Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Dunlop.
Hi Stephanie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My life has been a constant dance between two dreams that most people would say don’t belong together: being a professional dancer and being a physician. While most people choose one path, I refused to let go of either. Growing up in a military family in Pensacola, Florida, I fell in love with dance at the age of three, but I was equally captivated by the mechanics of the human body and the idea of healing people. So I did what seemed impossible—I pursued both.
That passion led me to major in Kinesiology and Sports Medicine in college, where my fascination with body mechanics only deepened. In what I can only describe as an insane (but incredible) chapter of my life, I attended medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston while also dancing professionally. It was a masterclass in discipline and resilience.
Eventually, I transitioned from the stage to the emergency room, completing my residency at Orlando Health and becoming a board-certified ER physician. My time on the frontlines, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, was a profound turning point. Seeing so many people suffer from complications that could have potentially been prevented through lifestyle changes solidified a belief that had been growing in me for years: that movement is truly medicine.
I knew I had to do more than just treat the downstream effects of chronic illness; I wanted to help people proactively build healthier lives. This conviction fueled my first transformation. I channeled my energy into fitness, got into the best shape of my life, and in February 2023, I opened my own brick-and-mortar studio right here in the Houston area—Club MVMNT in Rosharon. We created a space focused on fun, low-impact, and effective workouts, combined with crucial recovery methods like infrared sauna and assisted stretching. I thought I had cracked the code to wellness.
Then, life humbled me. After getting married in May 2023 and having my son just 10 months later, my body started to feel like it wasn’t my own. I lost the initial baby weight, but then I quickly ballooned right back up, weighing more than I did the day I gave birth. Despite doing everything “right”—the clean eating, the intense workouts that had always worked before—I was exhausted, inflamed, and mentally foggy. I was waking up at 3 a.m. staring at the wall, dealing with debilitating periods, and my scrubs were getting uncomfortably tight. I knew something wasn’t right, so I went to get labs done. Doctors told me everything was “normal,” but I knew I wasn’t.
That was the start of my second, and most important, transformation. I refused to accept this as my new normal. I dove deep into functional medicine, learning to look at labs not for what’s “normal,” but for what’s optimal. I discovered the real root causes of my issues: a significant cortisol imbalance, leaky gut, insulin resistance, and major nutrient deficiencies. I learned that my old methods were just short-term fixes for surface-level symptoms.
By addressing these issues at the root, I finally started to heal. I lost 30 pounds in 16 weeks, but more importantly, my energy came back, my gut healed, and the brain fog lifted. People noticed. Friends, family, colleagues—they all started asking for the “secret.” When I began applying this approach with my Club MVMNT clients and saw it positively transform their lives too, I realized this wasn’t just about me. This was a map that could help so many women who were suffering in silence.
But I wanted to reach beyond the walls of my studio. I wanted to have a bigger impact, to reach women who might not be easily accessible to me locally. I wanted to be the voice for the women who were told their symptoms were “normal,” who were dismissed, unseen, and unheard by the medical system. That commitment led me to launch The Elite Mom Movement a year ago, followed more recently by The Clarity Circle, my functional health membership. I started sharing my story and insights on Instagram (@docstephaniemd), and what began as a personal mission has grown into a movement of over 86,000 women, with content now reaching tens of millions. I feel like I’m finally succeeding in getting this message out there—and this is just the beginning.
So today, I live in both worlds. I’m still a practicing ER physician, a local business owner at Club MVMNT, and now, an online coach to a thriving community of women. I’m helping them skip the years of struggle I went through, showing them how to investigate their own health and heal from the inside out. It’s been a non-traditional journey, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? Not even close. This journey has been one of the most challenging, humbling, and rewarding experiences of my life, but it has tested me in ways I never anticipated.
When I decided to open Club MVMNT, I invested my entire life savings into building something from scratch. I started with a shell space and poured everything I had into creating a studio I could be proud of. Going from a place of financial comfort as a physician to suddenly carrying the weight of significant liabilities and the overhead of a physical location was terrifying. There were moments when I questioned whether I had made the right decision, especially when I realized that not everyone would care about the business as much as I did. That’s been one of the hardest pills to swallow as a small business owner. Pouring your heart and soul into something, only to have people not show up or understand the sacrifices it takes to keep the doors open. There have been plenty of days where I’ve thought about giving up on the physical location.
On top of the financial pressure, I was also navigating the intense juggling act of being an ER physician, a pregnant woman and then a new mom, a wife, and a business owner. All while trying to maintain my own health and wellness, a journey I realize will be a lifelong one, but one I am fully committed to. When my son was born and I found myself in the worst shape of my life, the mom guilt hit hard. I didn’t have the energy to keep up with him once he started moving, and that broke my heart. I was trying to show up for the people who relied on me: my family, my clients, my employees – while I was personally struggling. It felt like I was failing everyone, including myself.
Then came the pivot to online coaching, which brought its own set of challenges. I had virtually no social media presence when I started. My personal page was a just that, a personal profile filled with trips, family events and sharing my life whenever I felt led to, and I knew nothing about algorithms, content creation, or building a following. Adding this to my already overflowing schedule felt impossible, and I faced a lot of skepticism from people who thought I was just trying to become an influencer. I had to push past my perfectionism and just be myself, which was terrifying. When I finally started speaking my truth, I realized that some of what I was saying went against the conventional medical advice my colleagues were giving. That was uncomfortable, but I had to accept that I wasn’t blaming individual doctors. Instead I was challenging the system we were all trained in, a system that often prioritizes “normal” over “optimal.”
