I would like to tell you how I think the character, Humpty Dumpty, can be like some compulsive overeaters. Humpty Dumpty had been told not to get on that wall. It was slippery and dangerous. “No one can tell me what to do. I will keep climbing that wall; I will not stop. I’m in control. I’m Superman,” he told …

After several starts, I found myself knowing that OA was for me, thanks to the acceptance I got from longtimers and other members. Attending meetings, finding a sponsor, learning to work the Steps, and using all the Tools and literature of OA in my program greatly improved my relationships with family and friends. Once I obtained abstinence, I discovered what …

A simple definition of insanity is “unsound reasoning and judgment.” Where has my reasoning and judgment been unsound around food? I have been continuously abstinent for twenty-four years, maintaining a 100+ pound (45+ kg) weight loss. My food plan is sugar-free, flour-free, and volume-free. I follow a structured approach because it is the foundation of my physical recovery: it is …

When a fellow OA member suggested I reflect on what true freedom looks like for me, I discovered I could probably write a book. Before OA, I truly felt I already had it in the form of a solid career, a warm and loving home, the freedom of living where I lived, and more. Even today, I cannot dispute anything …

I’m a group fitness instructor and have been for more than ten years. If someone told me when I first came to OA that I would be a fitness instructor, I wouldn’t have believed it. Not only was I a compulsive overeater, I was also a compulsive overexerciser. I had lost control of my food intake and overexercising was one …

When I came into program in 2003, 30 pounds (14 kg) heavier than I am now, I was proud of myself if I went to two meetings a week and called my sponsor occasionally. As I spent more time in meetings, though, I was fascinated and a little nervous to learn how longtimers incorporated far more program into their lives every week. …

I need a traveling program, one that is available to me 24/7. I have used our website, oa.org, a lot. I’ve looked up in-person meetings when I travel. This past November, I was traveling on the East Coast (I live on the West Coast), and I searched and found a meeting for every day that I was available, including a …

I have been in OA for almost forty-three years. There was a release of 114 pounds (52 kg) within my first two years of program. I maintained that loss and gained serenity over the course of twelve years because I kept coming to the rooms and working my program, one day at a time. In subsequent years, I chose three different …

I see that I have been going through the motions, paying lip service to the program and making contact with HP in a superficial way. When I ask, “What is distracting me?” I am thankful for the awareness God gives me. The answer? “Nothing!” In this moment, I realize that what I have been labeling “worldly distractions” is actually me …

“I have learned that it does not matter how afraid I am. I can show up anyway. I pray and ask God to help me, and I’ve never been disappointed” (Voices of Recovery, p. 337). I was 55, divorced for six years, and very lonely. One morning as I was walking to work, I prayed to my Higher Power, saying, …