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Table 1 Example of an automatically generated Featback message. Note: This message reflects the content when a participant indicates in the weekly monitoring that she or he worries about food, has at least one day in which she or he restricts food intake, and has had more binges and compensation behavior than in the previous week. The message is translated freely from the Dutch version

From: A randomized controlled trial of an Internet-based intervention for eating disorders and the added value of expert-patient support: study protocol

“We are concerned about your eating problems. You indicate that last week you have been worrying about food and your body, you have not eaten sufficiently every day and have had more days on which you dealt with binges and compensatory behaviors. That’s no small thing you’re dealing with :(.

The urge to eat can emerge from stress, tension and/or emotions that suddenly occur. Is that something you recognize? Do one or more of these factors also precede a binge for you? It is possible to directly respond to these tensions or emotions by giving in to your binge. However, in fact you are not really heeding them, but you are muffling or dampening them and putting them aside. This mostly has a reversed effect, since not only do these tensions and emotions return at a later time, you generally feel worse after a binge as well.

Next time you feel an urge to binge or compensate your food, try to delay it. You will notice that after a while the binge or compensating behavior seems less necessary, or even not necessary at all! For this week, try to delay the urge for about 10 minutes. Also think about activities you can undertake during those 10 minutes to make delaying your binge or compensating behavior more bearable. Call a friend, put on your favorite music, go on a stroll through town or find another activity. Did you achieve the 10-minute delay? Excellent! Challenge yourself to extent the time you set for yourself every now and then.

Will you rise to the challenge? We are very curious to see what will happen when you learn to delay your harmful eating behaviors and whether this will help you. Good luck!”