Hey guys, I have a question about using basal fertility tracking as a birth control method.

I have tried every method under the sun and they all have their downsides. The shot made me gain weight like crazy, I had an IUD slip TWICE into my uterus, I had the implant for a few years and I couldn’t lose weight on it and I bled like crazy for almost a month after I got it so I don’t want to go that route again. The pill also affects my weight a bit.

But! When I am off of hormones and birth control, I feel amazing! I sleep better, my skin is clear, I finally reached my goal weight, etc. I have been off birth control for about 8 months now and am ready for my relationship to get serious (intimate) after making him wait for about 6 months (Personal reasons, I have a child so I need to make sure someone is in it for the right reasons before going that route)

I just want to know how effective this is as a birth control method. I already have a wonderful little boy and don’t plan on having any more kiddos anytime in the near future, or at all as of right now. Also, I am a zero waste vegan so condoms don’t exactly align with that lol. They do make vegan friendly condoms but you have to order them online of course, then there’s all of the packaging, plastic, etc. so I prefer not to go that route. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell a diaphragm is and how it works, I may look into that more lol. From what I understand, it’s like a reverse condom that the woman uses.

I know you have to track your entire cycle for a few months before you can have an accurate idea of your fertile window, so I just need some personal stories and inspiration about how you implemented this as a way to avoid pregnancy, as I know many people do this as a way to increase their odds of GETTING pregnant 🙂

As far as what I know about basal fertility tracking, I know you have to take your temperature with a basal thermometer, which I have, and you need to take it immediately when you wake up before you get out of bed and start moving around to get the most accurate reading. I know that when we see a dip in temperature, that is your fertile window and typically the lowest temperature is the day you are ovulating. I have the Glow fertility tracking app and have been logging my periods for almost a year in there now. So I have a very accurate reading of my cycle and my period always starts on the exact day the app says it will.