Vanessa G Fitcast

I want to tell you about a woman who was doing everything right. 

Eating clean, working out consistently, tracking everything, taking all the supplements.

She'd been doing this for two years. And in those two years her weight had gone up, her energy had gotten worse, and she'd started waking up every morning with this low-grade dread about her body that she just couldn't shake. 

She went to her doctor. Labs came back normal. 

She went to a functional medicine doctor. Got a supplement list. Came back six months later feeling exactly the same. And at some point she started to quietly believe that maybe she was just the problem.

She wasn't. And if any part of that sounds familiar, stay with us because that's exactly what today's episode is about.

We are going to break down exactly why smart, disciplined women are doing everything right and getting worse results, why the medical system keeps missing it, and what's actually going on in the gut, hormones, and metabolism that standard testing never finds.

 

Time Stamps:

 

(1:22) A Story About A Women Doing “Everything” Right

(7:12) Does This Sound Like You?

(16:07) Everything Looks “Normal”

(19:47) Your Gut and Immune System

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Find Out More Information on Vital Spark Coaching

---------------------

Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. 

---------------------

Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program

---------------------

Join the Women’s Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!

---------------------

Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we’ll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!

---------------------

Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!

---------------------

Check out our Youtube Channel!

---------------------

Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

What if the reason your hormones feel “off”… has nothing to do with supplements, diets, or doing more and everything to do with what you’re not doing daily?

In this episode, we break down the five simple but powerful habits that can dramatically improve your hormone health in as little as 90 days. These aren’t trendy hacks or complicated protocols. They’re foundational lifestyle shifts that most women overlook while chasing faster, flashier solutions.

We dive into how your morning routine, movement, and evening habits directly influence cortisol, energy, metabolism, and overall balance. You’ll learn why something as simple as morning light exposure can reset your internal clock and why daily movement doesn’t have to mean intense workouts to be effective.

We also unpack one of the most overlooked disruptors of hormone health: your nighttime routine. From screen exposure to late-night eating, these small habits may be quietly working against your body more than you realize.

This episode challenges the idea that you need to do more and instead shows you how to do what actually matters. Because when your lifestyle supports your body, everything starts to work with you instead of against you.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, exhausted, or like your body just isn’t responding the way it should, this conversation will give you a clear, practical path forward.

Start with one habit, stay consistent, and watch what changes.

Because your body isn’t broken. It’s just waiting for the right inputs.

 

Time Stamps:

 

(3:37) Changes In Hormone Health

(4:47) #1: Morning Light Exposure

(9:17) #2: 20 Minutes of Daily Exercise

(14:49) #3: Screens Off 60 Minutes Before Bed

(16:58) #4: A Calming Wind Down Routine

(20:02) #5: Eating Your Last Meal 4 Hours Before Bed

---------------------

Find Out More Information on Vital Spark Coaching

---------------------

Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. 

---------------------

Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program

---------------------

Join the Women’s Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!

---------------------

Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we’ll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!

---------------------

Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!

---------------------

Check out our Youtube Channel!

---------------------

Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

What if the reason your body isn’t responding… isn’t because you’re doing something wrong?

In this episode, I sit down with Vital Spark coach Lindsey Newman to unpack the story behind her journey from “doing everything right” to realizing her body was breaking down beneath the surface. Coach Lindsey shares what it looked like to chase the “fit mom” identity of training harder, eating less, and trying to prove something both to herself and to the world around her. Despite eating as little as 1200 calories, lifting six days a week, and adding in cardio, her body was gaining weight, her energy was crashing, and her hormones were spiraling.

What followed was a season of deep exhaustion, chronic pain, anxiety, and the terrifying feeling that her body was no longer her own. She opens up about the emotional toll of that time, the frustration of being told she was “fine,” and the moment she finally felt seen after receiving a PCOS diagnosis. But even then, she knew there had to be more to the story.

That search led her to functional health, where everything began to click.

Lindsey shares how uncovering deeper root causes like POTS, gut dysfunction, and thyroid issues completely changed the way she understood her body and ultimately how she healed it. We talk about why “calories in, calories out” isn’t the full picture, how systems in the body are deeply interconnected, and what most women are missing when they try to fix their health.

This conversation is for the woman who feels exhausted, frustrated, and stuck despite doing everything she’s been told should work.

Because your body isn’t broken and there is a way forward when you finally start looking at the full picture.

