What’s The Moon Got To Do With It?

It’s been over a year since I’ve done much writing here. So much has happened for me during that time; mostly slow and behind the scenes, in person versus online – in business, body and life. The biggest milestone has been adding a new baby boy {Felix Austin} to our brood! He is the biggest joy, boasts a smile and twinkling eyes that will melt your heart (speaking from a totally non-bias perspective 😉 and his favorite person is definitely big brother Will. 

I know for all of us, so many things are in flux right now. I want you to know that I am here to support you. Community and connection are everything to me, and I am so grateful to share this space with you.

Today I am specifically popping in to touch base and let you in on a shift my business has been slowly making over the last 4 years. My work in the “health & fitness world” began as a fitness instructor ten years ago. After earning my holistic health coaching certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in 2013, I added healthy lifestyle and nutrition coaching to the mix. Fast forward to now and the majority of my work is helping women align the way they live, exercise, eat, work, mother and connect to the incredible, {mostly untapped} power of their feminine cycle. This life-changing shift ignites more ease, flow & joy, and allows for a more grace-filled + enjoyable way of living that we all crave.

So, buckle up buttercup, because today, I’m going to be share a taste of my work and why it’s vital for all women to tap into their hormonal advantage – always, but especially right now.

You see, the modern // mainstream approach to happiness and wellness (fitness + food included) simply put, does NOT work for women. Why? Because of our unique physiology! I love this analogy to highlight how men and women are different and accordingly why we need different paradigms from which to live:

• Men are like the SUN hormonally – repeating an entire cycle every 24 hours. Lifestyle and food factors that influence how one feels aside, men can expect the same energy, mental capacity and performance from their body & mind daily. It’s consistent, predictable. The way our society has been built – from the way we work, how we’re taught to goal set & achieve, to the diets we’re prescribed and the workouts we’re told are “the most effective” – centers around this 24 hour clock. This 24 hour clock is what we know as the CIRCADIAN RHYTHM. 

• Women, on the other hand, are like the MOON. We are different EVERY. DAY. Every day over your 28-35 day average cycle, your hormones are CHANGING. And contrary to popular belief, this is ALSO predictable – just on a different time table than men. Each day the moon rises, she’s a different shape, size & energy. The female body mimics this design and throughout your cycle, YOU also wake up each day with DIFFERENT, cyclical: energy, cognitive super powers, relational & productivity strengths and physical needs (to name a few).
  • Like the MOON’s four distinct phases – new moon, waxing, full moon & waning, we also have four distinct phases to our MENSTRUAL cycle – menstruation, follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase; which ALSO happen to align & mimic the four SEASONS of the Earth – winter, spring, summer & fall. I know. Like WHOA, right?
  • And guess what else? During our reproductive years (over half our lives)!, women have their OWN, second biological clock from which we operate – the INFRADIAN clock // rhythm – which is the length of our personal menstrual cycle, versus the cycle of a single day (before puberty and after menopause, we return to the circadian clock to guide our bodies). This clock and the hormone fluctuations we experience over the course of our cycle impact everything we experience, feel and do as women (even when we’re unaware of it). It’s the reason we feel and ARE different every day we wake (physically, emotionally, mentally and relationally).
  • And it’s for these reasons, that women need an entirely different blueprint from which we operate in order to FEEL our best and not be *fighting* our body’s innate design. 

As a woman, it’s really important for you to know & understand this because the current world we live in wasn’t built for how YOU ARE BUILT biologically and physiologically. And all the lifestyle, productivity, diet and exercise “hacks”, advice or best practices the mainstream media is telling you comes from studies done on MEN (typically ages 18-22). Women are rarely included in studies because our menstrual cycle makes data “complicated” and “unpredictable” (when really, we just need to be studied based around our menstrual cycle and because we are different than men during our reproductive years). I know. Mind blown, right?

 

Or perhaps you’re feeling a bit skeptical and wondering, “If this is true, why have I never heard this before?” A valid question. And one that I found myself mulling over when I first came across this conversation four years ago. I’m not going to sugar coat it – when you start to live in alignment with the four distinct phases of your cycle, it is LIFE-CHANGING. You will awaken pieces of your body, mind and spirit that cause you to live more and do less. And you’ll find that lots of little “knowings” you’ve had (but ignored) or things you’ve “noticed” (but couldn’t find a pattern to them) all. start. to make. sense.

