Balanced Living With Odette - Blog

Chart Analysis April/May 2022

Mon, 16 May 2022 07:19:00 +0000

Another month, another chart! ⁠

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This is what Non-Hormonal Birth Control for Preventing Pregnancy looks like. ⁠

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I know! It looks complicated! And it looks like it takes a lot of work! ⁠

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BUT it's really easy once you know what you're looking for! ⁠

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I look at my cervical mucus DAILY! And measure my basal body temperature daily. I test the LH (Luteinising hormone) during the fertile phase. Although this month I didn't test my LH hormone long enough 🙊 ⁠

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A chart can give you insights into your health and not only into pregnancy prevention or achievement:⁠

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- Pre-ovulation and post-ovulation phases - with higher temperatures post-ovulation when progesterone is dominant and ovulation has happened.⁠

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- Rising estrogen levels - when you start noticing a change in cervical mucus to something that is more moist, stretchy, lubricative or egg-white. ⁠

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- Fertile window opening and closing where pregnancy is possible. ⁠

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- Luteal phase length - helps you predict when your period will come. Can vary 1-2 days but it shouldn't change too much. ⁠⁠

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- In this app - @read.your.body you can customise your charting to whatever you want. I also have sections for mood, activity, PMS, cervical position too. ⁠

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- Temperature was taken with a device called @tempdrop - REALLY great gadget for measuring basal body temperature without a hassle. ⁠

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🩸 What would you like to learn more about and was this helpful for you? 🩸 ⁠

Exercising and working with your cycle

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 08:22:00 +0000

Today I wanted to talk about exercising and working with your cycle.

These are things that we all struggle with and accept. It can be hard to accept that when you have your bleed that we actually need to slow down. Also in terms of working out, it can be counter-productive to lift weights and actually impact your PMS.

Menstrual Phase - Inner Winter

Bleed is day 1 of your cycle. All hormones are at the lowest. It is the most obvious phase.
Low energy and low hormones.
Time to slow down, replenish with minerals and seek warmth/heat. Relax, rest and reflect. SLOW DOWN!
Movement: Restorative exercise; walking, hiking, yoga, stretching.
Work: take time off if you can, reflect, do less on the 'to-do' list, low energy tasks, work on goals, refine ideas.
Prioritise rest over productivity

Follicular Phase - Inner Spring

Non-bleeding phase before ovulation.
Hormones are rising, increased energy, mood and libido.
Renewal, creativity and new beginnings.
Movement: energy for harder workouts, challenge yourself and be active, cardio based workouts and good time to build muscles.
Work: More social tasks, new habits and activities, more energy for more challenging tasks and create action.

Ovulation Phase - Inner Summer

About mid-cycle, rise in hormones to peak levels, most important phase as without it you can't have a real period.
Movement: Peak energy, endurance-based exercises, high impact workouts, push yourself!
Work: more social and charismatic, conduct interviews, meetings, launch new offers, connect with co-workers.

Luteal Phase - Inner Fall/Autumn

After ovulation, second half of our cycle. This is when you'll experience PMS.
First week similar to ovulatory phase; second week time to listen to the body.
Movement: 1st week - keep up with strenuous exercise for 3-5 days; 2nd week listen to the body and slow down, moderate exercise. Think healthier exercise instead of harder.
Work: task-oriented, get things down, clean up, organise, reflect, update.

Did you find this helpful? Which phase are you in at the moment and can you relate? Let me know your thoughts!

Love and Light,

Odette

PS. I will be opening up 3 spots to work 1:1 with me soon. Start to think about whether you want to fully commit and trust the Fertility Awareness Method. You can look at more details about the program on my website.

What the Fertility Awareness Method provides you with

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 09:53:00 +0000

Today I wanted to talk about what the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) can teach you. What you can expect to learn when you learn FAM.

Understanding your cycle is core to body literacy. When you have all the relevant information about your cycle and your fertility, you become the expert in your own body and your own health. This helps when you need to seek help and talk to a specialist about your cycle.

1. When to expect your period

When you’re charting, you’ll start to learn how long your luteal phase is. This phase doesn’t really change much. It is the phase from ovulation to menstruation and this stays pretty consistent (plus/minus 1-2 days).

This is why we can expect our menstruation to start X days after ovulation.

For me that number is 12. So I KNOW 12 days after ovulation, I’ll have my bleed. Another bonus is. that if you’ve made a mistake/took a risk during your fertile window, you’ll quickly know if pregnancy has occurred too – within a few days.

