Finding Ovulation Times

Whether you want to conceive or are trying to avoid pregnancy, finding your ovulation times is the first step to natural family planning (NFP).

Calendar or Rhythm Method:

This method uses the basic counting from one period to the next period on a calendar. To find your ovulation time based on this method, you will need to record your menstrual cycle information for a couple of cycles. If you are trying to avoid pregnancy, you should note that this method has a 20% failure rate. This means you could get pregnant.

Figuring the Days in your Cycle:

There are many variations to figuring your cycle length, but most come up with the same ending result.

Begin with the second day of your bleeding period. Count the days to the start of your next bleeding period. You should include the day of your next period. Or you can count from the first day of your bleeding period to the day before your next period. This is not including the day of your next period. Both of these counting methods would result in the same answer.

Look at the chart below. This chart is an example of a 28-day cycle that has a 5 day bleeding period. The red numbers are the bleeding period.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2 Begin Counting	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29 Next period	30

* Note: If you count from the first day of your period, to the following period (including the day of the next period) you are adding on one extra day to your cycle. This is incorrect. Click here if you want to know why this would be incorrect.

28 Day Cycle:

Usually a woman, who has a 28-day cycle, will ovulate around the 14^th day. If your cycle is shorter or longer than this, you do not always ovulate on the 14^th day. Many pregnancies that were unplanned are due to the fact that women believe everyone's ovulation day is on the 14^th day. This is not true.