Mill Creek OA 100 Pounder Speaker Meeting: Recent Episodes
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Introduced to OA in 83 - worked well as a diet- a couple of times
in 1999 I was over 300LBS.
I In high school I started gaining weight and had no idea why. It went from a choice to an obsession.
I got a sponsor who introduced e to all the tools to use for one day .
I made calls, went to meetings, did as my sponsor suggested.
Anonymity remains in the forefront of my relationships
I still have a sponsor who has a sponsor. I sponsor as well and love to do service.
Today I have a clear food plan that works for me.
My life is wonderful. i am married, with grand kids and full of abstinent days.
As a sponsor I can share how I live abstenentley
Just so you know - This program works!
Picture 1 - 420 Lbs and lots of heath issues.
Picture 2 -3.5 years later in healthy body.
Today I have freedom from the bondage of self. Freedom to live a quality life and way more.
I was always 'Husky' and had an addiction to sugar and flour but didn't know it at the time.
I have found that when I fully work the program, follow suggestions. and avoid opinions about an experience I have NOT had, I am no longer obsessed with food and my life goes well.
I binged with food and alcohol and both worked . .for a while.
at 49 I needed triple bypass from damage from alcohol, then proceeded to put on 160 lbs.
I was 12 stepped for OA at an AA Convention.
I had a one day slip in 2020 when I got bad health news. Hmmmm. Since then total every day abstinence.
*( The audio quality is not up to par. But it did make me pay closer attention for a powerful message - Recorder )*
Stats - I joined in 2011. 32 years old and 0ver 300 lbs and lost and maintained 150 lb weight loss.
I dabbled with a diets which yielded intermittent results in time and pounds. as is is said,
When I got to OA I heard my story but they were older,
As before my self will got me marginal results.
I took 3.5years to do the 12 step.
Phone meetings became my community.
We read from the big book of AA but I did not get the relationship between us. until really completed the steps from the Big Book.
I have lost 100 lbs twice before I came to OA.
I was an only child and in my family and my friends houses everything was about the food.
I was the biggest my entire school experience. Never thought of myself as dainty.
I had no clue what an appropriate amount of food was.
My husband and I became eating buddies until I did the protein shake diet. At the the end I went back to my old ways.
Hypnosis worked . . . for a minute.
I came into program at 61 years old.
At my first OA meeting everyone looked normal. But was as they shared I realized they were like me.
In a short time the voices in my head, telling me what to eat, went away.
I continue to learn about my disease and myself.
I LOVE THIS PROGRAM!
I always want to be profound but I have to remember it is not about me.
I came in in 2003 after weight loss surgery. Since I was already loosing weight I did not embrace OA right away. Half measures at best.
After 7 months I started gaining. Then I became desperate and honestly worked the steps. I got into service bit if you called me at home I wouldn't answer.
It did not hold and I eventually went into relapse until 2021.
I heard the BAA Big book should be read like a text book. My recovery really started when I embraced that.
My mother was a huge part of my recovery, 4th, 8th, 9th steps were transformational.
Going from I cannot stop,
I was an exercise bulimic before I knew what it was and still gained weight.
Found OA went to a few meetings and decided to do it myself which failed miserably.
I have been abstinent for 22 years and still call y sponsor every day (I am on my third sponsor).
I sponsored early and it worked great. I stayed abstinent and so did some of them .
Started with pictures. Young pictures don't indicate major problem yet.
Got dismissed from Marine Corp because I could not maintain the weight standard.
By 2007 many areas of my life were out of control
Came into OA over 300 lbs
Today I stay under 200 with my doctor acknowledging my program and results.
I can have a 'gutter ball day' but a 10th step puts me back on track.
Came in over 500 Lbs
My portion was bag box and carton or more.
My problem was my bondage of self. Food wasn't my problem, it was my solution.
I was the result of what happened to me as a shild which I cannot change I can change how I react.
Taking the next right action was/is My form of willingness.
I didn't believe it could work for me but I did it anyway.
At 419 I was in the hospital being told I HAD to loose weight or die think giving up my 'friend' was that same as death.
The moment I was willing to ask for real help, that I could not do it alone was the beginning or the relief from the bondage of self.
OA in not a program of learning. it is unlearning my way.
Diabetic, fatty liver disease and less than 30 years old.
Finally got it in 2008 after my third son. In until 2012 and not back until 2021
Started sneak eating around 8 years old. It didn't stop.
I reset my time over a year ago because I was eating abstinent food compulsively.
I am honest about my food. It may nor be perfect but I tell the truth
Now I have a service position at every one of my regular meetings.
My marriage was in danger when I came into the program. Working MY programs helps my marriage.
My friends in the program tell me the truth especially when I don't want to hear it.
Maintaining 70 LB weight loss for 17 years.
