October 7, 2025 • 23 mins
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I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.
If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.
On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.
We're going back to the basics in this episode and you'll get a refresher on how your hormones change throughout your cycle, phases of your cycle, and signs of ovulation. If you want to balance your hormones, knowing whether or not you ovulate is very important to figuring out the best path forward to balance.
Save 10% when you buy a TempDrop thermometer
For more info about tracking/charting signs of ovulation, check out the Fertility Awareness Project.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Most women assume that they ovulate because they
get a period or because theirapp tells them that they
ovulated, but bleeding doesn'tactually equal ovulation.
And that distinction is one ofthe keys to figuring out what is
actually going wrong with yourhormones.
Today we're gonna be going backto the basics of hormones so you
can get smart on what'shappening in your menstrual
(00:21):
cycle and how to know whether ornot you are actually ovulating.
Welcome to the I'm HormonalPodcast.
I'm Bridget Walton, a women'shormone coach, helping busy,
ambitious women throughpersonalized coaching and
science-backed solutions.
Whether you are working with meone-on-one or listening here, my
goal is the same to help youstop guessing about your hormone
(00:42):
health and start seeing realprogress.
Let's get into it.
All right, friend, welcome backto the podcast.
This is episode number 140.
And as I do from time to time, Iwanted to bring it back to the
basics because sometimes we canget into the weeds with certain
supplements or certain if youhave this situation, then do
(01:04):
that.
But none of that is as importantas actually understanding like
what the hell is going on insideyour body.
So we're gonna take it back tolike ninth grade health class,
hopefully a little bit moreengaging, and talk about, you
know, what's actually happeningin your cycle, what hormones are
involved.
You know, we talk about estrogenor progesterone, but what are
(01:27):
they doing?
And then I want to focus ontalking about tracking your
temperature as a problem-solvingstep.
You're listening to this podcastbecause something is going on
with your hormones, something isup with your period.
And as you heard in the intro,it is so important and so
critical to understand if you'reactually ovulating, we'll get
(01:48):
into more about the why there ina second, but tracking your
basal body temperature, trackingyour temperature, that can be a
really helpful way to getconfirmation about whether or
not you are ovulating so you canfigure out the best course of
action from there.
Because if you are ovulating,amazing, beautiful.
That will send you down oneroute of problem solving.
(02:10):
If you're not, then you wannafigure out why you're not and
address that root cause.
This episode is for you if youhave a menstrual cycle and not
to be too broad.
I like to be a little bit morespecific, but if you are
somebody who has reallyinconsistent or irregular
periods, this will be helpfulfor you.
(02:30):
You're gonna want to know, areyou ovulating?
And if so, when, of course.
If you are totally, you know,you have really heavy periods,
you'll want to know if you'reovulating.
If you have, well, if you havemissing periods, then you can
assume that you're notovulating, but it would be
something good to incorporate inthe future once your cycle comes
(02:53):
back.
And for sure, if you are wantingto conceive, you're gonna be
interested in whether or notyou're ovulating.
If you want to avoid conception,you also probably want to know
when you're ovulating so thatyou can avoid getting pregnant.
So, with all of that word saladbeing said, this episode is for
you.
If you just need a littlerefresher on the basics, let's
(03:17):
get into the cycle overview.
So, a couple of pieces ofvocabulary first.
When I say menstrual cycle, whatI mean by that is the entire,
you know, month.
Let's just say that we'retalking about a cycle that is 28
days long, because we knowthat's about the average.
So that menstrual cycle is theentire 28 days.
When we're just talking aboutthe time that you're bleeding,
(03:40):
that's what we call menstruationor your period or your bleed.
That's those are the terms thatI use.
When we talk about ovulation,that is an event that occurs
generally in the middle of thecycle or 10 to 14 days before
your next period begins.
(04:00):
Also, let me break down thephases for just a hot second
because you've probably seensomething on the old Instagram
machine about cycle sinking orabout alludial phase.
So let's cover what that means.
Your menstrual cycle can bebroken down into four different
phases.
And that's because in each ofthese four different weeks,
(04:24):
let's call them, in these fourdifferent weeks or four
different phases, there's adifferent ratio of one hormone
to the other.
So let's start at the start.
The first day of your cycle isthe first day of your period,
that first day of your fullbleed.
And during that menstrual phase,this first phase, your hormones
(04:46):
are at their lowest points ofthe entire cycle.
So progesterone and estrogen aredown real low.
Then moving into the secondphase of the cycle, which is
your follicular phase, that iswhen estrogen is going to be
growing.
Estrogen is increasing.
No progesterone yet.
(05:07):
Moving into the third phase ofthe cycle, the ovulatory phase,
you guessed it.
That's the time when youovulate.
This phase is the shortest.
It's generally just about threeor four days.
This is when your estrogenlevels are the highest,
testosterone is the highest.
