to see the scale as just a tool that is not and have trying to emotionally be okay with fluctuations, because I try and share what my kind of I weigh myself every day. It has not, you know, it has been a long road to get there, you know, yeah, but, like, it’s worth it in the end, because you can step on the scale and be like, yeah, that’s expected. I had, you know, I had a alcoholic beverage

Brianna Battles  21:01

last night, or I’m gonna start my period, or I’m ovulating, like, you start to see the tendencies, instead of, like, getting derailed, right?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  21:09

So, you know, but like, even with maintenance, like, or even with fat loss, you’re still gonna get those spikes. And you have to think about it as, like, a week over, like, a couple of weeks. So I love to share that with people. And I think the first step is to actually just trying to detach yourself from the scale, like, it’s okay, and it’s gonna take a lot of coaching, you know, I have, I have patients, I have clients that I just do coaching with. And I, you know, I think that’s one of the first things we like kind of work through, is like, this is just a tool. This is not a morality, you know, judgment. This is, you know, literally just a way to keep track of, you know, where we’re at, and being okay with, like, the scale, like just kind of being like, this is like a hurdle in and of itself.

Brianna Battles  21:57

And like, maintenance, I feel is so much harder than cutting, so much harder. Because when I’m cutting for, like, a jiu jitsu competition, I’m like, I know what I need to do. I’m locked in. I’m dialed the second. I don’t have to be as locked in. I’m like, it’s fine. And then, like, you slowly start to see and it goes up, slowly creeps up, and then, like, that’s its own issue. You know what I mean? Like, there’s just, you’re like, there’s this constant, like, it’s just hard to wrap your head around, like, what is a healthy baseline and lifestyle for this season in life, because we’re not always going to be cutting our cutting calories, or, you know, approximate calories cannot be our maintenance calories. But then if you’re, you know, kind of in a maintenance phase or not tracking, then you start to see the scale go up, and then you’re like, Shit, I gotta cut again. And it just creates this, like constant cycle for so many women with their weight, whether it’s like, macro based or not, these are kind of the tendencies we see, like, I was on this diet, I did this thing for 21 days, or 75 days, or six weeks, or whatever, maybe, and then I’m done, and then you see that spike, oh, I’m gonna do it again. You know, right? It’s like this cycle we live in,

Dr. Christle Guevarra  23:11

right, right? Ideally. I mean, if you really want, like, on paper, your maintenance stuff should really look very similar to what your diet look like, just more of it. And you know, when I try and put things in perspective for people, like, if you eat four times a day or three times a day, you know, and you know, space it out. You know, seven days a week, that’s 2121 to 28 meals that you are eating, one to two meals a week, should not throw things off completely. What happens, you know, unfortunately, is like that one to two meals turns into, like, the rest of the week, or like, why bother so? And I think that’s where a lot of people, like, try, like, kind of struggle with and so really thinking about it as like, what is my day to day? Look like, you should be eating vegetables every day. You should be eating fruit every day. You should be eating lean proteins every day. Like, those are healthy things for you. Those are things that are going to set you up for life. So I’d be very curious to see what people’s, you know, like, what their 75 days of like, hard looks like, it should be very similar, you know, just maybe less of it,

Brianna Battles  24:17

right, right? No, I love that insight. So you mentioned that you had been on like a GLP one or a variation of that, and you had failed some of those medications prior to what you’ve currently done, yeah, yeah. What did failed look like? What do you mean

Dr. Christle Guevarra  24:33

by that? So I had, yeah, no, 100% just like, Great, yeah. No, totally. I started off I was given. I started off with Contrave, which is naltrexone and Bupropion mixed together. I broke out into the worst hives possible. And I was at the hospital when this happened, so I was like scratching. Try not to scratch my skin off as I’m in the hospital like, you know. With more bacteria. So that didn’t and also it didn’t touch my hunger at all. I was still hungry as ever. So that

Brianna Battles  25:06

was and you have hives.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  25:08

