Meetings First-Meeting Gifts I went to my first OA meeting on a Saturday in March 1979. I was coming off a food binge of almost two years; it had started when my fiancée told me she didn’t want to marry me. The next day I’d gone off to the races. I gained over 100 pounds (45 kg) in a year, and didn’t see … Read More
Share It Still Learning Just wanted to send a belated “thank-you” for the July 2017 stories. I especially felt blessed by the Step Study story “How I Ask”. The author identified one of my most troublesome defects, obsession with control, and then offered a helpful clarification: “or illusions of control.” What I have to keep learning is that I actually have control over very … Read More
Traditions Losses and Gains Tradition Eight: Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers. I am a professional person on several fronts. I have various public personae. I am a person of “wisdom” and knowledgeable about many things, like a trivia guru. I also have worn many masks. None of this, however, serves my participation in and appreciation … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Every Minute, Every Situation The key threads woven into and through my soul and my program of recovery are hope and gratitude. The hope I felt at my first OA meeting was probably what kept me coming back, even though I wasn’t sure for what, besides weight loss, and even though my insides were twisted with pain, anger, and resentment. (I didn’t even know … Read More
Traditions A Part Of My obsession with food was so disruptive, it required me to ignore my basic needs and the needs of others. I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about myself: what I was going to eat next, how I was going to use food to numb feelings I didn’t like, and when and where I was going to do it. I … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Working the Program Faith Relationship The most profound change after OA is in the quality of my relationships. When I face a challenging situation with another person, recovery gives me a moment of pause to rein in my temper, take responsibility for my feelings, and then speak and act from a place of compassionate acceptance. I’m particularly grateful for the ability to be more calm … Read More
Recovery Healthy Resolution Every year since I was 13 years old, my New Year’s resolution had been to lose weight. It wasn’t until 2014, when I was 23, that I altered that New Year’s resolution to instead heal my relationship with food. After hitting bottom, bingeing every night on a wide variety of foods, my fear of change was overpowered by the pain … Read More
Recovery Trust Fund Before OA, my life was a constant struggle. It was me against the world, and I couldn’t lower my defenses, or I’d be eaten alive. It was very stressful and tiring. Lack of trust was one of my biggest problems. I grew up in a family in which anything you said could be used against you. I craved trust and … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Out of the Spin Cycle Before OA changed everything, my life was so unmanageable I couldn’t see that I was physically exhausted, emotionally oblivious, and spiritually impoverished. At 5 feet 10 inches (177 cm) tall and weighing 267 pounds (121 kg), my body was tired; I lived in every kind of pain. I could only identify the most basic emotions: anger, sadness, or happiness (it … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Smile Therapy I experimented with food for years before joining program. I noticed if I ate sugar in the morning, I was more likely to eat it in the afternoon, too, and also forget I’d already eaten some (the more I ate, the more I forgot). I noticed when I went without a certain sweet, I thought about it obsessively. When a … Read More