 

If you’re like me, you’re probably wanting some specific examples of HOW the Infradian rhythm affects your health, right? I’ve got you. First up: Have you ever experienced feeling super energized + light in your body, “killing” your workouts one week, then the next week find yourself STRUGGLING, with low energy? Your motivation went on vacation & you’re thinking, “why can’t I stick with something?” You don’t know why you’re feeling sluggish in the workout you soared through days ago and you wonder: “WTF is wrong with ME and why can’t I perform or feel the same consistently?” You’re frustrated with your body and the negative thoughts keep going. Or worse yet, you’re finding that despite “eating clean” // dieting and working out consistently (and hard), you’re gaining weight or at the very least literally making no progress. Been there? Yeah, me too. 
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Let me silence that inner critic with a little known secret – the REASON for this (totally common, but not normal) swing in motivation, performance, body composition and energy? Yep, you guessed it. Your physiology. As a female, your body aligns with different types of workouts at different times throughout your cycle; which is why you’ve likely experienced feeling “awesome” doing something one week, then totally frustrated with your (lack of) performance doing the SAME THING the next. 
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For pre-menopausal women, working out *the same* every day or even having the same weekly routine on repeat will do one of two things – DEPLETE us OR foster a RESTLESS, STUCK & ANXIOUS energy (depending on HOW you’re working out and what movement you’re doing WHEN in your cycle).
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If you want to feel best in your body, it’s key to shift the focus or modality of your workouts with the 4 distinct menstrual // moon phases or “seasons” of your cycle and between your low and high hormone phases. Crossfit or heavy strength training? Only works for about ⅓ of your cycle (before menopause). Running – about half. Pilates or barre – same. HIIT – about ⅓.

 

And here’s one thing mainstream media or the fitness industry *definitely* doesn’t tell you (or know) – that IF you do high intensity // high impact interval training or heavy weight lifting during the wrong part of your cycle, you’ll turn ON fat storage and muscle wasting. Yikes!

 

Let me give you another example – just in case you’re still not totally buying in. 🙂 Let’s talk about food. A woman’s body metabolizes carbohydrates & fat differently between the high & low hormone phases of her cycle. So what does this mean for you? Diet trends like Paleo // Keto // Intermittent Fasting (and many others) work *against* your metabolism in the long run because they only physiologically align with half your cycle. And for the record, women don’t do well on super low-carb diets.
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Ultimately, most diets (the above included) end up down-regulating your endocrine system (aka messing up your hormones), suppressing the thyroid and spiking cortisol / stress – which all undermine your efforts to feel your BEST + get results you desire (I learned this science from @drstacysims).
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In addition, things like alcohol, coffee and sugar are ALSO metabolized better in one phase of your cycle and can trigger fat storage during the other. And for every “season” // phase of your cycle, specific foods best support your biology + hormones (@alisa.vitti taught me this):
? Spring // Follicular = fermented foods
? Summer // Ovulation = raw foods
? Fall // Luteal = root vegetables
? Winter // Menstruation = healthy fats.

 

You might also be wondering: “Why is this relevant right now?” If there’s anything that’s become super clear during this pandemic, it’s that our health – specifically our immunity, matters. And as women, our immunity is directly impacted by our cycle; particularly by how we exercise, eat and live (aka our lifestyle). For instance, we boast better immunity during the first half of our cycle, but it takes a natural dip during the second half (a protective mechanism for possible pregnancy so your body doesn’t attack the fetus), so it’s vital we support the second half of our cycle – the luteal phase – in a way that doesn’t deplete our body, thus making us more vulnerable to colds & infections. Simple ways we deplete? Inadequate sleep, over-consuming sugar // caffeine // alcohol // dairy // gluten, over-extending ourselves re: commitments, not finishing tasks we started (aka being stretched too thin), HIIT exercise or high impact activities, high levels of chronic (constant) stress.

Most of us have been taught that our menstrual cycle affects only our reproductive health – so we tend to ignore it until we “need it” (to have children), but according to Alisa Vitti – creator of the cycle syncing method and author of the must-read book In The Flo, the Infradian rhythm affects EVERY BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF YOUR BODY:

1. The Brain
2. The Immune System
3. Your Metabolism
4. Your Microbiome (gut health)
5. Your Stress Response

Is it starting to make sense now why attending to your unique female biology and physiology is so important? The world has taught you to look outside our bodies to figure out how to eat, how to exercise, how to work and how to live. It’s told you that you must fit into the “box of the circadian rhythm” that dictates you be the same every day (which, as you can see, you are not). Are you starting to understand now why this is such a harmful paradigm for women during our reproductive years? Can you imagine how your life would’ve been different if at puberty, you were told:

 

“Your body is about to change in the most amazing way. Soon, you are going to wake up feeling different every day on every level – physically, mentally, emotionally and relationally. The world will tell you that this isn’t normal, but it IS. So it’s important to begin the ritual of checking IN with your amazing body daily – to ask “What do I need today?” For in this cycle lies your unique feminine strengths & gifts that you didn’t have access to before this moment. Your body will never betray you, she is here to guide you towards becoming your truest self. Trust her, and know that everything you feel and know inside is both important to feel and REAL. You can ignore every diet and exercise trend; and anything else that teaches you that you need to CHANGE your body, to shrink, to be smaller or not take up space. All you need to access your inner knowing, to tap into your power is to turn INward.”