Cool, cool. Yeah. So we, I tried Bupropion on its own because one potentially could just suppress the hunger. But also, residency was really tough for me, so I was on a, you know, I had tried a bunch of different antidepressants to kind of cope with that as part of a plan by my physician, and that didn’t really work. I was still pretty hungry, and eventually I had to stop, because I think it actually did quite the opposite, like I felt like I had more rage than ever. Topamax, Topiramate is also used off label for weight management. Didn’t hungry as ever. Didn’t touch my hunger. Also, I noticed word forgetfulness, which not exactly the kind of side effect you want when you are presenting a patient on medical rounds at the hospital. So there was that, yeah, gosh, I think that was about it. I can’t remember if, yeah, I think those that was about it. And then, you know, finally, when we go, V was approved in 2019, or 2020, for weight management. I actually said no for a couple different reasons. I remember being very needle phobic. I was like, I don’t want to give myself injections. Two, it’s the pandemic. I’m in the middle of fellowship. I don’t want to deal with this. And three, it was expensive as hell. I, you know, was on a poor fellowship, you know, resident salary in academia, which was even lower than the national average. I was like, can’t afford this. So I said no for the longest time. And I had a lot of conversations about, you know, and I was really thinking about the amount of effort it took out of my day to willpower, my way through, like, just even not, you know, maintaining, you know, some semblance of, you know, my body weight, my body weight wants to be like 170 at 411 and so anything less than that is like I’m biting my my cuticles at you know, I’m thinking about food, I’m pacing, I’m going back and forth. I’m not actually working. So really thinking about my quality of life was ultimately decided that, you know what, like, I had tried other things and failed, and that’s okay. I have a good lifestyle base. I just love food, even if you gave me, like dried chicken breast and like steamed broccoli with no salt and like very plain, like gunky, like watery oatmeal to fill up my stomach, I’d still eat it. I would still 100% eat it and have no problem with it. So January 2022, I took my first shot, and it was like the light bulb had went off in my brain. It was a kind of a magical experience. At least for me, it was like, Oh, this is when people say, like, oh, it’s really easy to lose weight. You just kind of like, eat less food. Or, I’m just not really a food person, or people who pick you know, I finally realized what they were alluding to. Like, when people used to say that to me, it would just go through one ear, not the other, and just like, shut up. Like, you have no idea how, like, like, I have failed medical school classes trying to, like, maintain my weight, and and here you are just like, Yeah, it’s like, no big deal. But then again, I’m the person who’s like, yeah, math is no big deal. Like, why can’t you just do it? Why can’t you just do differential equations? Like, so you know, people are different genetically, and you know. So why you know? Why is it that, like this part, especially knowing that you know your brain is the control center for hunger and everybody’s different. We have all these genetic variations. It just seems like it’s so hard for people to wrap their minds around that some people have a much harder time controlling that than others. So this is so

Brianna Battles  29:15

validating, I think, for so many people listening, because I think it’s really easy to put like weight loss and macros and optimal training approach, like, in a box with, like, what’s right, or how, like, how this physiologically works, but you’re right. There’s so many different variables that make us unique and how, how it all works, psychologically, physiologically, like, there’s just so many different layers to it, but we’re only really, we only really highlight a few of them in the fitness industry.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  29:42

Yeah, yeah. And we need the fitness industry now more than ever, if I didn’t have that background of, like, you know, kind of with RP, reading those books, kind of keeping my finger on that pulse during med school, coming into this like, Age of GLP, one gip agonist. Yes, you know, a lot of my colleagues are struggling with, how, how do we navigate the lifestyle portion? And so I’m just like, Yeah, I’ve been doing this for the last, you know, 1015, years. Like this part is fine. It’s really the calories and the hunger that, like, I have problem with. So, yeah, it, you know, I feel like our colleagues, you know, my colleagues can take a page out of, you know, you know, leaning on the fitness industry for kind of seeing what, you know, things like calories, what is, you know, lean protein, like all of that stuff. Because I feel like that just gets kind of lost in the shuffle with all these other things that are very important too. But it’s kind of, I was reading just a whole lot of you know, you can read a bunch of papers about what is optimal and ideal, but like, how are you going to execute it? And I find that that’s also a big problem that I had had with academia, is, yes, we can cite sources, and we can cite studies, and we can do randomized control trials all day, but at the end of the day, you have somebody who’s sitting in front of you with, like, a bunch of different variables. You need to figure out how to execute all of that, and what is that going to look like? And I don’t think, I think that’s where people kind of miss the mark.

