How to Increase Progesterone Naturally
If you've ever felt the discomfort of PMS symptoms like cramps, bloating, mood swings, anxiety, or headaches, it's likely that you've encountered low progesterone, high estrogen, or both simultaneously.
But here’s the scoop: these symptoms aren't just random annoyances; they're signals from your body that something's amiss with your hormones. And one hormone that’s often at the center of hormone imbalances is low progesterone. Think of progesterone as your body's natural harmony keeper, influencing everything from fertility and healthy periods to weight regulation and feeling calm.
However, many women need to intentionally support progesterone levels, and that's where I come in. I specialize in decoding the language of hormones and uncovering natural strategies to maintain their balance.
Below, we'll delve into this balancing hormone, exploring signs of low progesterone and natural ways to increase progesterone.
What is progesterone and what does it do?
While estrogen typically takes the spotlight in conversations about balancing hormones, progesterone is often the secret to resolving the PMS symptoms and painful periods that leave women feeling so unwell.
Progesterone is most known for its role in conception and maintaining a healthy pregnancy, and while it’s essential to fertility, progesterone's influence extends far beyond reproduction. It has profound effects on various aspects of our health and well-being, from banishing PMS to boosting energy and metabolism. Now, let's take a closer look at the benefits of progesterone!
Maintains healthy menstrual cycles
Reduces anxiety and stress (it’s known as the “calming hormone”!)
Reduces PMS
Supports healthy periods
Lightens periods
Keeps estrogen levels in check
Improves metabolism / helps maintain a healthy weight
Boosts energy
Supports a strong libido
Maintains a healthy pregnancy
Supports clear skin and healthy hair
Builds bone and muscle
Improves cognitive function
Regulates the immune system
Reduces the risk of cancer
As you can see, having enough progesterone is a big deal! You need it to feel good in your body physically, mentally and emotionally. And it’s not just about how you feel now but your long term health as well.
How do you make progesterone?
The only way you can make progesterone is if you ovulate.
Why? Because during ovulation, a dominant ovarian follicle ruptures and releases a mature egg. That ruptured follicle then undergoes a transformation, becoming a temporary gland known as the corpus luteum. It is within this gland (and only this gland) that progesterone is produced.
However, ovulation alone does not guarantee optimal progesterone levels. Read on!
To ensure adequate progesterone production, you need a healthy corpus luteum, which will be reflected in the length of your luteal phase. The luteal phase, named after the corpus luteum, is the time between ovulation and the first day of your period. When the corpus luteum produces healthy levels of progesterone, the luteal phase lasts between 11 and 16 days — our target range!
The length of the luteal phase provides valuable insight into progesterone levels because once progesterone falls, it triggers your uterine lining to shed, which is when your period comes. So if you have a short luteal phase, you know you’re not making enough progesterone.
If there is low progesterone or estrogen dominance, the luteal phase is when PMS shows up, so it can be the hardest part of a women’s cycle.
How do you know if you’re ovulating?
Confirming ovulation can be done at home!
You do so by tracking your basal body temperature (BBT). When you observe a rise in temperature of 0.5° Fahrenheit (0.3 Celsius) for at least three consecutive days, then ovulation is confirmed. The day that you ovulated will be the start of that rise.
With a healthy corpus luteum, your temperature will stay elevated for 11 to 16 days between ovulation and the start of your period.
Learn more about BBT and my favorite way to track it here.
If you do not see a rise in temperature then you did not ovulate. This is called an anovulatory cycle. When this happens, you don’t make any progesterone.
What causes low progesterone?
An anovulatory cycle, which results in a cycle where no progesterone is made.
A short luteal phase (less than 11 days) which will result in a cycle where inadequate levels of progesterone is made.
The top two contributors to anovulatory cycles and short luteal phases is poor diet and elevated stress, with diet being #1.
What are the signs of low progesterone?
These are the most common signs and symptoms of low progesterone:
PMS / PMDD
Anxiety, irritability and/or mood swings
Heavy periods
Painful periods (menstrual cramps or headaches)
Bloating / water retention
Swollen / tender breasts
Insomnia or sleep issues
Fatigue
Spotting or premenstrual bleeding
Short cycles or irregular cycles
Missed period(s)
Low libido
Difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant
Weight gain or difficulty losing weight
How does hormonal birth control affect progesterone?
The pill, vaginal ring, and injection all prevent ovulation, thereby disrupting the body’s natural ability to produce progesterone.
So if you're using any of these forms of birth control, your body won't be able to produce progesterone. That’s a big deal!
Now with hormonal IUDs, these don’t completely suppress ovulation but they do contribute to hormone imbalances and can have other side effects like hair loss, acne, anxiety and weight gain.
It's also important to note that synthetic progesterone in birth control differs significantly from the progesterone naturally produced by your body, and unfortunately doesn’t provide the same benefits. For instance, progestin (a synthetic progesterone) may increase anxiety, whereas the progesterone your body produces reduces anxiety.
If you're currently using birth control, I typically don't recommend sudden discontinuation…
When a client expresses a desire to come off birth control, I assist them in supporting their body beforehand to alleviate potential post-pill symptoms such as acne, hair loss, anxiety, and amenorrhea. If you're considering discontinuing birth control or simply want to explore this topic further, let's connect and discuss it.
Tips to Increase Progesterone Naturally
Now that you understand why progesterone is so important and how it can help alleviate many of the symptoms women experience (such as PMS, painful periods, weight gain and mood issues!), let’s delve into natural ways to increase progesterone.
