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Menstruation ​

About half the GLP-1 audience is women, but most trackers ignore that the menstrual cycle changes how the body responds to almost everything — appetite, water retention, insulin sensitivity, mood. This system tracks your cycle and feeds it into the simulation.

What you'll see ​

If menstruation is enabled, the Log page shows a small banner with:

  • Current cycle day (e.g., "Cycle day 14").
  • Current phase (menstrual / follicular / ovulation / luteal).
  • Days until next period (countdown).

The banner replaces a generic "today's date" header on the Log page when the feature is on.

Setup ​

  1. Profile → Settings → Tracking → Menstruation.
  2. Enable.
  3. Enter:
    • Last period start — first day of your most recent period.
    • Cycle length — how many days between starts. Default 28; the app accepts 20–45.
    • Period length — how many days you bleed. Default 5; range 1–10.
    • Luteal phase length — second half of cycle. Default 14; range 10–20.
  4. Save.

You don't need to be perfectly regular. The app uses your average cycle length as a baseline; if you're irregular (PCOS, perimenopause, post-partum), the math gracefully handles cycles that land 7+ days early or late.

Logging a new period ​

When your period starts:

  1. Log page → cycle banner → Start period today (or pick a different date).
  2. The app updates "last period start" and recomputes everything downstream.

The "Start period" option only appears in plausible windows — within ~7 days of the expected next period, or when you have no anchor yet. The mid-follicular window hides it (a fresh start there isn't biologically plausible).

Phase math ​

The four phases are defined relative to your cycle:

  • Menstrual — days 1 through your period length (default: days 1–5).
  • Follicular — period end through ovulation−1.
  • Ovulation — a 3-day window centered on cycleLength − lutealPhaseLength. For a 28-day cycle with 14-day luteal, that's days 13–15.
  • Luteal — ovulation+2 through end of cycle.

If your cycle runs over its expected length, the math wraps — cycle day 32 of an "expected 28" cycle is treated as day 4 of the next.

Predictions ​

The app predicts:

  • Next period date = anchor + cycle length, advancing if past.
  • Next ovulation date = next cycle start + (cycleLength − lutealPhaseLength).

These are just averages projected forward. They're not contraception-grade. If you're tracking for fertility purposes, use a dedicated tool with temperature, cervical mucus, and LH testing.

Notifications ​

If notifications are enabled, the app can alert you a configurable number of days before your next period:

  1. Profile → Notifications → Cycle.
  2. Toggle on.
  3. Pick lead time (default: 2 days before).

The reminder fires once per cycle.

How cycle affects the simulation ​

The simulation reads:

  • Sex = female, and
  • Menstruation enabled, and
  • Last period start + cycle length + luteal length.

From those, it computes your current cycle day and phase, and applies phase-specific adjustments:

  • Insulin sensitivity — varies across the cycle (typically higher follicular, lower luteal).
  • Cortisol baseline — shifts with hormonal context.
  • Glucose disposal — affected by progesterone in luteal.
  • Water retention — predictable luteal effect.

Concrete example: a fixed-calorie day late luteal vs early follicular produces different predicted glucose and insulin responses. The dashboard chart will show the difference if you compare.

Common reactions ​

"My cycle is wildly irregular — does this still work?" The app uses your provided cycle length as a baseline but doesn't punish irregularity. If you get a period 35 days into a 28-day cycle, log the new start; the cycle resets. The simulation uses whatever the current cycle's anchor and length are.

"I'm post-menopausal." Disable menstruation. The simulation handles post-menopausal physiology when sex=female and menstruation is off.

"I'm on hormonal contraception or HRT." This complicates things. If your contraception suppresses ovulation entirely (most combined pills, hormonal IUDs after a few months), turning menstruation off and tracking hormones in Bloodwork is more accurate. If you have breakthrough bleeding patterns that approximate a cycle, you can track them, but understand the model is fitting to apparent cycle phases that may not reflect underlying physiology.

"I want to track period symptoms specifically." Add custom symptoms: "cramping," "PMS mood," "breast tenderness," etc. They'll show up alongside everything else in the symptom log.

Privacy ​

Cycle data is sensitive personal data. Stored encrypted, against your account only, never used in cross-user analytics. Included in export and removed on deletion.

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