Brianna Battles  31:18

Yeah, there’s, there is such a disconnect sometimes between, like, our evidence based research and, like, real life application, yeah, okay, well, that doesn’t always translate directly or what we’re seeing in real life, yeah. Like, you know, we just don’t have the research for just, yeah, I see that. Ton obviously working with pregnant, postpartum athletes, like, right? Like the we, we just don’t have that. Or there’s a disconnect sometimes with what we’re seeing and what this individual’s lived experience is, and we have to factor in the psychological, the physiological, their performance, like their own, just unique, their unique situation. Yeah, yeah. So for you, it sounds like you guys like that, the food noise was the biggest, like, aha moment for you, right? Is that, is that what I’m picking up on, it was like, you said it was life changing. Was like a light bulb went out, because you were just now not craving that food and, like, not distracted by food thoughts, yeah, 100%

Dr. Christle Guevarra  32:10

I have tried, yeah, it tried to bring down the food palatability of my diet. And I still managed to, like, really, like, put on weight despite eating clean, but my stomach would be so distended from all the broccoli, all of the, like, high fiber foods, but I would still be ravenous to the to no end. I’m like, This is insane. I even my husband was, like, pretty shocked, because he was like, I had never really seen that before.

Brianna Battles  32:38

So great, cool. And once.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  32:43

But, I mean, you know, there’s some really great take home, you know, points to, like, learn from it, like, you know, you don’t. People are seem really scared about the muscle sparing part, like, we’re gonna waste muscle, we’re gonna get ozempic butt, and it’s like, no, it just makes it really easy for a calorie deficit to happen. And you just need to be mindful of, you know, not running too long of a deficit or too far of a deficit, your rate of weight loss. You know, you’re not going to slash calories, like ASAP. Like, it just, you know, stuff that I didn’t learn in med school or residency or, like, a, you know, randomized controlled trial or meta analysis didn’t tell me that so

Brianna Battles  33:21

and do you feel and like I do not. I’m gonna just be really honest, I don’t have like, a wide scope on GLP ones. I feel like I know just the minimum. But do you feel that like, because it’s kind of automatically putting people into calorie deficit that that helps them lose weight initially, and then maybe once they’ve been on it a while, can they start increasing their calories to almost, like, raise their like, metabolic baseline, so to speak, or is it just going to keep them at that? Like, is there manipulation, I guess?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  33:48

Well, ideally there should be. And I really think, you know, and that was another thing that I was, like, very realized about when I was comparing the, you know, because I do prescribe these medications. So comparing, you know, obviously they have to put, like, write down, like a typical dosing schedule, yeah. But I also realized there was just a disconnect between where a person is in their life, like, Are you maintaining your weight? Are you trying to do a fat loss, you know, diet and, like, the dose should ideally match, like, whatever phase they’re in, and it should match their nutrition, because it doesn’t make much sense to ramp up somebody’s dose to the very highest, you know, the maximum dose. And if they’re not eating anything like that’s a problem, right? Yeah, even in a fat loss diet, you should be eating stuff like a handful of blueberries and like three almonds is not a meal.

Brianna Battles  34:42

No, no, no. And what’s interesting too, is what I have heard is that, like, beyond just, you know, changing your appetite and you know, like quieting some of that food noise, and like weight loss as a good byproduct, people are also saying, like their inflammation is less they. Be they have, like, less joint pain or more mental clarity. And can you speak to some of, like, the other positive byproducts that you’ve seen with GLP? One, because I do think we hear a lot about, like, oh, like, there’s going to be bone loss, muscle loss, like you said, ozempic, face and butt. Like, we hear a lot of the negative. But beyond weight loss as a positive, what are some of the other positive byproducts of some of these drugs?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  35:20

Yeah, there’s a lot of research going on about in the anti inflammation. People are looking at it as sort of an adjunct for people with like auto immune diseases, you know, the which is very promising addiction medicine. So cocaine use, alcohol use, cigarette, nicotine, tobacco use. Anecdotally, I have seen that where people crave less alcohol and also crave less cigarettes, or no cigarettes, and I have seen positive benefits in people who have taken it, who have things like rheumatoid arthritis. So you know, I think there’s you know, which is definitely off label. I think there is you know. So it’s hard because, you know, it’s hard to do a study, and it takes a long time, and it takes a lot of resources, and so I think the world that we’re living in now is a lot quicker, you know, especially with AI here, and information is just at our fingertips. So, yeah, you know, I’ve seen a lot of benefits that, you know, not necessarily are evidence based,

Brianna Battles  36:27

right, you know, but just what you’re seeing right now kind of play out in real time. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that, especially with like, alcoholism, like people that are, like, really able to curve some of that, like, I said, with the addiction side, I thought that was just so interesting. And like, again, why? I don’t think we can demonize any one thing. And I think, like, people want to find a bad guy, and it’s like, this can be a tool for the right person at the right time, and hopefully, like, that’s a positive thing. And one other question with that, I’m thinking about it. When you’re asking, I’m trying to remember, but like, with like bloating and like micro dosing, I’ve heard, again, I’m speaking, I was like a total, like, dumb, dumb right now, but like micro dosing versus, like a normal dose, versus somebody who maybe has more, like, a greater weight loss, like, in terms of dosing, I feel like I’ve heard people talk about, like, micro dosing. Who are maybe more like, they don’t have a lot of fat to lose. It’s not really about the angle of weight loss. So can you talk about that versus, like, I guess, a normal dosage for

