Cycle Chart

The Best Cycle Chart for the Symptothermal Method for documenting the ovulation signs like cervical mucus, basal temperature to determine fertile days

The Cycle Chart with Download Optin in PDF

I want to explain our cycle chart to you a more detailed description of the rules to determine the fertile days you will find in my book. This will give you a little overview of what you can document and where to enter everything. I recommend that you document at least your first three cycles by filling in this cycle chart by hand. In our experience, this is how you will learn the most about your cycle and understand the methods the most quickly. Afterwards, of course, you can also enter the information in an app.

WHAT TO ENTER IN THE FERTILITY AWARENESS CYCLE CHART

cycle chart symptothermal method

Cycle Chart for the Symptothermal Method – download here

No. 1 Cycle number:

Here, enter the number of the current cycle. If it’s the first cycle that you are documenting, enter a “1.” In the second, enter a “2,” and so on.

No. 2 Bleeding:

The cycle begins with the first day of menstruation and ends one day before the next menstruation. That means that the first day of the cycle is the first day of bleeding, and you can indicate how heavy the bleeding is here with the corresponding symbol.

No. 3 Date:

The date of the first day of the cycle (beginning of bleeding) and all following days will be entered here.

No. 4 Measurement location:

Your temperature is one of the most important signs of ovulation and can be a clear indication of whether you have ovulated. It is measured for three minutes immediately after waking and before getting up in your mouth (oral), vagina (vaginal), or anus (rectal). You should consistently use one type of measurement throughout a cycle.

No. 5 Thermometer:

To measure your temperature, you need a special fertility awareness thermometer. There are digital fertility awareness thermometers with two decimal places of accuracy that are well suited to taking measurements, or you can use analogue basal thermometers made of glass. You should consistently use one thermometer throughout a cycle rather than changing between more than one to keep the temperature values comparable. You can find out more in Section 1.6.2.

No. 6 Time of measurement:

The time of measurement can have an influence on the basal temperature, which is why it is noted on all days in the cycle chart for which there is a measurement. If you always measure your temperature at the same time, you can enter it as a standard time at the beginning and just note any different times on the relevant dates.

No. 7 Basal temperature curve:

The measurement points are entered in the respective columns. You can find out more about temperature measurement in Section 1.3.3. The basal temperature that you have measured with the fertility awareness thermometer is entered as one point on every day that you have taken a measurement. In the process, it’s important that you round to the nearest .05 of a degree when using a digital thermometer (e.g. 36.53° C → 36.55° C or 36.52° C → 36.50°C). For American readers: You can document your temperature in °C or °F, but we recommend that you use °C. That’s because the Symptomal Method is based on this international standard. Don’t worry, it will be easy! Did you know that you can switch your digital thermometer between displaying in °F and °C? This means that it’s no problem to enter temperatures and convert between °F and °C, because your thermometer will do it automatically. The measurement points of neighboring days can be connected with each other, resulting in a basal temperature curve. If you forget a day now and then, this day is left empty, leaving a gap.

No. 8 Cervical mucus:

The quality of the cervical mucus is evaluated and entered according to its appearance and sensation. For example, you would enter a moist feeling at the entrance of your vagina as “moist” under “felt.” If you also saw white-ish mucus, you would enter “white-ish” under “saw.”

No. 9 Cervical mucus abbreviations (t, ø, f, S, S+):

To determine your fertile days, you will allocate a quality symbol to your cervical mucus according to what you saw and felt. In our example, the combination of ‘felt moist’ and ‘saw white-ish’ would result in the letter “S.” You can find a table of the symbols in Section 1.3.4.

No. 10 Cervix:

Instead of cervical mucus, you can use the cervix in combination with your basal temperature. The cervix is evaluated as being positioned high or low, the degree of openness is open or closed, and the degree of firmness is soft or hard.

No. 11 Midcycle pain:

Some women feel a subtle sensation in the lower stomach area near the time and place ovulation occurs – the midcycle pain. Midcycle pain should be documented with an M on the day that it occurs, because it is another sign of ovulation that, when taken in combination with observing your cervical mucus and your basal temperature, helps to determine the time of ovulation.

No. 12 Breast signs:

In the luteal phase, after ovulation, many women notice a tenderness in their breasts. This breast symptom can show you even more clearly that you are in the phase after ovulation.

No. 13 Ovulation Dreams:

If you have had an erotic dream in your most fruitful period, then enter a heart with a D for dream in the night it happened.

No. 14 Ovulation Tests:

Have you done an ovulation test? If you have a positive test result, you can enter a plus sign (+) in this cell, and for a negative test, you can enter a minus sign (-).

No. 15 Sex

Enter an X if you have had unprotected intercourse. If it was sex without ejaculation in the vagina, you can also enter it in parentheses (X).

No. 16 The 1st hM

Enter the number of the day of the cycle on which you had your first higher measurement (1 hM) in the current cycle.

No. 17 Evaluation help

If you are not sure how to evaluate your temperature, look at the overview to learn how to correctly evaluate your curve.

No. 18 Calculated date of birth

Here, you can use the date of your 1 hM to calculate the estimated birth date (delivery date).

No. 19 Cycle days

The “Cycle days” cell helps to orient the timing of your cycle.

No. 20 Special circumstances

Enter any special circumstances that could influence your temperature here.

No. 21 Help with rounding

If you are using a digital thermometer for your measurements, you must round the numbers before entering them. Help with rounding will show you the correct number.

No. 22 Fertility

Enter a big “F” in this cell when you are fertile.

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