What happens when training harder starts to cost you your menstrual cycle?

In this episode, we explore the complex, and often overlooked, relationship between athletic performance, hormones, and menstrual health.

In a culture that glorifies pushing through pain, ignoring fatigue, and constantly chasing the next goal, many athletes lose touch with one of their most important health signals: their cycle. From irregular or missing periods to low energy availability, bone density loss, and fertility concerns, the impact of sport on menstrual health is real — and too often normalised.

We talk about the Female Athlete Triad, cycle syncing for athletes, and the delicate balance between training, nutrition, and recovery. We also unpack how contraception (including the copper IUD) can mask changes in your cycle, and why lighter or absent periods shouldn’t automatically be dismissed as “normal for athletes.”

This conversation challenges the idea that losing your period is a badge of honour, and asks a more important question: where do you draw the line between discipline and harm?

We cover:

🩸 What athletes should watch for in their menstrual cycle

🩸 The Female Athlete Triad: low energy availability, bone density loss, and irregular periods

🩸 How exercise can both disrupt and support cycle regulation

🩸 Cycle syncing for athletes — and how contraception fits into the picture

🩸 Whether lighter periods (or none at all) can be a hidden red flag

🩸 Why electrolytes and nutrition matter for hormonal balance

🩸 The link between menstrual health, performance, and long-term fertility

🩸 How to train sustainably in a culture that rewards overtraining

Whether you’re a recreational athlete, training competitively, or working with active women, this episode is an invitation to rethink performance — not as pushing harder, but as learning to listen better.

Find Virginia:

virginia.vasquez.rios@gmail.com

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To learn more, visit www.understandyourcycle.com

Sign up for our FREE cycle-synced newsletter: Learn Your Menstrual Cycle

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What happens when you spend years trying to build a family — and decide to stop?

In this episode, we sit down with Aisha Balesaria, an advocate and coach who turned her experience of endometriosis, infertility, and loss into a life of purpose and joy without children.

After 15 years of being dismissed by doctors, Aisha was finally diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis — only after struggling to conceive. What followed was a decade-long fertility journey: IVF cycles, miscarriages, hope, heartbreak, and eventually, the decision to stop.

Aisha shares what it took to rebuild herself after letting go of the dream of motherhood, how therapy and community transformed her healing, and why she now dedicates her work to helping others find fulfillment beyond parenthood.

We talk about the silence surrounding infertility, the cultural pressure to become a mother, and what it really means to find peace in a world that often measures women by whether they have children.

This is a story of resilience, grief, and ultimately, freedom.

We cover:

🩸 What it feels like to be medically gaslit for over a decade before diagnosis

🩸 The physical, emotional, and financial toll of IVF; and knowing when to stop

🩸 How therapy and community can help reframe life after infertility

🩸 The intersection of culture, womanhood, and the expectation to have children

🩸 Why “childless” and “childfree” don’t always fit, and what language gets wrong

🩸 How Aisha built a life of advocacy, joy, and meaning beyond motherhood

Whether you’ve experienced fertility struggles yourself, know someone who has, or simply want to better understand the nuances of womanhood, loss, and identity, this conversation is deeply moving, honest, and healing.

Find Coni:

Instagram: @mindbodyrevival_coach

Website: www.mindbodyrevivalcoach.com

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To learn more, go to www.understandyourcycle.com

Sign up for our FREE cycle-synced newsletter here: Learn Your Menstrual Cycle

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What happens when you spend 15 years on hormonal contraceptionm and then have to relearn your body from scratch?

In this episode, Coni, co-founder of period underwear brand NIXI Body, shares her journey from being prescribed the pill for teenage acne, to navigating infertility, cycle syncing, pregnancy, and now early motherhood.

We talk about the messy reality behind women’s health: how hard it is to advocate for yourself with doctors, the silence around infertility, and the complicated mix of empowerment and guilt that comes with cycle syncing. Coni also opens up about her fertility struggles, the emotional toll of “just relax” advice, and what it’s really like to balance running a business with having a newborn.

But this conversation goes far beyond contraception and fertility. We explore period shame, the role of community, and why creating products like period underwear is about so much more than comfort. It’s about changing culture.

We cover:

🩸 What it feels like to be on (and come off) hormonal contraception for over a decade

🩸 Why knowledge is power — but also a double-edged sword

🩸 Infertility, and the emotional toll of trying to conceive

🩸 The reality of cycle syncing for work, exercise, and life

🩸 Period shame, stigma, and breaking taboos through products

🩸 The juggle of business ownership, pregnancy, and motherhood

🩸 Why shared parental leave is still radical in 2025

Whether you’ve struggled with contraception, fertility, or simply want to understand the link between hormones, identity, and womanhood, this episode is raw, honest, and empowering.

Find Coni:

Instagram – @conilj

NIXI Body – @nixibody / www.nixibody.com

Subscribe and follow to not miss an episode! 🩸

To learn more, go to www.understandyourcycle.com

Sign up for our FREE cycle-synced newsletter here: Learn Your Menstrual Cycle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.