How to Track Your Menstrual Cycle
Let’s dive into a topic that might make some of you cringe, but trust me, it's a game-changer for understanding your body's natural rhythm – tracking ovulation.
If you've ever wondered what those apps really tell you or if you've been confused by those mysterious fertility signs, stick around. I'm here to help you learn to navigate the signs your body is giving you and help you take charge of your health like a pro!
Why apps can't be your ovulation GPS
So I know that all of you have an app that supposedly tells you when you ovulate and I'm here to tell you that it can’t do that.
It's just an app. It's following an algorithm. Yes, there are some really smart apps out there, but don't ever trust an app to predict ovulation for you. You need to actually understand and track your own cycle. Your body is already giving you all the information you need to understand where you are in your cycle and so it’s up to you to learn how to understand that info!
Your ovulation toolkit
There are two main things you need to track your ovulation: a basal body thermometer (you can get one for as low as $10 on Amazon) and an app to track your cycle so that you can have somewhere to put the data you’ll be collecting.
I personally like Kindara because it's super simple. I use the free version. Whatever app you choose, just be sure that there’s a place to enter temperature data daily. You may also want a notepad to write down your temperature if your phone isn’t readily available on your nightstand.
Your new morning ritual - tracking your temperature
So you take your thermometer and you're going put it on top of your phone, even better, if you don't have your phone in your bedroom at all you're going put it next to your alarm clock.
When your alarm goes off in the morning, after you turn it off but before you do anything else – before you put your feet on the ground, before you take a sip of water – you're going to put your thermometer under your tongue and lay there for five minutes to let the thermometer settle. Once it’s no longer ice cold from sitting on your nightstand all night, you can turn it on to take your temp.
While waiting for it to do its thing, I like to think about three things that I’m grateful for. It’s a great way to start the day off with a positive mindset!
Once the thermometer gives you your temperature, record it in your app or write it down right away. You want to have a minimum of three hours of sleep before taking your temp. So, if you just randomly wake up two hours before your alarm goes off, just take your temp then and go back to sleep!
Once you’ve entered your data in your app, you’ll see that it has made a graph. Super cool. Now, at first, it’s not going to make any sense. That's because it doesn’t have enough data yet. Give it a few weeks before trying to interpret the data.
How to tell when your period will start
During pre-ovulation, your temps are going to be a little bit lower. Then when progesterone is dominant during your luteal phase, your basal body temperature increases. So the day after ovulation, you’ll see a spike in your temperature. It’ll usually spike about 0.4 degrees (Fahrenheit) above your previous highest temperature reading. Over the next four days, if your temperature stays above 97.8, that confirms ovulation. That’s called your “cover line” and that’s how you know that it was indeed ovulation and not just a random spike because you got a bad night’s sleep or had a drink the night before. It’s important to wait for that four-day sustained temperature to verify ovulation.
After those four days, your temperature will continue to stay above that cover line until the first day of your period. Then it is going to plummet. That’s how you’ll know your period is coming!
Which is so cool because before I learned how to track my cycle I would ruin underwear. You know what I'm talking about. Period underwear. It's totally a thing. And no, I'm not talking about the fancy Thinx underwear that is an actual period product. I'm talking about the gross underwear that you ruin because you didn’t know your period was coming that day!
Well, you will never have that issue again because when you're temp drops, you know that your period is going to start! And I think that that is one of the coolest things ever.
So to recap before we move on…
During pre-ovluation, your temps are gonna be a little bit lower. Then you're going to ovulate and your temp is going to jump 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit above your previous, highest temps. So if your previous highest temp was 97.8 and you spiked at 98.2 now your temp will stay above that cover line for four days.
Then your temps are going to waffle back and forth. For example you’ll probably see something like 98.2, 98.4, and 98.3 again. But they're going to stay up there in that range until the first day of your period. When you see your temperature staying above the cover line for more than four days and then dropping way down, you’re starting a new cycle.
That is why it is so important to track your cycle! Not only will you know when you're ovulating but you're also going to know exactly when your period is going to start which is so important and can help you understand so much about your health (and save your underwear!).