This is all of the, you know,exciting hubbub around the
actual release of your egg fromyour ovaries.
(05:32):
The phase that comes after that,of course, is the luteal phase.
Luteal phase has like the worstreputation because there is, for
most people, the largest chancethat something will be off
balance, either because maybeyou didn't ovulate or because
maybe you have higher levels ofestrogen than what your body is
(05:54):
hoping for.
So that's all to say what'shappening in the luteal phase is
that progesterone is increasingto its highest point of the
cycle, and then again, fallingat the end of the luteal phase,
hormones are at their lowestpoint, and that's what triggers
your next bleed to begin.
Let me summarize that for youagain.
(06:14):
We're gonna zoom out and look atthe menstrual cycle as a whole,
because what's happening is thatwhen your period starts, your
hormone levels are at theirlowest.
Then estrogen is going to startto grow.
It's gonna grow high, high, andit will peak during your
ovulatory phase.
Once you actually ovulate,right, in the middle
approximately of your cycle,that's when progesterone starts
(06:36):
to be released.
And it's gonna be the highestabout a week after you ovulate.
Then progesterone and estrogenlevels both drop.
When they get down to theirlowest point, that's when the
whole cycle starts again.
So I know we had a lot ofdifferent aspects of the cycle
and the phases there, but forthis refresher, I hope that made
(06:56):
a lot of sense.
Of course, if you gals have anyquestions, then you can always
send me a message on Instagramat I'm underscore hormonal.
Um, because I would love toexplain this better for you.
A couple of nuances that I thinkare really important to call
out, because this is something Iwas definitely not taught when I
was a kiddo.
By kiddo, I mean, you know, ateenager, nor during the time
(07:20):
that I was using hormonal birthcontrol.
If you're using hormonal birthcontrol, you'll want to do a
little Google search, ask yourprovider, are you going to be
ovulating on that type of birthcontrol?
Because for most types ofhormonal birth control, the ones
that are combination pills orIUDs, having both the synthetic
(07:42):
form of estrogen andprogesterone, you're likely not
going to actually be ovulating.
That's what the birth control isdoing.
It's kind of shutting down yourcycle.
So you're not actually going tohave that, you know, roller
coaster or that same pattern ofhormonal changes that I just
mentioned.
If you are taking hormonal birthcontrol, what's likely
(08:03):
happening, although again,asterisk, there's some nuance
depending on what exactly you'retaking, your hormone levels or
your natural hormone levels fromyour body are going to be uh
pretty down close to zero andjust consistently down low
because your body's hormones arebeing replaced by the synthetic
hormones that are coming to youthrough the medication.
(08:24):
Once you start to take thatplacebo pill, that's when your
natural hormones can go up.
And that's what's going on.
So a little bit of differencesbecause again, we always assume
that if we are having a period,it's because we ovulated, but it
just may not be the case.
And you will still bleed becauseright, all of this tissue is
(08:47):
being built up in yourendometrial lining, and it just
naturally at some point needs toshed.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout ovulation and this
temperature shift that Imentioned earlier.
So once you ovulate, then thatfollicle that was on your ovary,
(09:09):
where the egg came out of, thatactually turns into a brand new
little baby endocrine gland thatreleases progesterone.
Now, progesterone is the hormonethat will be supportive of a
pregnancy if you were to becomepregnant during that cycle.
It's also the hormone that canhelp you to feel more calm and
(09:30):
chill.
And so having a strong output ofprogesterone is, yes, certainly
good and important if you wantto conceive also important
because if you're not producingadequate amounts of
progesterone, then that canresult in PMS and mooch swings
and heavier bleeding.
(09:50):
And so generally, we want tosupport progesterone production.
Now, what happens once youovulate is that your temperature
will go up just a part of adegree, but for the rest of the
cycle until your bleed startsagain.
So that's why tracking your bodytemperature can be helpful to
confirm.
Did you ovulate?
(10:11):
This is one of the only ways toconfirm after the fact if you
ovulated in the past.
So this is a really good datapoint to grab.
You could sure use a thermometerwhere right once you wake up
every single morning, thenyou're going to just pop that
thermometer in your mouth andrecord it.
Also, it's 2025.
(10:32):
So maybe you have a smartwatchthat's tracking your temperature
and it will take what is thelowest temperature from your
wrist throughout the night.
And usually we reach our lowesttemperature in the morning just
before we wake up.
So that's why if you don't havea watch or if you don't have a
thermometer kind of on anarmband that just does its own
thing throughout the night,that's why you'll want to
(10:54):
actually take your temperaturejust right away once you wake up
before getting out of bed,before, you know, doing
anything.
So again, this is a way whereyou can confirm ovulation after
it happened.
Let's talk a little bit aboutwhat you can keep in mind if you
want to try to predictovulation, right?
