Cycles and being a Female High Performer
Menstrual Cycles, the rules to live by, and how to break them when you need to in our modern world
Here’s what I’ve learned about the menstrual cycle
- They apply to every women whether you menstruate or not
- If you follow the rules, you’ll be better off.
- It’s not always easy in our modern world to follow the rules of our cycle
- Those that do follow cycles, tend to have more pleasure in their lives
- Menstrual cycle can be challenging to track
Track your cycle:
- If you’re still guessing on when you’re menstruating, it’s time to track your cycle.
- You can use a paper calendar, calendar on your phone, or an app. I use Period Diary app because it calculates the phases of my cycle so I can better plan my life.
What’s the complete menstrual cycle:
- Menstruation – 2-7 days long (Mayo Clinic)
- Follicular – 13-14 days and starts the day you start menstruating
- Ovulation – 1 day
- Luteal – 14 days starts after ovulation
The duration is 28 days plus or minus a day if your hormones are functioning mostly properly.
28 days is our moon cycle. So if you no longer have a period for whatever reason, just follow the moons.
In a perfect world, full moon is for menstruation (releasing), new moon is for ovulation (calling in or creating new).
In a perfect world, here are the rules of your cycle (workout, food, and life):
- Menstruation is for chilling out and restorative practices. Your body is working very hard to shed that lining and go from very low hormones back into the climb. Eat foods higher in iron, vitamin C, B vitamins, and anti-inflammatory properties. Very dark chocolate with orange peel is my go to. Also include leafy greens, lean red meat, seeds, nuts, and ginger.
- Follicular phase overlaps with menstruation. After menstruation, it’s time to get back into a higher intensity of life. That means you shouldn’t be working at max capacity, but you are gearing up for it. You may be more sensitive to the effects of insulin. It’s a good time to pay attention to how your body is responding to sugar.
- Ovulation is for crushing goals with the caveat that this is when more injuries occur for women. This is because peak estradiol is associated with increased laxity, strength, and poor neuromuscular control (PubMed study in Spain). You may have more energy and drive because of the peak in estrogen and the release in testosterone. You might also be less sensitive to pain. This can be a more inflammatory time. Eating fish can help reduce inflammation. For vegans and vegetarians, go for more nuts and seeds to help with inflammation.
- Luteal phase is for strength training and keeping your brain calm because cortisol is higher. My workouts are my sanity during this time. But I’m not pushing it. You are less sensitive to the effects of insulin. Food focus should be on high fiber, slow digesting carbs, and dark chocolate with orange peels 🙂 PMS can happen at the latter part of this phase, so be gentler on yourself then.
In the real world, here’s how you break the rules and still honor your cycle:
- Menstruation: get more rest! Sleep harder. Do more restorative practices between the demands of life. Check out Yoga Nidra – listen to episode 46 with Renee Yomtob where we talk about this awesome practice for catching up on sleep quickly. Take epsom salt baths to help curb inflammation. Cook your meals in the luteal phase so you can get more rest!
- Follicular phase: if you know you’ve got a big meeting, hard practice, or competition, plan some recovery workouts into your week.
- Ovulation: this is when you pray you have a big meeting or competition. I try to schedule my powerlifting meets during this time of the month. Since those meets are few and far between, I’m lucky if this happens. If I do have a meet, I’m eating sushi like it’s going out of style after weigh-ins 🙂
- Luteal phase: same as follicular phase.
- Luckily we have more control over our food than our schedules as high performing women. This is where you can put our focus so your cycle is smoother.
- Knowing where you’re at in your cycle will help you better show up for what life has in store for you.
- When you can, communicate how you’re feeling with your team. You’re tired, let them know. You’re moody, let them know. You really want to crawl in a hole, let them know. Communication is key
This monthly cycle is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding all the cycles happening in our lives. There’s the life cycle, which is more than just being born, living, and dying. There are initiations that have been deleted from modern culture that NEED to come back IMHO. There’s also the yearly cycle that doesn’t actually line up with the Gregorian Calendar we all live to.
I’ve been in a deep study on the life cycle and the yearly cycle for years now. And I want to share who I’ve been learning these cycles from and why understanding these cycles matter even more than the cycle we’re all very familiar with. Mellissa Seaman, my teacher and business coach, helped me better understand how to live cyclically in my business and life. Then she introduced me to Maria Yraceburu, my Apache shima, who is really extrapolating on what I’ve learned from Mellissa.
I mentioned this before, but want to stress it again. When you live cyclically and understand the rules to play by, everything becomes easier, in flow, and pleasurable. Not to say I don’t have my challenges as a business owner, mom, wife, home owner, etc. But when things come up, I’ve been able to see where I’m at in my cycles and have better answers to how to move through the challenge. My perspective has completely shifted.
Shameless affiliate plug: Mellissa is hosting a Quiz Creation Masterclass that lands right in the cycle of creating and play. If you’re a service based, female entrepreneur looking for a better lead generating tool. Go grab your seat to Mellissa’s free Quiz Creation Masterclass. She helped me create the Gutsy Chick Quiz and deepen my connection with leads right away. Converting them to clients became easier and in flow with everyone’s timing.
Since I’ve only been in study on these cycles for 5 years, I will include how to work with Mellissa and Maria in the show notes so you can check out how you can better live in the cycles beyond our monthly menstrual cycle.
If you’re struggling with your cycle or you’re in perimenopause and have been told your symptoms are normal for where you are in life, please set up an Entry Body Scan with me.
Just because you’re a woman and you have these life cycles, doesn’t mean that you should be suffering. Hot flashes, missed periods, multiple periods in a month, extreme cramps, adult acne, major mood swings, and the list goes on.
These are all signs your hormones are out of whack and there’s deeper work to be done to eliminate the suffering of being a female. And if you’re a high performer, you know you don’t really have time to deal with the discomfort and the search for a medical professional that will listen to you.
Jump on an Entry Body Scan with me so we can get you on the road to healing your hormones.
Love,
Amanda
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About Amanda
She’s a mechanical and aerospace engineer who’s worked for NASA. She’s also a natural deep intuitive. She helped design the interior and exterior of the crew module on NASA’s Artemis Program. In fact, one of her first engineering jobs was designing specialized toilets for submarines, airplanes, and prisons. She used both her intuitive communication abilities and her mechanic engineering mind, as an example, working directly with astronauts to develop a bathroom that works in space. She’s always bridged her deep intuitive gift with her agile engineering mind to create real-life solutions that work both pragmatically and emotionally for people.
A lifelong athlete, she was also an NCAA Division I and Division II athlete, which drove her into emotional and physical…