I was a sugar addict as long as I can remember.
My first diet at 11 years old and it never ended Thin, fat, thin, fat, thin, fat ........ every diet worked for a minute.
After multiple diets my food plan became 'I'll eat whsaever I want' up to 185.
My first OA meeting was a sugar addict abstinent fro 22 years. That got my attention.
I just kept going understanding little. It was a service position that changed it for me. People got to know me, I fell a part of.
I know from experience the first bite of sugar will take me out.
Today I have a great life because my daily routine is based on this program from before I get out of bed until I fall asleep with another day of abstinence.
My favorite prayer is 'God please help me.' Great for anytime.
I was 250 feeling different and alone.
I thought all sorts of crazy things would be a good idea. all looking for the right diet.
Today I no longer have to kill myself from the inside any more.
While in my weight uncomfortable is a major understatement.
I had been able to get thin . . . for a minute.
I never forget the humiliation of needing a seat belt extender.
I have yet to do a perfect say and it is reflected with my nightly 10th step.
The steps were transformational. not easy or fast but I followed directions and it changed my world . for the better.
I was 'chubby' by 10.
As I got older I got heavier and lonlier.
I lost my first 100 pounds early in high school. But I was still discontent and drooped out in 10th grade.
20 - 30 yrs old - Loose weight, get job, gain weight, loose job and blamed the world.
In 1999 I ended in CA, lost 150 on my own and I had arrived . for a minute.
I ended in OA, was loosing weight and I was my God.
I got a sponsor, followed Direction, did the steps, had appropriate results and ended up employed.
My recovery is dependent upon by being honest and I have proved the difference.
My relationship with my higher power is my lifeline which I hold dearly and daily,
I was not a fat kid but was still obsessed with food.
Unhealthy childhood led to a plethora of issues arriving over the years.
I used a complicated plan of compulsive eating, drugging, exersizing to maintain what I wanted.
I came into OA relatively small and put on all my weight in programs.
I put on 100 lbs with my first pregnancy and I was sober.
Steps 1-3 getting right with god, 4-9 getting right with people, 10-12 rocketed into the 4th dimension.
Things I have learned, Crisis thoughts pass. So I wait.
In OA 18 Years, Up and down 100 multiple times in and out of OA. Currently 4 years.
I used to think food was my problem. Life was my problem. Food was my solution.
I was sure being overweight I would get Covid and die but it did not stop me.c
In all `18 years I never left OA but i definitely hopped around meetings, sponsors, food plans.
I knew I could not do it alone, but I kept trying and THAT failed.
Behind a picture at an OA birthday I heard what I needed to jump back into the program for real.
Staying in the chair is not enough. I needed a sponsor and to work the steps and to do service.
Missed 1st 30 Seconds - Dow Compulsive over eater also celebrating 38 years sober.
I first got abstinent through HOW program.
In abstinence I remembered things I had suppressed.
I got sober at 31, quit smoking and ate to stuff all the feeling and it worked.
I was not willing to give up the food.
No wonder I couldn't connect with God, I was worshiping my refrigerator.
Maintaining my abstinence is related to my being of service.
Feb 20, 2025 =8 years
I grew up in dysfunctional family like so many others.
Food felt like an escape.
The voice of my disease told me I needed a smaller body. what ever it was.
I knew the squeaky tiles in my house so I could sneak to the fridge.
I became completely obsessed with food and my body.
I cried a LOT in the beginning.
Now, for me, it is OK to be vulnerable, I realize I am not the center of the universe. Living in the grey area is equivalent to being right sized.
My criticism of me can be as damaging as the food.
Today working my program includes sponsoring and being sponsored, being of service and living the principles in all my affairs
From Early childhood always full plates. Both parents were compulsive eaters.
I learned how to sneak food without being heard or discovered.
I was the only kids in the point system program with my mom. I did not get it and hated it.
i went to college at about 300 lbs. I learned all about nutrition but it didn't help me.
My parents encouraged me to try OA. Much of my life was working but not my food.
I did my first meeting on Zoom and cried and still felt at home.
In the beginning is was all about the weight and I did not embrace all the work
The steps helped me to acknowledge I was perfectly imperfect.
The concept of a higher power did not come easily but it has come to me.
Even if I don't enjoy me feelings I allow them without turning to the food one day at a time.
Very active childhood. Family outdoor activities.
I was driven to seek attention and approval. so I excelled.
It was a slow weight gain spanning 30 years, 2 kids
Occasional diets led to a short term dip but adding more eventually.
I was led to the 15 questions and passed. I belonged.
There 5 OA Actions that worked for me.
By the time i was 21 I needed to give up a plethora of inappropriate behaviors. Food was my drug of choice.
My dad paid me for every pound I lost.
I could present well but hated myself on the inside regardless of how I looked.