2. When you can become pregnant

You’ll know when your fertile phase begins and ends. You’ll know if you’ve made a little oopsies (if you’re trying to prevent pregnancy) and if you have any chance of conceiving (if you’re trying to conceive pregnancy). Knowing your fertile phase can feel really empowering, you have complete control over your family planning decisions.

To put simply – the fertile phase begins when you notice any changes in Cervical Mucus to moist, stretchy, lubricative or egg-white and it ends when there is a sudden shift to dryness PLUS 3 days of possible fertility.

3. How changes in your diet, exercise, medication are affecting your hormone health and overall well-being

You can start to see patterns – seeing how these factors are influencing your cycle. For example, if you’ve been sick, it’s likely that ovulation has been delayed. Certain medications can also impact ovulation.

And by now, we all know that diet plays a big factor into how we are feeling.

As a woman, it is important to eat something before drinking your first cup of coffee in the morning – otherwise your hormonal health can be impacted. This is because caffeine increases the release of cortisol, your stress hormone. Having it after your first meal of the day won’t cause such a big impact on your system.

4. How hormones impact the cycle

The cycle starts in the brain and it is about the brain and ovaries communicating with each other. When they can’t communicate, there will be a problem with ovulation and your cycle.

Basic overview of ovulation:

Ovulation is the main event of the cycle, it occurs in the ovaries once per cycle
The follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the brain stimulates eggs to grow and mature in their follicles. One egg will be released at ovulation.
As the follicle grows, it produces estrogen. When estrogen peaks, the luteinising hormone (LH) is triggered and LH sends the signal to release the egg from the follicle into the fallopian tube.
The empty follicle turns into the corpus luteum which produces progesterone.
If fertilisation occurs, it takes the egg 6-7 days to travel into the uterus.
If fertilisation did not occur, the egg will survive up to 24 hours in the fallopian tube and the disintegrates.

5. Which hormones are at play each cycle

Learning about the 4 major hormones that I mentioned above which are at play during each cycle. There are a dozen more but these 4 are the main ones.

Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) starts in the brain
Estrogen starts in the ovaries by FSH
Luteinising Hormone (LH) starts in the brain by estrogen
Progesterone starts in the ovaries by the empty follic.e

Let me know if you have any questions about FAM or if you’re interested in learning FAM.

Have a beautiful day!

Love and Light

Fertility Awareness Method Pros and Cons

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 09:49:00 +0000

Today I wanted to share about the pros and cons of the Fertility Awareness Method. I know it’s not for everyone. I know there is a lot of misleading information online – espeically if you’re using google. So I wanted to be realistic and break it down for you.

So lets start with the pros.

1. Easy to learn with an instructor

With an instructor – the method can be 99.6% effective. The numbers for self-teaching are more in the 80-somethin-%. I’m not only saying this because I’m on the road to becoming an instructor but during my own journey I thought I could do it myself and quickly learned that there is SO much information and different methods out there that you just need help narrowing down which method to use. You can’t use them all!

2. Can identify reproductive health issues

By charting (not just tracking) your cycles, you gain valuable information into your health. You will know when something isn’t right. You will start to understand how different things affect your cycles and when to seek help.

3. Supports body literacy

Like the one above, you start to understand and connect with your body like you have never done before. You understand the natural flow of energy and when you may be more productive than other times.

4. Reliable method of birth control

It has a 99.6% efficacy rate with perfect use. That is right next to the efficacy rate of the pill, IUD and patch.

5. Feel empowered and informed

It’s so empowering to really know what’s going on with your body. Knowing which hormone is dominant and which phase you’re in. You also learn about all those things you wish you would have learned at school.

So now the cons.

1. Can take time to learn

It’s not an overnight solution. It does take time and at least 3 months to really see the patterns of your cycle and understand your own mucus production.

2. Misinformation online and from doctors

If you google the Fertility Awareness method – you will see that google says it is ineffective iwth only a 70-something-% efficacy rate. This isn’t very accurate. Those could be the numbers if you’re just using it as the rhythm/calendar method. Use website such as: FEMM, Symptopro, Justisse, and the NHS just recognised it as a reliable form of birth control.

3. Not for everyone

Let’s be realistic. It’s not for everyone. Some of you are completely content with the form of birth control that you are using. Maybe you don’t have any side effects from the pill. Maybe you just hate your period and are happier to not have one. That is your choise. I just want to inform women about all the possibilities and information that we should have received when we were made to take a form of birth control.

