Parenting

The Second Trimester Survival Guide, According to Bryony Deery: A Q&A

October 17, 2025

By Bryony Deery, as told to Dear Media.

The second trimester is often described as the “golden phase” of pregnancy—but as Bryony Deery makes clear on Beyond the Mat, it’s not all glowing skin and perfect baby kicks.

From finding joy in feeling the baby move to learning which workouts to ditch, here are her second-trimester takeaways she says every mom-to-be should hear. This Q&A is adapted from an episode of Beyond the Mat podcast.

How have you been feeling overall in your second trimester?

A lot, lot better than the first trimester. If you are in the depths of your first trimester, I am your soul sister. I get it. It is so difficult or can be so difficult. I also know people that have had no issues whatsoever, which is amazing. So don’t let this scare you off. But if you are struggling, just know that it gets better in your second trimester. You definitely have more energy. I wouldn’t say you have the same energy you had pre-pregnancy, but you have a lot more energy than the first trimester. You are able to just go about your day, in your life, in your new pregnancy way.

I’m also feeling very emotional, to be honest. I’m having probably twice a week where I just randomly burst into tears. Casper has to deal with that. And it’s really interesting for me because I always thought of myself as Cameron Diaz from The Holiday where she’s trying to cry and she’s sitting there going—I felt like that. I wasn’t a big crier before and I think Casper saw me before pregnancy cry maybe three times. Now it’s three times a week. So that is wild. That’s the thing that shocks me—I’ll have a really good day feeling really great and then all of a sudden I’ll be like, whoa, I feel like this cloud is over me. And then I keep telling myself, just don’t attach to it, because then the next morning I wake up feeling completely different.

How has your Pilates or workout routine shifted in the second trimester?

In the first trimester, you are medically allowed to do absolutely everything that you have always been doing. I actually taught our Transform Pilates challenge, which was a real challenge in itself doing those six 30-minute live classes, but it actually helped me a lot having that. As of the second trimester, you do have to make modifications. You can’t do planks anymore, for example. You have to be either in an elevated plank—which means your hands would be on a bench, for example—or your knees have to be down, so you have to be supported. There’s no crunches. There’s no teasers. And if you know me and you know my classes, we always do a teaser in the classes.

I have definitely modified but I’m still training as much as I was before, if not more. I think the movement’s really helping me just calm my mind and feel strong in my body and I think staying active is definitely key.

Do you have any tips for staying active while listening to your body?

Pilates has helped me tune in so much into my body that I know whether I’m just having a little bit of a lazy day or if I actually need rest. So it’s asking yourself two questions: Am I being a bit flat and demotivated and lazy? Or is this rest really important and productive for me?

Another tip I really like to share is, you can skip one day, but don’t skip two days because everyone has an off day. But if you skip two days, then you’re out of the habit. That helps me stay consistent.

What foods have you been craving or loving or avoiding?

Towards the end of the second trimester, my nutrition is fairly normal and it’s settled a bit. First trimester, beginning of second trimester was just wild. It was a lot of bread, a lot of beige food and sour things and fruit and stuff. I’m still having kiwis every day. These are things that I’ve been doing every day because it’s really helping with my digestion. I’m having chia seeds, so I will do overnight oats with chia seeds. I will have electrolytes, making sure I’m super hydrated.

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I’m really loving cooking. I’ve been adding loads of recipes to the app as I go through this pregnancy and just really nourishing my body even more than ever. I’m thinking of it like I’m not eating for two. That is a myth, sadly. You actually, I think it’s something like 300, 400 more calories that we need. So we’re not sadly eating for two, but I’m cooking food with two in mind—with me and my baby in mind—so I’m trying to be really nourishing. Obviously we all have those cravings that we need to lean into. Like yesterday I had this hot banana bread with butter melted into it. It was so good. Lean into your cravings. It’s about that 80/20 balanced approach.

How are you navigating body changes and body image?

Your body changes day by day. It’s crazy. And I think just reframing it from you are losing your old self to you are gaining this new self—you’re stepping into your woman power, motherly, all the things. You are creating life.

I’m just, to be honest, so excited for the post-birth transformation. Not to my old self, to this new version of who I am and hopefully even stronger, even healthier. I’m just really romanticizing the post-birthing. Maybe I’m being really naive, so ask me when it actually comes to it—quote me on this. I am really trying to lean into that positivity.

I’m doing things every day that make me feel very connected to my body. Pilates, journaling, meditation, going on walks. This method of Pilates has really given me just inner confidence like never before. You really look at yourself in a different way. You’re not so focused on the aesthetic, more of the feeling, and just understanding that you are creating a human inside you and giving yourself a bit of grace.

What helps you manage stress or anxiety?

All of the things I do—I would say walking outside has really, really helped me, making sure I get on a walk, meeting a friend for a walk. That helps me lift my mood. FaceTiming people, doing all of my wellness things, having my time in the morning and just trying to feel a bit more organized. I think with work it’s really difficult. I’m having to batch record classes, podcasts, all the things. So just being super organized as much as I can is helping me feel less stressed.

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There’s some things on the app that I use that are my go-to for stress. So I do breathwork, I do this visualization that we have, I do this sleep sound bath. So yeah, just really leaning into that.

How do you handle advice overload from social media?

Just do you. Have the birth you want to have. Quieten the noise. Don’t listen to all the judgment. Do what you feel is right. Don’t listen to anyone else giving their advice on what type of birth you should have, what you should be doing during pregnancy, what you should be doing. There’s just so much advice and whilst I’m so grateful, the ones I’m not so grateful for is when they’re telling me to do something and telling me that I’d be crazy to do anything other than that specific thing that they’re telling me.

If it feels better for you, just keep your birth plan or whatever else to yourself. Go with your gut and go with what works for you, your family, your lifestyle, and just try to let everything else be water off a duck’s back.

Do you feel any difference in your relationship with your partner or loved ones during this stage?

With friends and things, it can be quite lonely to be honest, because I just want to go out and drink margaritas with my friends, which I can’t do right now, but trust me, next year is my year, girls. I miss that. I miss doing that with the girls. But I think it’s about changing your expectations of social situations and making them work for you and making them feel good, uplifting. Doing things like walks, the cinema, lunches, brunches, trying a new cafe, going to a breathwork class or a sound bath or something like that. Something that feels more nourishing and wholesome rather than going for dinners and feeling like you’re missing out on certain things.

I feel with Casper it’s brought us even closer, which I didn’t think was possible. It just runs a bit deeper. We obviously got married towards the beginning of the year, so this whole year has been such a whirlwind. It just makes me look at him like, well, he’s the dad of my baby. The love runs deeper. Ask me that when I’m sleep deprived, after I’ve given birth, I’ll probably want to kill him, but right now it feels very good and loving.