Higher Power HP’s Child People look at me and form an opinion: appearance does influence people’s thinking. If I’m overweight, others might think I’m undisciplined, but what they don’t realize is that compulsive eating is an illness. I am a person of color who has been in OA thirty-five years. I have around a 50-pound (23- kg) weight loss. When I came in, I … Read More
Keep Coming Back Relapse Twinkle in My Eye Most folks who know me only see my weight loss over the last few years, but the most significant changes in my life happened on the inside. It’s what cannot be seen, but seems to be sensed. It’s all due to OA. I came to OA in 1994 looking for a solution to my recent weight gain. I had kept … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality My First Prayer My personal first spiritual experience was my first weight loss in OA. I came in because of desperation and rage. My family was crazy (so was I), and I had nowhere else to go. I had just been on a fast of water and diet soda, but when I weighed myself, I had gained ten pounds. I felt empty and … Read More
Abstinence Threefold Abstinence Keeping things simple is helpful. Using OA’s definition of abstinence, I had to decide what I could refrain from, one day at a time, no matter where I was or what was happening. Two ingredients that repeated in my food inventory were sugar and white flour. So my definition of physical abstinence was simple: no sugar and no white flour. (My food plan … Read More
Literature Suiting Up For two months, I’ve been attending Overeaters Anonymous meetings. As I worked Step One, my denial started to crumble. I became painfully aware of the ways my life was unmanageable due to my eating behaviors. I could not deny that my closet and drawers were full of clothes that no longer fit me. Only larger-size pants let me breathe when … Read More
Abstinence Tools & Concepts Understand, Appreciate, Implement, Reflect I came to understand abstinence initially by doing what I saw other recovering OA members doing. This included: weighing and measuring food; following a food plan created by a registered dietician who tailored it for my body’s needs; avoiding sugar and wheat products; doing OA outreach phone calls; attending meetings; doing service; reading OA and AA literature; journaling daily; studying … Read More
Steps First Willingness, Then Ability The other day my sponsee was telling me how grateful she was to have me in her life. I had to agree—I was also grateful. Had I not been willing to be a backup for her sponsor then none of the following would have come to pass. This member, who was in her second pregnancy, needed to reach out by … Read More
Relapse & Recovery Different Perspectives In 1994, I hit bottom. Food no longer filled the hole in my soul. A sense of hopelessness and futility was constantly with me. I had reached what was my heaviest weight of 335 pounds (152 kg) and doubled my size in just four years. I was a graduate assistant working as a tutor at my university’s writing lab. One … Read More
Steps Fear Removal I must confess: After nearly three years in this program, Step Three is the one I’ve struggled with most. Naturally, that’s the Step I’ve been asked to write about. I wonder if my Higher Power has anything to do with that! Like a lot of people, I experienced a childhood of abuse. I guess you could say I had a bone … Read More
Recovery Convention-al Wisdom As I planned to attend a regional convention, my hope was to grasp a nugget of information that would ignite and excite me to commit to the OA program and principles. I am new to OA and am still trying to find the group meeting that best suits my schedule and needs. I do not have a sponsor yet, so … Read More