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Last updated on March 9th, 2024 at 03:52 am
Are you looking to heal your body image or recover from an eating disorder? Using body image journal prompts can be a powerful tool.
Journaling is a great way to heal your body image because:
- It helps you put language to the body challenges you’re facing
- It helps you sit with difficult emotions
- You can reflect on lessons you learned about your body in the past
- Getting your fears onto paper helps them feel less scary than in your head
Too often you probably find yourself dwelling on the same negative thought over and over again. This is especially true for a person recovering from an eating disorder.
You might be creating a story in your head that never even happened that are leading you to intense anxiety and fear. Journaling daily can really improve your self acceptance by stopping a negative narrative in its tracks and critically analyzing it.
This article will dig into what a journal prompt is, body image journal prompts, and journal prompts to heal your relationship with food.
What is A Journal Prompt
A journal prompt is a question that encourages you to tune into your thoughts and emotions in a specific way and reflect.
A journal prompt explores:
- Personal experiences
- Emotions related to experiences
- Fears and anxiety
- Relationships with others
Journal prompts might be a great tool for you to not feel overwhelmed with looking at a blank page when you start your journaling journey. Sometimes feeling overwhelmed with “what to write” can
Body Image Journal Prompts
In our culture, body shaming starts young and often. This is especially true for women. Here are some journal prompts that can help us unravel what put the ideas in our head that our bodies were bad.
- When was the first time you realized some body weights, shapes and sizes held more value than others?
- Most people would agree that racism and sexism are harmful. However, most people don’t feel the same way about fatphobia. List 3 reasons why it might be hard to see fatphobia as dangerous as racism.
- What does it mean to be objectified?
- Where do you feel like you are allowed to take up space? How has this empowered you in your career, school, or other goals.
- If you were to walk down the street without any social consequences, how might your clothing style change?
- In what ways have you experienced “body image abuse?” For example, someone telling you you should eat less, go to a gym, or otherwise take up space in a way that fits their needs?
- What is the difference between being an object of desire and being desired?
- We are told by westernized society that being “fat” represents the worst thing someone can be. How might fear be a weapon in controlling a group? List 3 ways. List 3 ways that honoring your body takes control away from the system.
- List 5 ways you have been obedient to diet culture. Now list the ways this has had a toxic impact on your wellbeing.
Body Neutrality Journal Prompts
- Healthcare leads us to believe that healing has a “destination.” List 3 ways this idea has harmed you. What are some ways your life would improve if you didn’t hold yourself to a social standard of “healthism“
- When you think of advocating for yourself at a doctors office (opting not to weigh or asking to not get weight related medical advice), what emotions come up for you?
- Why do you feel an obligation to be beautiful?
- How do you feel about the word fat? Is it different than the way you feel about the word thin or freckled?
- If your body cannot be healed, list the ways is still showing up every day for you?
- You are not required to pursue health to be worthy of love and respect. Would would be different in your life if you demanded these things?
- If you were to imagine yourself feeling powerful, present, and clear about the value you bring to the world, how might your posture change?
Binge Eating Journal Prompts
Binge eating often stems from body dissatisfaction and food restriction. While body image journal prompts will also help you to become binge free, here are some specific journal prompts that will explore the binge eating experience.
- When do you have permission to experience pleasure with food?
- What percentage of your day do you spend thinking about food or your body? What would it be like if you took a day off?
- List three ways that you have given the scale power over you
- Diet culture teaches us to ignore and override the body. What are some ways diet culture taught you to ignore your body?
- List 5 ways that binge eating has shown up for you and protected you. Write a short paragraph thanking if for its time.
- What does satisfaction feel like for you? What are some things you notice happening in your body when you feel satisfied?
- A common narrative around pleasure is that we need to “earn it.” How have you seen this dynamic play out around food?
Eating Disorder Journal Prompts
- What is the first thing you would do if your eating disorder was no longer in your way?
- Who profits when so many of us are focused on losing weight?
- When you think about your own attempts to understand your body’s signals, when has that been confusing?
- In what way is your eating disorder controlling you?
- List three ways that your eating disorder is like an abusive partner.
Ways To Use Journaling To Heal Body Image
- Write a letter to a person who has threatened your mental, physical, or emotional ability to trust your body. Let them know how that impacted you and the ways you want to honor your body above their biases.
- Write a letter to God (if you’re a person of faith) and tell him how you feel about your body.
- Write a letter from God to you.
- Write a list of requests you might ask of someone you love to help them support you in your journey to body trust. For example: please don’t talk about diets or weight around me.
- Try writing a letter to yourself as a child. What would you say to her? What are her talents, dreams, aspirations?
How Journaling Helps Heal Body Image
The only way to heal body image is to internally reflect and challenge the negative beliefs you have about your body. This can be challenging to do if we aren’t putting pen to paper and stamping each thought on paper for the opportunity to be critically analyzed.
Journaling can help you with self acceptance by:
- Reducing body checking because you start to feel safe in your body
- Helping you identify ways to respect your body
- Grieving the thin ideal
- celebrate non scale vicotries
- Reduce your fear of weight gain
- Helping you stop hating your body
- 10 Tips To Cope With Bad Body Image Days - September 29, 2025
- Managing Bloating in Anorexia Recovery - September 15, 2025
- The Orthorexia Quiz: Created by A Dietitian - August 25, 2025