4. Requires some abstinence

I’m not going to sugar-coat it. It does require you to adjust your secual habits during the fertile window. This means, you and your partner can be a little more creative during this time. Maybe explore the world of toys or imagination. But the main thing is that it’s important to not mix sperm with cervical mucus in the vagina.

5. Does not protect against STIs/STDs

I don’t recommend using FAM for one-night-stands. Use it with a partner that you trust and have openly talking about FAM with. Additionally, there’s no harm in both of you getting tested before having unprotected sex.

Now that you have the pros and cons list I still believe that the pros outweigh the cons. Learning about FAM was a game-changer for me. I hope it does the same for you.

Let me know if you have any questions! Happy to answer them.

What you'll learn when you learn the Fertility Awareness Method

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 09:52:00 +0000

Today I wanted to talk about what you’ll learn when you learn the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM).

I do recognise that it’s not for everyone but I also believe that we have a right to know what goes on in our body. I’m sharing this so you understand the depth into which the method goes. It’s not only about preventing or achieving pregnancy. It’s about understanding the functions of your body and the hormones too.

1. Biomarkers

Biomarkers are the indicators of the health of the reproductive system. A woman can notice changing levels of Estrogen and Progesterone throughout the cycle because these have direct effects on her biomarkers.

For instance:

Estrogen stimulates glands of the cervix to produce fluid that is stretchy, clear, lubricative and just more fluid in general.
Progesterone stimulates the cervix to produce more thick and dense mucus – often described as dryness.
Progesterone also increases the Basal Body Temperature (BBT) so once ovulation has happened, you BBT will be slightly higher.

2. Hormone function

The female reproductive system functions in a cyclical manner. We can see it as 4 cycles or seasons – (pre-ovulation, ovulation, post-ovulation and menstruation).

All hormones in our body have to reach a certain level in order to stimulate the next hormone.

You would learn about which 4 major hormones are at play during each cycle and how you can identify which hormone is dominant. Hormones are released to ensure cervical mucus production, uterine lining growth and ovulation each cycle.

The 4 major hormones you would learn about are: FSH, LH, estrogen and progesterone, and you would learn about where they originate from.

3. Female and Male anatomy

Women and men have different patterns of hormonal activity and fertilty throughout their lifetimes. Women experience more hormonal fluctuations than men. And men are constantly fertile, producing millions of sperm daily. Where women are only fertile 6 days per cycle. It’s not only about female anatomy, but male anatomy is also an important part in understanding fertility and family planning.

4. Fertility indicators

Research has shown that there is only a 6-day window where pregnancy is possible. Understanding your fertility helps you to feel at ease or when to seek help.

Cervical mucus is one of the main biomarkers that is needed to conception – fertile mucus is needed to transport sperm. Understanding your biomarkers and cycle patterns can give us data into whether a pregnancy is possible. And as an added bonus you will feel: empowered and informed – it’s so empowering to really know and understand what’s going on with your body. Knowing which hormone is dominant and which phase you’re in. You also learn about all those things you wish you would have learned at school.

Let me know if you have any questions about FAM or if you’re interested in learning FAM.

Have a beautiful day!

Love and Light

What is the Fertility Awareness Method?

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 09:58:00 +0000

Today I wanted to share two things. First about the business (as its been shifting) and second, about what the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is.

So for those of you who don't know much about me, let's start with an introduction.

Balanced Living with Odette is here to help you with your cycle - helping you feel more empowered and informed. Then using the data to help you achieve or prevent pregnancy naturally. It's a non-hormonal birth control method with an efficacy of 99.6%.

I love what I'm doing, and am driven by a really strong 'why'.

My 'why' is to educate women about their cycle by better understanding their hormones and using the information to prevent pregnancy naturally without the use of hormones.

I came across FAM in 2020 when the insertion of the copper IUD failed twice. I know now that this happened for a reason. I did not know anything about FAM or that it even existed.

So now my mission is to inform women about their body and hormones. I am in the final stages of my FEMM certification and am so excited to share my knowledge.

Now that you know a bit about my and my journey, I'd love to know more about you and how you're feeling about FAM. You can just respond to this e-mail OR connect on Instagram.

So next I wanted to quickly re-camp and talk about what the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is.

FAM is the practice of observing and charting the physical signs of fertility that occur naturally during your cycle. We then use these signs to determine the days you are fertile and the days you are not.

