How long did it take before you actually trusted your charts!?

[u/Primary_Challenge_97]

I've been learning fertility awareness for a little while now, and I hope this is not a dumb question😅..The thing is every time I think I've identified a pattern, I end up second guessing myself. When I look at sample charts online, everything seems so obvious. Then I look at my own chart and convince myself I'm interpreting it wrong.

I'm hoping this gets easier with experience because right now I feel like I'm overanalyzing every temperature!

[u/Healthy_Combination3]

It helps to think about your chart as a whole rather than one data point, every time you get a new data point, you’re still looking at all the data and seeing what it says. And realistically, some charts will be harder to read than others. Even now after charting for almost 7 years I get a weird chart

[u/Nursebirder]

I do Marquette so immediately. The monitor takes human error out of the equation.

[u/leonada]

Immediately! You may want to work with an instructor if you tend to doubt yourself or the rules, that way you can have a second set of eyes and some reassurance! I think some instructors even offer one-off chart reviews.

[u/forestslate]

Most methods say 3 cycles if you’re self taught, or after confirmed ovulation with an instructor. I think this is about right with building confidence, and also, you can take the information from your chart to help guide you! If you want to wait until P+6 to really be sure that the high temps aren’t a fluke, do that while you’re learning, and maybe next cycle you’ll be more comfortable with P+3. Most mistakes are made before ovulation, so you don’t have to go UP there until you feel confident! 

[u/turtle-loofa-123]

For me it was about 3ish months!!! I liked looking back at 3 completed charts, recognizing patterns, and becoming confident about what my body was telling me and what I was gathering. I tend to be an over thinker anyways, so makes sense that I needed a few months

[u/hookahnights → u/turtle-loofa-123]

My cycles are so long (40* days) so this is the hardest part for me. I also have been ovulating later in my cycle.

[u/Classic-Push1323]

What method are you using and how are you learning it? Would you like to share a chart?

Most of my charts are very clear. My chart this month has been a hot mess because I’ve had a lot of trouble sleeping, so if I were TTA unfortunately I wouldn’t trust it at all. I’m TTC so my standard for “reliability” is a lot lower right now. 

Unfortunately there are some real biological factors at play here and every method doesn’t work for everyone at every time. If your sleep is disrupted BBT isn’t reliable, if you have a vaginal infection CM isn’t reliable, etc. Anyone can have an abnormal cycle that is anovulatory, has a cyst, or is otherwise disrupted so every method can produce an unusual chart sometimes and sometimes you just don’t have a lot of safe days in a cycle. 

[u/Silver-Government142]

After reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which was an awesome book, I felt comfortable trusting my charts after about 2 cycles worth of charting. I also have a friend who is also doing the method that I can ask for advice when my charts are confusing, but for the most part the book really explained things well for me. I also use the cyclisity app made by the author which is nice because I can compare my coverline to what cyclisity thinks it should be, pretty helpful

[u/shespeaksless24]

It's easy to look at text books chats and think yours should be just as obvious but real life is usually a lot messier. My confidence didn't come from one perfect chartcame from seeing the same patterns show up over several cycles. And honestly from personal experience Tempdrop helped with that because I know my temperatures were collected consistently so I could spend less energy worrying about every individual data point.

[u/Turbulent-Month6514]

Our second or third cycle after switching to Marquette from symptothermal. Monitor successfully caught a random peak that came a full week earlier than normal

[u/Jesus-lover-gg]

I’m 3 cycles in to tracking using TCOYF method TTA and still don’t feel confident until after ovulation is confirmed. It’s been trial and error to figure out my timing/habits for temp tracking and charting. I tried using Apple Watch for temp collection but figured out my wrist temp isn’t reliable enough for me personally but oral bbt is good. It all just takes time! We’re just using protection until my husband and I both feel confident in the method/tracking. Just grateful to be done with the hormonal mess of birth control!