 

Time Stamps:

 

(1:22) Coach Lindsey

(3:27) Having Babies Early and Staying “Fit”

(9:54) The Calories In Calories Out Conversation

(13:02) Finding Functional Health

(17:20) Finding The True Answers

(23:09) POTS Syndrome

(30:14) Coaching Women Through Experience

(34:58) Where To Find Coach Lindsey

---------------------

Find Out More Information on Vital Spark Coaching

---------------------

Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. 

---------------------

Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program

---------------------

Join the Women’s Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!

---------------------

Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we’ll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!

---------------------

Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!

---------------------

Check out our Youtube Channel!

---------------------

Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

What if the very habits you believe are making you healthier are actually breaking your body down?

In this episode, I sit down with functional health coach Lacey Iskra in our new home and podcast studio (hehe) to unpack the powerful and complicated journey that led her from bodybuilding and extreme dieting to true root-cause healing. Lacey shares how years of intense training, restrictive nutrition, and pushing through stress eventually left her with hormonal dysfunction, autoimmune symptoms, and a body that felt completely out of balance. Like many women in the fitness space, she was doing everything “right” on paper but still watching her health decline.

Her story reveals how early gut health issues, birth control, chronic dieting, and years without a menstrual cycle quietly compounded into bigger problems later in life. After stepping away from bodybuilding, Lacey began searching for answers and eventually discovered the world of functional health and root-cause healing. Through gut testing, lifestyle changes, and deeper emotional and mindset work, she was able to completely reverse her psoriasis and rebuild her health from the inside out.

Throughout the conversation, Lacey and I break down the biggest mistakes women make when trying to fix their health and why fat loss alone is rarely the real solution. We also talk about the missing link most health protocols overlook: addressing the physical, mental, and emotional pieces together.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right but your body still isn’t responding, this episode will help you understand why.

And more importantly, it will show you that healing is possible when you finally start addressing the real root of the problem.

 

Time Stamps:

 

(2:19) Who Is Lacey Iskra?

(5:39) Before Functional Health

(8:00) Birth Control

(10:04) Bodybuilding Prep

(14:52) Becoming an Online Coach

(18:04) Finding Functional Health

(34:35) There’s A Reason For Everything You’re Feeling

(35:16) Where To Find Lacey

---------------------

Find Out More Information on Vital Spark Coaching

---------------------

Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. 

---------------------

Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program

---------------------

Join the Women’s Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!

---------------------

Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we’ll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!

---------------------

Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!

---------------------

Check out our Youtube Channel!

---------------------

Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

Most women will research every stroller, bottle, and sleep schedule for their baby but spend almost no time thinking about how to support their own body during pregnancy.

 In this episode, I’m sharing a “half baked” pregnancy update and pulling back the curtain on what I’ve actually been doing to support my body while growing this baby. 

The reality is that most prenatal care is focused on monitoring the baby, not optimizing the mother’s health. And while that makes sense medically, it also leaves a huge gap in how women care for themselves during one of the most physically demanding seasons of life. 

Pregnancy is often treated like a time to pause your health goals, but I see it more like a sport that requires intentional preparation and support.

In this episode, I walk through the team I’ve built around me including a functional practitioner, doula, midwife, pelvic floor physical therapist, chiropractor, and massage therapist and why I chose to outsource as many decisions as possible during this season. 

I share what the first trimester actually looked like for me, from fatigue and nausea to the unexpected mental challenge of body image changes. 

We also talk about the simple systems I’m using moving into the second and third trimesters, including strength training, daily movement, blood sugar stability, and pelvic floor work. 

I explain how I’m thinking about nutrition not just for myself, but for my baby’s long-term health and taste development. We’ll also talk honestly about the physical discomforts of pregnancy and the moments that can make you question whether something is wrong. Finally, I share how researching birth options shifted my mindset from nervousness to genuine excitement, and why I ultimately decided on a home birth with a midwife and doula while still working with my OB for imaging. 

If you’re pregnant, planning to be, or just curious about a different approach to supporting your body through pregnancy, this episode offers a real, honest look behind the scenes.

 

Time Stamps:

 

(2:54) The Anatomy Scan

(11:02) What I’m Doing/Will Do During Pregnancy

(14:02) Midwife vs Traditional OBGYN Care

(19:43) Letting Experts Help Me

(28:24) Choosing A Home Birth

---------------------

Find Out More Information on Vital Spark Coaching

---------------------

Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. 

---------------------

Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program

---------------------

Join the Women’s Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!

---------------------

Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we’ll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!

---------------------

Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!

---------------------

Check out our Youtube Channel!

---------------------

Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!