Create a Pros and Cons List for Recovery

During eating disorder recovery, there are many different ways to use a journal to help 
you along. One excellent way is to have a page dedicated to pros and cons for coping 
with and recovering from your eating disorder. Keep reading to learn how this works.

Start by Listing All the Pros

To start your pros and cons list, you want to write all the pros. These are benefits of 
recovering from your eating disorder. IT helps to get as detailed as you can, starting 
with the more obvious benefits related to health and life, but don’t be afraid to think 
outside the box.

It can help to envision what your life would be like once you recovered from your eating 
disorder. Maybe you would save money by not ordering too much food with binge eating 
disorder, or you would be able to enjoy social occasions without worrying about purging 
afterward. There are so many advantages to getting your life back and taking care of 
your physical and emotional wellbeing with recovery.

Have a Column for Cons

The next column is your cons – which as you guessed, there shouldn’t be anything 
written. This is meant to work as a visual aid, where it is obvious to you that the only 
solution is to seek recovery for your eating disorder. This can be referenced any time 
you are questioning whether to give into your urge, the thing your eating disorder is 
telling you to do, and continuing with the recovery process. You can leave the cons 
column blank or write NONE in big letters. 

Write This Down in Your Journal

This page works great in your journal, often toward the beginning or in a place that is 
marked. You should reference the page every time you feel like you need a reminder. It 
can help to see that the pros column is full of benefits, small and big, that don’t just 
impact you, but other people in your life as well. Keep another copy of it on your wall, in 
your purse, or anywhere else that you think will be useful to have the reminder.

Keep Adding to the List

You can also continue adding to this list whenever another benefit of eating disorder 
recovery comes up. Let the list overflow into the cons list, wiping it out completely. The 
act of writing things down also help these benefits stick in your mind a little better.

