Hormones

How well do you know your cycle?

I never considered charting my cycle until I turned 30, and all I have to say is that I wish I knew what I know now when I was a teenager!!

I mean, Ive missed out on celebrating moon day for the last 20 freaking years!!!!

So I want to share a quick breakdown of the woman's cycle and symptoms to expect....once you have an understanding you can literally plan your life around your "mood" ha!

Step one: Figure out which day you begin menstruation. Day one of the bleed, is day one of your cycle.

As you go into week 2 (day 7-13) or pre ovulation you will be feeling confident, adventurous, and outgoing. Your estrogen will begin to increase and boost your brains serotonin levels. This is a great time to plan some time to go out with friends, socialize, try new places and embrace your creativity. Your energy will be strong, and you will have great stamina for harder intense workouts. Embrace your flirty, frisky, sassy attitude as your testosterone increases during this phase!

Week 3 is ovulation. This is when your estrogen and testosterone are flowing the most. You will be feeling extremely creative and social! This is when your productivity is high and you can add to your work load efficiently.

Also, consider that you will naturally be eating 12% more then usual, and guess what, thats OK!!!! Your body needs the extra nutrients, listen to your body and give into your cravings during this time.

Your libido will be the highest during this time so plan some date nights!! (btw this is the time you will most likely get pregnant if you are "trying")

Week 4 is pre menstration. This is when your estrogen, testosterone and progesterone are the lowest. Plan on feeling a bit irritable, anxious and possibly insecure. You will feel the need to tidy up and the desire to get things DONE! Your intuition is strong and your bullshit detector is at maximum! This is the time you can move through creative blocks and meet deadlines plus get extremely organized. Cardio and intense exercise is not recommended during this time, your body needs comfort and stress relief, yoga and low impact workouts are ideal.

Now we are officially back to week 1 (menstruation) Dont forget to take a moonday for yourself!!! During this phase you NEED to set aside time for self care

Their will be a day each month where you feel BLAH, lazy, tired, "hormonal", achy, just let it be, embrace it, quit being hard on yourself about it, ALL of these symptoms are your bodies way of telling you to STOP and rest. Keep in mind, towards the last few days of your "bleed" is when your libido will once again increase and orgasms are not only easier to reach but more intense.

I hope learning about this was as helpful to you as it was to me! I literally plan my month around my cycle now when it comes to work, dates, trips, EVERYTHING!