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Want to know what matters more than size?

 

Length. (Of your luteal phase, that is)

 

Those couple of weeks in the lead-up to your next period are too often given a bad rap. This is when a lot of women experience those fun PMS symptoms, and if you’re trying to conceive, it’s the two week wait from hell.

 

But did you know that it’s the luteal phase that gives you the most valuable information about your fertility, your cycle, your overall health annnnnd (if you know what you’re looking for) it will help you to predict your period down to the day and will likely be your first sneaky-peek into pregnancy.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Hello, and welcome to episode 41 of The Fertility Co Podcast. I’m your host, Rachel and today we are talking all things luteal phase and why the length of this phase matters.

Want to know what matters more than size?

Length. (Of your luteal phase, that is)

Those couple of weeks in the lead-up to your next period are too often given a bad rap. This is when a lot of women experience those fun PMS symptoms, and if you’re trying to conceive, it’s the two week wait from hell.

But did you know that it’s the luteal phase that gives you the most valuable information about your fertility, your cycle, your overall health annnnnd (if you know what you’re looking for) it will help you to predict your period down to the day and will likely be your first sneaky-peek into pregnancy.

Now if this is all still very new to you and you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say the luteal phase, or maybe you just want a refresher, then make sure you have a listen to the Menstrual Cycle Masterclass series, podcast episodes 12-15, and pay special attention to the episode all about the luteal phase. In those episodes I break down each individual phase of the menstrual cycle, the hormones involved and what is actually happening in your body. So make sure you give that a listen if you’re not feeling all over it quite yet.

And if you’re ready to take the next steps and get started with charting your menstrual cycle, then you can grab your free fertility roadmap as well as saving your spot for my fertility masterclass. All the links you need to access those freebies are in the shownotes or head over to fertilityco.com.au/41.

The Luteal Phase

Now, I’m not going to repeat myself too much in this episode, but I will give you a quick refresher of what the luteal phase is all about.

Ok, so after ovulation we enter the final phase of our menstrual cycle, which is also the longest and usually lasts anywhere from 10-17 days. This is the luteal phase, and it is the non-fertile phase after ovulation and continues until menstruation begins again. We are not fertile in this phase because the mucus plug has re-formed at the cervix, forming that physical barrier once again. The sensation around our vulva will either be dry or a little moist, but definitely not that obvious wet and lubricative sensation we observed in our fertile window. A day or two before our next period, we will notice a wet sensation again as the mucus plug at the cervix breaks down and our cervix opens again, ready for our next period.

Now remember, the changes that occur throughout our menstrual cycle are caused by fluctuations in our key sex hormones. Oestrogen peaks just before ovulation and triggers release of the egg from the ovary. After ovulation, oestrogen levels decline and progesterone – the pregnancy hormone – starts to rise. This happens because the corpus luteum, which is the remains of the follicle from which the egg is released, produces progesterone to maintain a potential pregnancy. If the egg is not fertilised, the corpus luteum breaks down, meaning progesterone levels drop, and this drop triggers breakdown of the endometrium and it is flushed out of the body as your next period, along with the unfertilised egg. And this process is what happens during the luteal phase.

Hormone Changes in the Luteal Phase (and why Progesterone is Queen)

So we begin this phase with oestrogen at our peak, and then it drops and progesterone rises. Then this phase ends with our next period when progesterone levels then drop suddenly too if the body realises it’s not pregnant. So we move from one hormone extreme to another, and this is what can potentially cause those PMS symptoms that so many women experience, and a lot of the cause is due to hormonal imbalance, particularly oestrogen dominance, which means your oestrogen levels are high relative to progesterone levels.

We know progesterone is super important in the second half of the menstrual cycle, during the luteal phase, because it’s levels surge after ovulation to prepare our bodies for pregnancy. If we are pregnant, progesterone levels remain high to maintain that pregnancy. Which means, if progesterone levels are too low, the fertilised egg may not implant in the lining of the uterus; it may implant but then detach; or you may experience a miscarriage in those really early weeks of pregnancy, potentially before you even realise you’re pregnant. So we need progesterone levels to be high for this reason.

