Self-Monitoring

Goal

To be able to self-monitor behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and events related to eating

Overview of Self-Monitoring

Developing awareness about your eating disorder is a crucial step in being able to overcome it. This is done by engaging in self-monitoring of your behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and events related to eating. Self-monitoring will help you identify exactly what is happening on a day to day basis. This will in turn help you to know what changes you can make.

Self-monitoring will also help you to learn that you have choices and that some things you thought were automatic and outside of your control can be changed with attention, effort, and practice. The self-monitoring needs to be accurate and done in real-time in order for it to be effective. This process of recording everything you eat may be irritating and inconvenient but soon it will become second nature and of great value to you.

Self-monitoring your weight once per week is also important. By weighing yourself once per week and no more or less often than that, you will be able to assess and interpret your weight in a realistic manner. Body weight fluctuates through the day and from day to day (up to 6 pounds/3 kilograms of fluctuation) depending on your state of hydration, bowels and bladder, menstrual cycle (for females), and other factors. Weighing yourself more than once per week can result in preoccupation with weight fluctuations and may result in your choosing to restrict your eating based on a misinterpretation. Perhaps you are at the other end of the spectrum and avoid weighing yourself out of a state of denial. If you do not weigh yourself, you will have no data to confirm or to disconfirm your fears about weight gain.

Self-Monitoring Record Exercise (Barlow, pp. 594-595)

Instructions: Complete a self-monitoring record (see next page) every day. You will need one record per day, and you will need to keep it with you at all times in order to make real-time entries. Note the time when you eat or drink anything in the first column. Record the nature of the food or drink consumed in the second column (e.g. smoked turkey on what bread, light mayo, diet coke). Designate meals by putting them in brackets. Do not put brackets around all other types of snacks. Be sure to write down each item as soon as possible after it is consumed.

Indicate where the food or drink was consumed in the third column. If it was in your home, specify which room. In the fourth column, put an asterisk for episodes of eating or drinking that you felt (at the time) were excessive. Record in the fifth column when you vomit (V), take laxatives or diuretics/water tablets (WT), or over exercise (OE). Treat the sixth column as a diary to record events and feelings that influenced your eating (e.g. you had an argument and that contributed to your decision to binge or not to eat). Additionally, record other important events or circumstances in the sixth column even if they had no effect on your eating. Once per week, you will record your weight in the final column.

Day of the Week: ___________ Date: ___________

Time	Food & Drink Consumed	Place	*	V, WT, OE	Diary/Comments	Weight

Next Step

Continue self-monitoring indefinitely. Once you are managing your eating and weight in a healthy, non-problematic manner over a period of at least three months, you may decide that daily self-monitoring is no longer necessary.