When we met, I said that I knew there was a reason, and perhaps this is it. Perhaps we may suffer from the same horrible disease, compulsive overeating. For most of my life, I didn’t know that, to me, food was an addiction. Certain foods are like heroin to me. It wasn’t until I went to a meeting that I …

I’ve been in program for four years and abstinent three. Every day is a miracle. I use a special email signature: “Life is great, and it’s only going to get better, if I let it.” The signature is all about surrender. I have to get out of my Higher Power’s way so he can work in my life. I’ve learned …

My sponsor taught me “Abstinence no matter what,” and for me, it all begins with willingness. I have severe and persistent mental illness, or SPMI. I don’t see myself as a victim, but I do feel anger regarding my symptoms. I’ve learned, though, that everyone in OA has challenges in addition to their overeating illness that make it difficult to …

I have had two knee replacements in two years. The first time I wasn’t abstinent, but this most recent time I was. I want to share the difference. The first time I was in rehab, I was physically, spiritually, and mentally bankrupt. I paid an acquaintance, my eating buddy, to bring me non abstinent food. I ate sugar and white flour …

I spent the first part of my adult life wearing sizes 7 and 9 in clothes, until the event, the incestuous encounter. What made my incestuous situation unusual? My perpetrator was my father, and I was an adult when it happened. I was in such shock after the event that for the next few days my brain (to help me …

Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Working the Twelve Steps of the OA program is what helped me most in recovery. For me, great help came from working the Fourth Step because it helped me get in touch with some very traumatic things that happened in my past. At first, the memories of these things …

I began OA at age 28 after attempting suicide; I’d gained 3 pounds (1.5 kg) after a bulimic episode, peaking at 107 pounds (49 kg). I was nuts; absolutely lost in the mental illness of food preoccupation and self-obsession. I began OA that next day and never left the rooms, our community, and my life of recovery. What I noticed when …

All my life I’d been the skinny kid. My brothers and sisters nicknamed me “Stick” because I was so thin. I could eat anything and not gain weight. On my wedding day in 1991, I weighed 115 pounds (52 kg) and wore a size 5. During my first year of marriage, I gained 10 pounds (5 kg). Then I had …

I joined OA about five years ago, when I’d lost all hope of knowing happiness or having a purpose. I had been in program twenty-five years earlier, but the lessons learned had all but faded away. I did remember, however, that I had lost weight and felt a sense of happiness, and I wanted that feeling to return. My second …