I remember when I first started coming to OA meetings. I felt like people were looking at me differently, like they knew I was new and ignorant of their “OA ways.” I felt like an outsider. They spoke in a different way and had so much self-awareness. I only knew how to talk about the food, not emotions or the …

Unity Day 2016 was a day to remember. We had three speakers, and the tone for the day was set when we read the quote on page 360 in For Today: “The only gift is a portion of thyself.” The first speaker noted, “I finally gave up believing that skinny equals happy. There is a Higher Power out there if …

I am 91 years old and enjoying a fairly active, peaceful life because of OA. I joined OA at the age of 51, after struggling with my weight since childhood. I’d always dieted but immediately regained the weight. I was a degreed registered nurse who knew a lot about food and diets, but that didn’t help. Since childhood, I had …

Before I fully surrendered, my life was an ever-increasing battle with food, weight, myself, and others. I was a child who didn’t like being given half a cup of juice; I wanted the full cup. After overhearing family conversations about my “puppy fat,” I decided, at age 9, to attend my first commercial weight-loss club. I only had to lose …

When I came into OA, I thought my life would be perfect if I could just lose some weight and keep it off. I thought food was my problem, but it turned out I was my problem. More specifically, my thinking was my problem: I thought if I could do the right thing and say the right thing and make …

It’s a red-letter day, a miracle. I’m fearful (in case this is only temporary) but elated. I’m finally off insulin. About sixteen months ago, I began taking insulin every day to control my diabetes, but now I’ve gotten to zero units per day. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful it feels. I’ve lost 82 pounds (37 kg) and have …

Before OA, mornings were a chore. When my alarm went off, I wanted nothing more than to pull the covers over my head and yell “Not fair!” at a God I thought was cruel and punishing. My overeating, my bingeing the night before, had taken its toll. Once again, I was not ready to function. Finding OA and working the …

I walked into my first OA meeting a little over two and a half years ago. It had taken me almost forty years to recognize that my eating disorder and compulsive food behaviors were out of control. I’d spent my entire adult life climbing the ladder of success, but when I reached the top, I realized it was leaning against …

My first exposure to OA was finding a pamphlet at my doctor’s office: Before You Take That First Compulsive Bite, Remember . . . . I read the cautions against the distorted thinking that leads to compulsive eating. I remember recognizing myself in that pamphlet, and I identified completely. I remember reading the Twelve Steps, getting to the Third Step …

“And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone . . . the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. . . . That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 84–85). When I first came into OA, I …