Luteal phase: how long it lasts, symptoms and what is normal

The luteal phase is the last of the four menstrual cycle phases. It follows ovulation, it ends when the next period starts, and of all the phases it is the one whose length changes least from cycle to cycle. That steadiness is what lets calculators count back from a period to estimate when ovulation happened.

What is the luteal phase?

The luteal phase is the second half of the menstrual cycle, after an ovary has released an egg. The follicle that released the egg turns into a structure called the corpus luteum (Cleveland Clinic, 2025), and the progesterone it makes is essential to a new pregnancy until the placenta can take over (ASRM, 2026). Progesterone prepares the lining of the womb for a fertilized egg to attach (MedlinePlus, 2025). If no pregnancy starts, progesterone and estrogen fall, the lining comes away and the period begins (NHS, 2023).

So what does the luteal phase mean? The luteal phase meaning, in one line, is the days in which the body is ready for a pregnancy that may or may not have begun. Whatever happens, the phase ends in one of two ways, with a period or with a pregnancy.

When is the luteal phase?

What phase is after ovulation? The luteal phase. When does the luteal phase start, then? Once ovulation has happened, so it depends on when you ovulate. In a 28-day cycle with ovulation on day 14 it covers roughly days 15 to 28, by simple counting, but ovulation moves: NICHD says it can come anywhere between day 10 and day 21 of the cycle (NICHD, 2026). The surest way to know when your luteal phase began is to know when you ovulated. A rise in basal body temperature shows that ovulation has already happened (ACOG, 2019), and ASRM notes that tracking temperature or the urine LH surge can show that ovulation took place and that the luteal phase was of normal length (ASRM, 2026).

Clinicians sometimes divide the phase into early, mid and late luteal phase (ASRM, 2026):

• Early luteal phase: the first days after ovulation, as progesterone begins to rise (MedlinePlus, 2025).
• Mid luteal phase: around 6 to 8 days after ovulation, when progesterone reaches its peak in a cycle without pregnancy (ASRM, 2026). Implantation, if a pregnancy has started, falls around here: the embryo first attaches to the wall of the womb around 5 or 6 days after ovulation and becomes more firmly implanted between 6 and 12 days after it (NICHD, 2026).
• Late luteal phase: the last days before the period, when estrogen and progesterone fall if there is no pregnancy (NHS, 2023).

How long is the luteal phase?

Most sources put the luteal phase at about two weeks. The figures differ a little because they measure it in different ways:

The NHS figure is from its guide to periods and fertility (NHS, 2023), and the ASRM range from its 2026 committee opinion on luteal phase deficiency (ASRM, 2026). The US Office on Women's Health gives 7 to 19 days (Office on Women's Health, "Your menstrual cycle", 2025), the same range found in the 69 cycles of exactly 28 days in a study of 221 women (Wilcox et al., 2000). In the app data, the luteal phase averaged 12.4 days overall and 12.6 days in the cycles that lasted 28 days (Bull et al., 2019).

How long the luteal phase lasts matters less than how little it moves. ACOG describes the days between ovulation and the start of the next period as the most consistent part of the cycle (ACOG, 2019), and a study of 1,060 cycles found that the follicular phase, not the luteal phase, accounts for most of the difference in cycle length (Fehring et al., 2006). The follicular phase guide explains why. To measure your own luteal phase length, count the days from a confirmed ovulation, a positive LH test or a temperature rise, to the day before your next period, over several cycles.

