How to Calculate Your Menstrual Cycle

At Guud Woman, we tell everyone about the importance of tracking their cycle. When we first started talking to women about their cycle, we were shocked to learn how many women were completely in the dark. Understanding your cycle and knowing when you ovulate can be so important, and not just when you want to get pregnant! Tracking your menstrual cycle and knowing how to calculate ovulation can unlock so much information about your mood, energy levels, sleep patterns and more. 

If you are trying to get pregnant, calculating your optimal fertility window is key and to do this, you’ll need to track your menstrual cycle. In this post, we’ll teach you how to do this. 

Guud to know: Here’s what your cervical mucus can tell you about your cycle! 

Understanding your menstrual cycle

Put simply, your menstrual cycle begins on the first day of your period (the day you start bleeding) and starts over when your next period begins. A typical menstrual cycle is 28 days, but the normal range is pretty big: anywhere from 22-40 days is considered normal. 

If you’re trying to get pregnant, it’s important to use some sort of menstrual cycle calculator. This could be as simple as writing down the day your period begins on a piece of paper or in your calendar. Or you could use an app that allows you to record other data like symptoms. (Here’s our top period tracking apps, by the way) 

Many changes happen in your body during your cycle, including big changes in hormone levels. About halfway through your cycle, one of your ovaries releases a mature egg. The egg then goes to one of your fallopian tubes where it waits to be fertilized by sperm. At this point in your cycle, the lining of your uterus gets thicker too, which helps a fertilized egg to implant. 

If the egg is not fertilized, that lining sheds, and that’s when you get your period. 

Tracking your cycle in 3 steps:

1. Each month, mark the first day of your period on a calendar or a period-tracking app. The number of days between the first day of your period and the start of the next one is the length of your menstrual cycle. It’s important to note that this may fluctuate each month, but it should be roughly the same each time.

If your periods are irregular, then the menstrual cycle calendar method for tracking your cycle won’t be accurate for you. (Also, consider getting in touch with our team. You can support your cycle and hormonal activity by adding the right vitamins and minerals to your diet.)

2. So, how many days after your period do you ovulate? The answer is about 12-14 days before the start of your new menstrual cycle.

The phase between ovulation and the start of your period (the luteal phase) always lasts around 14 days. This is due to the predictable process of the corpus luteum, which breaks down if fertilization doesn’t occur, causing progesterone levels to drop and leading to menstruation. This phase remains constant, while the days before ovulation (the follicular phase) can vary, affecting your overall cycle length.

3. Your fertile window is the five days leading up to ovulation, plus the day of ovulation and the day after ovulation. It’s about seven days in total.
 

How to know when you are ovulating?

If you’re trying to conceive, knowing when you ovulate is very important. You can do this by tracking your cycle, which will help determine your fertile window. While it’s not a guarantee of pregnancy, it is the best time to try and get pregnant. 

And, if you’re not trying to get pregnant, this is equally important to know! Remember: even if you’re absolutely sure about your fertile window, you still need to be careful if you want to avoid pregnancy. You need to take into account that sperm can live 2-5 days and the lifespan of an egg is about 24 hours. 

There are different methods to know when you’re ovulating: the calendar method, the cervical mucus method and basal body temperature method. Read more about it in our blog: how to calculate your fertile days?

Can I menstruate without ovulating? 

Technically no, but you will still deal with bleeding. Here’s what’s happening: menstruation happens when an egg is released from your ovary that isn’t fertilized. As a result, the uterus sheds its lining and that’s what causes you to bleed. So if you’re not releasing an egg, technically, you cannot menstruate. However, you can still have a period because the endometrium, aka the lining of your uterus, will still shed even if you don’t ovulate. This is what causes bleeding. Instead of menstruation, this bleeding is sometimes referred to as withdrawal bleeding. 

What to do if you have irregular periods

If your periods are irregular, get in touch. We can help you! It could be as simple as making some small adjustments to your lifestyle to get you back to a normal period cycle. Still have questions about how to calculate your menstrual cycle? Get in touch. We can help! 

P.S. Hopefully you found this blog valuable. But why are we sometimes so cautious with our choice of words? Because we want you to understand that there's no miracle pill that solves everything (unfortunately!). Taking supplements is a way to support your health, but there are other factors at play like genetics, sleep, exercise, and diet. Do you have questions about your specific situation? Chat with us - we're happy to assist you, completely without obligation!