Let's Talk About Cycle Syncing
- Stephanie Booe
- Feb 12, 2024
- 6 min read
Hey girl, you're going to want to hear about this.
Cycle syncing is the process of organizing parts of your lifestyle around the different phases of your cycle. As with anything, there is a lot of information with cycle syncing. You can get as specific or as general as you'd like, but in order to know what feels best for you, we need to talk about what cycle syncing really is and how it could be beneficial for you.
Since this is an intro post, I'm going to give you enough information to get started without giving you too much where you'll feel overwhelmed.
But I do want to stop here for a second and just say that if any of the information in this post is new for you, please don't let that be discouraging because right now I'm raising my hand to say "me too." I had no idea about cycle syncing until I stumbled over it one time while scrolling Pinterest. I clicked the post to learn more and my eyes were opened to this whole new world. I've been looking into it for about a year now, but have finally decided to take the plunge and dive in after receiving the results from my cycle mapping test results- which you can find here.
I'm starting this too, so I hope it brings you some peace in the fact that we are doing this together!
Let's dive in!
I would highly recommend that you get a blank journal as we start this process. It doesn't need to be anything fancy and if you're like me- you have a stack of blank journals sitting in your house, begging to be used. Grab a journal and start documenting your cycle day by day so that you can watch for patterns and have a better idea on what the phase days look like for you.
Document everything! Here are a couple of questions to help get you started:
-How are you feeling emotionally? Are you happy or are you feeling disconnected and overwhelmed?
-How are your energy levels? Are you upbeat with a lot of energy or are you struggling to stay awake?
-How are you mentally? Do you feel focused or distracted?
-How are you feeling physically? Are you bloated, cramping, having break outs, etc.?
-How is your diet and water intake? How many cups of coffee are you having? How many alcoholic drinks are you having? How is all of this making you feel- bloated, tired, irritable, etc.?
Really take the time to assess how you're feeling in all regards and write it down. There's no such thing as too much information. Title your page with the cycle day and date so that you can track it all, but don't let it trigger your or feel overwhelming. Remember, this is just a check in for you to notice patterns in the behavior of your body.
Now let's talk about the different phases of your cycle and how to nurture your body in each phase.
Okay, so there are four phases in a female cycle- menstrual, follicular, ovulation, and luteal.
The best way to think about the different phases of your cycle is to think of them as different seasons your body is experiencing. The length of each phase is obviously dependent upon your own cycle so don't get too tripped up on the specific days. As we continue to journal about our cycles we'll have a better understanding about the lengths of each phase of our personal cycles.
Menstrual Phase (Day 1-6, considered your Winter)
What's happening: Your estrogen and progesterone levels are low. The lining of your uterus is shedding which causes you to bleed.
How you might feel: Your energy level tends to be low and you may experience other symptoms such as headaches, cramping, bloating, and so on.
What you should eat: Focus on your nutrition in this phase to help your body prep for the month ahead and really work to prioritize soups, stews, stir fry, veggies, and grass fed beef into your diet. Up your intake of hot teas like chamomile, red raspberry leaf, and ginger. Try to avoid or limit alcohol and caffeine.
Beneficial daily movement: Don't do anything too crazy or intense in this phase. Instead, focus on walking, resting, stretching, or light yoga.
Follicular Phase (Day 7-14, considered your Spring)
What's happening: Your estrogen and progesterone levels should be rising. This is the phase prior to egg release.
How you might feel: Your energy levels will start to rise, glowing skin, and your sex drive may start to increase.
What you should eat: Focus on supporting your energy with fruit, yogurt, cheese, and whole grains. Balance your estrogen by eating avocado, broccoli/cauliflower, and fermented food (think kimchi and sauerkraut).
Beneficial daily movement: Keep exercise light, but still break a sweat. Exercises like hiking, light runs, strength training, and yoga.
Ovulation Phase (Day 15-17, considered your Summer)
What's happening: Estrogen levels are peaking followed by a peak in progesterone levels. This is the process of your body releasing the egg.
How you might feel: Your energy levels are at their highest!
What you should eat: Work to eat whole foods- fruits and veggies- nuts, seeds, and avocado.
Beneficial daily movement: Since your energy is high, opt for high intensity workouts! Spin, kickboxing, HIIT workouts, running, and weight lifting.
Luteal Phase (Day 18-28, considered your Fall)
What's happening: Your levels are beginning to fall after their peak. This is the phase post egg release.
How you might feel: Your energy is slowing down as your body is beginning to prepare for another cycle.
What you should eat: Focus on nourishing your body as it prepares for the next cycle. Limit your intake of alcohol and caffeine, but up your intake of tea. Work to have dark leafy greens, quinoa, salmon, pumpkin seeds, and dark chocolate.
Beneficial daily movement: Focus on pilates, high incline walking, and yoga.
As I stated before, this is a very brief introduction into the world of cycle syncing. It's a fascinating topic and once you dive in, you realize just how interesting and potentially beneficial it can be.
*Remember that this is not to be used as medical advice and was written to describe a process that I am beginning for myself. If any of this has sparked a new interest for you, I would recommend that you talk with your health care provider before making any major shifts in your lifestyle.*
After receiving the results from my cycle mapping hormone test, I decided to give this process a try to see if it would truly be beneficial for me. For me personally, I will be starting to sync my workouts and diet with the different phases of my cycle. I think I'm going to start out pretty rigid at first to see if it truly does have an impact on how I feel and as time goes on, I loosen up where I see fit.
I've started dabbling into the diet portion of this process and will be committing to the workout portion soon. I don't know about you, but I was concerned about how I would effectively do all of these different workouts throughout the month. I found an app called "Better Me" and I think this is going to help me stay motivated and on track. They have a lot of different types of at home workouts like pilates, yoga, boxing, and HIIT. They even have pre and post natal options if that's an accommodation you need. This is not sponsored or affiliated content, it's just something I found and wanted to share in case you needed the resources. Price wise it's about $14.99 a month. Let me know if you try it!
I've also started to implement seed cycling (recommended to me by my health care specialist) and I'll be diving into that in our next post!
Thank you so much for being here and for joining me on this journey- we're in this together! I know this isn't going to provide results in one night or even in one month, it's going to take some time and as we continue to go through this I'll share what I think is working or not working, etc.
If you've subscribed to my mailing list, make sure you check your email! I sent you a cycle syncing freebie that you can use to help you through this process. If you haven't yet subscribed, you can find the same resource here from The Warrior Shop and make sure you subscribe now so you can get all the updates and fun freebies in the future.
See y'all in the next post where we continue the conversation and dive into seed cycling.
Until then, I'm sending hugs your way!
SB
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Cycle syncing information gathered from:
Cover photo provided by Canva stock image gallery.
*This post is not affiliated or sponsored content. It does not provide medical advice and is strictly discussing a lifestyle tool that I am choosing to incorporate for myself. Speak to your healthcare specialist before making any changes of your own.*
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