Managing it all now requires constant intention and clear boundaries. I work as a locum physician one week a month, which allows me to focus the rest of my time on my family and my business. I’ve had to protect my evenings and weekends as much as possible, which isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary for my sanity and my family’s well-being.
What keeps me going, even on the hardest days, is the culture and community I’ve built. The women I work with, both in my studio and online, have this incredible desire to be more, to achieve more, and to truly heal. Their energy and their transformations remind me why I started this in the first place. When I see a woman finally understand what’s been holding her back, or when I watch her reclaim her energy and confidence, it makes every struggle worth it. This work is bigger than me, and that’s what drives me forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I live in two worlds, and I love both of them. Locally, I own and operate Club MVMNT, a fitness and wellness studio in Rosharon where we focus on creating fun, efficient, low-impact workouts that actually get results. What sets us apart is our variety. We offer everything from sculpt and barre to cycle, bounce and rebounding, step, dance cardio, mobility, and yoga. We want our members to never get bored, while still seeing real progress. Beyond that, we don’t just focus on fitness. We incorporate wellness and recovery into everything we do, offering infrared sauna sessions, assisted stretching, and massage therapy, because I’ve learned firsthand that true transformation happens when you work your body hard and recover it well.
But over the past year, my work has expanded far beyond the walls of my studio. Online, I specialize in functional health coaching for women, and I’ve built a community of over 86,000 women on Instagram (@docstephaniemd) who I feel truly see themselves in me, my story, my struggles and my journey, and they are hungry for real answers. I’m most well-known for the way I look at lab work. I use what I call the Test, Not Guess Method™, which means I interpret labs from a functional standpoint, not just a conventional one. I can see hidden issues like leaky gut, mold exposure, parasites, and hormone imbalances on even the most basic lab markers—things that most doctors miss because they’re only looking for what’s “normal,” not what’s optimal. For so many women, this is the first time someone has actually listened to their symptoms and connected the dots.
My flagship program, Functional You RX, is a 16-week accelerator where I work one-on-one with women to run comprehensive lab panels, create personalized protocols, and guide them through a phased approach to healing – everything from hormone optimization to gut repair to sustainable transformation. I also recently launched The Clarity Circle, a functional health membership that helps women uncover their root causes and get guidance on everything from fatigue and brain fog to stubborn weight and bloating. We address issues ranging from gut health and hormone imbalances to mold and parasites, and the results have been incredible. Women are finally getting their energy back, losing the weight that wouldn’t budge, and reclaiming their lives.
What I’m most proud of is that I’ve built two thriving communities from scratch, one in person and one online. And most importantly I didn’t give up, even when it felt impossible. I’m proud of the women I’ve helped who were told for years that they were “fine” when they knew something was wrong. Giving them answers and watching them transform is what fuels me every single day.
What sets me apart is the combination of my background and my story. I’m a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, a certified fitness instructor, and a functional health coach, but I’m also someone who has lived through the struggle. I know what it’s like to feel exhausted, inflamed, and dismissed by the medical system. I’ve done the work to heal myself, and now I’m using that knowledge to help others skip the years of suffering I went through. My clients often tell me that they don’t know how I do it all, that I’m always moving, always energetic, always pushing them to be better. And that commitment to my mission inspires them. The truth is, I do it because I’ve been where they are, and I refuse to let them stay stuck. I know what’s possible when you address the root cause, and I’m on a mission to make sure every woman has access to that map.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Resilience. Without a doubt, resilience has been the most important quality to my success, and it’s been my guiding word since the very beginning of this journey. I chose it intentionally because I knew that building something meaningful would require me to face obstacles, setbacks, and moments of doubt. And guess what, I was right.
Resilience has shown up in every chapter of my story. It’s what allowed me to pursue two seemingly impossible dreams at once, dancing professionally while attending medical school. It’s what carried me through the frontlines of the ER during the COVID-19 pandemic, when I watched so many people suffer and realized I needed to do more. It’s what gave me the courage to invest my entire life savings into opening Club MVMNT, even when the financial risk was terrifying. And it’s what pulled me through my own postpartum health crisis, when I felt like I was failing everyone around me but refused to accept that as my reality.
But resilience isn’t just about pushing through the hard times, it’s also about adapting, pivoting, and being willing to start over when something isn’t working. When I realized that my traditional approach to health and fitness wasn’t addressing the root causes of my struggles, I had to be resilient enough to admit I didn’t have all the answers and humble enough to seek them out. When I decided to build an online presence from scratch with no social media experience, I had to be resilient enough to post imperfectly, face skepticism, and keep showing up even when it felt uncomfortable.
Resilience is also what I see in the women I work with every day. They’ve been dismissed, told they’re fine when they’re not, and they’ve tried everything without getting results. But they keep searching for answers, and when they find me, they’re ready to do the work. I think my own resilience resonates with them because they see that I’ve been where they are and I didn’t give up, so neither should they.
At the end of the day, resilience is what keeps me moving forward, even on the days when I want to quit. It’s what reminds me that every struggle is shaping me into someone who can help more people, and that’s worth fighting for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elitemommovement.com/home (Online) and www.clubmvmnt.com (physical location)
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/docstephaniemd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571144666642
Image Credits
Right Time Solutions
