The Female menstrual Cycle

When it comes to females it is safe to say how you feel, how you look, how you think, how you perform in the gym and how you function can change dramatically over the course your menstrual cycle.

However, by having a more in-depth understanding of the female menstrual cycle and what happens throughout the different stages of your cycle can give you a valuable insight on why you may feel at your best one week and the next you may feel weaker, bloated, emotional and heavier on the scales.

The menstruation cycle starts on day one after the unfertilised egg causes the uterus lining to break down.

A woman’s menstrual cycle has different phases; the menstrual, follicular, ovulation, and luteal phases, which is often broken down more broadly into just the follicular andluteal phases.

First comes the menstrual phase, when a woman gets her period and her levels of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone drop. This typically lasts 3-7 days but can vary between individuals.

This also kicks off the follicular phase, which begins on day one of your period and continues until ovulation, a total of about 16 days.

During this phase, the pituitary gland releases follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).

During the ovulation phase, luteinising hormone (LH) is released in response to the follicular phases rising oestrogen levels.

Wondering if you are ovulating?

One sign is a slight rise in body temperature, which happens around day 14 of your cycle.

Finally, you enter the luteal phase. This is where you see a rise in progesterone and aslight bump in estrogen levels, followed by a drop in both hormones and the restart of the cycle (barring pregnancy).

The luteal phase is when you may experience those *lovely* pms symptoms, like bloating, headache, weight changes, food cravings, and trouble sleeping. This phase lasts 11-17 days.