Dr. Christle Guevarra  37:30

weight loss? Yeah, no. And to be and, to be fair, I am just learning, because I had a lot of people ask me about micro dosing specifically, like, oh, have you heard about this person? Because they talk about micro dots, like, I was, like, a thing, it’s trending. And it took me a while to figure this out. And I still don’t know if I have, like, because it’s usually hidden behind somebody’s like, pay wall of like, this is my Protocol, or whatever. So if I misspeak, you know, we’re I’m on the same page as you. I’m still learning the micro dosing part. So what I gather, it seems like micro dosing is either taking less than the like intended amount or extending kind of you know, these drugs are inject. Most of them are injectable, like a weekly injection. Some people extend the kind of dosing schedule out beyond a week. I have heard of people injecting a smaller amount every day, which is a little less. I’ve heard that less so, but more of, like, just the playing around with the dosing. And I think it makes sense. Um, you know, again, like I was talking about having the dose of your medication sort of match what your lifestyle is looking like, like if you’re just working on behavior change, like, if you’re vomiting all the time, it just doesn’t, you know. So, you know, the studies show that, you know, I think I’ve heard some practitioners sort of poo poo on it, or, you know, kind of like, yeah, poo poo on it entirely. I’ve seen that people you know are okay with the lowest dose possible, the lowest FDA approved dose that’s actually not even supposed to meant to induce kind of the effects, like the medication effects. I’ve seen people do just fine on that. I’ve seen people do fine on even less than that. So you know, who am I to say? Like, no, you have to take the formal dose, and you have to go up to the maximum dose to get there. So I think it’s totally reasonable, just because, you know, we haven’t captured everybody, every single variation. Everybody has a different response to drugs. So maybe we just didn’t catch capture, you know, the population of people who are very high responders.

Brianna Battles  39:43

So, yeah, well, and what I am thinking is going to be an interesting this thing to see, and I know we don’t have, like, research on that, so to speak, yet, but like, athletes or people that work out a lot, taking it as a way to improve, like body comp, like, not just weight loss, but like, almost like going from. I don’t know, like, there’s like, maybe, like, dropping five pounds of just body fat. So, like, not dramatic, but like, what? Maybe it’s a jiu jitsu athlete trying to get down and, like, live at that weight class. Maybe it is a figure athlete who’s trying to, like, assist in that, but then seeing, like, what are the the pros and cons of both, like performance and output, and also like muscle and stuff like that. Balance. What is your insight on

Dr. Christle Guevarra  40:23

that right now? Yeah, oh, the bodybuilding space has been, you know, in 2022 I was surprised to see a lot more bodybuilders kind of crapping on GLP one, saying it’s cheating, which I think is hilarious, because I think I finally started to clap back, and I was like, You know what? I’m just gonna pop off at the mouth, because the steroids like, yeah, exactly. You’re taking bathtub trend. And you’re like, This is wrong, right? And so the last, like, three years, three and a half years, I’ve seen a huge explosion of bodybuilders talking about it. So talking about semaglutide, terzapatide, and then retatratide is a triple agonist that’s not FDA approved yet, is in phase three clinical trials right now, and so a lot of bodybuilders are even using that as like, you know, their kind of go to drug, because it has additional properties that, you know, and less side effects than some of the other drugs in the class. So it’s been around, and people seem to, you know, figure competitors, bodybuilders, you know, seem to handle it just fine. You know, as far as the side effects go for performance at like, I don’t want to say performance athletes, for people who, like, don’t have to stand on stage and and look and look apart, look a certain way. You know it. I would be very, you know, concerned about being in a calorie deficit and being able to perform right now, it’s on the monitoring list. So I’d be very curious to see what happens in 2026 when the updated WADA list comes out, because I think you know it 100 for weight class sports, it 100% is, you know, a, you know, a performance enhancement. Because it does take away the food, noise, but, but it does not take away all the other markers of diet fatigue, like, you know, your cognitive abilities, your ability to recover your sleep, you know, your risk of injury, your joints aching, you know, especially at the end of a hard cut. I don’t know, did you ever compete in, like, Do stage competition, like, any of that stuff, or just, yeah, my world sister, so I tried, I’ve dieted for a couple photo shoots, which I think is, you know, a great like, you know, you know, place for somebody, you know, if you are thinking about competing in, you know, bodybuilding or bikini or whatnot. Like, I feel like it’s a nice next step down. And I tried doing jiu jitsu as well, and it like a couple weeks right before the photo shoot, like I couldn’t perform. I was like, I just remember getting into, like, top, like, into Mount. And I just kind of was like, Derp, Derp, Derp. And my partner was like, What are you doing? Like, yeah, arm bar, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. White belt, like, you can do this. And I just, I would space out all the time and, like, or I would get into a position and forgot why I would get there, and I’m like, This is no way to live. So I really had to dial back the jiu jitsu and, like, really remember that. Like, if you’re dieting for something like, it’s gonna come at the cost of performance, and you really need to be mindful of that. So yeah, now if I’m competing, or, you know, dieting for a photo shoot. I dial back the Jiu Jitsu. If my goal is Jiu Jitsu, then I, you know, eat healthy, try not to cut any weight, just maintain and, like, live my best life.