Eat Enough Calories
One of the most overlooked causes of low progesterone is undernourishment. This can mean not eating enough overall, but also missing key nutrients your body needs to function well.
Many of the women who come to work with me eat beautiful, whole foods—but they’re unintentionally under-eating, skipping meals (hello, fasting), or eating in a way that lacks macronutrient and micronutrient balance. The result? A body that’s underfed and under-fueled.
When you’re undernourished, your body gets the message that it’s not a safe time to reproduce. It’s wired for survival, so if nutrients are scarce (as they would be in a famine), it will suppress ovulation. And without ovulation, you don’t make progesterone. That matters even if you’re not trying to get pregnant, because progesterone is essential for mood, PMS symptoms, metabolism, sleep, and so much more.
What can also happen is a woman may be nourished just enough to ovulate—but not enough to build a strong, healthy corpus luteum (the gland that produces progesterone after ovulation). In this case, ovulation still happens, but progesterone output is weak.
If you want to support progesterone, start by making sure you’re consistently eating enough and building your meals around true nourishment—not just what looks good on Instagram.
Reduce Stress
Stress is a major driver of low progesterone. It can shorten your luteal phase (the second half of your cycle) and sometimes stop ovulation altogether. That’s why many women notice more anxiety, PMS, or even a shorter or delayed cycle after a particularly stressful time.
Mindfulness practices like yoga, meditation, breath work, or simply taking a present-moment walk can all help reduce stress—and build your resilience to it. But emotional stress isn’t the only kind to watch for. Physical stress matters too.
Eating enough, balancing blood sugar, healing gut issues, and getting consistent, quality sleep are all essential. If these physical stressors go unaddressed, your body will stay stuck in fight-or-flight mode—and hormonal balance, especially progesterone production, will remain out of reach.
Balance Blood Sugar
Blood sugar is hugely important because it directly affects your stress hormones, inflammation, metabolism, and reproductive hormones—basically all the major players in chronic symptoms and long-term health issues.
The good news? That also means balancing blood sugar is one of the most powerful ways to support hormone balance, improve metabolism, reduce anxiety, and even support weight loss. It’s foundational.
One of the biggest ways blood sugar impacts hormones is through its close link to your stress response. When blood sugar is unstable—spiking too high or dropping too low—it signals the body to release stress hormones. And as we’ve covered, stress is a key contributor to low progesterone and anovulatory cycles. Blood sugar swings also trigger inflammation, which interferes with your body’s ability to use hormones properly.
Spotting Blood Sugar Issues:
Think blood sugar problems only happen to people eating donuts for breakfast? Think again, girlie. One in three adults is prediabetic. I was prediabetic once, too—as a mostly raw vegan fitness instructor.
If you’ve ever felt hangry, you’ve experienced low blood sugar. If you’ve ever wanted to nap after a meal, that’s a sign of high blood sugar. Most people swing between the two all day without realizing it.
What Can You Do Today?
Start with a protein-rich breakfast and don’t skip meals. It sounds simple, but it can shift your blood sugar curve in a big way—and support your hormones in the process.
Address Inflammation
Inflammation can seriously mess with your hormones. It makes your cells less sensitive to important hormones like progesterone and thyroid hormone, while making them more sensitive to estrogen and testosterone. The result? Symptoms of low progesterone, estrogen dominance, a sluggish metabolism, and even signs of high testosterone (like acne or irregular cycles).
To reduce inflammation, it’s important to address the root causes. These can include things like:
Inflammatory foods (think processed oils, refined sugar, excess alcohol)
Gluten or dairy sensitivity
Leaky gut
Blood sugar swings or insulin resistance
Hypothyroidism
Chronic stress
Reducing inflammation helps restore hormonal balance—and helps your body actually use the hormones it's making.
Address Thyroid Issues (Slow Metabolism)
Your metabolic pace is set by your thyroid—a small, butterfly-shaped gland at the base of your throat. When thyroid function is sluggish, your metabolism slows down, which can lead to low progesterone. That’s because your ovaries need active thyroid hormone (T3) to release progesterone.
On the flip side, progesterone also stimulates thyroid function. So when progesterone is low, it can further slow your metabolism. This creates a frustrating cycle: low thyroid function → low progesterone → even slower thyroid function.
Signs of low thyroid function include:
Low energy or fatigue
Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
Weight gain or difficulty losing weight
Heavy periods
Dry skin and brittle hair
Feeling cold all the time
Low mood
Constipation or hard stools
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, I encourage you to work with a practitioner who understands the full picture. In conventional medicine they rarely do proper testing, leaving many women with undiagnosed hypothyroidism. You can also have thyroid hormone levels that look “normal” on paper, but the body isn’t using them properly due to an underlying imbalance, like inflammation or chronic stress.
I had hypothyroidism (low thyroid function) years ago and was able to reverse it without medication—a possibility many conventional doctors overlook. This was because I focused on what truly supports thyroid health — through nutrient-dense foods and supporting my stress response, detox pathways and digestive health, I was able to boost both my thyroid and metabolic function.
If you’re tired of guessing and ready to understand what your body actually needs to feel balanced, I offer 1:1 support to help you get to the root of your hormone symptoms.
Together, we’ll create a plan that’s personalized, realistic, and rooted in nourishment so you can feel like yourself again. ✨ Ready to get started?