(11:14):
What are the signs that yourbody will send you to show you
that, hey, okay, hormones are inright, the good uh hormones are
in good shape to ovulate hereshortly.
And that could look like one ofa few things.
First, that could look like morecervical fluid than you might
(11:34):
have other times in your cycle.
Generally, during the day or acouple of days before you
ovulate, you'll notice that yourcervical fluid will be more
stretchy.
It will be maybe just overallmore.
There will be more liquid.
And so that's a good sign thatyou are about to ovulate.
If you are somebody who ischecking your cervical position,
(11:57):
you may notice that it's alittle bit lower.
I don't really get into thedetails too much on that.
Honestly, I have a good umrecommendation.
I will link her up in the shownotes if you do want to learn
more about how to chart yourcycle, how to chart all of these
things.
But suffice it to say that asyou get closer to ovulation,
(12:21):
your cervix is actually going tochange in position.
You're going to be producingmore and a different consistency
of cervical fluid.
Of course, if you are somebodywho loves numbers, you love the
data, then you can always investprobably 30 bucks in some
ovulation strips, probablyavailable at the drugstore that
is near you.
(12:41):
And those would be strips thatyou would urinate on each day.
And as your hormones change andthat lead up to your ovulation,
you would notice a spike in yourhormones, like luteinizing
hormone or follicle stimulatinghormone.
And so that is a way to predictif you're going to ovulate.
(13:01):
Let me take a second to reallyemphasize this prediction on one
hand versus confirmation on theother hand.
I mentioned that tracking yourtemperature and seeing that
increase in your temperature,that is a way to confirm
ovulation, whereas ovulationstrips or cervical fluid, those
(13:24):
are changes that can help you topredict bonus points, five gold
stars for you if you use bothtogether.
But you don't have to, girl, yougot options.
You can do whatever best suitsyou.
If you're wondering, Bridget,why would my body be, you know,
showing me that it's about toovulate, but not actually do it?
(13:47):
Great question.
There are, you know, a number ofreasons why this could happen.
Maybe you suddenly, you know,come into a lot of stress and
like kind of last minute yourbody says, hey girl, let's avoid
this until next month.
Maybe there's something else.
Maybe there's another reason whythat spike in hormones, just
(14:08):
last minute, doesn't happen.
Um, and this can happen to allof us menstruators from time to
time, right?
I don't know the stat off thetop of my head.
I think it's something like, youknow, in a year, you in a year,
an average menstruator who isregularly ovulating will just
(14:28):
have, you know, one inovulatorycycle.
Now, what you might notice afterthat is that your cycle is a bit
longer than you expected, ormaybe even shorter than you
expected.
You might notice that you havemore of those experiences I
mentioned, like PMS or heavybleeding, that can be signatures
(14:49):
of relatively high estrogenlevels compared to progesterone
levels.
I know I'm kind of spewing a lotat you, but I just want to share
with you some differentexperiences so you can start to
correlate what you areexperiencing in your life or
what have you been noting inyour cycle tracking journal or
(15:10):
your cycle tracking app so youcan start to make sense of it.
As far as technology goes,personally, I've always used a
thermometer from Temp Drop.
I'll put a link in the shownotes.
If you want to go down thisroad, you can save 10% if you
use the link there.
But I think that temp drop isgreat because um they'll send
you an armband, you'll put thethermometer in it, you just put
(15:33):
it on your arm before you go tosleep, turn it on, wake up in
the morning, sync it with yourphone.
It's super easy.
There is an option to use a paidfeature in that app, and it will
give you more information aboutovulation or expected ovulation
dates, confirmed ovulationdates.
I have always used flow to trackmy cycle and my cycle symptoms
(15:56):
for like a hundred years now, Ithink.
So personally, I just move thatinformation, that data over to
the flow app since I give them,I think it might be even just
$12.99 a year for their paidversion.
Um, and that will help toprovide me with information
about in the future when I canexpect to ovulate and just more
(16:17):
data about that last cycle.
I want to talk a little bit moreabout this for a second, and
then we will um get ready towrap up here.
But just know that just becauseyour app tells you that you
ovulate, it if you're not givingit information about your
temperature, then it doesn'tactually know for sure if you
(16:40):
ovulate.
And that can be reallyconfusing, especially if you've
been on this journey for a hotminute to figure out if, you
know, what's going on with yourhormones, what's going on as you
prepare for pregnancy.
So it can predict, it can try totell you trends, but unless you
are giving it information aboutyour basal body temperature, the
(17:01):
apps actually cannot tell youfor sure if you ovulate.
This is something that I talkabout with every single one of
my clients, like from minuteone, basically, when we start to
interact on a consult call,because again, knowing whether
or not you're ovulating will setyou up for success in
identifying the best next stepsfor you.
(17:23):
Because if you're trying tofigure out on one hand why
you're not ovulating, that'sgoing to be a very different
like protocol than on the otherhand, if you're trying to figure
out how you can, you know,basically bolster progesterone
production when you do ovulate.
