Let me just preface this with everyone’s pregnancies are different. Unfortunately, I hated every minute of mine as I had ‘all’ day sickness, couldn’t eat/drink, fatigue from growing a human, but also dehydration, and then the inconsistency of waking up to who knows what the day is ahead of me, led me to not have it be rainbows and butterflies😂. Which is why I wanted to provide some things I used to help keep me motivated during pregnancy. This isn’t just about nutrition and exercise (while that is important), but just motivation to get the hell out of bed.
Give yourself flexibility
I put this first, because I struggled with this until my 2nd trimester. I have always been a routine type of person, so not being able to have a routine due to extreme fatigue or barely making it to work without wanting to throw up really threw me for a loop. Once, I let go of the notion that I had to have everything planned. It let me slow down and really listen to what my body needed at that moment. This led me to taking off the last month of my first trimester (exercise) to give my body room to do it’s thing. I ended up using that time to sleep, take care of things around the house, or whatever I needed to get done. Overall, it made me just feel better, because I wasn’t pushing myself and I could tell the difference. If you can make it to the gym 2x’s a week, do it, if you can make it more, even better, but don’t feel like you have to!
Find a time that works for you to get whatever you are wanting to DONE.
If you are more productive in the morning, block out time for you to get those things done then. Don’t try to get something done in a time that you know will be the lowest motivation or tired from your day. Not succeeding in something you have set can make you lose motivation, so take the small win.
Don’t push too hard.
I remember, I almost passed out when I was 9 weeks pregnant, because I just thought it was my body ‘adjusting’ to the new hormones raging through my body. It was actually my blood sugar dropping from not being able to eat enough🙈. I kept trying to finish my workout and I ended up lying on the cold bathroom floor for 30 mins to keep from passing out. It was not a good time. Mind you, up to this point I have been exercising and eating on point for 4-5 years consistently, so it was an adjustment that needed to be made. I want to mention it, in case any of you are in the same situation I was prior to getting pregnant. It can be hard to not push ourselves or not stay consistent with going to the gym, but the time will come and if it doesn’t the gym will be there after! Not to mention, injury and soreness will keep you from going back as well. There’s a time and a place to push and pregnancy may not be one of those times😂.
Remember your ‘why’.
I feel like this goes hand and hand with any goal you set, not just trying to get things done while pregnant. Why are you exercising and eating better? Why do you need to get the baby’s room ready🙈? Why do you need to clean the house? My fatigue was brutal and it made things like the above feel like the most daunting tasks. I kept reminding myself the why’s behind them. Motivation will come and go and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it, but I feel like it was a big mental game between my sudden change in routine and my body changing. Which leads me into the last thing that can help keep you motivated.
Visit or work on your mindset throughout your pregnancy.
Check in with yourself! Are you okay? How are you feeling? Where’s your mentality at? Negative thoughts? Positive thoughts? I had to fight with my thoughts the whole time. This was all new to me and I didn’t know how my body was going to react during each week with the new changes. It was kinda scary. Personally, it put me into a depressive state, because of the unpredictability of it. I fought with having to force myself to get to the gym when my body felt so heavy, when I wanted to cave into cravings, when I didn’t want to plan and get things ready. I didn’t check in with myself nearly as much as I should have and looking back I was definitely not in the best mindset. The days I felt the most motivated were the days I told myself to just do it anyways and to ask for help in other areas. We can’t do it all and your mindset for 10 months can definitely make an impact.
There you have it! These were the things I felt kept me the most motivated during my pregnancy and would love to hear what some of yours were👇