I raised my hand for my 'First 30 days' for 4 months.
Finally i have not had sugar since 1985
I was sober for 4 years but my world was grey because of my food.
I thought OA abstinence would be a daily struggle to not eat.
I no longer hate myself. There is more to improve but now it is because I love self enough to change.
My higher power took away the self hate causing me to eat sugar.
I was filled with anger and resentment.
I weighed in at 370 for cancer surgery.
I don't remember how I found OA. At that time I was a wreck on many levels.
I was in program briefly and quit for 28 years.
I went on a brutal binge when my brother died.
Today I will go to any lengths for my recovery. That insures I have received the gifts of the program. I am adjusting my character. I read with my sponsee. I embrace the prayers and the slogans to remind me of what is appropriate.
My mom, when she cooked it was for six kids even though there was just me.
I was a people pleaser but I never felt it was real.
My brother was a drug addict who got clean and introduced me to concepts of the 12 step programs.
I went to AA because that is all I ever heard of. I got a sponsor who was also in OA and led me there. He was my higher power. He passed away. I left.
Found me way back. My 3rd sponsor help me actually get a relationship with a higher power and got me writing in my big book.
My Nuggets Our mind can complicate anything to avoid taking action. Only the first step can be done perfectly. Don't use the 4th step as a tool to beat yourself up.. When I would get upset I learned to pray for them immediately. It changed me. The process of finding the answer can be more important than the answer.
in program 15 years with intermittent abstinence until I found my current one.
My first meeting in 78 but resisted the God talk.
Married, one child maintaining weight. No so for second child.
I realized I could start my abstinence mid day.
After my First OA Retreat I left food on my plate and experience grief.
Retreat in 98 asked what I was bringing rather to than what I was getting from the meeting and the program.
Today I am a service junkie at all levels of OA.
I often bookend my meals with a phone call as a reason to reach out and to stay on track.
First 10 minutes of recording failure. recording starts @ 9.40 into pitch. First few notes about it
It all started with a new years resolution to loose weight. In November I joined OA.
Richard Burton is my higher Power.
My anger issue got much better. I did not want to make amends.
A half gallon of ice cream did never got its lid put back.
I began to consider what others a might be going through. Acting the same at work as in meetings.
I do not eat white flour, white sugar, white potatoes, and cheese.
My credit card debt got handled by my abstinence.
I set up Thursday Live meeting and get to share with people every week. Great community.
Before; I was extremely shy, no social skills, compete introvert.
My grandmother made three bowls of M&Ms for me and my sisters. I always compared who had the most until I found the 1 lb bag.
I really discovered amazing food in college and there was no monitor. I studied and 'mastered' Bulimia.
Food and alcohol were my paired vices.
I joined the beverage program but still purged to handle my food- sort of.
Finding OA I was asked if I was willing..... I thought "No', said "yes and did it.
Today I have a program, Do service to insure I go to meetings.
I have an appropriate amount of personal drama to keep my life interesting maintain my abstinence.
OA - Topped out at 285
I have tried to use exercise to outrun my compulsion.
I tried fasting. diet pills, protein shakes, all failws quickly.
In 2014 I came back for the third time and embraced OA Recovery adjacent.
I finally embraced the concept of red light foods and held to it... for 4 years.
A workshop called 'Sober Eating' really buttoned up my current recovery,
I have a sponsor, I have service commitments, I have sponsees, I have a daily ritual focusing in my recovery.
Tech issue this week, No promo details.
A great speaker and has spoken several times in the past year.
I am not a 100 pounder so I would compare (I'm not that bad) in the beginning.
I used food to anesthetize myself and it worked in my youth.
I was known in my family as a sneak eater.
Somewhere I knew it wasn't all about the food but I still thought it was about the food.
I was a sneak eater even when I didn't have to. Holidays were a time when I didn't have to sneak. But I still did.
Relationships were a trigger for weight gain.
I was clear that God could not help me with my food. But he did.
I spent a long time just dipping my toe in the program confidant that I already had it because of my other program.
Finally getting a sponsor, listening to him, working the steps through the the lens of OA.
Eventually things were happening that I could not do. Thus a higher power became present for me.
The box In which I placed my HP continues to get bigger,
Grew up in a small town.
Married and unmarried at 19. Married once more in 2014 until present.
I called OA and the conversation just calmed me. She is still my sponsor today.
I cleaned my pantry of any foods I would be sad about loosing.
I learned alternative ways of handling my emotions rather than binging.
I lost 80 lbs.got pregnant and lost that weight.
Maintenance has been a challenge. The traditions are important fore recovery. I personalize them and use them as the basis for my relationships.
My relationship with my HP has helped my emotional stability and to make better choices.
Skinny until 15.
My family was full of chaos. Food was my friend for home and school.