FAM is a way of charting and tracking your cycle to help you become an informed participant in your healthcare and fertility. FAM teaches women to understand their bodies and recognise hormonal and other signs of health.

By learning to identify the signs of fertility and health in the body, we can use it as a tool to achieve and prevent pregnancy naturally. It is designed for women to develop body literacy and empower them when making sexual and reproductive health choices.

Charting your cycle with FAM means that you are paying attention to your cycle and body changes every day. You will know exactly where you are in your cycle which can help you if you want to live more cyclically.

You could be charting:
- Cervical mucus
- Basal Body Temperature
- LH levels
- Cervical position

Some of the different FAM methods:
- FEMM
- Justisse
- TCOYF
- Symptothermal
- Boston Cross Check
- Billings
- Marquette
- NFP
- NaPro/Creighton
- Sensiplan

I hope you found this informative. Feel free to reply to this email with any questions you have! I have also been much more active on Instagram lately so do head there to learn more and more about the Fertility Awareness Method.

Additionally, if you'd like to start learning about the Fertility Awareness Method you can reach out to me about how we can work together.

Love and Light,

Odette

Live about Fertility Awareness and Cycle Charting: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CU6gIOqjMR5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Live about Fertility Awareness: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CP68IX6JV_2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Let's talk about Cervical Mucus!

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 09:56:00 +0000

So today we are talking about Cervical Mucus!
This is one of the most important biomarkers with the Fertility Awareness Method. BUT it's also the most confusing and the one with lots of questions.
All women are different and experience different mucus patterns. One you've charted for a while, you'll start to see patterns in what you're seeing.

Cervical mucus is necessary and essential for conception BUT also for preventing pregnancy. Understanding cervical mucus is key to preventing or achieving pregnancy!

Cervical mucus is the fluid that comes from the cervix and changes because of the fluctuating hormone levels.

Estrogen and Progesterone impact the cervical mucus production.

Estrogen stimulates the cervix to produce more moist, fluid, strechy, egg-white and lubricative mucus.
Progesterone causes the cervix to develop a thick and dense progesterone-base mucus. It is a stone wall and intended to serve as a barrier to sperm.

When you're starting out with FAM, cervical mucus can feel the most daunting and confusing aspect. Literally the part where you're like "I'm never going to understand it". BUT don't worry, I promise that you will start seeing changes and start to see your own patterns overtime.

Just start observing what you're seeing and feeling when you wipe!

The best way to learn is by working with an instructor. You are the first to know (YAY) that I will have a 6-week group program for you starting early February - there will be a 1:1 component too so together we can answer any questions that you have regarding your own charting!
If you're someone that doesn't like group programs, I'll also have a 4-week 1:1 program available.

As usual, if you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to send them over!

If you're on holiday already - ENJOY!! Eat lots of food, drink some wine and enjoy the downtime!!
If you're still at work - just know that the holiday is right around the corner!

Have a beautiful day!

Love & Light,

Odette

Why you should care about Ovulation

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 08:48:00 +0000

I know it’s been a while again. I had to take another mental-health break from social media and re-align. I’m slowly coming back and would like to provide you with useful information.

So today, I want to talk about ovulation and why you should care about it even if you’re not trying to get pregnant.

– Through ovulation you make your own ovarian hormones (estrogen and progesterone) that promote better sleep, increase feelings of well-being, build and maintain different cells and organs such as the uterus, endometrium, brain and bones.

– Ovulation means that all hormonal messages the body is sending and receiving is safe and the body feels safe enough to ovulate. All hormones work together to trigger the next hormone so if they are all reaching the right levels, ovulation can happen. But if one of the hormones doesn’t reach the right level, ovulation will be impacted.
Healthy cycle = all hormones reach the proper level to stimulate the next one.

– Fertility is much more than just conception. The health of your cycle tells you a lot about what’s going on and how your overall health is doing. When one system is not working well, the whole body is affected. By charting your cycle, you can start to gain valuable information into your hormone health.

– The only way we produce progesterone is through ovulation because the empty follicle (corpus luteum) produces progesterone after ovulation. Without ovulation, you don’t have any progesterone which is needed for relaxing and maintaining organ health. Progesterone is also needed if you want to have a viable pregnancy (with limited progesterone, you’re likely to miscarry).

– Studies are showing that ovulation is also linked to a reduction in osteoporosis, stroke, hearth disease, dementia and breast cancer.

