How can i overcome a binge eating disorder without proffessional help????????

i have been suffering from BED for almost 2 yrs now! i dont gain a whole lot of weight.....it goes up 5 lbs at its maximum and then comes back down again through diet and exercise. but it is getting realy frustrating! is there any way i can overcome this without professional help?

TRY THESE TIPS:
(they've helped me lots to recover from a similar problem)

1) Always wear perfectly applied sticky lipgloss or chapstick. It keeps you very aware of what goes in your mouth, and makes you think twice about eating anything, because you will have to carefully re-apply.

2) Before you dig into that carton of ice cream, bag of chips, etc., take a deep breath and count to 100. Usually, by the time you stop counting you will have convinced yourself that you don't really need it.

3) If you love a certain food, save the wrappers even after you've eaten it. Put them in a zip lock to preserve the scent. Then smell them when you're hungry.

4) Have a peppermint. Peppermints actually decrease hunger

5) When you have a craving for sweets, have 'crystal light' sugar free candies. They're delicious, and are HALF the calories of normal hard candies.

6) Celery actually burns calories. Every hour, eat a stalk of it. Not only will it fill you up, but it'll also get your metabolism kicking.

7) Always wear a rubber band on your wrist.. When you're tempted to binge-eat, snap it.

8) If you have a craving for sugar, try fat-free, sugar free Jell-O... its only 10 cals per serving... if you want you can eat the whole bowl and its only 40 cals.

9) Pickles - Load up on dill pickles and dill slices. This makes a nice "side dish" or snack and helps fill you up without giving you calories. Other pickles, such as "bread and butter" give you calories, so make sure you read the label.

10) Cool Whip - Are you an ice cream addict? Next time you have a craving, eat some frozen Cool Whip Light instead.

11) Borrow the Japanese art of food arranging to make your meal, no matter how meager, look lovely. This is a trick that helps chronic over-eaters and bingers pay attention to their food instead of consuming it unconsciously.

12) Munch on fat-free popcorn or rice crisps

13) Keep a food journal! This, along with a calorie counting book, will help you keep a record of everything you eat. Recording your food intake is probably the single most important thing regarding weight loss. Recording your food intake helps keep accountable for what you eat. You aren't going to want to write down that you ate a 400 calorie piece of cake are you? When you write down what you eat you should also record the calories in that food. If you like you can record fat grams, carbs, your feelings at the time, where you ate, why you ate (were you forced?), etc.

14) Every time you feel hungry, drink an 8 oz glass of water first and wait 30 min. The brain is known to confuse hunger with thirst so when you feel hungry it might really be a signal of thirst. That's why always drink before eating to be sure. Plus it's always advisable to drink half an hour before any meal and one hour after because water dillutes your stomach acids during digestion.

15) Take up the habit of chewing gum (if you don't already). It mimics the chewing of food and will usually help satisfy cravings for sweets. Try out different flavors of gum and chew them as long as possible.

16) Last but not least, SUCK ON STRONG MINTS! This has helped me SO much with my battle! It kills the taste of food like nothing else, so the more of them you suck one after another, the longer you can avoid eating!

I hope this helps and with enough determination you can fight this thing without any professional help! Just believe in yourself and prove to yourself that you are worth something! :)

What is your aversion to professional help? Most times, if not all the time, eating disorders are caused by some outside factor. They can also be a symptom of a much larger or deeper laying problem. Even just having someone to talk to can help.

get help. its not as bad as you think. no one has to know, not even your parents. talk to a counselor at school and they can probaly get someone to come talk to you once or twice a week. without anyone being the wiser.. its worth getting help for.

what i do is when i start to crave i drink as much water to almost make me feel full and then eat a little bit of what I'm craving until I'm full the rest of the way...I hope this is helpful to you.