Making sure that what’s going on inside your head is healthy is just as important as working on making sure the food you eat is healthy. I’ve compiled some of my favorite self-love journal prompts here so that you can start working on your goals from the inside out.
If you’re getting stuck and frustrated every time you make try to make diet or lifestyle changes, give these journal prompts a try. Spending even just a few minutes a day reflecting can have a major impact on the long-term success of your goals.
How Does Journaling Help Reach Health & Wellness Goals?
Journaling has been shown to help reduce stress levels (1), a hugely important piece of anyone’s wellness journey. Think about the last time you had a super stressful day– how were your food choices that day?
Stress actually influences your food decisions and makes you crave less nutritious foods. Not only that, but you’re way less likely to have the motivation to prepare yourself a healthy meal, exercise, or treat your body well when you’re feeling super stressed (2).
Stress can also impact your quality and amount of sleep. Not getting enough sleep makes you hungrier, makes you crave less nutritious foods (3), and makes it less likely that you’ll exercise. The bottom line: you can’t expect yourself make mindful choices when your stress is unmanaged.
Journaling also helps you reach your goals through accountability and mindfulness. Working your health goals into your journaling habits can help keep your goals at top of mind so that you’re more likely to follow through with them.
And finally, journaling is a just great way to clear up mental space. When you have a running to-do list and non-stop thoughts accumulating in your brain it’s impossible to think about your health goals or healthy eating habits. Journaling helps clear out that mental space (and we need allllll the mental space we can get, am I right!?) so that you can prioritize your goals. Even “brain dumping” and making to-do lists can be a form of journaling.
Okay, let’s get into the good stuff: self love journal prompts for your health goals, broken down into different categories. Scroll through to pick a few to get started with!
How to Get Started with Journaling
- Make it fun. Grab a cute new notebook, some colorful pens, some highlighters, etc.
- Include it in your routine. The easiest way to make journaling a habit is to stick it into your routine. Prioritize it right before you brush your teeth, right before you go to bed, while you’re drinking your coffee, etc.
- Get cozy! Do you have a hard time getting into it? Make a hot cup of tea, snuggle up under your favorite blanket or grab a spot next to your dog before diving into the deeper journal prompts.
- It’s not all or nothing (just like your eating habits!). You don’t need to be a perfect journal-er to reap the benefits of journaling, so don’t stress if it’s not happening as often as you’d like. If you skip a few days (or a few weeks) you can always pick up where you left off!
- Practice makes “perfect”. The more you journal, the more you’ll take notice of the positive effects it has on your life and goals! Keep journaling, keep practicing, and keep going!
Journaling Prompts for Beginners
Are you a newbie journal-er or not sure if it’s worth your time yet? Here are some super simple journal prompts to get you started.
- What’s one goal that I want to achieve? How would it change my life if I achieved it?
- What does my dream life look like when I’m my healthiest? What habits do I regularly prioritize? How do I feel?
- What are 5 things I’m grateful for in my life?
- What do I want more of in my life?
- What do I want less of in my life?
Morning Journal Prompts
One journaling method is to take a few minutes at either the beginning of the day or the end of day (or both) to do some reflection. Remember, you don’t have to spend much time at all on these. Five minutes while you sip your coffee is all you need!
- What went well yesterday? How did I make it happen? Was there anything that I did differently that was helpful?
- What could have gone better?
- How can I prioritize my goals today so that today feels like a win?
- Choose an affirmation for the day.
Ex:
- “Today I prioritized consistent meals and felt more in control around my snacks!”
- “I wanted to get some movement in today, but wasn’t able to make it happen.“
- “Today I’m going to set a reminder and prioritize a 15 minute walk during my work break so that I can get some extra steps in. I know I feel better when I don’t sit all day.”
- I am worthy of prioritizing myself and my goals so that I can feel my absolute best.
Nighttime Journal Prompts
Use these nighttime journal prompts to reflect on your day and start thinking about your future tomorrow self. Keep a small notepad near your bed and make these evening journal prompts a part of your nighttime routine.
- What is one thing that I’m proud of from today?
- Was there anything that worked (or didn’t) that I can try to prioritize tomorrow?
- Is there anything I can do tomorrow to make my goals easier or more attainable?
- What’s one amazing thing that my body did for me today?
Body Image Journal Prompts
Making sure your body image is in a good place is so important when it comes to your health and wellness goals. If this is somewhere that you struggle, I highly recommend working through these body image journal prompts.
- Write down 2-3 people that you love in your life. What are your favorite things about them? Are any of those things related to their body or appearance?
- Would people in your life love you more if your weight or body changed?
- If one the people from #1 was talking unkindly about their body to you, what would you say to them?
- What’s one thing you’re super proud of accomplishing in your life that isn’t related to your weight, your body, or your appearance. Why are you proud?
- Write down all the reasons that your weight, appearance and amount you weigh doesn’t matter.
- Finish this sentence: “I deserve to feel confident in my body because…”
Emotional Eating Journal Prompts
- What situations or feelings are most likely to spark emotional eating for me?
- How do I feel about myself and food before, during and after emotionally eating?
- What was my relationship with food like growing up? Does it affect my relationship with food now? How can I break that cycle?
- What would my ideal relationship with food be?
- Why do I deserve to have a good relationship with food?
- What are 5 things that I could do instead of emotionally eating?
- In what ways can I start prioritizing a better relationship with food right now?
Food Journal Prompts
- How did my food choices make me feel today?
- How have my food choices been making me feel in general recently?
- What realistic changes to my diet would I like to prioritize?
- What types of foods would I like to prioritize more of in my life?
- What would my ideal diet look like (and feel like)?
- What is one way that I can make my diet-related goals more sustainable?
- What helps me to be most consistent with my diet-related goals?
- When I’m feeling “off” with my eating habits, what’s something that helps me get back to my goals?
- How can I be kinder to myself when my diet isn’t perfect?
Working on your mindset is an underrated piece of lifestyle change that so many people skip. Don’t be one of those people! You deserve to have a positive relationship with food and yourself so that you can prioritize what’s best for you. Start using these self love journal prompts as soon as you can.
Journaling can have a major impact on our mindset and the way we approach our health and wellness goals. I love it so much that it’s something I recommend to every single one of my members in Balanced Breakthrough. If you feel like your health goals have you spinning in circles and constantly starting over, I’m so looking forward to you getting started with some self love journal prompts.
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