I was always hustling to get money to buy what I wanted. I was a very unskilled thief.
I was over 260- was prescribed diet pills and made it down to 190.
Food was only one of the bad choices I made which cost me my marriage.
In mid 30's I got almost to 300.
First introduced to How and it worked for a while as a diet for the wrong reasons. got up to 350.
OA has hooked my up with a higher power. Today I live OA, Use the tools.
When moving, I would clean the refrigerator with my mouth.
They asked me to read at my first meting. What I read did not resonate with me.
I was told to 30 in 30 and being an over achiever I complied but still didn't really get the program. and it didn't last long.
I finally asked God for help to get home with eating and it worked. My eyes, ears and heart began to open.
I did the steps in a week and a half. full time and thoroughly. however 9, 10 and 11 were hard for me to grasp. If something was defective a wanted to throw it a way.
Eventually I embraced that I was the problem.
Great recovery for 14 months, then relapsed in 1990. A spiritual experience brought me back for good.
I began my journey onto my food addiction at 18 years old
I always felt different and like I didn't fit in. Food was my friend.
My pattern was binge and purge
I left home at 20.
I married my 'project' to change my behavior.
Each of my pregnent was a major weight gain followed by dramatic weight loss.
Started OA in '88 but abstinence didn't start until I did treatment in '90
Multiple long term relapses became my story. driven by My Will.
When I finally connected with my higher power my life really got better.
Free from binging and purging from Nov 1986 thanks to God
I did all the nasty things overeaters do. No normal suggestions helped at all.
When I am talking, I am not learning.
I have fallen in love with my Higher Power. and I believe he returns the favor.
My God was big enough to help me with the IRS.
Not all my dramas have happy endings but I do get through them and stay abstinent.
i had to take the first step before I joined OA. I knew I had a problem.
I have a daily reprieve. I wake up and the work starts. Te 12 steps are about Ego reduction.
Self help books, workshops or pictures did not help.
I went to my first meeting,saw God on the wall and walked out. I did not come back for a year.
I had amazing weight loss in the first 9 months. and realized I was on my way out without the steps.
Through grace I surrendered and became teachable.
The ones who helped me the most in the beginning have passed on. I am their legacy and carry their message.
I experienced a great deal of challenges in my 1st 37 years. I now believe I was born an addict, regardless of my traumas.
Life has thrown me a bunch of more challenges. The steps help me survive and flourish in the face of new adversity that I face.
I was pretty normal as a child, athletic 6'4". Eating did not kick until my thirties going up to 360.
I had a family and kids, seemingly normal, however on my way home for a family dinner I would stop at multiple drive-thrus to pre-binge before going home to eat another dinner with dessert. I could hide the nags but not the smell.
A diagnosis of diabetes and a need to inject insulin sent me to a drive in. Another 4 years before getting to OA.
When I left my job for a 'Sabbatical' to focus on my heath the reality was my overeating became my full time job.
Jan 1999 admitted my addiction and my recovery in OA began at 400 LBS
I eventually got a letter from my doctor indicating I was diabetes free.
Today I have a sponsor and I am a sponsor.
I put bows in my hair to keep focus on my head and not my body.
I did well with pay and weigh programs, therapies, diets, everyone worked once. I wanted to have my jaw wired shut.
I got up over 300 lbs after grey sheet helped me loose 40 lbs.
I did not understand the concept of alcoholic foods.
I bounced in and out of multiple 12 steps programs searching for the perfect program, the perfect sponsor etc. I would not surrender to anything completely. I manipulated everybody and everything to do it my way.
God is definitely doing for me what I will not do for myself. Ordering from a fast food the machine is broken. lots of times.
Today I am willing to look in a mirror and say 'Judy- I love you" and mean it.
Today I have daily rituals for my recovery which keep me emotionally and physically stable.
3 Factions OA. Strict, Loose and in between. They all can work. The trick is to find what works for you.
I am a compulsive eater and compulsive dieter. I think I have lost over 2000 lbs
I quickly realized OA was much more than a weight loss program.
My current weight loss that I have maintained for 14 years is over 100 lbs and I am not looking for it.
Even after attaining my target weight I was not satisfied with me.
Who - Did I eat differently around someone. What - What food might be creeping in that did not serve me. Where- Were there slippery places where I tended to stretch the boundaries of my food plan. Always best at home. When - Was there a time of day that simply called me to eat. Why - What was I telling myself that was not true.
Today I eat to live rather than live to eat.
Growing up we did not have a lot of food so we ate all we could when we could.
Stayed thin through college and marriage until my first child. Then it was on.
I was tricked to going to my first meeting unwilling to acknowledge my issue initially.
Embraced the program slowly. Did not get a sponsor until after a year. I managed a food plan because of my health issues not because has surrendered.
Today I honestly work my food and my life with my sponsor.
