Newcomers help me remember the desperation that got me into OA. Newcomers remind me how powerful this disease is and how powerless I am over food. When a newcomer is at a meeting, I share my recovery, strength, and hope and stay in the solution. When I take on a newcomer as a sponsee, it is so rewarding. My recovery is boosted by …

I am a newcomer to OA. I’d reached my bottom weighing approximately 350 pounds (159 kg), and I started coming to meetings the following month. I have been abstinent for several months with a weight loss of about 85 pounds (39 kg). Things clicked for me right away. I knew I was in the right place with the right people. Within …

Thirty-one months after my first OA meeting I still feel very much an OA baby, if not a newcomer any longer. I remember vividly how it felt to ring the bell of the Bath House, where the Cambridge UK Thursday evening group meets. Although I had previous experience in another Twelve Step fellowship, I was apprehensive about OA, but the …

I have been abstinent now seven and a half years, and service has given me so many blessings. Here are just a few: Service gave me courage to stick around. I arrived at my first OA meeting about ten minutes early, nervous and contemplating leaving. I saw somebody setting up chairs; she had about fifty to arrange, all by herself. …

I don’t really know how a computer works. People with comprehension greater than mine designed this amazing tool. But I don’t need to understand all the intricacies of a computer in order to use one. If I just follow simple directions, I can do pretty amazing things with words and pictures, such as send and receive messages in a flash, …

I have been in OA for six and a half years. I have struggled with relapse but also have had long stretches of abstinence. I believe a Power greater than myself can and will (in time) restore me to sanity. My sponsor asked me to write down the actions I take for Step One and Step Two. My goal for …

In Dr. Bob’s Nightmare (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 171– 181), Dr. Bob states four reasons for passing on what he has learned to others who badly want recovery. Among them is a sense of duty: “I am paying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me” (p.181). Because I had sponsors who gave …

I came to the West Coast broken in spirit, ashamed, and depressed. Last year I lost another 132 pounds (60 kg) and regained more than 80 pounds (36 kg) of it. This was common practice for me, a yo-yo cycle that had lasted more than fifty years. My mother died of diabetes and heart failure caused by obesity. Watching her …

How to live life on life’s terms was the most important lesson I learned during my deployment in 2015. I’m a member of the U.S. Navy, and I spent more than seven months on a ship sailing across the ocean. The ship’s menu did not cater to me. The hours of food service did not cater to me. My work …

I am a recovering compulsive overeater, and I’ve been in the rooms for more than forty-two years. Twice I had spurts of freedom from the compulsion to overeat—the longest was two years. I lost 100 pounds (45 kg) initially and have kept off 80 pounds (36 kg) for more than fifteen years, which is a miracle in itself. I’m still 5 …