How to use cycle syncing to get rid of your acne in 4 months

If you’ve came to this page – firstly, I’m sorry, because I know how crushing having acne/spots can be on your self confidence. I will be going through everything I did to get rid of my acne in 4 months.

Looking back now, with relatively clear skin, it always feels worse than it looks. I can honestly tell you that I never think less about anyone if they have ‘bad’ skin, whatever you personally define as bad.

I hope me showing you these photos, as well as telling you everything I did to clear my skin, can help, even if it helps one person. Because I know how long and how often I would search ‘how to clear my acne’ ‘Is there anything I can do’ etc.

*disclaimer, everyone’s skin is different, so this may not work for all.

First things first… this is what my skin looked like August 2022

I know this may not be bad to some people, but I felt really insecure to the point where I didn’t want to leave the house, and I would get emotional every night (which was one of the contributing factors that make it worse which you will find out why if you keep reading on!)

And this is what my skin looks like now…

So how did I do it?

1. I took away ALL guilt surrounding food

I was looking into healing your hormones and having a Anti-inflammatory diet, which has been proven very effective in healing your acne… but for me, the more I was trying to eat healthy and ‘anti-inflammatory’, the worse my skin got.

This is because if I ate ANYTHING that was said to make my acne worse (such as dairy, soy sauce, refined carbs etc), I would overthink and stress about it so much that it consumed me. And I know food guilt in today’s society is very common, but just remember, no ‘bad’ food is more unhealthy than having a disorder or problems with eating.

I would try and plan my meals and I got extremely overwhelmed, making my skin worse.

The SECOND I took away the guilt about eating, my skin got significantly better. Why? Because taking away my stress about eating, was a huge factor in lowering my cortisol levels (stress levels).

High cortisol levels can affect many things, including:

• Acne
• Weight gain
• Difficulty losing weight
• Swelling and inflammation
• It can slow down other hormone functions (leaving your hormones imbalanced)

Tips on lowering stress and anxiety at uni/school: http://bigsisterera.com/how-to-reduce-stress-and-anxiety-at-uni/

What did my diet look like?

Honestly, I didn’t have one. I focused on adding healthier things, rather than replacing all of the bad things. I gave myself unconditional permission to eat whatever I wanted. This healed my relationship with food, as well as lowering my cortisol levels because I wasn’t stressing about eating anymore. I made sure most meals I ate, I had a carb, protein and fat (as well as getting some micro nutrients in). This helped in balancing my hormones.

It was also amazing to eat food without worrying about the calories and thinking horrible things will happen if I eat them.

I ate intuitively, which basically means you eat when you’re hungry and you stop when you’re full. Our bodies are actually really clever, and they usually tell us what they want. My body was telling me I was under eating, and not getting all of the nutrients I needed.

2. Cycle syncing my exercise

Did you know certain exercises done in certain phases phases of your cycle can actually do more harm than good?

I had no idea this was a thing, and realised that I was actually spiking my cortisol levels through doing high intensive workouts all the time.

I am going to tell you the best exercises to do and when to do them:

Menstrual phase (your period)

Your body needs soothing and restorative movement during this time. Basically treat your body as if it’s recovering from surgery. The best exercises for this time:

• Stretching
• Walking
• Yoga (I recommend yin yoga)
• Gentle Pilates
• Rest

Follicular phase

This phase you can be more active! Your body will respond well to exercise that gets your heart pumping! So focus on cardio based workouts. Some of my favourite:

• Yoga sculpt
• Running
• Cycling or spin classes
• Hiking
• Fun, upbeat workouts (https://youtube.com/@POPSUGARFitness on YouTube)
• Weight lifting (this is a great time to focus on light to medium weight and get as many reps as you can)

Ovulatory phase

This is the time you will have the most energy, so challenge yourself with high intensity workouts! My favourite:

• HIIT
• Interval/circuit training
• Power vinyasa
• Spin classes
• Weight lifting (this is a good time to see if you can increase the weight and the reps!)

Luteal phase

This is the longest phase, lasting around 2 weeks. During the first week, you may still have high energy, so continue with those workouts. But nearing the mid to end of week 1 and into week 2, you should focus on bringing your heart rate down. Think slow and controlled.

• Strength training (focus on weight, but make sure it’s slow and controlled)
• Pilates
• Resistance training
• Barre
• Vinyasa yoga
• Walking

3. Skincare

Less is more.

When my skin was at its worst, I was using exfoliators every day, using spot treatments every day, double cleansing my face morning and night. I was trying tons of different products that were very harsh on the skin. ALL that did was make it 100 times more irritated and 100 times more red and inflamed.

I have extremely sensitive skin, so this is the routine that worked for me. My main focus was instead of thinking I needed to harshly kill all of the acne on my face, I made an effort to treat my skin like I was healing it. I have a very minimal skincare routine, focusing on hydration and healing.

My skincare routine now:

Morning:

• splash my face with cold water. (I did not wash my face in the morning, because my skin is so sensitive there was no need)
• Moisturise (I leave my face slightly damp, which helps to keep my skin moisturised)
• Sunscreen

Evening:

• Only if I have makeup on – I will take off my makeup
• Cleanser (I make sure to cleanse my face for at least 60 seconds)
• 2 times a week – exfoliate
• Moisturise

Skin tips:

• Brush your teeth before you wash your face
• Pat your face dry with a paper towel (holds less bacteria than a towel)
• Minimise touching your face throughout the day
• I wash my face at the end of the night, when I know I’m not eating anything else

Products mentioned:

*please note that certain products work for some people, and not others. I hope these work for you because they are cheap and accessible, but if they don’t, I know you will find the right ones for you!*

Another sunscreen I love as the one listed above is currently unavailable: https://amzn.to/40EVrOZ

4. Be kind to yourself

What I mean by this, is focusing on how to heal from the inside out.

• Drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated
• Get plenty of sleep and have a consistent sleep schedule (I talk more about this in this post: http://bigsisterera.com/how-to-reduce-stress-and-anxiety-at-uni/)
• Take deep breaths throughout the day
• Try to minimise stress – you could do this by planning your day out, journaling, talking to someone, writing a to-do list, organising your work/homework, doing things you enjoy
• Moving your body (if you’re overly stressed, do low impact gentle workouts)
• Gratitude
• Positive self talk
• Reducing coffee
• Cold showers (this lowers your heart rate reducing stress levels, reduces inflammation, reduces muscle soreness and fatigue)
• Meditating
• Getting outside
• Reading
• Enjoying life!!

Don’t let your acne stop you from making memories. I was guilty of not wanting to leave my house when I was insecure about my skin. But when you look back, you’ll remember the happy memories, you won’t want to look back and remember how you didn’t want to go out because of your skin. You are beautiful no matter what your skin looks like.

My biggest tip

The main thing to take away from this, is lowering your cortisol levels and balancing your hormones. Try to heal yourself from the inside out.

Leave a comment below if you have any other helpful tips or if you try any of these!