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30 GLP-1 journal prompts for the hard days and the good ones

A journal on a GLP-1 does two jobs. On the hard days it gives the queasiness, the tiredness or the frustration somewhere to go. Over weeks it becomes a record of patterns no single day shows. These 30 prompts cover both, and none of them asks you to write down a number you would rather not.

By the Cafeity teamUpdated 5 min read

The short answer

Here are 30 prompts in three groups: ten for hard days, ten for good days and ten for looking back and ahead. Pick one a day, write for five minutes and keep it private. Research on expressive writing finds a small average benefit — a 2006 meta-analysis of 146 randomised studies found a small but significant positive effect — so treat journaling as a useful habit, not a treatment.1

US Letter PDF158 KB A4 PDF157 KB

Free, no sign-up, no email address. Print it, or open it on a tablet and write on it.

Preview of the printable "30 GLP-1 journal prompts": three numbered lists headed For the hard days, For the good days and For looking back and ahead, with a box at the bottom for today's answer.
All 30 prompts on one page, free to print. Keep it in the front of a notebook.Printable: Cafeity.

How to use these prompts

  • One prompt, five minutes. Set a timer, write without stopping, and don't edit.
  • Paper or phone. Whatever you will actually use. Paper is harder to scroll past; a phone is always with you.
  • Pick by the day you're having. Use the hard-day prompts when you need them, not in order.
  • Keep it private. Writing for nobody else makes it easier to be honest.
  • Read back once a week. Patterns — around your dose day, your sleep, your stress — show up across entries, not within one.

Prompts for the hard days

  1. What is the hardest part of today, in one sentence?
  2. What does my body need right now: food, water, rest, movement or quiet?
  3. If today's worst symptom had a volume from 0 to 10, where is it — and what nudged it up or down?
  4. What have I eaten and drunk in the last six hours? Is anything missing?
  5. What would I say to a friend who felt like this today?
  6. Which side effect bothers me most, and is it new, easing or getting worse?
  7. Is anything today a reason to call my prescriber?
  8. What is one small thing I can do in the next hour that later-me will thank me for?
  9. Who could I tell how today is really going?
  10. What has helped on a day like this before?

For prompt 7, the warning signs worth acting on are listed in GLP-1 side effects and at the foot of this page.

Prompts for the good days

  1. What went well today, and what made it possible?
  2. What did my body let me do today that it could not before?
  3. Which meal today left me feeling best afterwards?
  4. What am I proud of this week that has nothing to do with the scale?
  5. When did I feel most like myself today?
  6. Which habit felt easier this week than last?
  7. What kind moment or compliment do I want to remember?
  8. What would I like to try now that I would not have before?
  9. Which non-scale win can I add to my list today?
  10. What do I want to remember about this point in my journey?

Prompts for looking back and ahead

  1. How is my appetite this week compared with last week?
  2. How loud was food noise this week, and when was it loudest?
  3. What patterns do I notice around my dose day?
  4. Where does most of my protein come from, and what would be easy to add?
  5. How did I sleep this week, and how did it shape the next day?
  6. What do I want to ask at my next appointment?
  7. What is working that I want to keep, whatever the scale says?
  8. What is one thing I would change about next week?
  9. How do I feel about my body today, in words that are not numbers?
  10. Why did I start, and is that still my reason?

What the research says about writing it down

Writing about thoughts and feelings — "expressive writing" in the research — has been studied for decades. The largest meta-analysis, which pooled 146 randomised studies, found a positive and statistically significant effect on average, but a small one, with results varying by who was writing and how.1 That is a fair way to think about a journal: a modest, low-cost habit that helps some people more than others.

Stress and eating are closely linked, and the 2025 joint nutrition advisory on GLP-1 therapy notes that mindfulness may help people cope with the medicines' side effects, and that referral for cognitive-behavioural therapy or mindfulness-based stress reduction may be considered.2 A journal is not a substitute for either, but it can help you notice when you might want one.

Turning entries into something useful

A few habits turn a private journal into a record you can act on:

If you prefer the patterns found for you, Cafeity's daily check-ins record appetite, mood, energy and sleep in your own words, notes can be tagged for the Visit Summary, and Cafeity Pro looks for patterns in your own log.

If a hard day is more than a hard day

Keeping a record of it

Cafeity keeps the structured part of a journal for you: mood, energy, appetite, sleep and food noise on the same timeline as your doses, with free-text notes you can tag for your prescriber.

Cafeity "Your week, understood" screen: Ora explains that everything is calculated from your own log, offers questions such as "When are my symptoms worst?", and shows the week's protein, energy, water, weight trend, symptom days and a note that protein was 80 g under target.
Patterns, described from your own log.
Cafeity Visit Summary set-up: a period picker (4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, custom) and switches for medication and doses, weight trend, body measurements, symptoms, protein and energy, activity and sleep, and notes tagged for the prescriber.
Notes tagged for your appointment.

Screenshots: Cafeity for iPhone, version 1.1.

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Common questions

What should I write in a GLP-1 journal?
How you feel, what you ate, how you slept, any side effects and what helped, and the wins a scale does not show. The 30 prompts on this page give you a starting point for any kind of day.
How often should I journal?
Five minutes a day is plenty, and a few times a week still helps. Reading back once a week is where patterns show up.
Does journaling actually help?
On average, a little. A 2006 meta-analysis of 146 randomised studies of expressive writing found a small but significant positive effect.1
Should I write my weight in my journal?
Only if it helps you. These prompts deliberately avoid numbers; your weight trend can live in a separate log or app.
Is there a printable version of these prompts?
Yes. All 30 prompts are on a free one-page PDF in US Letter and A4, with space for the day's answer. No sign-up.

Sources

  1. Experimental disclosure and its moderators: a meta-analysis Frattaroli J. Psychological Bulletin 2006;132(6):823–865
  2. Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity: a joint advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association and The Obesity Society Mozaffarian D et al. 2025 (published in four journals)

Written by the Cafeity team from the sources listed here. Figures from prescribing information are quoted as the label states them; trial results are averages from those trials, not predictions for any one person. This page has not yet been reviewed by a clinician — see the editorial policy for how pages are researched and corrected.