Imagine a life where you are not fighting your body but embracing it.
I am writing this while entering my luteal phase. I swear I can feel the transition from ovulation to luteal. The immediate drop of estrogen followed by the decrease in progesterone once the egg realizes that fertilizer is not coming. Ugh.
It’s a gross feeling but three years ago before I started to take my cycle more seriously this feeling would have been a mystery. I would have just crashed out, ate all the food in the house, feel sorry for myself and then in a few days I would feel a little better (your body adjusts to the decrease in hormones) and then slowly tick the days away until you menstruate getting more and more irritable as the days go by.
It’s the cycle of life (one I won’t be utilizing as I am child free by choice) but it is one of those things that no one really talks about. If you are a woman or a person who menstruates, understanding the phases of your cycle and the benefits of tracking your cycle will change your life.
The Four Phase of your Menstrual Cycle
Note that every person cycle is different. It can also change month to month for each individual as well.
Menstrual – Day 1 to 7
Day one of your menstrual cycle is the first day you bleed. This will vary person to person but can last from 3 to 7 days.
Follicular – Day 4 to 10
The follicular phase simultaneously starts on a day one but menstrual symptoms over power it. During this phase your body is preparing for an egg to be released. This means your estrogen levels are increasing and you start to feel more energized, joyful and have a more positive outlook on life. This is usual the time where you want to change everything and start new habits.
Ovulation – Day 10 to 14
Once your egg is released and headed towards your fallopian tube your follicular phase is over and your luteal phase has begun. However, during this phase your body can have an increased libido, breast tenderness and light spotting. I might even have cramps during this time too.
Luteal – Day 14 to 28 (33)
Why did the hitting my shoulder on the door make me cry? Why can I feel every nerve ending in my joints? Once the egg reaches maturity and is not fertilizes it will shrink and your uterine walls will start preparing to shed. This is a time where your hormones are shifting rapidly.
Remember that these phase all overlap with each other which means month to month you can feel differently during each phase. The goal with this breakdown is for you to understand that your body is constantly on this cycle. Now, you can connect to these phases and understand why you body feels that way.
5 Reasons to Start Tracking Your Cycle
- Sanity
- Hunger Cues
- Exercise
- Self Love
- Building Habits
Sanity
I don’t know about you but every month I would get miserable, cry, scream, hate everything and then two days later I start bleeding (menstrual phase begins) and I giggle, “oh, that’s why I hated my life!” This lead to living my life on a roller coaster of emotions that I didn’t acknowledge I was on. It would make me feel crazy.
Why would I be so happy and excited one week and then miserable the next. On top of that, we (people who menstruate) are being forced into a world that needs us to perform every single day at the same level. We are just not built like that. Our bodies change week to week. You can be extremely productive during the end of your menstrual phase up to ovulation and then quit all the habits and routines during your luteal phase.
This made me feel insane. And it’s why I started my cycle syncing journey. I would plan and prepare habits during the end of my menstrual phase, make progress the week of my follicular phase and then throw it all out the window during my luteal phase making zero progress towards my goals. And being ruled by my body and hormones. I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I wanted to be in tune with my body.
Hunger Cues
During our luteal phase (and for me sometimes during ovulation) I am ravenous. A bottomless bit. I just want to eat. I never understood why and figured it was just being human. Didn’t everyone feel this way? Nope. I would let my cravings control me and it made it very difficult for me to love my body. I would meal prep, try to lose weight but then luteal phase comes along and I felt out of control.
Cravings during your cycle are not a negative. It is really just our body needing more fuel to get through all the hormones shifting. However, society has deemed women to be obsessive and incorrigible. Stuff your face, cheat day, eat whatever you want life is short. Or shaming you for watching what you eat as if there hasn’t been a millennia of propaganda about us needing to be in a smaller body.
This is why understanding our bodies and the menstrual cycle can help use treat food like a tool to help us navigate this world. Beyond just our cycle I believe food is a powerful source to our mental and physical well being. This means taking a look at what foods can help alleviate symptoms or boost your mood during each phase.
One thing I did during my 75 medium challenge was increase my calorie intake by 200 to 300 calories during my luteal phase. This allowed me to eat more during this phase of my cycle because I knew my cravings were going to be hard to manage. Giving myself permission to eat more allowed me to still stay in my deficit and enjoy food. I didn’t hate my life trying to eat a salad while my body is craving a mash potatoes and gravy.
Exercise
Exercise is important for your health and well being but each phase of your cycle can determine your motivation levels. Some weeks you will have so much energy and others you will want to curl in a ball and do nothing. How are you suppose to build a workout routine if you are at the whim of your mood swings?
Great question.
The best solution to maintaining exercise throughout your cycle is good, better, best goals. If you have a step goal of 10,000 steps every single day. During your follicular phase this will seem easy but during your luteal it will seem like the hardest mountain to climb. Instead of making yourself to hit 10K steps every single day you hit 7000 to 10,000 steps per day. This range will account for the days you feel motivated but you can still hit your daily goal.
It’s all about balance and being in tune with your body. This can be the same with lifting weights. One week you can lift heavier, feel excited and see progress while the next week you can barely lift your starting weight. It can feel discouraging but it is truly just your body.
I also have stretching videos, dance videos, walking videos that I know I can manage during my luteal and menstrual phase when I am feeling lower.
Self Love
Starting to cycle sync will teach you more about self love. To love your body for what it is doing each month and how you can appreciate the energetic days and the cozy, low energy days. They are all apart of who you are. Instead of fighting the cycle, embrace it.
It can get very frustrating being at the mercy of your hormones and menstrual cycle symptoms, some of which can be debilitating. This is the time to understand that each phase only lasts a little while and you will be back in a better place soon. Find the small daily things to be appreciative even when you are not feel the best.
Self love is more than affirmations and kind words. It is a deep trust and respect for yourself. Your mind, body and soul are with you through it all. Every up, every down and every in between. Love yourself so much that whenever life throws something new your way you can tackle it with the confidence it won’t shake you.
Building Habits
Lastly, cycle syncing will allow you to maintain your daily and weekly habits long term. I hated how I would throw all my habits out the window every month during my luteal phase. I would be “good” with my habits only to stop them the moment I was uncomfortable. If you want to build habits and maintain them long term you want to figure out how to connect with your cycle. This will help you be kind to yourself, give yourself space and adjust your daily habits to fit your energy level for that week.
Our world is not build for women or people who menstruate at all. Companies only started putting red dye in period product commercials in 2018 (UK) and 2020 (US). As in roughly fifty percent of the population experiences this bodily function and you can’t even depict it in it’s truest form. Hell, the liquid dye is so diluted it is still so far fetched.
Society still has an extremely long way to go but as individuals we can carve out our own system that helps us thrive.
Check out this cycle syncing dashboard for more here
