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Flo with it: Understanding your menstrual cycle for peak confidence and vitality

Updated: Aug 5


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Why the Menstrual Cycle Is a Vital Sign of Your Health


Your menstrual cycle can be enlightening when it comes to health status. From missed or irregular periods to PMS symptoms and hormonal imbalances, your cycle provides key insights into what's going on beneath the surface.


Understanding and supporting each phase of your cycle can help improve your energy, mood, fertility, weight, and stress response. In fact, symptoms like painful periods, migraines, and mood swings are not “just part of being a woman”—they’re often signs of underlying hormonal imbalances that deserve attention.


What Happens During the Menstrual Cycle?


Each month, your body goes through a complex hormonal process: eggs mature and release, your uterine lining builds and sheds, and key hormones like oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and luteinising hormone (LH) rise and fall.

These changes don’t just impact your reproductive system—they affect your brain, immune system, gut health, metabolism, and more.


There are 4 menstrual cycle phases, each with unique physical, emotional, and mental effects. You can even align each phase with a season to better understand how to support your body.


Spring symbolises energy and rejuvenation in the menstrual cycle
Spring symbolises energy and rejuvenation in the menstrual cycle

Follicular Phase — Your Inner Spring

What Happens:This phase begins on the first day of menstruation and lasts until ovulation (yes, there is a cross over with the menstrual phase!) Your ovaries prepare to release an egg, while oestrogen and testosterone levels slowly rise.


How You Might Feel:

  • Increased energy, motivation, and clarity

  • More sociable and confident

  • Stronger libido

  • Decreased appetite

Support Tips:

  • Focus on lighter, plant-based foods

  • Increase fibre and fermented foods to support oestrogen metabolism

  • Engage in cardio, strength training, or long runs

  • Ideal time for goal-setting and brainstorming

Signs of Oestrogen Imbalance:

  • Heavy periods

  • Breast tenderness

  • Menstrual migraines

  • Mood swings or brain fog

  • Fatigue or skin changes


Ovulatory Phase — Your Inner Summer

What Happens:A surge in luteinising hormone (LH) causes the dominant follicle to release an egg. Oestrogen and testosterone peak, making this your most fertile and magnetic phase.

How You Might Feel:

  • Most attractive and outgoing

  • Sex drive at its highest

  • Confident, assertive, and social

Support Tips:

  • Schedule important meetings or presentations

  • Ideal time for networking, dating, or tough conversations

  • Eat foods that support detox and liver health


Top Tip! You are most fertile, just before your ovulate! And if you are trying to conceive, don't just rely on ovulation sticks [1]


Autumnal scene, symbolising the Luteal Phase
Autumnal scene, symbolising the Luteal Phase


Luteal Phase — Your Inner Autumn

What Happens:If the egg isn’t fertilized, progesterone rises while estrogen and testosterone drop. The body prepares to shed the uterine lining.

First Half: You may still feel strong and focused after ovulation. Second Half: PMS symptoms may start if there’s low progesterone or high oestrogen.

How You Might Feel:

  • Calm, grounded (early phase)

  • Irritable, anxious, or bloated (late phase)

  • Food cravings or low mood

  • Sensitive to stress

Support Tips:

  • Eat nourishing, comforting foods high in B vitamins and magnesium

  • Increase calories by ~250/day to support hormone production

  • Focus on gentle strength training, yoga, walking

  • Reduce high-intensity workouts

  • Prioritize sleep and relaxation

Common PMS Symptoms Linked to Imbalance:

  • Anxiety or depression

  • Breast pain

  • Headaches

  • Bloating

  • Mood swings

⚠️ Chronic PMS is common, but it’s not normal. It can signal low progesterone, high oestrogen, or thyroid dysfunction.
Winter scene symbolising the menstrual phase of the cycle
Winter scene symbolising the menstrual phase of the cycle

Menstrual Phase - Your Inner Winter

What Happens:Hormone levels drop, and the body sheds the uterine lining. This is a time of low energy, rest, and reflection.

How You Might Feel:

  • Tired, inward-focused

  • Introspective or intuitive

  • Craving rest and quiet

Support Tips:

  • Schedule downtime and self-care

  • Journal or set intentions

  • Focus on warming foods like soups and stews

  • Try Yin yoga, baths, meditation

  • Honour your body’s need for slower movement


Why Tracking Your Menstrual Cycle Is Important

Tracking your cycle isn’t just for fertility. It helps you:

  • Identify hormonal imbalances

  • Understand mood or energy changes

  • Optimise productivity and workouts

  • Support mental and emotional wellbeing


Work With Your Cycle, Not Against It

Cycle symptoms are messages from your body. When understood and supported, your cycle becomes a powerful tool—not a monthly burden.

If you're struggling with irregular periods, painful PMS, fatigue, or hormonal issues, working with a qualified women’s health coach or functional practitioner can help you get to the root cause and reclaim balance.


✅ Key Benefits of Tuning Into Your Menstrual Cycle:

  • Improve PMS symptoms naturally

  • Balance hormones

  • Protect fertility

  • Boost energy and focus

  • Support a healthy metabolism

  • Regulate mood and stress levels


Ready to Feel More Aligned With Your Cycle?

Let’s work together to uncover what your cycle is telling you. Book a discovery call or reach out today to start feeling better, every day of the month. Drawing inspiration from the Cycle Syncing® Method developed by Alisa Vitti (FLO Living), and combining it with my own coaching tools, I guide clients in aligning their nutrition, fitness, and mindset with each phase of their menstrual cycle for long-term hormonal balance.





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