The cycle syncing trap

This post is going to be controversial. I know.

You probably didn’t expect this from me. When you see “The Sync Way,” you think I’m all about cycle syncing, right? The name literally has “sync” in it so of course you’d think that’s what I preach.

Traditional cycle syncing doesn’t really cut it and I’m going to tell you exactly why.

Why I’m Writing This

I appreciate cycle syncing for what it did for me, it brought me into this world. It made me curious about the menstrual cycle and it made me start digging.

And the more I dug, the more cracks I saw in this philosophy.

So today, I want to bust some ideas (maybe not myths, but definitely ideas) that get you excited when you’re new to this.

Because when you first come across cycle syncing, it sounds amazing, right?

Redesign your entire life based on the 4 phases of your cycle and start eating differently, work out differently, socialize differently, live differently.

The principle behind it, namely “design your life in sync with your female design” is right but the execution is not really gonna work for everyone.

My Perspective

I’ve been in this space for about 6 years.

And when I say I dug, I mean I DUG 🤓.

Not only my certifications in hormone and menstrual health but hundreds of studies on the menstrual cycle, hormones, and how everything works in the body. Tons of books from the most well-known specialists, PhDs, and doctors in nutrition, exercise physiology, metabolic health, hormone health, you name it.

I’ve tested cycle syncing on myself and I’ve watched thousands of women try it. I’ve seen what works and more importantly, I’ve seen what doesn’t.

What I’m about to tell you is going to save you a lot of time, a lot of frustration and a lot of self-blame when cycle syncing “doesn’t work” for you.

I hope you’re ready for it…

What Cycle Syncing Actually Is

Before I give you the juice, let me give you the fastest possible summary of cycle syncing so we’re all on the same page.

(You can dig deeper yourself there are plenty of books and resources. But here’s the gist.)

The concept was originally coined by 🔗Alisa Vitti.

Though honestly, the core idea existed waaaaay before that. If you think about how we evolved as humans, how life is organized in natural cycles, this was something women intuitively did. Not with a set of rules, but naturally.

Look at nature: Animals have hibernation cycles; plants have seasons; everything in nature is cyclical. I gave a masterclass on this topic back in September last year 🔗I’ll link the recording here for you.

So it’s ingrained deeply within our core nature as humans to live more cyclically, especially for us as women.

But Alisa was the one who gave it a name and created a set of rules around it. (She’s also the one who got me interested in all of this in the first place)

The basic idea is that the menstrual cycle is divided into 4 main phases based on how hormones fluctuate:

Because these hormones impact EVERYTHING in your body, cognition, digestion, energy levels, motivation, metabolism, you’re supposed to adjust your lifestyle based on what your body actually needs in each phase.

So for each phase, your body supposedly needs:

• Different nutrients (nutrition)
• Different types of movement (workouts)
• Different ways of socializing and working

Cycle syncing, as most people understand it and put it into practice, comes with:

• A list of foods for each phase
• A list of workouts for each phase
• A list of ways to optimize your social life and work based on where you are in your cycle

That’s the idea.

Sounds great, right? So what’s the problem?

When You First Discover Cycle Syncing

I’m sure that when you first came across “cycle syncing” something in your life wasn’t really working. Maybe you didn’t feel confident in your body, maybe your periods were horrible, maybe your diet wasn’t clicking, or your energy was unpredictable. Maybe your job felt draining and you kept thinking about quitting, starting something new, changing direction.

If that’s true… it’s clear. You’re someone who’s not satisfied staying where you are. And that’s ok, it’s how we are designed as humans.

Because there IS a gap between where we are and where we want to be… there’s this burning desire within us to grow, to change, to become more.

And for growth to happen, something has to change.

“Doing the same thing and expecting different results? That’s the definition of insanity” (Einstein said that. Or at least the internet says he did)

(If you want to understand why we have this constant pursuit of growth, I wrote about it in a previous post. It’ll help you understand why you feel this burning desire to change)

Why Cycle Syncing Feels So Validating

So when cycle syncing enters your world, it feels like the answer. Because suddenly, you have SO MUCH new information.

Most of us didn’t know much about the menstrual cycle beyond “you get a period once a month.”

