My Doctor Gave Me Bad News. So I’m Building an AI Health Coach.

Hi all,

My doctor gave me some news I didn’t love. So I did what any reasonable person would do and built an entire AI system to deal with it.

For a while now, I’ve been saying the same thing on stage: the best way to learn AI is to pick a project -- something that needs to make its way into the world -- and build it. Vibe coding and agents make that possible.

This is my project. And I’m documenting it publicly.

Seventeen Years and a Plot Twist

If you’ve seen me speak, you’ve probably heard me compare AI to a fitness journey. This month marks 17 years of working out five days a week. It started the morning after my 29th birthday (I tell the whole story in Future Proof).

Through CrossFit and working with a trainer, I got stronger and fitter. Then, about three years ago, my fitness started to decline. That happens to be right around when I started speaking and traveling full-time.

At my most recent check-up, my doctor told me I have high blood pressure. The cause is unclear. It could be my diet, lack of sleep, all the travel, or my genetics (thanks, Dad!).

Most people hear that and decide to sleep more and eat healthier.

I decided to build an agentic system that tracks my health, figures out which levers actually move the needle, and helps me change my behavior to get as healthy as possible.

Measure Everything. Log Nothing.

I know from my work that to improve something, you have to measure it first. So, with help from Claude, I bought the devices to track my vitals in as close to real-time as possible. The goal is to feed everything into one central repository that surfaces insights and recommendations as they happen.

I had one rule: I don’t want to log anything. I’m lazy and I forget things. Everything has to be passive.

Here’s what’s in the stack:

• Hilo Core: Tracks my blood pressure throughout the day and night, so I can see patterns a once-a-year reading at the doctor’s office would miss.
• Dexcom Stelo: Tracks my glucose around the clock, showing how meals, sleep and stress actually hit my body.
• Withings Body Comp scale: Tracks weight, body composition and vascular age, so I can see the trend between lab-grade scans.
• Oura Ring: Tracks sleep and recovery, because I suspect all those hotel beds are costing me more than I think.
• WurQ: Built for CrossFit. It recognizes movements and tracks reps, power and heart rate, showing whether my fitness is actually coming back.
• Apple Watch: Tracks my everyday heart rate and activity, the baseline between workouts.
• Bloodwork and DEXA scans: Periodic lab-grade reference points to keep all the consumer devices honest.

The Missing Link

Here’s the biggest challenge: those devices tell me what’s happening to my body. They can’t tell me why.

To connect what I’m doing to the outcomes, I’m buying open-source AI glasses from a company called Brilliant Labs. The idea is that they see and hear what I’m doing and connect it to what happens downstream, then give me real-time recommendations (“don’t eat that cheeseburger!”).

It’s like having a personal trainer, a nutritionist, a sleep doctor and a life coach all watching me 24/7.

That said, I don’t want to break any laws or make anyone uncomfortable. So I still need to figure out how to rig this up so it only captures my health indicators, which is its intended purpose.

The Poor Man’s Bryan Johnson

Here’s the point. Bryan Johnson famously spends $2 million a year on experts and technology to optimize his health and increase his longevity.

I think I can get about 90% of the outcome with $1,500 upfront and about $100 per month in subscriptions. My goal is to be a poor man’s Bryan Johnson :)

This wouldn’t have been possible three years ago. Technology and AI are democratizing access to tools and experts that used to be reserved for people with Bryan Johnson’s budget.

And it’s already paying off! Claude reviewed the list of supplements I take every day and told me I can discard about half of them. So the system is already saving me money.

What’s Next

I’ll post periodic updates as the devices land and I start to get my arms around what’s impacting my health. (And don’t worry, you’ll still get my usual content on how AI is changing our work and personal lives.) None of this replaces my doctor. He’s getting the data too.

Now it’s your turn. Pick one project that matters to you and start building it this week.

Drop a comment and tell me what you’re building. I read every one!

Best,

Dr. Michael “House” Housman