I can't understate how importantthis is.
(17:44):
And I would encourage you, ifyou haven't already, if you
don't track your cycle, grab anapp, take a look at the
different thermometers that areout there and available to you.
I also want to say, you know,especially if you're just at the
beginning maybe of your hormonebalancing journey.
Personally, I think thatinvesting, it might be like$150.
(18:05):
I'm not sure the latest pricingon these thermometers, but that
is a relatively low investment.
And it's something that,especially if you want to
conceive in the future, or ifyou'd love to avoid conception,
you know, it's a tool that youwill use over and over and over
for years to come.
So as far as smart investments,I do think that it's generally
(18:28):
worth it to spend that$150, orlet's get crazy and call it$200,
because your next step fromthere, after you're able to do
some problem solving, might be,you know, spending a couple
hundred more dollars on sometesting.
And so it's a good steppingstone to help give you more
data.
As we get ready to wrap up here,I want to leave you with a
(18:51):
couple of more practical steps.
So let's say, right, you listento this episode, you're like,
I'm all in, I'm gonna startfiguring out if I'm ovulating,
whether it's predicting orconfirming ovulation.
And let's say that you gothrough these steps and you
realize, okay, it actuallydoesn't appear that I'm
ovulating.
Maybe you've tracked your cyclefor the last three to six months
(19:14):
and you weren't able to predictor confirm ovulation based on
any of the methods that youused.
If you're in that situation, Iwould encourage you to do three
things first.
Number one, examine what stressis like in your life, because
stress is one of the things thatwill for sure impact ovulation
(19:35):
and prevent it if stress levelsare high enough.
Number two, I want you toinspect your gut health.
This is something that I seewith my clients time and time
again, where, you know, a womancomes to me because she's not
having consistent cycles.
We talk more about herdigestion.
Her digestion is crazy.
So we do a gut protocol.
(19:56):
And by getting her gut healthback in line, her hormones
balance out and her cyclebecomes more regular.
So, number one, examine stress.
Number two, examine your guthealth.
And number three, learn moreabout blood sugar regulation and
blood sugar stability.
This is kind of an offshoot ofstress because it can in and of
(20:17):
itself cause stress.
But suffice it for right now forme to say that learning more
about blood sugar regulation,which you can do through other
episodes that I've got here inthe I'm a hormonal podcast feed,
um, that is going to be reallyimportant for you.
Let's say that on the otherhand, you start to investigate
(20:38):
ovulation, or maybe you alreadyknow, yes, I am ovulating.
But let's talk about if you haveinconsistent or unpredictable
periods, then we'll talk aboutPMS and then heavy bleeding.
So let's say you're in thatfirst category, you've confirmed
ovulation, but your periods arereally inconsistent.
This is actually again where Iwould come back to stress, gut
(21:00):
health, and blood sugarregulation.
Because if you are not ovulatingconsistently, there is some type
of stressor, there is some typeof, you know, some wrench being
thrown in or a cog in the wheel,I guess, that is preventing you
from ovulating regularly.
And it could be the same thingthat is preventing somebody else
(21:22):
from ovulating altogether.
Second example, let's say thatyou are ovulating and you're
just like, dude, my PMS is outof this world.
I want you to focus on estrogenelimination.
There are a lot of things, topof mind would be stress, but
also poor sleep, also, you know,intake of alcohol or caffeine.
(21:47):
Do you have a lot of exposure toendocrine disrupting chemicals?
Those are all things that cancontribute to PMS.
Final honorable mention are youhaving daily bowel movements?
Because if you are not, thenthat is also a really excellent
way to have higher thandesirable levels of estrogen in
that week to 10 days before yourperiod.
(22:10):
Okay, third example here.
If you are somebody who, yes,you are ovulating, but you are
having really heavy bleedingduring your period, I'm gonna
encourage you to investigate thesame things as the gals with
PMS.
Estrogen elimination, you know,again, what endocrine disrupting
chemicals are you coming intocontact with?
(22:31):
How often are you drinkingalcohol?
Are you drinking caffeine?
You know, are you having dailybowel movements?
Do you need to increase yourfiber intake?
You need to get some moreveggies, especially cruciferous
veggies into your diet.
So those are just a couple ofthings for you to noodle on as
you start to move forward, startto get clarity on what is ahead
for you.
(22:52):
All right, girly, quickreminder: everything that I
share with you here is foreducational purposes only, not a
replacement for medical advice.
If what we covered today washelpful for you and resonated
with you, I would love for youto share with me what really
stuck out by connecting with meon Instagram at I'm underscore
hormonal.
Also, I'm excited because in theupcoming weeks, I will have a
(23:15):
new free guide for you.
So if you were somebody whofeels like you have tried
everything for your hormones,but you were still stuck, then
you will be able to go toI'mhormonal.com slash guide to
grab it.