Now you’re finding out you have different phases. And those phases explain EVERYTHING:

• Why your moods swing so dramatically
• Why your energy is up one week and gone the next
• Why your libido changes
• Why even your facial features shift
• Why the way you feel about yourself and the way you internalize the world fluctuates across one month

You feel immediately validated. Like someone finally explained what’s been happening inside you your whole life.

So you’re sucked in.

And again, the core idea behind the philosophy is fantastic: Align your life with your hormonal fluctuations.

But here’s where it goes wrong.

But Here’s the Core Flaw

Everything you do as a human being runs on habits.

A habit is a repetitive action you do consistently over time until your brain registers it as automatic. Until you don’t have to think about it anymore.

Our entire lives are built on habits.

So if we go back to the previous idea of closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be… this means that you need a new set of habits to get you there!

So, if you want to feel more confident in your body, you need a new set of habits.

If you want less pain during your period, you need a new set of habits.

You can apply this with anything.

James Clear, the author of 🔗Atomic Habits, said something that completely changed how I look at building habits that ACTUALLY help you get where you wanna be. He’s talking about this one mistake most people make. Optimising before standardizing.

Here’s what he means:

A habit must be established before it can be improved. You have to make it the standard in your life before you can optimize it and scale it up.

“Most of the time, we’re so focused on finding the perfect workout plan, the ideal diet, the best sales strategy, the perfect business idea. We’re so focused on optimizing that we don’t give ourselves permission to show up in the small way. But if you can’t master the art of going to the gym for 5 minutes, 4 days a week, who cares how good the 45-minute workout plan is? It’s just a theory at that point.”

Master showing up first. THEN optimize.

Get the habit established as your standard before you try to make it perfect or scale it up.

What This Means for Cycle Syncing

Here’s where cycle syncing becomes a trap for most women:

You’re trying to optimize a lifestyle you haven’t even stabilized yet.

You’re trying to cycle sync your workouts when you barely work out consistently in the first place.

You’re trying to eat differently in each phase when you don’t even have a baseline eating pattern established.

You’re trying to adjust your work schedule by phase when you’re still figuring out how to manage your time at all.

You’re optimizing before you’ve standardized.

And when you do that, cycle syncing doesn’t make your life easier… it makes it harder.

Because now, instead of just building the habit of going to the gym, you have to:

• Track where you are in your cycle
• Adjust your workout intensity based on your phase
• Feel guilty when you don’t “sync” it right
• Skip workouts because “I’m in luteal and I shouldn’t be doing HIIT”

Instead of just eating consistently well, you have to:

• Meal plan for four different phases
• Remember which foods support which hormones
• Feel stressed when you eat “the wrong thing” for your phase

Cycle syncing gives you more rules, more decisions and honestly… more ways to fail.

And it’s overwhelming especially when you’re someone who’s still trying to establish the basics.

The Real Reason Cycle Syncing Doesn’t Work for Beginners

It’s not that the concept is wrong.

It’s that you’re applying advanced optimization strategies to a foundation that doesn’t exist yet.

You’re trying to run before you can walk.

In an interview, James Clear tells a story about a guy named Mitch who had a strange rule when he first started going to the gym: he wasn’t allowed to stay for longer than 5 minutes.

He’d get in the car, drive to the gym, get out, do half an exercise, get back in the car, and drive home.

It sounds ridiculous, right? Clearly this won’t get him the results he wants.

But this guy Mitch was actually mastering the art of showing up.

He was becoming the type of person who goes to the gym, even if it’s only for 5 minutes.

And that matters more than any workout plan.

Because once you’ve established that identity, once showing up is automatic, THEN you can optimize. THEN you can adjust intensity, volume, timing.

But not before.

Reduce the Scope, Stick to the Schedule

James has another principle that’s relevant here:

“Reduce the scope, but stick to the schedule.”

What he means is this: If you planned to work out for an hour but only have 20 minutes, most people say, “Oh, I can’t work out today.”

But that’s the wrong approach.

Do the 20 minutes. Reduce the scope (less time), but stick to the schedule (still show up).

Why does this matter?

In many ways, the bad days are more important than the good days. They end up counting for more because you don’t throw up a zero and you keep the habit alive.

“Everybody shows up on the easy days. The only place you really gain an edge is when you show up on the hard days.”

But cycle syncing does the opposite.

It tells you to change the scope AND the schedule every week.

No wonder it feels impossible to maintain.