Today I don't eat over the choices I make Good or bad.
Providing service whenever I can keeps my locked in to the program. Those I sponsors keep me grounded in the basics which is what I need.
I know the program works because it has worked for me and I have seen it work for others over and over again.
Even with multiple physical and mental issues it was in these rooms I finally felt safe.
I couldn't deal with my diagnoses and it took it toll bringing me into 3 programs. I would rather be an addict than have a mental issues.
I had to write a letter about why I hated OA. Pretty revealing.
Eventually I stopped blaming everyone else and accepted responsibility for my action. thus started my real recovery.
I use multiple outside experts instead of self diagnosing, self medicating and failing.
I am embracing being a healthy woman, in a healthy body with healthy relationships.
I do service which keeps me in the center of the herd.
I work the steps and embrace the traditions to the best of my ability.
My emotions may jump around but they are authentic.
I started early 3 or less. There were no boundaries and no safety. I just wanted to be loved but food gave me that feeling.
I was a 'chubby' kid and felt shamed even at the doctor's office.
I was 6 with my first diet. It became a way of life proving my unworthyness.
Food became the cause and the solution of my shame.
My dad dies when I was 16. He was the only one who i felt loved me unconditionally. Now I was alone and leaned into the food like never before.
16 - 49 in my disease.
Married kids and food.
My last nine months was a sneaky brutal binge threatening every I thought was important.
I finally acknowledged I had a God sized problem I could not handle alone
I realized a food plan is an act of self love while a diet would be an act of self hate.
The gift of desperation kicked my recovery into gear. Moving me into the steps for real.
Staying in the present where it is always Now O'Clock is critical.
Feb 11, 2020 398 lbs I was still not ready to 'surrender' I fell and needed fire department to get me up. Then I was ready.
I have maintained a 185 lb weight loss.
Spirituality - Humbug. It was about the weight in the beginning.
I worked the steps and learned about me. One step at a time.
I ended with a very strict food plan but could do it for one day . . .at a time.
I made it back to the top of the Bariatric surgery list but HP said "do Nothing". By the time came to sign on the dotted line they said I had already lost what they would anticipate from the surgery.
Even when I couldn't show up for myself I showed up for service.
My HP shows himself to me daily as I work with others.
I was an obese baby. First diet at 5 years old. In my family compulsive overeating was our life.
There was never any leftover candy in our house
Fat was not a problem, it was who we were.
I learned to diet and was successful, for a minute.
As I was loosing weight I would think about what I was going to eat at the end of the diet.
1st time in OA I lost weight, broke abstinence and put all weight back on.
2nd time came back on really fast.
God did not sprinkle pixie dust on me to relieve the compulsion.
Eventually using tools, a sponsor, a higher power it is working one day at a time.
My mother was Manic/Depressive and a Compulsive Over-eater.
When I was 9 , my older 19 Year old brother was hity by drunk driver and was in a coma for 3 months. I needed more allowance to buy more candy.
I went to diet DR. at 16. Goal weight in a week. Game on!
What ever I did. I didn't look good enough.
In 1976 I wen to OA, They sent me to AA and my food took off.
Much later (2013)I was working in chemical dependency and weighed 230.. They intervened and sent me to OA.
Today abstain from some foods, write it down and eat consciously. Now down 110 lbs.
The love, support and inspiration I get in OA keeps my heart open to so much. A home group and Service position keeps me in the middle of the herd.
I grew up in NY and a large Italian Family. Eating was a sacred ritual.
I needed to learn to protect myself from my brother.I protected my self with food up to over 500 lbs. Everyone felt it was OK to give me advice.
My wife passed in 2020 presenting my with major life choice.
I had the bypass surgery but statistics told me I might need more help. OA was that help. I originally thought they were nice because they paid by the pounds loose.
I learned my phone could be used for more than just ordering take-out,
I became willing to change so I did with help I could not have imagined was available. Help is so much more than advice.
Both parents alcoholic so I grew up in a dysfunctional environment.
My father killed himself rather than stop drinking.
I treated my body like garbage can for drugs, alcohol. and food. Sober at 31.
Even though I was around the 12 step community I was outside as I was still eating compulsively.
I was in and out of OA for years. Couldn't do it my way. I didn't need meetings I 'Lived' the program. Not. I completely forgot what meetings did 'for' me
After 2 seizures, multiple brain surgeries and a commitment I ended up surrendering to the OA Program.
Today I am working to be more God centered than self centered. I am of service and have a quality of life I can rely on.
Bulimia and anorexic was an eating disorder, I was just overweight.
Every day was the same,Great intentions, Break my intentions and then beat myself up.
I am a poster child for step one. with an allergy of the body and obsession of my mind.