Luteal phase symptoms

The symptoms linked with the luteal phase are those of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). They start in the second half of the cycle, 14 or more days after the first day of the last period, and usually go 1 to 2 days after the next period starts (MedlinePlus, 2026). Not everyone has them. The most common symptoms of the luteal phase in the MedlinePlus list, luteal phase bloating among them, are:

• bloating or feeling gassy
• breast tenderness
• constipation or diarrhea
• food cravings
• headache
• clumsiness, and less tolerance for noise and light

Luteal phase mood and emotions

MedlinePlus lists the luteal phase emotions that come with PMS as mood swings; tension, anxiety or edginess; sadness or hopelessness; irritability or anger; poor self-image or guilt; and sleeping too much or too little. Sex drive may fall, or in some women rise (MedlinePlus, 2026). It states that the exact cause of PMS is not known and that a role for changes in brain hormone levels has not been proven. MedlinePlus advises contacting a provider if symptoms do not go away with self-care, if they are severe enough to limit daily life, or straight away if you feel like hurting yourself or others (MedlinePlus, 2026). The idea that the luteal phase brings a fixed set of emotions for everyone is not supported by the sources cited here.

Luteal phase discharge

Discharge during the luteal phase is usually less noticeable. ACOG describes how, just after ovulation, the amount of cervical mucus decreases and it becomes thicker (ACOG, 2019). Medicines, sex, breastfeeding and lubricant can all change how mucus looks (ACOG, 2019), and the NHS advises seeing a GP about a change in vaginal discharge that worries you (NHS, 2023). The guide to cervical mucus follows the changes through the whole cycle.

Basal body temperature in the luteal phase

Basal body temperature, the body's temperature at rest, rises by 0.5 to 1°F (about 0.3 to 0.6°C) around ovulation and stays higher until the end of the cycle (ACOG, 2019). A chart shows the luteal phase as the higher stretch. The guide to basal body temperature explains how to chart it and why it confirms ovulation rather than predicting it.

Short luteal phase and luteal phase deficiency

A short luteal phase, sometimes called a luteal phase defect, is what the American Society for Reproductive Medicine calls luteal phase deficiency. Its 2026 committee opinion describes it as a clinical diagnosis that may be present when the luteal phase lasts 10 days or less (ASRM, 2026). The same opinion reports that short luteal phases are common in women without fertility problems. One study found a luteal phase under 10 days in 13 in 100 ovulatory cycles, and another found one under 12 days in 18 in 100 cycles. In that second study, women with a short luteal phase were less likely to conceive in the following month, but no less likely to have conceived after 12 months (ASRM, 2026).

ASRM concludes that no test for luteal phase deficiency has been shown to be reliable in practice, and that no treatment for it has been shown to improve pregnancy rates in natural, unstimulated cycles (ASRM, 2026). The US Office on Women's Health describes luteal phase defect more firmly, as a failure of the lining of the womb to be fully prepared for pregnancy that can keep a fertilized egg from implanting or end in miscarriage (Office on Women's Health, "Trying to conceive", 2025). The specialist society's opinion is the more recent and the more cautious of the two. A short luteal phase on a chart is not a diagnosis on its own. If you are trying to conceive, the usual timetable for asking for help applies; the guide on when to see a fertility doctor sets it out.

Can you get pregnant during the luteal phase?

Can you get pregnant in the luteal phase? Not from sex late in the luteal phase of the same cycle, on the evidence. ACOG says you can become pregnant from sex from 5 days before ovulation until 1 day after it, because the egg survives for about 24 hours and sperm for about 3 days, sometimes up to 5 (ACOG, 2019). In a study of 221 women trying to conceive, pregnancy followed sex only in the six days ending on the day of ovulation (Wilcox et al., 1995). So the first day or so of the luteal phase falls inside the fertile window, and the rest of it does not.

The difficulty is knowing when ovulation happened. Without a confirmed ovulation, a day that looks like the luteal phase on a calendar may not be: even women with regular cycles had a 1 to 6 in 100 chance of still being in their fertile window on the day their next period was due (Wilcox et al., 2000). The guide to can you get pregnant on your period has the day-by-day figures.

The luteal phase is also when implantation happens, and a pregnancy test cannot pick up a pregnancy before it. The NHS says most tests can be used from the first day of a missed period (NHS, "Doing a pregnancy test", 2022). The pregnancy test calculator works out that date from your cycle, and the period calculator shows when the next period is due.