Just take that in for a moment. For me – if I would’ve known that I was meant to feel a huge spectrum of emotions – that this was both normal and good, and through these I was able to experience life to its fullest, maybe I wouldn’t have grown up feeling misunderstood and like I needed to be so independent; perhaps I would’ve learned sooner to ask for help and lean on my “sisters” (friends & family) instead of believing that I could and had to figure things out on my own. Maybe I also would’ve found a healthier way to express anger. If I had known that my body was on my side, not something to manipulate, but a partner rather – perhaps I would’ve sought out a more gentle approach to everything: to nourishing with food (versus dictating & restricting), to energizing with movement (versus pushing & over-exerting), to following my creativity and passions (versus believing my worth lay in my productivity, so I always had to be “doing” versus allowing space to be), and to know that ALL of us women were MEANT to be and look different – and it was our differences that were cause for celebration and collaboration (versus comparing, criticizing and excluding).

How would it have been different for you?

For all of these reasons and examples – now more than ever, I think aligning your life with the feminine is crucial. Did you know that 50% of all women have some degree of hormone dysfunction right now? And that hormone dysfunction leads to painful & heavy periods, uncomfortable & downright miserable PMS, skin issues, gut dysbiosis, brain fog, migraines, extreme fatigue, weight gain and stubborn weight – to name just a few. We have more “resources” on health, wellness, nutrition and exercise than ever before, yet this information isn’t creating better health for us, in fact, quite the opposite. One in four women will get a full-blown autoimmune disease ten years postpartum after their first baby and infertility rates are on the rise.

For so long, women have been working & living from the space: “I can do everything a man does and more.” And in many ways, this has served us – we’ve accomplished so much. But I also see that we are exhausted, burned out, struggling with energy, body weight, self worth and work-life “balance” in a way that our male counterparts are not. What gives?

I think perhaps that in trying to do things like a man, we’ve abandoned the power and immense value of doing things like a woman. We’ve ignored our biology and silenced the place where our power lives – INSIDE us. Even we women have accepted and subscribed to the idea that we have to BE like a man in order to achieve equality. But there’s one problem here – women are not small men. I’ll say it again: WOMEN. ARE. NOT. SMALL. MEN {shoutout to Stacy Sims for this amazing catch phase & truth}. 

I think the next step in revolutionizing our lives (and the world around us) starts by stepping back into our bodies and forging a way of living, working and being that fully supports who we are (biologically & physiologically) AND what we’re here to do in the world. {For more insight on my call to feminism and aligning with the feminine, click HERE and listen to this video}. 

So if you’ve ever felt: “there has to be a better // easier // more joyful way” to feel how you want in a life and body you LOVE, you’re right – there IS. And if you’re interested in learning more, stay tuned. It’s my goal to bring this female-focused framework to ALL of you, so you can start working WITH your body’s physiology, not against it. Ladies: I think it’s time we took back our bodies and started leveraging our hormonal advantage (as cycle syncing queen Alisa Vitti says). 

I’m so excited to share this work with you. If this resonated with you (or blew your mind 🙂 and you feel called, PLEASE share with your friends, co-workers, neighbors, sisters, community and family. One thing I’m always wondering – how would my life, my youth, my teens & twenties been different had I known this information? I know for sure that in place of self-loathing, body issues, always chasing the next big diet or exercise trend and trying to fit myself into a box that is totally out of alignment with my female biology (which takes up SO much headspace, right?!) — I could’ve offered my younger self up a lot more grace, love, empathy, ease and joy. All the things we DESERVE and NEED, right now.

My hope for you, as we share this space, is to never have to look outside yourself for answers again.

So that you don’t miss a beat of this evolving conversation or my work, make sure you’re subscribed to my mailing list (and follow my Instagram & Facebook) so that you never miss a blog post, recipe, healthy lifestyle tip or workout – all created with your unique female body in mind. And if you’re interested in learning more about aligning your life with your feminine cycle NOW or desire to become a client of mine, please don’t hesitate to reach out: whitney@macksmo.com.

Next week I’ll be sharing WHERE IT ALL BEGAN for me. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you: how would knowing this information have changed things for you? Does it change your perspective moving forward? Do you have any other questions? We’re in this together. I’m here for you and I love you. xoxo. – W

 

PS: If this *didn’t* resonate with you, feel free to unsubscribe from my mailing list. I wish you the best and appreciate all the support you’ve given me over the years. Big hugs.

 

PPS: I want to give credit to my amazing mentors and the trailblazers in this conversation who began my journey into + continue to expand my knowledge in this work: Sarah Jenks, Alisa Vitti, Kate Northrup, Claire Baker and Dr. Stacy Sims. Your work has changed my life. I am forever grateful.

Photos by: me, my dear friend Heather Brincko and the wonderful Kate Porter.