Today i am living the definition of abstinence. for 12 years
Resentments are the thought' The past didn't go my way'. My fears are the thought the 'The future will not go my way.
There was a lot of time between my coming to OA in 1988 and the start of my current abstinence in 2011.
Pictures. Shame based eating even very young.
No matter how poorly I was treated growing up no one treated me worse than I did.
Joined the military to loose weight, it worked AND I was dismissed for failure to maintain below weight limit.
Came into program 2008 and followed direction. I has worked ever since.
Even at a good weight I am still working on the authentic Domingo
Today I like others, I like me and value those relationships.
I use the big book, steps and tools of this program for any problem that comes up.
I wear my program like a loose garment. there is room for me to be me inside this program.
Even though we have unique stories there s a common thread that joins us.
I Have one picture form 2004. I have not been there for a long time but i could be me tomorrow.
I thought I could control EVERYTHING.
I wrote a new plan for my food and my life every Sunday. Worked perfectly until Monday noon.
All my self hate was projected on to other people.
What brought me into OA was an event where I dramatically picked my food over my kids.
I got a sponsor who remains with me today.
I have a morning ritual based on the direction I would like to face today.
Every day My relationship with my food reflects my relationship with my world.
My higher power holds my n a tight string .
2010
5 years old eating rolled balls of bread, chubby and judged by my parents
Evan heavy I excelled in athletics just to prove my dad wrong.
I had a feeling, I needed to eat.
I maintained a weight loss with hours of excersize and handfuls of laxatives.
in 2015 I went to an Xmas party and partook of the food to the fullest.
Early 2016 I started meetings for 9 moths with no food plans,steps or honesty.
I just recently got honest on al levels and the difference is palpable. I am using all the tools.
My anger has been replaced with tolerance .
I was large as a child. first meeting August 1988 and the recovery started.'
I grew up in an unsafe household. with multiple candidates fr 12 step work.
When I started babysitting all my money went for food.
I ended up in the biggest size I could find. No where to go.
The laughter pissed me off. It took a while for me to have the change.
I got a life, i started dancing in recovery, I have a sponsor and I am a sponsor. Gone through steps multiple times, and continue to find new things.
A morning ritual is a core component of my program.
My last relapse was during the pandemic by overeating abstinent food.
My food plan is pretty tight, I take my food with me most of the time.
Wide weight swing - 5'8' and 108lbs And way up.
Confusing childhood. Finish you food, you're fat but a later a reality check indicated I was not.
I was given 'Metrical' as a kid. On the cleanup I could finish lots of plates.
Protein shakes lost weight fast. seemed like a plan. until every parts of my life was compulsive including fasting, excersize, weighing myself, drugs and alcohol.
I sober first in '82. My sponsor suggested OA which I had never heard of. They were my people. and fell into the program.
After a year of success and weighl loss I shifted my addiction to men. and up to 360. next time into the program it took all the lessons and truly embraced it long term.
I was fat and teased by my family
Came into OA 55 years old, 130 lbs overweight with 30 years sobriety.
Recently I was at a party that had EVERYTHING that was of my list , abstained and had a great time actually relating with my family.
None of my alcoholic foods are in the produce aisle.
Accountability is still uncomfortable for me.
Long timers mentioned they do service, so I got involved in service.
As a result of my abstinence I am able to learn so much about OA, its working, the tools and Zoom etc y and offer it back when needed.
It is important for me to attend strong meetings where people ave gone through all the steps.
My weight popped between first and second grade. Food helped me handle my home life.
Admitting I was a compulsive eater was easy. Surrendering to the program - not so easy.
I developed daily practices, had a spiritual connection and i was working. When it slipped, I slipped for about a year.
When I came back I embraced the reality of the program and my life changed - for the better.
Meeting my current husband (11 years) was only be possible because I was using the tools of recovery in all my affairs.
I continue to do the steps in a variety of ways each revealing something different.
Today I ask myself questions about how I can improve and then act on the answers.
Addictive family, Dinner was a challenge. A smorgabord of food behaviors.
My first obsession was bread and I knew enough that is brought me sham
My first real addiction was cocaine and it helped me eat less. Exercise bulimia was also part of my story.
When drugs and alcohol left my left there was room for food.
Being in 2 12 step programs, heard of OA and one more time I found a way to not belong.
I discovered my emotional triggers fro binging and continue to do the work one day at a time.
OA Really did save my life.
1999 5x shirts .'6'4'' over 400 lbs,type 2 diabetes
I remember Mary G., the person who first greeted me at my first meeting. I identified as a compulsive over eater not realizing I was taking the first step. She was diagnosed with cancer,and always shared she wanted to die sober and abstinent.
Abstinence gave me the ability to have continuous improvement in every area of my life.
Coming into OA I have lost weight ans gained skills
Started with junk food early in my youth. I powered through sugary, snacks.
