A Guide to Self-Monitoring
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a key feature of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for the treatment of eating disorders. It involves keeping a daily record of food and fluid intake, thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.
This practice raises awareness of your thoughts, emotions, and patterns of behaviours in the moment, and allows you and your clinician to step back together and take a ‘helicopter view’ of your eating disorder and the things that keep it going.
Challenges to Self-Monitoring
The idea of self-monitoring every day in real-time might feel overwhelming and confronting. It will take time to get into the habit of recording and may feel uncomfortable at first- this is normal. Self- monitoring is a very important part of your treatment towards recovery, and without it, you may find it difficult to overcome the eating disorder.
Research has shown that individuals who consistently complete accurate real-time self-monitoring are most likely to have a good treatment outcome
You can have a look at a template used for self-monitoring here:
https://insideoutinstitute.org.au/resource-library/food-thought-monitoring-template