Brianna Battles  43:51

Yeah, yeah. No, I think it’s all just, like, important, almost like, for us working in the industry and seeing, like, what are we gonna see? Like, what’s actually happening behind the scenes. What can we anticipate? I think those are real conversations we’re going to be having with a lot of our clients and a lot of athletes, whether it’s from an esthetic goal side or from a performance goal side or somewhere in the middle. Like, I have both, like, I have performance goals, but I also have, like, some esthetic goals. And just like, you know, figuring that out as things change and opportunities come up and science develops, and they know it’s gonna be it’s cool to see. It is interesting.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  44:25

Yeah, even with Jiu Jitsu, I was actually pretty surprised at how open people were talking about steroids and performance enhancing. But I mean, it’s a great conversation, you know. And instead of, like, completely shutting people out and making them feel embarrassed or stupid or whatnot. I think it’s a great opportunity for people to talk about the pros and cons, you know, like, especially for females, like, are you okay with visualization? You know what’s going to happen when you know your if your voice changes or, like, you you know, because people do notice it. You know these you know. And if you’re okay with that, and you know you’re not cheating. You know, cheating in a sport is a completely thing that I’m, like, not okay with. But, you know, for somebody who’s, you know, an untested, there are untested federations out there, and so,

Brianna Battles  45:11

yeah, no, I know it is. It’s a, I am not really involved in the steroid conversations at this point, but I know it certainly is a big consideration, especially different like in the MMA space, even with it being, like, regulated in a lot of ways and just across the board. And yeah, it’s hard, because here we are, like, wanting to promote health, but then there’s these other things that might make you appear healthier or perform better, but they come at a cost. And like so much of this is just like a, you know, risk benefit assessment, continually

Dr. Christle Guevarra  45:45

right, and always talking about the side effects. Because I, and I think we just need to continuously talk about it. Because I, I think a lot of you know women, you know for whatever, whatever they decide to do, whether it’s HRT for, like, menopause, perimenopause, or performance enhancement, the side effect stuff is real, and it’s crazy to see, you know, the kinds of questions that, like I end up answering. And it makes me feel really sad that, you know, women don’t talk about don’t talk about it as nearly often as they need to, because, you know, they need if you do decide that, like, this is something that I am going to take, you know, you do need to be very mindful of, like, all of the side effects that can potentially happen. And it’s not just like, I’m going to take this now, it like, it’s your dose over time it, you know, and some of these side effects you don’t get to, like, they don’t reverse once you stop the the drugs.

Brianna Battles  46:43

So yeah, and are you talking like, more about like HRT, or more about like steroids, or, honestly, like any of them,

Dr. Christle Guevarra  46:49

any of them. Because, I mean, you know, for HRT, you know, testosterone is, you know, you know, part of that conversation for HRT, and it’s the dose, the dose that really, you know, people need to be mindful of. I just had a conversation with somebody not that long ago about HRT and like side effect and like the side effects that, you know, she was describing. I was like, Oh, this is like, and then I asked about the dose, and I was like, Oh, well, yeah, you know, I would strongly recommend talking back to your provider, who’s, you know, prescribed this about lowering the dose, quite significant.

