Motivation and Regular Eating

During the session covered in this chapter, clients will learn about the importance of motivation. High motivation can lead to treatment engagement and treatment commitment. To this end, clients participate in a decisional balance activity to explore the costs and benefits of changing, as well as the costs and benefits of remaining the same. Next, clients will set specific treatment goals they hope to achieve during treatment as well as develop manageable steps to reach treatment goals. Regular eating—loosely defined as three meals and two or three snacks per day, spaced at regular intervals throughout the day—is an important goal to include early in the treatment of eating disorders. Some clients may have treatment teams in which a different team member (e.g., nutritionist/dietitian) is responsible for addressing the goal of regular eating. If not, regular eating can be addressed as one of the goals within this treatment. To that end, Form 4.1: Regular Eating Food Log is introduced in this session.