Surviving the First Trimester of Pregnancy: 3 Behavior Change Tips

Hi, I’m Dr. Karin Nordin, a mindset and behavior change expert. In this post, I’m sharing my personal experience and practical advice for surviving the first trimester of pregnancy. While there’s a lot of advice out there, I wanted to bring in some of the mindset, behavior change, and personal development expertise that I usually focus on.

If you missed my last video, surprise! I’m 23 weeks pregnant, and I can tell you that this experience has been anything but magical.

Prefer to watch instead of read? Click here.

My Experience with the First Trimester of Pregnancy

To give you some context, I had a pretty rough first trimester. Like many first-time moms, I started with optimism, planning to eat healthy, exercise, and follow a routine. But at six weeks, I was puking multiple times a day, could only eat small bags of Cheez-Its, and spent most of my time sleeping. It was tough, but I used my behavior change knowledge to make things a little better.

Here are three science-backed tips that worked for me and might help you too:

Tip #1 for Surviving the First Trimester: Reduce Your Habit Baseline by 50%

At Body Brain Alliance, we use a habit formation framework called the Core Four framework. It involves choosing four habits and values to focus on for 90 days. During my first trimester, I had to reduce my baseline habits by 50%, and then reduce them by 50% again.

In an ideal world, I’d hit the gym four to five days a week, but I had to scale back. At first, I aimed for a daily walk, but as my sickness worsened, even that became too much. Eventually, I set a tiny habit of sitting outside for 10 minutes each day. This small win made a huge difference on the days I could manage it.

Tip #2 for Surviving the First Trimester: Track and Follow Your Energy

Before pregnancy, I was a strict daytime worker. But pregnancy changed that. My energy fluctuated, and I found a small window of time, from 9:00 PM to midnight, where I could get things done.

If you can’t control your work hours, try tracking when you have a slight energy boost and use that time to tackle your highest priorities.

Tip #3 for Surviving the First Trimester: Don’t Forget Mental Rest

One of the ways I coped with nausea was by scrolling through social media and reading articles. But even though I was resting physically, my brain was still working hard.

We know from science that mental rest is essential. I recommend taking 10 to 30 minutes each day to do something that requires little mental effort, like coloring, watching the sunset, or stretching. This mental break can make a huge difference in how you feel.

Final Thoughts

These three tips — reducing your habits, tracking your energy, and prioritizing mental rest — can help you survive the first trimester of pregnancy. If you’re pregnant and finally feeling a bit better, check out my other blog on productivity tips. Let me know in the comments if this was helpful, and I’ll see you in the next post!