Or if you are listening in thefuture, then that link might be
in the show notes already.
Okay, well, thanks again.
I'm Bridget Walton and I willsee you next time.
Most women assume that they ovulate because they
get a period or because theirapp tells them that they
ovulated, but bleeding doesn'tactually equal ovulation.
And that distinction is one ofthe keys to figuring out what is
actually going wrong with yourhormones.
Today we're gonna be going backto the basics of hormones so you
can get smart on what'shappening in your menstrual
(00:21):
cycle and how to know whether ornot you are actually ovulating.
Welcome to the I'm HormonalPodcast.
I'm Bridget Walton, a women'shormone coach, helping busy,
ambitious women throughpersonalized coaching and
science-backed solutions.
Whether you are working with meone-on-one or listening here, my
goal is the same to help youstop guessing about your hormone
(00:42):
health and start seeing realprogress.
Let's get into it.
All right, friend, welcome backto the podcast.
This is episode number 140.
And as I do from time to time, Iwanted to bring it back to the
basics because sometimes we canget into the weeds with certain
supplements or certain if youhave this situation, then do
(01:04):
that.
But none of that is as importantas actually understanding like
what the hell is going on insideyour body.
So we're gonna take it back tolike ninth grade health class,
hopefully a little bit moreengaging, and talk about, you
know, what's actually happeningin your cycle, what hormones are
involved.
You know, we talk about estrogenor progesterone, but what are
(01:27):
they doing?
And then I want to focus ontalking about tracking your
temperature as a problem-solvingstep.
You're listening to this podcastbecause something is going on
with your hormones, something isup with your period.
And as you heard in the intro,it is so important and so
critical to understand if you'reactually ovulating, we'll get
(01:48):
into more about the why there ina second, but tracking your
basal body temperature, trackingyour temperature, that can be a
really helpful way to getconfirmation about whether or
not you are ovulating so you canfigure out the best course of
action from there.
Because if you are ovulating,amazing, beautiful.
That will send you down oneroute of problem solving.
(02:10):
If you're not, then you wannafigure out why you're not and
address that root cause.
This episode is for you if youhave a menstrual cycle and not
to be too broad.
I like to be a little bit morespecific, but if you are
somebody who has reallyinconsistent or irregular
periods, this will be helpfulfor you.
(02:30):
You're gonna want to know, areyou ovulating?
And if so, when, of course.
If you are totally, you know,you have really heavy periods,
you'll want to know if you'reovulating.
If you have, well, if you havemissing periods, then you can
assume that you're notovulating, but it would be
something good to incorporate inthe future once your cycle comes
(02:53):
back.
And for sure, if you are wantingto conceive, you're gonna be
interested in whether or notyou're ovulating.
If you want to avoid conception,you also probably want to know
when you're ovulating so thatyou can avoid getting pregnant.
So, with all of that word saladbeing said, this episode is for
you.
If you just need a littlerefresher on the basics, let's
(03:17):
get into the cycle overview.
So, a couple of pieces ofvocabulary first.
When I say menstrual cycle, whatI mean by that is the entire,
you know, month.
Let's just say that we'retalking about a cycle that is 28
days long, because we knowthat's about the average.
So that menstrual cycle is theentire 28 days.
When we're just talking aboutthe time that you're bleeding,
(03:40):
that's what we call menstruationor your period or your bleed.
That's those are the terms thatI use.
When we talk about ovulation,that is an event that occurs
generally in the middle of thecycle or 10 to 14 days before
your next period begins.
(04:00):
Also, let me break down thephases for just a hot second
because you've probably seensomething on the old Instagram
machine about cycle sinking orabout alludial phase.
So let's cover what that means.
Your menstrual cycle can bebroken down into four different
phases.
And that's because in each ofthese four different weeks,
(04:24):
let's call them, in these fourdifferent weeks or four
different phases, there's adifferent ratio of one hormone
to the other.
So let's start at the start.
The first day of your cycle isthe first day of your period,
that first day of your fullbleed.
And during that menstrual phase,this first phase, your hormones
(04:46):
are at their lowest points ofthe entire cycle.
So progesterone and estrogen aredown real low.
Then moving into the secondphase of the cycle, which is
your follicular phase, that iswhen estrogen is going to be
growing.
Estrogen is increasing.
No progesterone yet.
(05:07):
Moving into the third phase ofthe cycle, the ovulatory phase,
you guessed it.
That's the time when youovulate.
This phase is the shortest.
It's generally just about threeor four days.
This is when your estrogenlevels are the highest,
testosterone is the highest.
This is all of the, you know,exciting hubbub around the
actual release of your egg fromyour ovaries.
(05:32):
The phase that comes after that,of course, is the luteal phase.