Brianna Battles  47:25

A lot of that is like, sort of trial and error to get the like, ideal dose. Am I right? Or, you know, like, how does that? And then testosterone for women, is not FDA approved Correct? Or is it? Or like, tell me, I don’t want to spread No, no correct

Dr. Christle Guevarra  47:41

so for it, so it is, and I have to go back to, and this is also something that’s still new to me, for you know, HRT, what the, what the medical guidelines have recommended. So it, I have read that it is indicated for hypoactive sexual like arousal, just like for low libido for women no libido for women, which, you know, I think those guidelines are actually changing quite a bit. I know that there was a podcast episode with Dr Rachel Rubin on the Peter Attia podcast. And I think she’s been a real Trailblazer on getting this kind of, you know, at the forefront and really trying to make changes. So I would, I’m not going to speak specifically on dosages, but I think there is a, you know, pretty set standard of what, you know, women in body the bodybuilding space will take those ranges start at, like, you know, a certain amount, and that’s when you really need to start thinking about, you know, your side effect profiles, right for, for HRT, those dosages are like, no should nowhere near be like, you know, here’s HRT, and here’s, you know, and there should be no overlap. And there isn’t, ideally, there’d be no overlap,

Brianna Battles  49:01

yeah, because I think, like, just now that like, more women are really health conscious, and there’s more information coming out, and there’s a lot of opinions on social media that are honestly all kind of contradictory. I think just women getting, like, an understanding of, like, what is what do I do when I hit perimenopause? Because it seems like just shit show of information, of HRT or this or that, or for some people and not. And obviously there’s a lot of nuance there, but I think it’s so confusing a knowing, like having a doctor that is, like, really well informed on a lot of that you can guide appropriately for the individual. But then also, like, figure out the dosage, instead of just like this, like, guessing game of like, well, do I have to wait until I’m symptomatic and then now I’m trying to, like, combat that with hormones. Like, yeah, how do we achieve the most ideal way of life, quality of life, while also, like, I don’t know, improving, like, I guess, improving our health. Overall, too,

Dr. Christle Guevarra  50:01

yeah, yeah. No, it’s something I’m still actually navigating now as a 43 year old, you know, perimenopausal, you know, woman, female athlete. So I don’t have all the answers. I know that there are practitioners and providers who are the menopause society is kind of like the kind of guideline for people who understand hormone replacement therapy, you know. So I would definitely check that out when looking for a provider who is actually well versed in all of this stuff. I’m very glad that we are starting to talk about it, because how miserable do people need to be like, you know, if somebody has a very long laundry list of symptoms and everything else checks out, because it’s not always your hormones, it could be something else. But once all of that checks out, you know, how much more misery does somebody need to be put through before you decide, like, okay, like, let’s give them the the hormones. So Right? Because, like, being in your

Brianna Battles  51:02

40s, like you’re still have so much life ahead of you, and like you shouldn’t have to suffer for a decade of, like, all these different symptoms that are associated with perimenopause. So it’s just like, Well, how do we find the right individualized solution? I’m not quite there yet, but I know that it is on the horizon, and I feel like, I’m like, I just want to have all the information so that I don’t, I don’t have to experience as dramatic of a dip, I guess, like, I got so rocked by pregnancy and postpartum that I’m like, I don’t want to be that rock to get, like, for the next, like, life, stage and season. Like, I just really want all the information so that I can, you know, try to make informed choices as my life continues.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  51:44

Yeah. And I think what’s really going to be helpful is you as an athlete, and you know, somebody who is very in tune with your body, like you know. So I think note, I would hope, you know, my hope for you is that noticing changes in training. Might be the first sign, because I felt like it snuck up on me. It really did, it really and it was just very like, Oh, you’re irritable, or oh you’re anxious, or something’s different about you. Why are you irritable all the time? Or like, you know that hot flash? I think it was just maybe me having the meat sweats, I don’t know.

Brianna Battles  52:24

You know, he helped me, like, gaslight ourselves. We’re like, oh, that’s fine. That’s fine. I was just

Dr. Christle Guevarra  52:29

sleep, yeah, my sleep is all right. It’s not great, but, like, it’s fine. And, and then it was, like, the joint pain. And then, like, I was like, I’m exhausted all the time, despite it, getting good sleep and, like, really in it, the training volume was like, kind of like, oh, like, am I? And then you start thinking, like, Am I just, like me wishing I was 20 years old again, or is this a real thing? Like, yeah, and no joke, it took a very long time, and then a couple of different providers later before I got, you know, the help I needed. But like, Yeah, I had to get a second and third opinion. You know, see, like, am I going insane? Like, am I just being unrealistic? And this is like, I think the hard

Brianna Battles  53:09

thing, because obviously, like, you are so smart, so aware of your body, and we’re still, like, What the hell is happening? Like, why? Like, we, like, know, but then, like, we can’t with our own selves. It’s like, it’s like, it’s so that’s, I think, the hard part of navigating our bodies, as athletes, as women that are trying to, like, just find a healthy homeostasis. Sometimes we, like, know too much, but can’t troubleshoot our own body and needs, you know, yeah,

