Part 2: PSMF Ask Me Anything: Rapid Fat Loss, Protein to Protect Muscle, Fat and Carb Re-Feeds & Hormones
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Release Date: 11/14/2025
2026 Goal Setting Masterclass: How to Set Health & Body Recomposition Goals You’ll Actually Achieve
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at Most people don’t fail at their goals because they lack discipline — they fail because they were never taught how to set goals that actually work. In this New Year solo episode, Vanessa shares a powerful, step-by-step goal-setting masterclass inspired by Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy, applied specifically to fat loss, body recomposition, strength, energy, and long-term metabolic health. You’ll be guided through the actual Tony Robbins Priming...
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2025's Biggest Body Recomposition, Fat Loss & Protein Breakthroughs
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at In today’s episode, I’m continuing our Best of 2025 series with a powerful follow-up to Friday’s episode. Instead of an interview, this is a curated masterclass pulling together the most important breakthroughs of 2025 in body recomposition, fat loss, and protein metabolism — especially for women navigating perimenopause and midlife metabolic change. You’ll hear standout moments from conversations with , and , alongside a solo deep dive into...
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A Personal Announcement + The 5 BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS & Studies From 2025!
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Study takeaways start at 18:00 mark Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at In this special end-of-year solo episode, Vanessa shares a brief personal announcement, followed by the five biggest scientific takeaways from 2025 that reshaped how she thinks about fat loss, longevity, and metabolic health. This episode highlights the studies and expert conversations featured on the Optimal Protein Podcast that had the most meaningful impact this year — including new research on autophagy...
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Gut Health, Hormones & Midlife Weight Gain — What Women Need to Know: Cynthia Thurlow, NP
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at In this episode of the Optimal Protein Podcast, Vanessa is joined by Cynthia Thurlow, nurse practitioner, bestselling author, and women’s health expert, for a deep dive into why fat loss and muscle maintenance become more challenging during perimenopause and menopause. Cynthia explains how hormonal shifts drive anabolic resistance, reduce blood flow and nutrient delivery to muscle, and accelerate changes in body composition. We discuss how to adapt...
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The New Peptide Science: Reversing Skin Aging, Senescent “Zombie” Cells, Collagen Breakdown & Inflammation — Dr. Alessandra Zonari
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at What if the real driver of skin aging isn’t wrinkles or sun damage — but “zombie” senescent cells hiding in your skin? In this episode of the Optimal Protein Podcast, Vanessa sits down with Dr. Alessandra Zonari, PhD — a stem cell biologist and longevity scientist — for a fascinating deep dive into the new peptide science behind skin aging, inflammation, and biological age. BOOST YOUR COLLAGEN & ELASTIN with RED LIGHT THERAPY!...
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Why You Can’t Diet Forever: Study Results From 10,000 People Who Kept the Weight Off
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at Why do so many people lose weight — only to regain it later? In this episode of The Optimal Protein Podcast, Vanessa Spina sits down with Dr. Holly Wyatt, physician, endocrinologist, and longtime researcher with the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) — the world’s largest and longest-running study of people who have lost weight and kept it off. Building on the audience-favorite episode with Dr. James Hill, this conversation focuses on...
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BREAKING NEWS EXPLAINED: Your Metabolism Isn’t “Capped” — What the New Study REALLY Shows
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at For nearly a decade, many of us have believed that calorie burn eventually plateaus—that once you move enough, your body quietly compensates and stops burning more energy. That belief has shaped how we diet, how we train, and even whether we bother moving more at all. But a brand-new 2025 human study challenges that idea in a way that could completely change how you approach fat loss, daily movement, and exercise. In this Friday recap episode of...
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BREAKING: Your Body Burns More Calories Than We Thought — Dr. Howard on the Groundbreaking Study Rewriting Metabolism
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at In today’s episode, Vanessa sits down with Dr. Howard, the lead author of a brand-new PNAS study that is challenging one of the most widely accepted ideas in human metabolism. For years, many scientists believed that our bodies operate within a fixed daily calorie “budget,” and that after a certain point, increasing activity doesn’t increase total calorie burn. But Dr. Howard’s new research suggests the story may be far more dynamic...