Short Luteal Phase

So how could we know if our progesterone levels are low? We have a shorter than typical luteal phase.

The luteal phase begins the day after ovulation until the day before your next period. It usually lasts between 10-17 days and its duration does not change much between cycles. So even though people write this phase off because ovulation has been and gone, this is the phase that gives you the most valuable information about what’s going on in your cycle.

This knowledge is super helpful, because this means that once you have charted your cycle for a couple of months, you will be able to determine the length of your luteal phase, because it doesn’t change from one month to the next. Maybe by a day or two, but even if your cycle is insanely irregular and unpredictable, once you have ovulated it is actually extremely predictable and regular. Which means when you confirm ovulation, you can then work out the day that your next period will arrive. And no matter what season of life you’re in, no matter what your current reproductive goals are, this is super helpful information to have at your fingertips.

So if your luteal phase is shorter than expected, less than 10 days, it’s a likely sign that your progesterone is too low. And this could be for a whole heap of reasons that I might have to record a whole other episode about. You may not have any other symptoms, but if you’re charting and you notice that your luteal phase is on the shorter side, especially if you’re trying to conceive, then this is something you will want to address. Because if your progesterone levels are too low, if your luteal phase is too short, then ultimately your body doesn’t have time to do everything it needs to do effectively for a pregnancy to occur. Your egg may have been fertilised but it’s still making its way down to the endometrium for implantation and the body has already decided you’re not pregnant so prepares to shed the lining as your next period. Like I said before, it may implant and detach, or it may lead to miscarriage. This is something that is really common when coming off the pill. Don’t panic if so, it will most likely resolve itself over the next couple of cycles.

This is something you can absolutely address with some simple lifestyle changes. Nutrition is a huge one, so is stress. Looking at those factors that could potentially be causing oestrogen dominance is a major part, because rather than boosting progesterone levels to match excess oestrogen, we want to tone down oestrogen so it’s no longer dominating. If you want to learn more about this, then have a listen to Episode 24 – Household Items that May be Affecting Your Fertility because there are some really common things out there that could be wreaking havoc on your hormones.

Long Luteal Phase

What about a longer than expected luteal phase, a luteal phase longer than 10-17 days. Well, this is highly unlikely as we don’t typically have excessive progesterone in our bodies. Unless, we’re pregnant. So a luteal phase longer than your typical length could be a really likely indicator that you are pregnant.

In fact, my best recommendation for the very first sign of pregnancy is a luteal phase at least 2 days longer than the longest ever luteal phase you have charted. For example, my luteal phase is usually about 12 days. On the cycle that I conceived, once I got to about 14-15 days, I knew it was probably time to take a pregnancy test, because even though it was a wonky cycle, I knew my period was officially late. For those who don’t know this story, I usually ovulate around day 12, so my cycle is on the shorter side of about 24-26 days. Conception month involved some hardcore gluten exposure which actually caused my body to attempt ovulation more than once, for the first time ever since charting, and I didn’t actually ovulate until day 19. If I hadn’t been charting, I would have thought I was pregnant but day 24-26, but really by that stage my luteal phase was only 5 or 6 days long, which is far too early to test. So I knew not to get my hopes up until around day 31, because even though I’d never had a cycle that long before, this was the typical length of my luteal phase. Does that make sense?

So, the length of your luteal phase matters when you’re trying to conceive because it tells you when to take a pregnancy test. I’m a little sceptical of those early tests that claim to give you a result 5 days before your period, because I think for a lot of women, pregnancy hormones just aren’t high enough yet and it creates a lot of false hope and disappointment. But if you know your cycle and your luteal phase well, you will be more confident knowing you are testing at the right time in your cycle.

Predicting Your Period

So what if you’re not trying to conceive? What’s the advantage of knowing the length of your luteal phase? Well, just like I said above, it’s all about knowing when your period is due, whether your goal is conception or contraception.

For me, a huge drawcard of being on the pill, and my reason for staying on it way longer than I even really wanted to, was the predictability of my cycle. I liked knowing that my period would arrive at 11am on a Tuesday once I started taking the week of sugar pills. But in hindsight this is freakishly clinical and not at all representative of a normal menstrual cycle, that ebbs and flows and is really influenced by your life and lifestyle factors. So discovering that there was still a way to predict my next period absolutely got me over the line of ditching the hormonal contraceptives and going all-in on charting. And as soon as I got the hang of charting and learning the patterns in my unique cycle, it was as simple as confirming ovulation and then counting ahead to predicted period date.