Dr. Christle Guevarra  53:35

yeah, definitely. Which is why I am happy to, like, see a healthcare provider and, you know, a doctor, like, hey, like, am I going insane? Like, a sanity check? Like, obviously, I just, you know, I think we, if we try and coach ourselves, like, sometimes we are, we’re, we have our own biases. So, oh yeah, absolutely

Brianna Battles  53:55

every, every coach needs their own good coach. So let’s wrap this up by talking about Jiu Jitsu. When did you find jiu jitsu and, like, What made you start as a woman in her 40s?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  54:08

Yeah, I, I started, like, summer of 2021, when we moved back to Michigan, it was still covid, so I hadn’t really, like, you know, it was just me drilling with Mike, you know, some doing some wrestling kind of take downs at home for a really long time. I was interested in it a long time ago, but because of med school, I just, you know, I had to drive to a gym, like I was, you know, on somebody else’s schedule. I needed the gym to lift on my own time and peace. And so I was like, Yeah, I’m done with school now. I think, you know, this might be a good opportunity. Like, I like, you know, there’s like, this aggression to it that I kind of, you know, sort of naturally feel drawn to. And I started at 411, and 190 because I had gained. And some weight back from covid and the fellowship stress so, and I had some nagging injuries that I so I’d taken time off completely from the gym. So I started off quite, you know, a little out of shape. And, yeah, that’s where I kind of started. And so it was tough, because, like, at 411 and kind of the size, like, leverages, are different, yeah, you know. And so it took, you know, I’m still a white belt, but it also took a long time for me to get down to 140 and get to a comfortable 141 45 which is where I I’ve been sitting for a year or two so. And like, now I feel like, okay, I’m in this kind of homeo, like, this homeostasis body, let me, like, like, kind of crank up the the technique stuff.

Brianna Battles  55:50

So that’s gonna be awesome. What do you love about Jiu Jitsu? Like, because I obviously there’s like, a physical piece, like that aggression side, but yeah, because you’re from academia, do you love, like, the mental puzzle pieces of it? I do. Are you there yet?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  56:05

Yeah. Well, so the, like, the things that I’ve noticed is, like, I can’t grind my way through stuff, and so I have to be smart about it. So I love that being an older coming into this sport as, like, an older athlete, I’ve done a lot of dumb things with power lifting in my day. And so I do like the fact that, like, I can still get stuff out of it, I can still learn and adapt, but I don’t have to beat myself up and, like, go hard at every role. And I think the other great thing is I’m starting to realize now is I actually just don’t, like, even for guy, you know, the middle aged guy who just started you can be annoyed. You can be an annoying little weasel without, with very little effort, if you just know where to position yourself, yeah, yeah,

Brianna Battles  56:55

that positional control is, like, a huge part of it.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  56:59

Well, yeah, just, I remember one guy was, like, really impressed with my knee shield. It’s like, I gotten smashed so many times that I and 50 million times that. Like now, like with you, it just, it just felt like, and

Brianna Battles  57:12

you can just kind of ball up and put your

Dr. Christle Guevarra  57:15

knees perfect and so and, you know, because he had nowhere to go, and I just was just like, well, we’ll just hang out here, because I know if he got a limb or something like that, He’s much stronger than me, he’s just gonna, like, tear it, tear it off my body. No, absolutely.

Brianna Battles  57:31

I mean, I, I started jiu jitsu because I was like, I need to do something that I’m not exp but I don’t, like, personally expect myself to be good at, like, I wanted to be a beginner and not have the self pressure, yeah, of like, well, you should be better than this. Like, you can athlete it, you know, like, as if I think about, like, triathlons or lifting or CrossFit, or like, literally anything, it’s like, well, well, I’ve done something complimentary, so I should be good at that. Whereas Jiu Jitsu, I was like, I’ve literally never, ever grappled with a person, yeah, ever I’ve done no martial arts, this is I’m not supposed to be good. And so it was kind of nice to have that, like, weight lifted, of like, I’m not supposed to be good at this. Like, I’m strong, yeah, but I’m not supposed to be like, good. And so it felt really awesome to be a beginner at that stage in life. I started, like, in my early ish, well, I don’t know, maybe around 33 Yeah, or four. I don’t know. I can’t remember, somewhere around there. And it just felt really good, like it just felt good to do something so different, to be a beginner, and then it’s the only sport I have ever done where I am present in the moment. I’m not thinking about the email I need to do. I’m not thinking about the dinner I need to make. I’m not thinking about whatever else I am like truly present. And my brain is never present. I live everywhere other than the moment most Oh yeah. So like, this is, it’s been a really positive for for that piece, and I know somebody like you obviously really high achieving a lot going on in your life. I feel like that’s such a good therapy for brains like that.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  59:01