Luteal phase has like the worstreputation because there is, for
most people, the largest chancethat something will be off
balance, either because maybeyou didn't ovulate or because
maybe you have higher levels ofestrogen than what your body is
(05:54):
hoping for.
So that's all to say what'shappening in the luteal phase is
that progesterone is increasingto its highest point of the
cycle, and then again, fallingat the end of the luteal phase,
hormones are at their lowestpoint, and that's what triggers
your next bleed to begin.
Let me summarize that for youagain.
(06:14):
We're gonna zoom out and look atthe menstrual cycle as a whole,
because what's happening is thatwhen your period starts, your
hormone levels are at theirlowest.
Then estrogen is going to startto grow.
It's gonna grow high, high, andit will peak during your
ovulatory phase.
Once you actually ovulate,right, in the middle
approximately of your cycle,that's when progesterone starts
(06:36):
to be released.
And it's gonna be the highestabout a week after you ovulate.
Then progesterone and estrogenlevels both drop.
When they get down to theirlowest point, that's when the
whole cycle starts again.
So I know we had a lot ofdifferent aspects of the cycle
and the phases there, but forthis refresher, I hope that made
(06:56):
a lot of sense.
Of course, if you gals have anyquestions, then you can always
send me a message on Instagramat I'm underscore hormonal.
Um, because I would love toexplain this better for you.
A couple of nuances that I thinkare really important to call
out, because this is something Iwas definitely not taught when I
was a kiddo.
By kiddo, I mean, you know, ateenager, nor during the time
(07:20):
that I was using hormonal birthcontrol.
If you're using hormonal birthcontrol, you'll want to do a
little Google search, ask yourprovider, are you going to be
ovulating on that type of birthcontrol?
Because for most types ofhormonal birth control, the ones
that are combination pills orIUDs, having both the synthetic
(07:42):
form of estrogen andprogesterone, you're likely not
going to actually be ovulating.
That's what the birth control isdoing.
It's kind of shutting down yourcycle.
So you're not actually going tohave that, you know, roller
coaster or that same pattern ofhormonal changes that I just
mentioned.
If you are taking hormonal birthcontrol, what's likely
(08:03):
happening, although again,asterisk, there's some nuance
depending on what exactly you'retaking, your hormone levels or
your natural hormone levels fromyour body are going to be uh
pretty down close to zero andjust consistently down low
because your body's hormones arebeing replaced by the synthetic
hormones that are coming to youthrough the medication.
(08:24):
Once you start to take thatplacebo pill, that's when your
natural hormones can go up.
And that's what's going on.
So a little bit of differencesbecause again, we always assume
that if we are having a period,it's because we ovulated, but it
just may not be the case.
And you will still bleed becauseright, all of this tissue is
(08:47):
being built up in yourendometrial lining, and it just
naturally at some point needs toshed.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout ovulation and this
temperature shift that Imentioned earlier.
So once you ovulate, then thatfollicle that was on your ovary,
(09:09):
where the egg came out of, thatactually turns into a brand new
little baby endocrine gland thatreleases progesterone.
Now, progesterone is the hormonethat will be supportive of a
pregnancy if you were to becomepregnant during that cycle.
It's also the hormone that canhelp you to feel more calm and
(09:30):
chill.
And so having a strong output ofprogesterone is, yes, certainly
good and important if you wantto conceive also important
because if you're not producingadequate amounts of
progesterone, then that canresult in PMS and mooch swings
and heavier bleeding.
(09:50):
And so generally, we want tosupport progesterone production.
Now, what happens once youovulate is that your temperature
will go up just a part of adegree, but for the rest of the
cycle until your bleed startsagain.
So that's why tracking your bodytemperature can be helpful to
confirm.
Did you ovulate?
(10:11):
This is one of the only ways toconfirm after the fact if you
ovulated in the past.
So this is a really good datapoint to grab.
You could sure use a thermometerwhere right once you wake up
every single morning, thenyou're going to just pop that
thermometer in your mouth andrecord it.
Also, it's 2025.
(10:32):
So maybe you have a smartwatchthat's tracking your temperature
and it will take what is thelowest temperature from your
wrist throughout the night.
And usually we reach our lowesttemperature in the morning just
before we wake up.
So that's why if you don't havea watch or if you don't have a
thermometer kind of on anarmband that just does its own
thing throughout the night,that's why you'll want to
(10:54):
actually take your temperaturejust right away once you wake up
before getting out of bed,before, you know, doing
anything.
So again, this is a way whereyou can confirm ovulation after
it happened.
Let's talk a little bit aboutwhat you can keep in mind if you
want to try to predictovulation, right?
(11:14):
What are the signs that yourbody will send you to show you
that, hey, okay, hormones are inright, the good uh hormones are
in good shape to ovulate hereshortly.
And that could look like one ofa few things.
First, that could look like morecervical fluid than you might
(11:34):
have other times in your cycle.
Generally, during the day or acouple of days before you
ovulate, you'll notice that yourcervical fluid will be more
stretchy.
It will be maybe just overallmore.
There will be more liquid.
And so that's a good sign thatyou are about to ovulate.
If you are somebody who ischecking your cervical position,
(11:57):
you may notice that it's alittle bit lower.
I don't really get into thedetails too much on that.
Honestly, I have a good umrecommendation.
I will link her up in the shownotes if you do want to learn
more about how to chart yourcycle, how to chart all of these
things.
But suffice it to say that asyou get closer to ovulation,
(12:21):
your cervix is actually going tochange in position.
You're going to be producingmore and a different consistency
of cervical fluid.
Of course, if you are somebodywho loves numbers, you love the
data, then you can always investprobably 30 bucks in some
ovulation strips, probablyavailable at the drugstore that
is near you.
(12:41):
And those would be strips thatyou would urinate on each day.
And as your hormones change andthat lead up to your ovulation,
you would notice a spike in yourhormones, like luteinizing
hormone or follicle stimulatinghormone.
And so that is a way to predictif you're going to ovulate.
(13:01):
Let me take a second to reallyemphasize this prediction on one
hand versus confirmation on theother hand.
I mentioned that tracking yourtemperature and seeing that
increase in your temperature,that is a way to confirm
ovulation, whereas ovulationstrips or cervical fluid, those
(13:24):
are changes that can help you topredict bonus points, five gold
stars for you if you use bothtogether.
But you don't have to, girl, yougot options.
You can do whatever best suitsyou.
If you're wondering, Bridget,why would my body be, you know,
showing me that it's about toovulate, but not actually do it?
(13:47):
Great question.
There are, you know, a number ofreasons why this could happen.
Maybe you suddenly, you know,come into a lot of stress and
like kind of last minute yourbody says, hey girl, let's avoid
this until next month.
Maybe there's something else.
Maybe there's another reason whythat spike in hormones, just
(14:08):
last minute, doesn't happen.
Um, and this can happen to allof us menstruators from time to
time, right?
I don't know the stat off thetop of my head.
I think it's something like, youknow, in a year, you in a year,
an average menstruator who isregularly ovulating will just
(14:28):
have, you know, one inovulatorycycle.
Now, what you might notice afterthat is that your cycle is a bit
longer than you expected, ormaybe even shorter than you
expected.
You might notice that you havemore of those experiences I
mentioned, like PMS or heavybleeding, that can be signatures
(14:49):
of relatively high estrogenlevels compared to progesterone
levels.
I know I'm kind of spewing a lotat you, but I just want to share
with you some differentexperiences so you can start to
correlate what you areexperiencing in your life or
what have you been noting inyour cycle tracking journal or
(15:10):
your cycle tracking app so youcan start to make sense of it.
As far as technology goes,personally, I've always used a
thermometer from Temp Drop.
I'll put a link in the shownotes.
If you want to go down thisroad, you can save 10% if you
use the link there.
But I think that temp drop isgreat because um they'll send
you an armband, you'll put thethermometer in it, you just put
(15:33):
it on your arm before you go tosleep, turn it on, wake up in
the morning, sync it with yourphone.
It's super easy.
There is an option to use a paidfeature in that app, and it will
give you more information aboutovulation or expected ovulation
dates, confirmed ovulationdates.
I have always used flow to trackmy cycle and my cycle symptoms
(15:56):
for like a hundred years now, Ithink.
So personally, I just move thatinformation, that data over to
the flow app since I give them,I think it might be even just
$12.99 a year for their paidversion.
Um, and that will help toprovide me with information
about in the future when I canexpect to ovulate and just more
(16:17):
data about that last cycle.
I want to talk a little bit moreabout this for a second, and
then we will um get ready towrap up here.
But just know that just becauseyour app tells you that you
ovulate, it if you're not givingit information about your
temperature, then it doesn'tactually know for sure if you
(16:40):
ovulate.
And that can be reallyconfusing, especially if you've
been on this journey for a hotminute to figure out if, you
know, what's going on with yourhormones, what's going on as you
prepare for pregnancy.
So it can predict, it can try totell you trends, but unless you
are giving it information aboutyour basal body temperature, the
(17:01):
apps actually cannot tell youfor sure if you ovulate.
This is something that I talkabout with every single one of
my clients, like from minuteone, basically, when we start to
interact on a consult call,because again, knowing whether
or not you're ovulating will setyou up for success in
identifying the best next stepsfor you.
(17:23):
Because if you're trying tofigure out on one hand why
you're not ovulating, that'sgoing to be a very different
like protocol than on the otherhand, if you're trying to figure
out how you can, you know,basically bolster progesterone
production when you do ovulate.
I can't understate how importantthis is.
(17:44):
And I would encourage you, ifyou haven't already, if you
don't track your cycle, grab anapp, take a look at the
different thermometers that areout there and available to you.
I also want to say, you know,especially if you're just at the
beginning maybe of your hormonebalancing journey.
Personally, I think thatinvesting, it might be like$150.
(18:05):
I'm not sure the latest pricingon these thermometers, but that
is a relatively low investment.
And it's something that,especially if you want to
conceive in the future, or ifyou'd love to avoid conception,
you know, it's a tool that youwill use over and over and over
for years to come.
So as far as smart investments,I do think that it's generally
(18:28):
worth it to spend that$150, orlet's get crazy and call it$200,
because your next step fromthere, after you're able to do
some problem solving, might be,you know, spending a couple
hundred more dollars on sometesting.
And so it's a good steppingstone to help give you more
data.
As we get ready to wrap up here,I want to leave you with a
(18:51):
couple of more practical steps.
So let's say, right, you listento this episode, you're like,
I'm all in, I'm gonna startfiguring out if I'm ovulating,
whether it's predicting orconfirming ovulation.
And let's say that you gothrough these steps and you
realize, okay, it actuallydoesn't appear that I'm
ovulating.
Maybe you've tracked your cyclefor the last three to six months
(19:14):
and you weren't able to predictor confirm ovulation based on
any of the methods that youused.
If you're in that situation, Iwould encourage you to do three
things first.
Number one, examine what stressis like in your life, because
stress is one of the things thatwill for sure impact ovulation
(19:35):
and prevent it if stress levelsare high enough.
Number two, I want you toinspect your gut health.
This is something that I seewith my clients time and time
again, where, you know, a womancomes to me because she's not
having consistent cycles.
We talk more about herdigestion.
Her digestion is crazy.
So we do a gut protocol.
(19:56):
And by getting her gut healthback in line, her hormones
balance out and her cyclebecomes more regular.
So, number one, examine stress.
Number two, examine your guthealth.
And number three, learn moreabout blood sugar regulation and
blood sugar stability.
This is kind of an offshoot ofstress because it can in and of
(20:17):
itself cause stress.
But suffice it for right now forme to say that learning more
about blood sugar regulation,which you can do through other
episodes that I've got here inthe I'm a hormonal podcast feed,
um, that is going to be reallyimportant for you.
Let's say that on the otherhand, you start to investigate
(20:38):
ovulation, or maybe you alreadyknow, yes, I am ovulating.
But let's talk about if you haveinconsistent or unpredictable
periods, then we'll talk aboutPMS and then heavy bleeding.
So let's say you're in thatfirst category, you've confirmed
ovulation, but your periods arereally inconsistent.
This is actually again where Iwould come back to stress, gut
(21:00):
health, and blood sugarregulation.
Because if you are not ovulatingconsistently, there is some type
of stressor, there is some typeof, you know, some wrench being
thrown in or a cog in the wheel,I guess, that is preventing you
from ovulating regularly.
And it could be the same thingthat is preventing somebody else
(21:22):
from ovulating altogether.
Second example, let's say thatyou are ovulating and you're
just like, dude, my PMS is outof this world.
I want you to focus on estrogenelimination.
There are a lot of things, topof mind would be stress, but
also poor sleep, also, you know,intake of alcohol or caffeine.
(21:47):
Do you have a lot of exposure toendocrine disrupting chemicals?
Those are all things that cancontribute to PMS.
Final honorable mention are youhaving daily bowel movements?
Because if you are not, thenthat is also a really excellent
way to have higher thandesirable levels of estrogen in
that week to 10 days before yourperiod.
(22:10):
Okay, third example here.
If you are somebody who, yes,you are ovulating, but you are
having really heavy bleedingduring your period, I'm gonna
encourage you to investigate thesame things as the gals with
PMS.
Estrogen elimination, you know,again, what endocrine disrupting
chemicals are you coming intocontact with?
(22:31):
How often are you drinkingalcohol?
Are you drinking caffeine?
You know, are you having dailybowel movements?
Do you need to increase yourfiber intake?
You need to get some moreveggies, especially cruciferous
veggies into your diet.
So those are just a couple ofthings for you to noodle on as
you start to move forward, startto get clarity on what is ahead
for you.
(22:52):
All right, girly, quickreminder: everything that I
share with you here is foreducational purposes only, not a
replacement for medical advice.
If what we covered today washelpful for you and resonated
with you, I would love for youto share with me what really
stuck out by connecting with meon Instagram at I'm underscore
hormonal.
Also, I'm excited because in theupcoming weeks, I will have a
(23:15):
new free guide for you.
So if you were somebody whofeels like you have tried
everything for your hormones,but you were still stuck, then
you will be able to go toI'mhormonal.com slash guide to
grab it.
Or if you are listening in thefuture, then that link might be
in the show notes already.
Okay, well, thanks again.
I'm Bridget Walton and I willsee you next time.
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