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Shocking New Research on Creatine & Collagen: What Women Need to Know - Benefits, Dosing & More!
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
In today’s episode, Vanessa reveals the shocking new human research on two of the most powerful and science-backed supplements for women’s fat loss, muscle tone, metabolic health, skin rejuvenation, and longevity: creatine and collagen. You’ll discover why creatine is no longer just a gym supplement, and how groundbreaking new data shows collagen may actually influence biological age. This episode is packed with cutting-edge insights every woman needs to hear. Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies....
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Is Intermittent Fasting Sabotaging Your Muscle? The Truth About IF, Carbs & Recovery- Dr. Cas Fuchs
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
NEW! Support your strength and muscle goals with PUORI Creatine+ — a clean, effective creatine monohydrate supplement enhanced with taurine. Get 20% off at In this science-packed episode, Dr. Cas Fuchs breaks down the surprising ways intermittent fasting, under-fueling, cold plunges, and low glycogen can quietly sabotage your muscle, strength, and body recomposition goals. We uncover the truth about IF for active women, what really matters for protein timing and distribution, how carbs impact strength performance, and why ice baths may be blunting your gains. If you want evidence-based...
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This is Part Two of our PSMF Ask Me Anything series!
In this episode, Vanessa answers your most practical and frequently asked questions about how to implement a Protein-Sparing Modified Fast in real life — including how to adapt it around your family, your menstrual cycle, different body sizes, refeeds, supplements, ketone readings, and even how various PSMF philosophies compare.
You’ll hear evidence-based guidance grounded in human clinical research on very-low-calorie ketogenic diets (VLCKD), high-protein fat-loss interventions, and metabolic studies, delivered in an easy, conversational format.
Whether you’re using PSMF for fat loss, metabolic health, or body recomposition, today’s episode gives you the clarity and confidence to personalize the approach while protecting muscle, metabolism, and hormonal wellness.
Timeline Mitopure Gummies — The #1 Urolithin A supplement for energy and healthy aging, now in delicious strawberry gummies. Get 20% off at timeline.com/vanessa
🧬 Topics Covered Today
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How to cook and meal plan for yourself and a family
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Exactly what Vanessa eats on a PSMF day (plus a non-PSMF day)
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Whether the traditional 800–1000 kcal PSMF applies to smaller, active women
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EAAs vs. creatine: what’s worth taking on rest days
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How to approach refeeds when you struggle mentally with “letting go”
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Whether 5-day PSMF blocks are safe and effective
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PSMF bread without egg powder—what works and what doesn’t
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Jockers vs. Emmerich: comparing two popular PSMF styles
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Vanessa’s typical ketone readings throughout a PSMF day
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Ideal protein targets during PSMF
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Using rice and other carbs strategically in refeeds and maintenance
🧠Mentioned in This Episode
- Get 20% off the Tone device HERE
đź“š Studies Mentioned
1. Very-Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diets for Fat Loss & Hormones
Pandurevic et al. (2023), Endocrine Connections
2. VLCKD in Postmenopausal Women
Pala et al. (2024)
3. Lean Mass Preservation During Rapid Weight Loss
Merra et al. (2016)
4. Metabolic & Cardiovascular Benefits of VLCKD
Guarnotta et al. (2022), Nutrients
5. Refeed Strategies & Metabolic Rate
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MATADOR Study: intermittent dieting (2 weeks on/2 weeks maintenance) preserved metabolic rate and improved fat loss compared to continuous dieting.
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Free high-protein keto guide: The Keto Reset eBook
👤 Connect with Vanessa:
• Instagram: @ketogenicgirl
• 🔗 Learn more about the TONE Breath Ketone Analyzer — 20% OFF with code VANESSA
• Tone Collagen
📱 Follow @ketogenicgirl for the latest studies and strategies on fat loss and protein optimization
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🎙 The content in this podcast is for informational purposes only and not nutritional or medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making major dietary or lifestyle changes.