My physical activity offset my eating unll I got married.
I treated myself with bags from the gas stations.
Food programs never worked long term.
Covid was a disaster for me and my food intake.
I was in another program but had never heard of OA. When I did find out I jumped in with the help of the meetings i went to.
My program has not been perfect but never left my meetings. I continue to learn in practice personal skills which are bringing me a great life.
I lived in LA when they started 100 Pounder meetings.
I became and addict in infancy with teabags filled with sugar instead of a pacifier.
I married at 17 to get away from my parents. I was not anything resembling a adult relationship.
Came to OA first in 1976 In LA embraced the grey sheet food plan an lost 140 lbs. and relapsed as a blackout eater in and out for 7 years.
Took me a long time to connect my weight with my food.
Finally got it abstinence coming up on 40 years continuously.
When I came to OA in 92 I was broken. They asked me to read at my first meeting. I said "I can't read, I'm new" - Really?
I call my disease my Lower Power.
I will go through the 15 newcomer questions to confirm I qualify. I do.
Today I am half the man I was both in weight and size.
My relationship with my Higher Power, service and the steps are the foundation for my recovery.
I excelled in academics to hide my insecurities up through scholarship in undergrad and flunked out at Grad level.
I am a sugar addict, Not a normal eater. I ended up suicidal in a locked ward.
I tried going Vegan which was really not compatible with my body.
My first 12 step program was ACA, Finally into OA where I learned I had to clean up other addictions to be sober in OA. Today I am active in 3 programs.
My motto is to do more of what works and less of what doesn't.
I continue to work the steps out of the big book examining my part and what basic instincts are out of whack. i do a little every night.
I do a little every day.
I was not wanted and ended in an orphanage. I was adopted by parents who had their own personal and relationship issues.
Big as a child and picked on at school.
At 20 I worked in LA, saw diet DRs, used speed and lost weight with unintended consequences.
Got married for all the wrong reasons.
Failed at DRs food plan, Did not qualify for bypass surgery, Was sent to OA - the free one. Eventually leaned into the program.
The miracles started kicking in and have not stopped.
"Missed first few minutes, Mike G, amung a crew of guys whose sole purpose was to eat BBQ and lots of it. REALLY LOTS!!!"
My BBQ band was my way of being. I would eat tons, publicly, deliberately and proudly.
I came into OA
My sponsor suggested go to 3 meals a day and 5 things I don't eat.
Meetings made it seem real. I was doing the deal. Others were doing the deal. Eating was my connection- now it is OA.
Now I sponsor men and i REALLY do care about them.
I came in with a list of what my higher power was not. I found I could determine what it would be.
My food is now a gift from my higher power building me, nutritionally,
I used to used food to keep my rage down. it pooped out as I recovery. I stayed the course and have some scene of emotional sobriety, appropriate reactions to life
Grew up as a perfectionist which served me well during that time.
Always overate. No amount of education would help.
Drifted near OA but left when I realized there were no 'cheat days'. Like my Birthday.
I next came back for a while dabbling as OA 'adjacent' I knew the word but not the behavior.
I finally accepted that I am NOT the best judge of what I should be eating.
Member of multiple 12 step programs.
I am retired and more to hang by the fridge.
I grew up in alcoholic home. and learned to avoid everything with all five children with working addictions.
My brother was morbidly obese and recently passed away.
I learned to use food to escape, specially at night.. Dinner . then the junk until I passed out.
I do the first three steps before every meal. I slows me down to eat mindfully so I know when I am full. Helps me feel satisfied.
If I don't go to meetings I can forget and end up listening to my disease rather than my sponsor.
There are lots of opportunities for service. It really make a difference for my recovery and helps others...
I took notes during meetings and used the notes as a topic for sharing during outreach calls.
First OA meeting 1979. i@ 230 and binging chocolate.
I learned to ' Act as If' i believed these suggestions might possible help. Regardless of whether I 'Felt like it' or 'Believed it' or 'Liked it'
I weigh and measure my food. 'Sharing pictures'
The weight of my body and the weight of the food I eat are the touchstones of truth.
I was willing to go to any lengths and it has worked.
Good to have a home group where you know them and they get to know you.
I came to my first OA meeting early, thought it was a free weight watchers.
My family enjoys exercise and outdoorsy stuff.
My dad put a padlock on the pantry for me and a padlock on the liquor cabinet for my brother.
For a long time my I thought the most important thing was that I was not slim. Being fat was the cause for all my problems.
In 1999 I went to OA full of shame the whole meeting but kept coming back.
Physical recovery was the last thing I achieved.
I know I am either maintaining or gaining. That thought helps me stay on course.
Came into OA through Al-Anon.
I grew up in a dysfunctional home and coped by being good and eating, supressing any emotions and pretending to be what they wanted.
