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I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Welcome to I’m Hormonal — the podcast where we make sense of your bloating, brutal PMS, and missing periods… without blaming it all on “just stress” or “being a woman.”
Hosted by Bridget Walton, Women’s Hormone Coach, this show is your no-BS guide to decoding your cycle, calming your gut, and actually balancing your hormones (not just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best).
Each week, we break down what no one taught you about hormones, nutrition, and gut health in your 30s — especially if you're tired of guessing what your body is trying to tell you.
Expect solo episodes packed with real talk and root-cause tools, plus the occasional expert guest to help you feel less confused and more in control.
Because you deserve better periods, better digestion, and a better shot at getting pregnant — without burning out trying to figure it all out alone.
I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Why Your Cycle Length Is Your Fertility Crystal Ball | Ep. 129
👉 Ready to fix your hormones for good? Apply for 1:1 coaching at imhormonal.com/goals
I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.
If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.
On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.
This episode explores the connection between gut health and fertility, irregular cycles and conception, ovulation problems, reproductive health, and how to improve cycle regularity naturally. Learn why your menstrual cycle length predicts fertility issues before you start trying to conceive.
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Hey, there, you are listening to episode number 129 of I'm Hormonal and I'm your host, bridget Walton. I'm so excited that you're here with me today. We're going to be talking more about cycle lengths and, like, what does that even mean when your cycle is really long or really short? Or what if it's long one month and then short the next month? Like, why do we care about that? This is definitely something you should care about if you would like to conceive, yes, but also it's such a good way to get a grip not get a grip, oh my gosh, but to like get a feel for what is your body going through? How can you support your body? So in this mini episode, I'm going to recap what are the kind of red flags that I want you to keep like in the back of your mind if you ever need them or maybe you're listening to this episode because you have wonky psycholinks. Hopefully this will be a really helpful guide for you to say okay, here are a couple of things I can do or like. All right, I really got to figure this out, so let's jump into those red flags or these numbers that I want you to remember, because let's talk first about short cycles, then we'll look at long cycles, then we'll look at irregular cycles, so short cycles. If your cycle and that's from the first day of one period to the first day of your next period, if your cycle and that's from the first day of one period to the first day of your next period, if your cycle is less than 21 days, she is a certified shorty. I would say, though, if you are trying to conceive, or if that's what you're kind of prepping your hormones for, then you want to be more like in the 25 day cycle range, at least, when your cycles are shorter than that, or just like generally on the shorter side. That's telling you one of a couple things Like could be that ovulation is really quite weak. Maybe you ovulated, but there wasn't that much progesterone getting pumped out, and so that's why your cycle, or rather your next cycle, your period, might start a bit earlier. Could also be that ovulation didn't happen at all and you just built up enough lining in your endometrium that it was like okay, time to time to shed this out, time to move on to the next. So those are just a couple of a couple of things to look for next. So those are just a couple of a couple of things to look for, and just well, the thing to look for being, if your cycle is shorter than 21 days, um, let's figure out why. And if it's shorter than 25 days, like, how can we, how can we juice that up a little bit? How can we support a stronger ovulation? That's the task I've got for you Now.
Speaker 1:Next, looking at long cycles If your cycle is longer than 35 days, that's definitely a long one. I would say, though, to kind of looking at what is the optimal range. If your cycle is regularly more than about 31 days, you want to say, okay, like what's happening here, why is the cycle so relatively long? What can contribute to this could be also a lack of ovulation. Kind of confusing, uh, annoying, perhaps, that a lack of ovulation could result in a short cycle or a long cycle like how do we know what's going on? I'll comeulation could result in a short cycle or a long cycle, like how do we know what's going on? I'll come back to that in a second here, but another thing that can contribute to it could be a delayed ovulation. So, if you have a lot of stress, if there's some inflammation, if there's like well, I guess those are the two main factors really Stress, inflammation. Inflammation causes stress. You know that can certainly delay ovulation or otherwise send the signal to your body that like hey, dude, we don't need to risk making another human right now, so we'll just delay this whole operation.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're somebody who has, like you're like well, my cycles are short one month and then long the next. I don't know why there probably is an inconsistent pattern of ovulation, so kind of like a mix of the both. Are you ovulating at all? Like is there some stress that's maybe delaying it? How do we help support ovulation to make it more consistent? Maybe that's a matter of like focusing on your nutrition and saying, hey, here's some kind of missing components of your diet that we want to fill in.
Speaker 1:This is something I get really specific with my one-on-one clients with, and especially because I mean a lot of folks like we all think we're eating pretty well, but we all have our blind spots. That's okay, and if you want to get your hormones back in shape, you've got to really get that dialed in. So that's one big area that I work with clients on. Now. The other big area, too, is looking at stress because, again, it's so like omnipresent. Let me actually, because I feel like I really talk about stress all the time. I want to talk about stress specifically as it relates to gut health, because a lot of my clients are really shocked to learn that their gut health does impact their fertility, right, learned that their gut health does impact their fertility, right?
