Get confused about where you are in your cycle? If so, you’re not alone. A lot of women who I speak with about their hormones have no idea if they’re on Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 or Week 4, let alone which day.
But, knowing where you are in your cycle doesn’t only help you take full advantage of the Daily Hormone Horoscopes, it also helps you predict how tomorrow, next week and so on will be affected by your hormones so you can plan your work, life, family, school, trips, etc., according to your hormones’ influences.
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to figure out where you are in your cycle anytime—even if your cycle is short, long or changes from month to month. Here’s how:
Week 1: Starts on the first day of your period and lasts for 7 days.
What happens hormonally: Estrogen and testosterone rise.
Tracking it is easy: Simply start counting from the day (or night) that you get your period. Start counting even if you don’t bleed a lot on Day 1, since any bleeding is a sign that estrogen has bottomed-out enough to trigger menstruation and that this hormone is now on its way back up.
Week 2: Starts 8 days after the first day of your period, which is Day 8 of your cycle. Week 2 lasts until Day 13 in a traditional 28-day cycle or on the day before ovulation in a cycle that is shorter or longer than 28 days or changes from month to month.
What happens hormonally: Estrogen and testosterone continue to rise and reach their peaks.
Tracking it is easy: You can figure out if you’re thisclose to ovulation by checking vaginal fluid, which becomes slick and thin like egg white to allow sperm to pass through more easily. To double-check, use an ovulation microscope, a reusable lipstick-sized microscope that determines when you’re about to ovulate by measuring the amount of salt in your saliva. When estrogen peaks, so does the salt in your saliva, and that indicates that it’s one day before ovulation. (Your saliva will look like ferns on the microscope lens when it dries.) You can purchase an ovulation microscope at drugstores and amazon.com. (I’ve had one for years and love it. Very easy to use.)
Week 3: This week starts on Day 14 and ends on Day 22 if you have a traditional 28-day cycle or on the day of ovulation if your cycle is longer or shorter than 28 days or changes from month to month.
What happens hormonally: Estrogen and testosterone dip for the first half of Week 3, then rise again until the end of Week 3. Progesterone rises.
Tracking it is easy: Week 3 starts on the day you ovulate. The easiest and most reliable way to determine ovulation is to use a basal thermometer, which measures your temperature upon waking but before you get out of bed.  To use: take your basal temperature throughout your cycle; on the day you ovulate, your basal temperature rises .5 to one degree Fahrenheit. You can find a basal thermometer at drugstores and amazon.com. About one in four women will also feel a dull ache or pinch in one or both ovaries during ovulation, which indicates that your egg or (in the case of me and my fraternal twin sister) eggs are being released. One more clue: Your vaginal secretions begin to get cloudy. That’s progesterone’s influence; as this hormone rises, it makes vaginal secretions thicker and whiter.
Week 4: This premenstrual week starts on Day 23 of a traditional 28-day cycle and lasts till the end of your cycle.
What happens hormonally: Estrogen, testosterone and progesterone plunge.
Tracking it is easy: Week 4 typically starts 8 days after ovulation in a cycle of any length cycle. That’s because the second half of a woman’s cycle is generally a stable 14 days (give or take a day and barring health conditions, stress and other complications). It’s usually the first half of a woman’s cycle that shrinks or expands, determining how long or short your cycle will be in any given month.
Important! I don’t recommend using these cycle-tracking tips as a sole form of birth control. Semen is a particularly hearty bodily fluid and has been shown to survive for up to a week inside your vagina. So, having unprotected sex seven days before or after ovulation can result in pregnancy.
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Two tools to track your cycle:
* Ovulation microscope: Just spit on this lipstick-sized reusable microscope and if your saliva dries into a fern-shaped pattern, you’re about to ovulate, which indicates you’re at the end of Week 2 of your cycle. If all you see are dots, you’re not near ovulation. I’ve used mine for years and show it off to folks like a party trick. Caution: Once you take it out of your purse, everyone will want to try it, so have moist wipes handy to clean the microscope lens between users!Â
One to try: Ovulite, $34.99, amazon.com
* Basal thermometer: Use it to take your temperature before you get out of bed in the morning every day of your cycle. Then, when you see that your temperature has risen half a degree to one degree, you’re ovulating, which means it’s the first day of Week 3 of your cycle. It’s that easy!
One to try: BD Basal Digital Thermometer, $9.29, amazon.com
[photo: +angst]
