Recovery Working the Program Learning More Each Day After several starts, I found myself knowing that OA was for me, thanks to the acceptance I got from longtimers and other members. Attending meetings, finding a sponsor, learning to work the Steps, and using all the Tools and literature of OA in my program greatly improved my relationships with family and friends. Once I obtained abstinence, I discovered what … Read More
Keep Coming Back Relapse Relapse & Recovery Standing in the Wings I came to Overeaters Anonymous to lose weight, period. I had no idea what the program was about. A friend told me she had lost weight in OA; maybe I could lose weight too. The methods I had tried over the years (little chocolate candies, pills, shots, nasty-tasting predigested protein, aerobic exercise while wrapped in cellophane, and actual physical exercise … Read More
Recovery Relationships Recovery through Divorce My ex-husband and I divorced about five and a half years into my recovery. It was a painful process, but the Tools and Traditions of the OA program sustained me in a variety of ways: Service. Initially, I served as convention treasurer to give me a focus on something other than the divorce. Sponsorship and telephone. I relied more on … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Ten Things Here is what has helped me get abstinent: Planning out my food for the next twenty-four hours and making my lunch and snack night before. Making a commitment to my OA sponsor (by phone or email) of what I will eat for the next twenty-four hours. If I need to change it, I call her ahead of time. Being rigorously … Read More
Abstinence Before the First Bite Just what is compulsive overeating? I’ve not had to wonder about that, because my first sponsor made it very clear, as does the Big Book, that we’re talking about the first compulsive bite: the first bite of “more than planned,” the first bite of “a bit more,” the first bite of a food I do not eat today, and the … Read More
Abstinence Grace-Full Breakup I never thought I could or would even be willing to have an abstinent holiday season, but by the grace of God and what I’ve learned in this Fellowship over the past year, I did. Not that I didn’t gaze lovingly at some of my binge foods, but at each moment I had a choice to make: the choice between … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Little Voice Said Eight weeks ago, I attended my first OA meeting. I’d researched OA and vaguely knew about a concept of abstinence, but that was about it. After a bit more reading, another meeting, and devouring the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve, I realized I urgently needed a sponsor. After all, on reading the Twelve and Twelve, it seemed I was … Read More
Service Tools & Concepts Making Connections It’s as simple as this: I settled for food. To block the pain of my love starved existence, I used food and sugar until my carefully constructed façade of beautiful well-being began to bloat from the excesses I needed to eat to feel safe. But I had to do something to keep from losing my looks, the one thing that … Read More
Relapse Relapse & Recovery One Small Change When I first came to OA in 1985, I was blessed to walk into a meeting full of recovery, love, fellowship, and fun. Abstinent sponsors were available, and a group of about eight of us ate lunch together afterwards, did things together, and gave service beyond the group level. (Our specialty was entertainment for OA events.) We had parties at … Read More
Steps Traditions The Springboard I never destroy my Fourth Step work, so I can quickly make an Eighth Step amends list using the folks I mentioned in Step Four. But my Eighth Step list often includes more names than I’d written before. There are always more people I have harmed, even people toward whom I hold no negative feelings whatsoever, not even resentment. I … Read More