Oh yeah, I turn it’s the only time where I get to turn my phone off and and I actually put it on silent, and I move it away, and I just get to, yeah, focus on this thing. I completely didn’t realize that until just now, because, yeah, even when I’m in the gym lifting, it’s like, phone is on somebody’s like, I need something. And then you’re

Brianna Battles  59:19

thinking, like, Oh, could I, like, film this for content. Could I, is this a teach? A great moment? Do I need to do this here? And then it’s just like, it’s too, almost like lifting is too connected to, like, what we do anyway, that, like, jiu jitsu can be like a separate piece of of the puzzle. And, I mean, it’s pretty fun. So I love, yeah, he found it. I love that. Like, you know, there’s more women coming into this sport. There’s women who are in their 30s, their 40s and beyond, coming into the four it’s cool to see, and I love that you’re one of those people.

Dr. Christle Guevarra  59:47

Yeah, it’s really great. It’s a really great and being in this era of like, I get to be a beginner, and I really just I, there’s no expectation. I’m not trying to be a world at champion athlete, like, I’m just here to. Like, have a good role, and, you know, get better. So, you know, if I can do it, you know, you can do it, and it’s just a lot of fun.

Brianna Battles  1:00:09

Well, I love, I love talking about it. I love finding people that it’s like, you know, that’s not like, their main thing, but it is a side quest. And, like, it’s such a fun side quest for it, isn’t it? 100% is, I can’t wait to get back. Oh, I know it’s gonna be it’s gonna feel so good to get back out there. Well, thank you so much for coming on this podcast. This is really insightful. I think it was really probably validating for so many people listening, knowing, like, Okay, I’m not crazy. And like, just kind of answering some unfiltered questions or giving just really honest feedback, of like, the state of where we’re actually at, what we know, what we don’t know, and yeah, you know, I guess where things are going. So I really appreciate you, your voice, the work that you’re doing, and then your honesty. It was

Dr. Christle Guevarra  1:00:49

really refreshing. Thank you so much. I’m so I hope this, you know, resonates with you know, a lot of people, and take, you know, something great out of this, because it’s hard, and I understand, like a lot of physicians, you know, struggle with a lot of people do make, are making more and more content now, but, you know, just having, just sort of an honest, you know, unfiltered conversation, a little bit, you know, harder at times for people. But I

Brianna Battles  1:01:14

definitely appreciate your vulnerability here and your willingness to share, and I think it will help a lot of different people. So tell us really quickly, though, where can people follow you and learn more about what you do?

Dr. Christle Guevarra  1:01:24

There’s the RP YouTube channel. If you look up Dr Mike Ezra, tell he’s on there, you’ll find it. And then I’m on Instagram. DR, D, R, dot. Crystal, C, H, R, i, s, t, o, e, so All right, awesome.

Brianna Battles  1:01:39

Well, Crystal, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you. Dr, thank you. Yep, take care. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the practice brave podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review and help us spread the work we are doing to improve the overall information and messaging in the fitness industry and beyond. Now, if you are pregnant and you are looking for a trustworthy exercise program to follow, I have you covered. The pregnant athlete training program is a well rounded program for pregnancy with workouts for each week that are appropriate for your changing body. That’s 36 weeks of workouts, three to four workouts each week, and tons of guidance on exercise strategy. We also have an at home version of that program. If you are postpartum and you’re looking for an exercise program to follow. The eight week postpartum athlete training program would be a really great way to help bridge the gap between rehab and the fitness you actually want to do from there, we have the practice brave fitness program, which is an ongoing strength conditioning program where you get new workouts each week and have a lot of guidance for myself and my co coach, Heather Osby, this is the only way that I’m really offering ongoing coaching at this point in time. If you have ever considered becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, I would love to have you join us, pregnancy and postpartum. Athleticism is a self paced online certification course that will up level your coaching skills and help connect the dots between pelvic health and long term athletic performance, especially during pregnancy and postpartum, become who you needed and become who your online and local community needs by becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism Coach, thank you again for listening to the practice brave podcast. I appreciate you, and please help me continue spreading this messaging, this information and this work.