Understanding your cervical mucus
Let's talk cervical mucus – before you squirm, remember, there’s no TMI here! In addition to tracking your basal body temperature, tracking your cervical mucus can give you insights into your cycle and health as well.
As you move towards ovulation, your body's got a job to do – make it easier for sperm to find their way to the egg. So, you'll notice different types of mucus. During pre-ovulation it will be a bit more creamy, like lotion. During ovulation it will be stretchy and clear like egg whites.
Even if you’re not trying to get pregnant, paying attention to cervical mucus can tell you a lot about your health. If you don’t have any cervical mucus or if you have it all cycle long that could indicate that your estrogen is either too high or too low or it could be a nutritional deficiency. These are the signs your body is giving you that you can learn to read to get a better idea of your overall health.
So, how do we track cervical mucus?
Pay attention when you wipe after using the bathroom and to what’s showing up in your underwear. Non-peak cervical mucus is creamy and white. And then as you get closer and closer to ovulation, you'll get what is called peak cervical mucus, which looks like stretchy egg whites. And it is super stretchy! You can stretch it between your fingers and that is your fertile cervical mucus that helps the sperm get to the egg. And then after you ovulate, progesterone dries up your cervical mucus.
Why is it so important to pay attention to your cervical mucus?
If you're having cervical mucus throughout your whole cycle, that is telling you something is off. Maybe you are not getting enough progesterone to dry up your cervical mucus after ovulation. Or sometimes it can even point to a thyroid issue.
On the other hand, maybe you don't have any cervical mucus. That could be a sign of low estrogen, for example, maybe your body's not producing enough estrogen to create cervical mucus.
Or maybe you have cervical mucus but you never get the peak type of mucus. That could indicate a gap in your nutrition.
All of these things are why it is so important to track your cycle and understand these health signs. If you have a cycle, even if it isn’t regular, you are part of the 50% of the population that is lucky enough to have a fifth vital sign, so don’t ignore it!
Some common things you might notice in your temperature chart
So you’ve been charting your temperature for a few months, but it’s not as predictable as you’d like. Here are some situations that might come up.
If you have no temperature spike and your temp is just waffling up and down and up and down, and up and down, and up and down, and then you have a bleed. That's telling you that you didn't ovulate. There was no confirmed ovulation, so something is up with your hormones.
Or maybe you have a temp spike, but it's just a little tiny temp spike. That could be telling you that you don't have a lot of progesterone.
If you ovulated, but then your temp drops and your period starts just five days or eight days later, that's telling you that your luteal phase (the time between ovulation and menstruation) is too short. So now we need to get to the root cause of what's causing that and fix it.
Now that you’re tracking your cycle, you can see what your cycle is telling you. Before you started tracking, maybe you thought you were having a period every 28 days. But now you can see that you ovulated a little bit later and then had a really short luteal phase. Which is such a different situation!
What if your temperature is all over the place?
What if your temp is all over the place and it's just like 98.1, 97.2, 98.3 and there’s just absolutely no pattern to it? There are a of couple things you might want to think about. Let's just start with the basics.
Do you have a defective thermometer?
Are you making sure that you're letting the thermometer settle in your mouth for five minutes before you turn it on?
Are you getting enough sleep and are you getting quality, uninterrupted sleep?
Are you drinking alcohol regularly? This can change your readings.
Try to adjust these things and see if that improves your temperature readings. If not, and you’re not cycling regularly, that could be an indication that something is off with your hormones and it’s time to find out more.
Embrace your cycle's magic
I hope I’ve convinced you to start tracking your cycle and learning more about your health! I think it is so empowering as a woman to track your cycle and just understand what's happening in your body. Knowledge is power! So, grab that basal body thermometer and embark on this journey of self-discovery. Remember, it's not just about ovulation; it's about understanding your body's language, and let me tell you, that's a language worth learning.
To learn more about your cycle and what you can do to support your body all month long, download the FREE Painless Period Prep Guide linked below!
Free Painless Period Prep Guide
Download the FREE guide to learn more about balancing your hormones so that you can finally experience pain-free periods!