Keep Coming, or Just Stay I am a compulsive eater, bulimic, and anorexic, and I have found a home in OA. I came through the doors in April 2001 at age 19, weighing 90 pounds (41 kg) at 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm). I didn’t come to OA because of my low body weight; I came because I could not stop bingeing. My head … Read More
Available to Feel I am so grateful for OA. It’s September 12, 2017, and I have thirty-nine days of abstinence after being in program since January 21, 2017. I will never forget that date: it’s eight days after my mom passed away due to her disease of drug addiction. Her death marked a turning point in my compulsive overeating. What was once a … Read More
Different Manifestations of Our Disease Editors note: Below is a world service contribution from OA members in support of our Strategic Plan. My friend and I certainly have different manifestations of this disease. What brought her to OA was life-threatening anorexia, while I have always been a garden-variety compulsive overeater. Still, we relate in many ways: We both need to be very careful with the … Read More
Could and Would For thirty years, I was bulimic, but I have not purged in almost eight years. When my weight reached an all-time high of 293 pounds (133 kg) at 5’11” (180 cm) two years ago in February, I decided I’d had enough and was going to get weight-loss surgery. But the surgery center didn’t want to operate on me because of … Read More
Not “Too” Scale “Scale Sanity” (July 2017, pp. 8-9) describes very well some of my own crazy behavior with scales, and the writer discovered a “scale abstinence” that is similar to mine. I wish to thank the writer for her pre-scale prayer. That was something I was missing in my program, so I will remember it. As an anorexic, I get irrational satisfaction … Read More
Don’t Do It Alone I am a lifer. My disease is such that I can never leave OA. I spent a lifetime struggling to control my food and body, and the result was a soul-wrenching desperation to find another way. My disease takes a form I call “classic bulimia.” I binged until it hurt, threw up, and then binged again. It wasn’t always end-on-end … Read More
OA Shorts Dear Mr. Merriam, dear Mr. Webster, I write to you as a humble requester. I propose a new spelling of a certain word; The change would be seen but would not be heard. The word in question is now spelled “serenity.” I suggest changing it instead to “surrenity.” If one “surrenders” using “humility,” One can achieve a sense of tranquility: … Read More
Ahead of the Pack I’m a compulsive eater, compulsive exerciser, and bulimic who literally runs along the fine lines between healthy eating and exercise and compulsive behavior. I have been in recovery for five years, but sometimes my own mind still trips me up. Today I went on a run in the hot sun, got nauseated on the way back, and vomited in the yard … Read More
My Highest Priority My anorexia started innocently enough as a diet to attract a boy. Then I hit puberty and developed, and the molestation started at home. My twelve-year-old self reasoned that if I went back to my undeveloped body, the abuse would stop. So my diet became a war against my body. By college, I was bulimic and purged everything I ate. … Read More
Feeling Raw When I came into OA, I weighed 43 kilos (95 lbs). I was consuming huge amounts of food, and I was terrified of putting on weight. My life revolved around bingeing and being thin, and I had a system. I binged on any junk food I wanted for one day, then I binged on vegetables and fruit for four or … Read More