So like I said before, if you have an irregular cycle, it’s the first half of your cycle that’s irregular – the follicular phase. This is the phase before ovulation that is affected by lifestyle factors and can change from one month to the next. The luteal phase is consistent, regular and predictable. So if you know your luteal phase is 11 or 12 days long, give or take a day or 2, then after confirming ovulation, simply count ahead to day 11 and 12, mark it on your chart and on your calendar and you’ll never get caught out again. It’s an absolute game changer!

And so, it’s the length of the luteal phase in particular that matters above all else. I always encourage the women I work with to make a specific note not just about the length of their entire cycle, but the length of their luteal phase on every single chart. It tells you so much about hormone balance, if you start to notice it’s getting shorter month by month or is suddenly shorter, or if you’re getting started with charting (especially coming off hormonal contraceptives) and noticing that it’s shorter than that typical 10-17 days, then this is likely the first indication you’re going to get that your sex hormones may be unbalanced.

We’ve also talked about why the length of this phase may be shorter than expected, as well as why it may be longer – hint, you may be pregnant. And this is information you can’t accurately get if you’re just working from the entire length of your cycle, especially if it’s irregular. So many women think charting can’t work for them because their cycles are unpredictable. One cycle is 40 days, the next is 60 days, then 45 days…let me tell you that when I sit down with them and go over their charts, it’s the first half – the follicular phase – that’s all over the place. The luteal phase is wonderfully consistent and regular, which blows their minds and eases the stress of charting and conceiving like you cannot believe.

If you want to know when your period is coming, learn to understand your luteal phase. No matter if you’re wanting birth control or on your conception journey, this knowledge is a game changer and will help you to make sense of even the most irregular and unpredictable of cycles!

That is all for this episode. As always, if you learnt something new or found value in today’s episode, I’d love to hear from you! Send me an Instagram DM and let me know what you learnt and found helpful, and also let me know what you want me to talk about in future episodes. This podcast is for you and so I want to talk about the things that are most important to you!

You can get today’s shownotes with everything I talked about in this episode, as well as links to freebies and other related episodes at fertilityco.com.au/41.

Don’t forget you can also download your free fertility roadmap, which also includes a basic cycle tracker to help you get started with your charting journey over on the blog too. And I’d love to have you join me in the fertility masterclass too, where I’m sharing the biggest mistakes women make when it comes to their fertility, and I’ll break down exactly how to know when you’re fertile during your cycle and pinpoint ovulation down to the day!

I will see you in next week’s episode, bye for now and don’t forget that knowledge is power!

When you truly understand your body, you are empowered to make informed decisions and take control of your health!

Until next time.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Want to say goodbye to hormonal contraceptives and their weird and unpleasant side effects?

Want to improve your chances of conceiving quickly and naturally?

You need my Fertility Roadmap– My simple 3-step system to understanding your body’s natural fertile signs and pinpointing ovulation day so that you can use this knowledge to achieve (or avoid) pregnancy.

Related Episodes:

Episode 1 – Menstrual Cycle 101

Episode 2 – Am I Ovulating? The One Check You Can Do Every Day to Know For Sure When You’re Fertile

Episode 12 – The Menstrual Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 1

Episode 13 – The Follicular Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 2

Episode 14 – The Ovulatory Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 3

Episode 15 – The Luteal Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 4

Episode 19 – Coming Off The Pill (Part I)

Episode 20 – Coming Off The Pill (Part II)

Episode 24 – Household Items That May Be Affecting Your Fertility

Episode 27 – When Should I Take a Pregnancy Test?

OTHER FREE RESOURCES

Does your pelvic floor need a little extra TLC? Take the Pelvic Floor Quiz and find out how to start strengthening your pelvic floor today!

Want to make sure you’re exercising safely during your pregnancy? Get your Free Guide: 10 Exercises to Avoid During Pregnancy.

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