Speaker 1:When we're thinking of gut health, it's like, okay, well, how well am I digesting my food? But also, you know, do I have bloating? What is that telling me? Do I have a stomach ache? What is that telling me? Do I have heartburn? What is that telling me? Do I feel like super heavy? Or do I have to, like, run to the bathroom if I eat, you know, certain type of food? What is that telling me? You see where I'm going with this. But this is all building up the picture of how is your digestion like operating as a whole, and is there any type of imbalance? Is there any type of inflammation? Because that's, you know, like not uncommon, especially here, where we all live in the US. It's like I mean, I don't have any actual stats on this, but I'm just, you know, I'm like, do we all, does anybody have good gut health, like, without doing a gut health protocol first, man, somebody send me a DM, if you would, if you have any insights into that, but I just anyway, okay, I'll get off this soapbox. This is all to say, though, that if your gut health is compromised, maybe you have an overgrowth of certain bacteria, like there are certain opportunistic bacteria that will kind of take over if given the chance that chance maybe being stress or when you had to take those antibiotics or something else high sugar diet that can then lead to a whole heap of inflammation, which then drives up cortisol and that disrupts ovulation.
Speaker 1:I have a client who we started working together. Her cycles were quite long after she got off of hormonal birth control. Her cycles were just like, I mean, up to even. She had one anyway, like a hundred plus days. Specific details aside, we implemented a gut protocol for her and brought her cycle back down to. She had one in like a 30 something day range. She had to take antibiotics for like an unrelated kind of infection, and then her gut got a little bit cray cray after that. Again, that is the technical term cray cray, right, when you take antibiotics, it can certainly kill off some bacteria, even if they're good, and it can inadvertently allow for overgrowth of again those opportunistic or pathogenic bacteria.
Speaker 1:And so we had to start back over, kind of from square one, to say, okay, let's get your gut health back in good shape, how do we nourish your digestive system? And going through that process is what has made the most gains for her. That's where we've seen the most change as it relates to her cycle length, bringing it back down into a normal range. So just one example, if that's new for you, because again, a lot of the gals I work with they're like why are you asking me about my poop? Even Like, what does that have to do with my period? But I'll just mention this one last time and I'll be done for the day with this statement. But your gut health will absolutely impact your hormonal health, for better or for worse. So being aware of how your gut is faring like uh, would recommend strong recommendation.
Speaker 1:Um, if you are somebody who's planning to conceive within the next two years, probably a good idea to start addressing any cycle irregularities right now, any digestive irregularities right now. There can be a compound effect over time, surely right, like most things in life your hormonal issues or your cycle issues they will rarely fix themselves. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but they do oftentimes get worse with stress and aging as you have more responsibilities at work or you have maybe a different type of relationship than before. That requires more time and energy, or whatever the amazing and strong and bold and brave things that you gals are out there doing. That's just a site.
Speaker 1:You have to prioritize your health and your wellness because it's so easy to let the other things really be front of mind. So that's me. I'm just cheering you on over here. I know that you are already doing this. You're listening to this podcast because you want to learn how to support your hormones. And so well, prioritizing yourself, setting good boundaries, like asking yourself what do you really need that's a good way to start. So I love that for you. Let me know. Let me know what your first. You know steps are where you want to start with that first. You know steps are where you want to start with that.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is just a shorty episode, so let me wrap up by just recapping some of these red flags. So, if your cycles are varying by more than four days from month to month, if you have a cycle that's really like under 25 days and you want to conceive, or over like 31, 32 days and you want to conceive, then that would be a good signal for you that hey, it's time. It's time to get things back on track. It's time to do something different than the way that you've been doing things before. If you want to see a change in your health, in your hormones, in your menstrual cycle, you can't keep doing the same things that you've been doing.
Speaker 1:If that sounds like you at all, if you would love to have a really clear set of guidance about what to eat not meal plans, we're not getting that crazy but if you want to understand, okay, where are the gaps in my nutrition? Where's the gap with my sleep, with my stress? What do I need to know when it comes to blood sugar? Go ahead and click the link in the show notes to book a free strategy. Call with me. We can talk about what your goals are. What does a one-on-one personalized hormone coaching package look like and how can we help you get to your goals sooner? Right, help me, help you catalyze that transformation.
Speaker 1:So that's it for me today. Thank you again for listening. Send me a DM on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal If you have any questions or thoughts, I would really love to hear from you, and I'll see you on the next one. If you loved today's episode and got something good out of it, make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed. No work needed on your side, let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes. All right, we'll see you on the next one.