I accepted a suggestion from my wife, went to an OA meeting and knew I had found my people.
I fell in line, got a sponsor worked the steps lost weight. Lost my sponsor, stopped working the steps and some weight came back on.
Today with a new sponsor I am working steps like a newcomer and my recovery is coming back.
I still wanted to be my own higher power or let other be that Power That has changed with my surrender to the OA Program.
Now I am turning everything I can over to my HP and my life is getting better.
The more honest I am with my steps the more I discover.
I am gaining acceptance of things that happened,things I have done and myself.
My core family emotion was rage. Learned to ask for NOTHING.
As an anorexic I was not connected to my hunger until I was way overdue for food and then I binged.
I entered recovery by removing all sharp knives and having my friends hide them from me.I was not well.
Today I still weigh and measure my food at home.
Every step has life lessons.
My food plan is redundant - That works well for me.
I have been with my food sponsor for 30 years. He knows me well.
My friends are in recovery.
I am in other 12 step programs. I have to be good in all 3 to call myself 'sober'
Topped out over 300 LBS Now I have 44 years abstinent.
I was overweight early and hated myself growing up
I was berated by my family. Went to first OA meeting at 17 in 1973.
I had lots of difficulties with the steps The grey sheet helped me loose weight. . . A lot of weight. but not for long.
I ate my way into the threat of diabetic blindness. All my reasons for avoiding OA were trashed my first meeting back.
I was full of resentments and did not want to be told what to do.
Eventually I began the inner work and got better results in my body but specially in my mind. There are always reasons to eat. Better reason to abstain.
My parents were both Holocaust survivors which brought food issues.
My parents in the food business which made it easy for me to catch this disease.
In 4th grade was prescribed Speed. as time went on I tried many prescription drugs as well as the pay and weigh.
Working at Knotts Berry Farm there were rides I was not allowed to ride.
I got a newcomer pack, read it, learned it and eventually figured i would be here for the long haul.
In OA with a sponsor I got the unconditional love I was desperately seeking from my family.
I continue to learn in this program.
I went to AA Meetings to support another and it filtered into me and my food.
Even with sponsors I went insane with dieting. which led me away from the program.
In 2008 I hit another bottom which took me back to program. I jumped into all aspects of the program, steps, service, a daily ritual.
My experience is that with my yellow light foods I was in denial that they belonged to the red light list.
My wife was taking a client to AA meetings sitting in the back. Mentioned they had a problem with alcohol like I did with food and mentioned OA. That did not please me.
I ended up in OA wanting relief from the grief without making any changes in my behavior.
Eventually I embraced actually doing as told, getting a food plan, doing the steps.
I have done the steps and continue each time I take a sponsee through them.
I have daily actions regarding my food, my programmed and my life.
I can still be driven by pride, self centeredness or fear but not as often not as long and not as intensely.
I was adopted and that comes with its unique baggage.
I always felt there was something wrong with me.
My story matches so many others, My mom comforted me with food and it worked.
I came to OA in 1976. I followed the strict food plan, lost weight and collected sponsees. It cost me my family which was not a bad thing.
I started meetings at my apartment. And found a church that synced well with my program.
I unknowingly married an alcoholic which led to my relapse. which led me to Al-Anon. which opened my eyes even more.
The beginning of her sobriety was also my return to abstinence.
I have a morning ritual which includes my sponsees, reading, walking and it seems to be working . . for me.
Always bought clothes in Husky.My parents would bribe me to loose weight. did it, got the prize then right back up.
It was suggested. I go to OA. and found out it was not Order of the Arrow.
First food plan was grey sheet. lost weight, too much weigh.
I was sent to AA and discovered 'Solutions.. Learned to listen for the similarities, not the differences.
I was directed to a sponsor who scared me the most.
How do you keep weight off? - repeatedly running up the steps.
Today I can be honest with God, Myself and my sponsor.
I share my gratitude with individuals freely.
My first food plan was no sugar which seemed impossible.
When I got 21 Days i was eligible to be a sponsor.
The foundation of my abstinence was still no sugar my food plan is built on that. That gave me too much wiggle room.
I ended up down to 88 lbs on the food plan I had been given. It did not last and I left OA
From then on I went up and own with insane eating and insane diets.
I calculated how much laxative I need to take take to offset my eating.
Today I have a daily ritual, solid food plan that works and a relationship and conscious contact with a higher power.
2 Periods of abstinence.
For me abstinence is binary, I am or i am not.
When I came back I was eating from the produce aisle and still gaining weight.
There was a shift when I changed from eating emotionally to eating nutritionally based on a food plan.
I have a Higher Power and I shorten it to God.
I still feel the pull. Today I call me sponsor instead of giving into it.
Half of my abstinence is an attitude,
Program always comes first.
Sober 32 years , