[Mini] FAM As a Non-Hormonal Birth Control Option | Ep. 113

Send us a text

Earlier this week, Bridget interviewed Nat (@fertilityawarenessproject) about all things fertility awareness. This episode recaps Bridget's main takeaways from the conversation.

• Fertility awareness works even for those with irregular cycles like PCOS
• The method tracks three key indicators: cervical mucus, LH levels, and basal body temperature
• Rising estrogen before ovulation changes cervical mucus quality and quantity
• LH strips help predict when ovulation is about to occur
• Basal body temperature rises after ovulation due to progesterone production
• FAM differs from the rhythm method by using your body's specific signals, not calendar predictions
• Temperature can be tracked with devices like TempDrop or traditional oral thermometers
• Fertility awareness and cycle awareness complement each other

Connect with Nat on Instagram @FertilityAwarenessProject or visit fertilityawarenessproject.ca. Grab her freebies:

FAM Fundametals Freebie - https://fertilityawarenessproject.ca/fam-fundamentals
Mindful Mucus Method Waitlist - https://fertilityawarenessproject.ca/mindful-waitlist
Mucus Made Easy Freebie - https://fertilityawarenessproject.ca/mucus-made-easy

TempDrop Discount Code: 10% off

CONNECT WITH BRIDGET

LinkedIn | Instagram | Website

Apply for 1:1 Coaching | Sign up for weekly tips via email

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to this episode of I'm Hormonal.
I'm your host, bridget Walton.
I'm so glad that you're joiningme today for this episode,
number 113.
This is a mini episode, whichnormally comes out on Thursdays
each week, where I just realquick cut to the chase.
We talk about the longer formepisode that you listened to on

(00:22):
Tuesday this week, but we justrecap it, make it more
actionable, practical, whateverit is that makes it just
bite-sized and digestible foryou.
Now, earlier this week, I hadNat on the podcast.
She is the cervical mucus queenand what she does is she
educates her clients about thefertility awareness method.

(00:43):
So that's what we talked aboutthe fertility awareness method,
and that's what I'm going to berecapping today and just sharing
with you.
What were some of the maintakeaways that I got out of our
conversation that I would loveto reiterate here with you.
I think the biggest takeawayfor me from our conversation was

(01:03):
the fact that fertilityawareness can be a good fit for
everybody, regardless of what'sgoing on with your hormones
right now, regardless of if youwant to conceive, if you want to
avoid conceiving.
It's just a great tool to helpyou get to know your cycle more,
to understand your hormonesmore, and you know, one of the

(01:25):
questions that I had for hergoing into it was is there any
decrease in efficacy of usingthis method for somebody who has
irregular cycles?
And Nat shared with us abouthow she has PCOS, so her cycles
are quite irregular or sometimescan be more irregular, but

(01:45):
despite that, it still is areliable method to understand.
Okay, when am I in my fertilewindow, when am I outside of my
fertile window?
Or the terminology that sheused was closing the fertile
window and I think that is againmy biggest finding and what I

(02:07):
want to convey to you, becauseif you're somebody who you don't
want to use hormonal birthcontrol, maybe you're not
feeling an IUD, maybe you'rejust not sure if fertility
awareness is right for you.
Well, I think it could be, andthat could start off with even
just going in and finding an appthat best suits you.

(02:29):
Nat mentioned that Read yourBody is one that she uses and so
you can start off by becomingmore familiar with the method.
I'll talk in a little bit moredetail in just a moment here,
but, of course, if you want tohave that extra vote of
confidence, if you want to havea container, have a guide to

(02:50):
walk you through how toimplement this method.
Then Nat is your girl and,again, you can connect with her
on Instagram at FertilityAwareness Project, or you can
check out her website, which isfertilityawarenessprojectca.
She has a couple of freebiesthere that you can check out on
the fertility awareness methodand on cervical mucus.

(03:11):
So if you are just trying todip your toes in, then she's got
you covered.
Now, what is fertility awareness?
I want to cover that reallyquick because essentially, what
you would be doing when you'repracticing this method is
charting certain information,like collecting certain data

(03:31):
about your cycle, about yourcervical mucus, about your basal
body temperature andpotentially using LH or
luteinizing hormone strips.
All of these things thetemperature, the strips and the
cervical mucus help to informyou about if you are in your

(03:52):
fertile window or Are yououtside of it.
Right, and I want to take astep back from that to explain a
little bit more from theperspective of hormones.
What does that actually mean?
So what we are thinking of herewhen we say okay, let's talk
about cervical mucus first, inthe lead up to ovulation, so

(04:14):
during that five, six days aheadof ovulation, which is your
fertile window, that's when youwill oftentimes notice a change
in your cervical mucus, and thatmentions that.
It can, yes, be what you seewhen you go to the bathroom, but
it also can be the sensationthat you feel when you're just

(04:36):
going about your day, walking,like doing nothing specific in
particular.
So that's all to say that, asyour estrogen levels are rising
just before ovulation, that is,for most gals, going to result
in a larger amount or adifferent consistency of

(04:57):
cervical mucus.
Now, next, coming back to theLH strips luteinizing hormone
strips that she mentioned whatthose do is help to inform you
of when your luteinizing hormoneis spiking.
This is important because justbefore you ovulate, your
luteinizing hormone spikes.

(05:18):
So this is another predictiveaspect that you can collect to
say, oh okay, looks like I'mabout to ovulate.
And then you're bringing in thethird piece of this equation,
basal body temperature, whichcan confirm if you did ovulate.
And that's because, after youovulate, so the egg is released

(05:43):
from the follicle on your ovary.
That follicle turns into thecorpus luteum, and it's that
corpus luteum which is the brandnew little endocrine gland you
just made, that corpus luteumthat produces most of the
progesterone that your bodyproduces.
And when you have moreprogesterone floating around in

(06:06):
your system, for lack of a moretechnical term.
That's going to result in ahigher body temperature Not
drastically so, maybe a third ofa degree Fahrenheit higher but
you will notice that your basalbody temperature, so your lowest
body temperature at rest, ishigher.

(06:27):
Personally, I use temp drop totrack my basal body temperature,
so I use it's an armband thathas a thermometer in it.
Before Maybe you've heard metalk about it, because for me
it's the most convenient.
I put it on before I go tosleep, I wake up in the morning,
I sync it with my phone and ittells me what my temperature was
.
Of course, you could also usean oral thermometer and just

(06:51):
first thing, right when you wakeup, you take your temperature
and then you would, you know,log that wherever, you log it in
your chart, in your app.
But that's all to say.
There are a couple of differentmethods.
And coming back to why, whatare we taking our temperature
for?
Because that's what wouldconfirm that ovulation occurred

(07:12):
and that's what kind of closesthat fertile window.
One thing that Nat reiterated orexplained for us in the
conversation was that FAM is notthe same as the rhythm method.
It's not the same as naturalcycles.
Those aren't super specific toyour own cycle, right.

(07:32):
It's more detailed, it's morein-depth, it's a science-backed
method, and so I just thinkthat's important.
It's not like, oh, let me justcount a certain number of days
on the calendar and that's whenI'm going to ovulate, right,
because that's not necessarilythe case for everybody or for
every body.
So it's using the signs and thechanges in your own body, your

(07:54):
own temperature, your ownhormone levels, to make those
conclusions.
I asked Nat a little bit aboutthe similarity and difference
between fertility awareness andcycle awareness and how she
looks at those two differentthings.
I've talked about cycleawareness on the podcast before,
which is yet slightly differentor, depending on how you look

(08:16):
at it, from cycle syncing, wherecycle awareness is just being
cognizant, being familiar withhow do you change throughout the
cycle, what are the differencesin your energy levels, in how
you're feeling emotionally andwhat you need as far as
nourishment goes, etc.
She explained that fertilityawareness and cycle awareness

(08:38):
really go hand in hand and arekind of reinforcing, whereas
then we have cycle syncing, onthe other hand and maybe you've
heard me express the samethought here too that cycle
syncing can be another great wayto, you know, help you get into
this rhythm of identifying whatyour body wants, what it needs,

(09:00):
how it feels when you makecertain changes.
And I'm actually being slightlygenerous when I say that,
because I do think it is soimportant to understand that
cycle syncing is not actuallyhelping to balance your hormones
.
If you already have nicebalanced hormones with a little
bow tied on top, psychosync yourheart out.

(09:22):
If you are at a point in yourlearning, if you're at a point
in your journey where you aretrying to bring your hormones
back into balance, thenpsychosyncing might not be
what's up for you, but thispractice of fertility awareness,
that could be a better fit foryou at this point.

(09:43):
All right, my friend, that's allI've got for you today.
As I said at the start,thursday episodes are just quick
and to the point.
Definitely go back and listento the longer episode that I had
with Nat, because she wasreally fun to talk to.
I think you're going to love it.
You're going to get a lot moredetail from that episode, of
course, than what I went throughtoday, so you can take a quick

(10:04):
peek at the show notes to getlinks to connect with Nat Again.
She's at Fertility AwarenessProject on Instagram.
And thanks for listening.
We'll see you on the next one,as always.
If you have questions, if youhave requests, I would love to
hear them from you.
So send me a DM at.
I'm underscore hormonal.
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.

(10:26):
If you loved today's episodeand got something good out of it
, make sure you subscribe sothat these episodes show up
automatically in your feed.
No work needed on your side.
Let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
I share with you here is foreducational purposes only, and
it should not be used as areplacement for medical advice

(10:48):
or diagnosis.
Now, if you are, on the otherhand, in the market for some
one-on-one support, then I wouldlove for you to take me up on
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.