“Come on in! We’ve been waiting for you!” That’s what I heard as I walked through the doors of an OA meeting in 2015. Two ladies were sitting in the meeting room, both long timers. One of them had moved to our small coastal town a year ago, found no OA meetings, and decided to start one. I struggled to …

After being a full-time mom to four children, I find myself at a new stage in life; I am now able to travel with my husband when he travels for work. It is wonderful, yet at every hotel or motel, every resort or lodge, big or small, fancy or casual, I consistently find myself confronted with one kind of furnishing: …

I have always had an obsession with food. As a child, I was obese. Half an hour after I finished a meal, I would announce I was hungry again. My family didn’t think this was possible. As a teenager, I was never seen without a soda and a sweet. They were my icons. I tried every weight-loss program invented. I …

Just what are “trusted servants?” We read Tradition Two every week in our meeting. It states in part, “Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.” While I was attending an OA region meeting, it became very clear to me just what that “trusted” bit means. Looking at the leaders of the meeting, watching them be sane, reasonable, and …

There was a time when I was a regular blood donor. Every other month, I would make my way to the local blood center, roll up my sleeve, and give a pint of A-positive. It was a small thing, but it made me feel good to know I was doing something that had lifesaving potential. But then things started to …

Before I found abstinence and started working the Twelve Steps of OA, my life was falling apart in every way imaginable . . . My health was suffering from the extra 90 pounds (41 kg) I carried, and I was at risk of losing my job in the military because of my weight. If I lost my job, I would …

After giving birth to my sixth child, I realized I was obese. I had always dieted away my postpartum fat, but this time I was obsessed with food, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep the weight off for more than a few weeks. I weighed over 170 pounds (77 kg). My Higher Power helped me find …

I came into OA when I was 35, after realizing that I felt about food the way alcoholics feel about liquor. If I started eating, I didn’t stop until the food was gone. But I didn’t understand being powerless over food; I just wanted to lose weight and move on. You can’t die from food, I thought. Well, I had …

My journey in physical recovery has been full of ups and downs, much like the number on my scale before I came into program. I once believed that if I could wear a size 16 in jeans (stretchy jeans, that is), then I could live a fulfilled life; I truly believed I would die happy in a size 16. My Higher …

I came into OA in the middle of 2008. At the time I weighed just over 80 kilograms (176 lbs) and was on the way up. It was the most I had ever weighed. I believed I was going to end up obese, and I didn’t care. From the age of 15, I had been experimenting with diet pills, never …