Journal Prompts on Body Image

Note: Please do not read this if you are not tagged in.

Hey there, 

@navyBanana

I do hope you are doing well. 

How are you feeling today? 

I hope its ok that I have created this thread for you to reflect in your own time if that is what you need.

Here are some reflective questions that can be used as journal prompts. 

Journal Reflection: Body Image, Appearance, and Eating Attitudes

Take your time with these questions. Answer what feels relevant — there are no right or wrong responses.

Early Experiences & Body Awareness

1. What was the first comment you remember receiving about your body or face?
   Who said it, and how old were you at the time?

2. How did that comment make you feel?
   Would you describe the experience as positive, negative, confusing, or mixed?

Social Influence & Appearance

3. Thinking about your social relationships (past or present):
   Have you ever changed your outfit, appearance, or style because a friend or someone close to you said they didn’t like it?
   How did that affect how you felt about yourself?

Eating, Emotions & Comparison

4. Do you consider yourself an emotional eater?
   If yes, what emotions tend to influence your eating?

5. Do you find yourself comparing your body type to people in the media or on social platforms?
   How does this comparison impact your self-image or mood?

Self-Care & Coping

6. What have you currently done for self-care related to your body image or well-being?

7. What has worked for you?
   Why do you think these strategies were helpful?

8. What has not worked for you?
   Were there approaches that felt unhelpful or increased pressure or self-criticism?

Beliefs About Food

9. Which foods do you view as “good” and which do you view as “bad”?
   Greenberg and Shoen (2008), in a case study on male gender-based eating disorder recovery, identified this as a particularly valuable question for understanding beliefs around food.
   Where do you think these beliefs came from, and how do they affect your eating?

Mindfulness & Future Change

10. Research by Hernando et al. (2019) found that female participants with lived experience of an eating disorder reported lower use of mindfulness compared to those without lived experience.

• Is mindfulness something you have tried or would consider trying?

• If you have tried it, what was that experience like for you?

11. What would you like to try in order to improve your attitude toward your body image?

12. What positive changes would you like to make moving forward?
    How confident do you feel about making these changes right now?

    Know that change is gradual, its painful  - it can mean giving up certain things not by the click of the finger but first by recognition of whats going on. 

    References: 

    Experiences of living with binge eating disorder and facilitators of recovery processes: a qualitative study (Experiences of living with binge eating disorder and facilitators of recovery processes: a qualitative study | Journal of Eating Disorders | Springer Nature Link)

    Males and Eating Disorders: Gender-Based Therapy for Eating Disorder Recovery. Green, S, T., Schoen, E, G. (2008) Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.  American Psychological Association 2008, Vol. 39, No. 4, 464–471

    Mindfulness, rumination, and coping skills in young women with Eating Disorders: A comparative study with healthy controls.  Hernando A, Palla´s R, Cebolla A, Garcı´a Campayo J, Hoogendoorn CJ, Roy JF (2019). PLoS ONE14(3): e0213985. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0213985

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