Because of all of these, ovulation is a sign of good health.

Feel free to reply to this email with any questions you have! I have also been much more active on Instagram lately so do head there to learn more and more about the Fertility Awareness Method.

Additionally, if you’d like to start learning about the Fertility Awareness Method you can reach out to me about how we can work together.

Love and Light,

Odette

New Live about Fertility Awareness and Cycle Charting: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CU6gIOqjMR5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Live about Fertility Awareness: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CP68IX6JV_2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Signs of Approaching Ovulation

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 08:46:00 +0000

If you’re following me on Instagram, you know that I had a surf accident. With all the ‘bad’ luck I’m having, I’m also having a lot of good luck. I’m so lucky that I have no lasting problems from Covid and only fractured my cheekbone / the bruises are internal from the surf accident.

Anyway, that’s a little about me. I wanted to tell you a little something about ovulation today.

Most of us don’t really know much about ovulation. Ovulation is actually the key event in our menstrual cycle. Without it, you won’t have a true period.

Ovulation is important for when you’re trying to prevent or achieve pregnancy but also for our overall health. When you’re ovulating, it means that your body is releasing an egg from the ovary. When we are trying to achieve pregnancy, we want the sperm there to fertilise the egg.

Fertility Awareness is the practice of observing and charting physical signs of fertility that occur during our cycle and using the data to determine the days you are fertile and the days you are not.

There are different Fertility Awareness Methods and each have their own rules and biomarkers. For today, I will briefly outline different biomarkers that indicate ovulation is approaching or has already happened.

1. Cervical fluid/mucus (CM) – Probably the most important. As you approach ovulation, your CM will become more wet, stretchy and like raw egg-white. Making it an optimal environment for sperm survival. Without it, sperm only survives a few hours.

2. Cervical Position – This one is a little bit more challenging. Your cervical position changes around ovulation. The cervix moves up, becomes open, softer and more moist. You will only notice the difference if you’re observing it daily. You can do this by cleaning your fingers, squat down and feet around for your cervix. I do this daily in the shower, it only takes a few seconds.

3. LH testing strips – They test for the Luteinizing hormones in urine. LH will surge 24-36 hours prior to ovulation. You do need to note that some women (potentially with PCOS) may have an LH surge BUT do not ovulate afterwards so this one cannot be relied on without a second biomarker.

4. Basal Body Temperature (BBT) – measuring your temperature daily upon waking at the same time (after at least 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep) will give you insights into whether you have ovulated. You will notice a clear different between pre-ovulation and post-ovulation temperatures because progesterone rises after ovulation.

Do you know where in your cycle you are? Have you already ovulated?
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Keep me posted if you’ve found this informative!!!

Love and Light,

Odette

Fertility Awareness Fun Facts

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 08:44:00 +0000

I’ve been obsessed with women’s health and fertility. I feel that it’s my job to educate others about what our body is capable of.

So today, I want to provide you with some cool facts about your body!

My goals is to educate you so that you’ll treat your body with more respect! I often find that my clients (and myself) have a distorted view of the body. We don’t really know what our body is capable of and we don’t listen to it when it speaks to us.

So today I’m just sharing some interesting facts about our cycle health.

1. A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have!
You have about 6-7 million eggs before being born and this slowly declines with age. –> Theoretically, when your grandmother was carrying your mother in her womb, you were a teeny tiny egg in your mom’s ovaries.

2. We often believe that the bleed is the main event of a healthy cycle but ovulation is key! It only occurs on one day in a cycle. For ovulation, an egg needs to be released. You should typically notice a change in cervical fluid (stretchy, egg-white), slippery wiping sensation, cervix position or positive LH strip. If you’re not ovulating, then you’re not having a true cycle.

3. You are only fertile 6 days of your entire menstrual cycle. Men are fertile all the time!
5 days sperm survives in fertile cervical fluid + 1 day where the egg survives for 24 hours after ovulation = 6 days

4. Theoretically you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding full-time. This is because while breastfeeding, ovulation is suppressed due to prolactin being produced which suppresses the hormones that trigger ovulation.

5. Sorry ladies, but when we have sex on our periods we can get pregnant. There are some women who have short cycles and ovulate early. Combine this with the time that sperm survives in the womb waiting for an egg means that fertilisation can occur!

Feel free to reply to this email with any questions you have!

Love and Light,

Odette

Live about Fertility Awareness: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CP68IX6JV_2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link