At times I suffer fear: Will I be successful at weight loss? Perhaps I have a diet mentality. During these times, I must remember the following: “I” am not losing the weight. Higher Power and Overeaters Anonymous are helping me lose the weight. A healthy way of living is helping me lose the weight. Cleaning up my side of the …

I began the most recent chapter of my OA journey by facing the futility of a sixteen-year relapse. I admired nothing about myself, least of all my body. I had weight-loss surgery in 2001, yet I’d managed to gain back all the weight I’d lost plus 25 extra pounds (11 kg). I weighed over 300 pounds (136 kg). I had …

Today I’ll walk the spiritual path by using an action plan. I will: Think of others. This relieves me of the “bondage of self” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 63). Tell my Higher Power I’m grateful. Gratitude brings my mind into a peaceful place. Know HP wants my happiness and well-being. I can “act as if” until I believe it. …

I received a short-notice invitation to go to Nashville for the SOAR8 (Region Eight) Recovery Convention so I packed my bag, my food, and my water and headed straight into a very full weekend of recovery. The theme of the assembly was “Tune into the Principles.” As a newcomer to OA, I was at first not familiar with the Principles …

Attraction is hard to pinpoint. I didn’t really know what kept me coming back to OA in those early days, over four years ago. I was attracted to the warmth of the OA rooms. Not the physical rooms—much of the time they were quite the opposite of attractive. Some of those ancient, cold, dark, damp, even moldy rooms might have …

I just attended my first and second ever OA meetings. In 2013, I lost 80 pounds (36 kg) in seven months using powdered food, veggies, and prescribed medicines under a bariatric doctor’s care. That diet was not sustainable, and now I’ve gained all the weight back, plus 10 pounds (5 kg) more. I knew all along that I could not …

Five or six years ago, I was involved in OA service work within my region. To aid my interactions with the personalities I encountered, I read recovery literature on Tradition Two. Over time, it slowly occurred to me that this Tradition was inviting me to have a relationship with a loving Higher Power. It came with the awareness that I …

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this I am responsible. Feeling responsible assumes first that a person has gained something; the gainer then wants to repay for that gain. When asked to write about our Responsibility Pledge, I thought to look first at what I have gained from OA. When …

Spring of 2015 was the turning point. I had to get my fix of food no matter the cost. I maxed out my credit card, took from savings, ate in secrecy, and filled crevices of the house and car with my stash. I even ate frozen cauliflower. It struck me that I had a problem when I bought my first …

I am a 58-year-old male. I have been on the “diet yo-yo” five or six times in my life. Each time, I lost weight and kept it off for about a year; then I gained it back plus more. I’ve learned this is a progressive disease. Before OA, I was full of despair and frustration. I was hiding in my …