So What Do You Actually Do Instead?

Okay, so if traditional cycle syncing doesn’t work for everyone, what do you do next? Where do you even start?

There are two parts here.

Part 1: Learn the Basics (Theory)

First, you need to understand the fundamentals of your menstrual cycle.

If you want to live more cyclically, more in tune with your body as a woman, you first need to understand what’s actually happening.

What you need to learn:

• What’s happening hormonally in your body
• What these hormonal fluctuations do to you
• What’s normal and what’s not
• What kind of mood/energy shifts are normal in luteal phase versus what signals something’s off

Just understanding the basics gives you clarity. It gives you a theoretical framework for how your cycle should feel.

This isn’t about memorizing lists of foods or creating complex meal plans, this is about understanding your body’s language.

And you’ve got plenty of books on this topic and I condensed all the basics into a class (this one is a paid class) and it will get you up to speed in the most efficient way possible 🔗Link to class here

Part 2: Build Your Foundation First (Practice)

From there, you have to be super honest with yourself: “How solid is my foundation?”

You need a solid foundation before you can optimize anything.

You need:

• A solid workout routine
• A solid way of eating
• A solid approach to managing stress
• A stable baseline in your work and relationships

Cycle syncing will not take you from a 1 (poor health) to a 10 (optimal health).

Cycle syncing can take you from a 9 to a 10.

But you have to be at 9 already.

You have to have the foundation established before you can refine it based on your cycle.

What “Optimizing” Actually Looks Like

Learning about your cycle is something we should all do as women and that can be done really FAST. I literally summarise everything in 1 h for you in this class.

But optimizing your lifestyle to match your cycle is down slowly, with small elements. Not with complete overhauls every week.

Example of small optimization: You learn that you lose iron during your period. So you add more iron-rich foods during that time. You eat more red meat, leafy greens, or even considering taking a supplement. That’s optimization.

What’s NOT optimization: Having a list of 10 specific vegetables you can only eat in menstrual phase, a different list of 10 for follicular, another for ovulation, another for luteal.

That’s exhausting and unnecessary.

The same principle applies to movement.

Don’t do yoga only during your period, HIIT only at ovulation, strength training mid-cycle, and deload before your period again.

That’s a mess, you won’t stick to it.

Start with the basics: Choose one type of training and make it consistent.

And if I had to tell you which one to choose, it’s strength training.

Everywhere you look in the research, the message is clear: muscle is one of the most important elements in your body that you will need, especially as a woman.

Especially after age 30, when hormones start playing an even more important role in your life.

During perimenopause and postmenopause, your muscle “gets attacked” and your bones suffer when hormones become unpredictable.

This affects your bone density, your joint health, your metabolic health, your longevity.

Building lean muscle is the way to save yourself from pain in your later years.

And how do you build muscle? You do resistance training. You lift weights.

That’s it.

Just consistent strength training, 3-4 times per week, building the habit of showing up.

Master that first. Then, if you want, you can adjust intensity based on how you feel in different phases.

But the foundation… the showing up, the lifting, the building muscle, stays the same.

One last thing

This wasn’t easy for me to write, honestly…

Because I know so many of you are just so excited to finally understand your menstrual cycle. And the last thing I want to do is deflate that enthusiasm.

Because literally a whole new world opens up once you understand your cycle.

If cycle syncing was the gateway that got you curious about your body, I’m genuinely happy it did. I’m grateful for it too, it’s what started me on this entire journey.

I also didn’t want you to spend the next year chasing optimization before you’ve built the foundation.

Your life won’t completely reinvent itself if you start cycle syncing.

But it WILL change if you do this:

First, learn what the heck is happening in your body across one cycle. Study it like you’re studying yourself for the first time. Get curious about your own biology.

Then, build that strong foundation. Show up consistently.

That’s it.

That’s where the real transformation happens. In the simple, unglamorous act of showing up for yourself over and over again until it becomes who you are.

And then… optimization comes. But by that point, it’s just fine-tuning something that already works.

Love, Teo

PS: I want to hear from you. Where are you right now with this? Are you someone who’s been trying cycle syncing and it feels overwhelming? Are you just discovering it and wondering if you should jump in? Are you someone who’s already built that foundation and is ready to refine? Drop a comment below (get on the Substack space) and tell me your story.

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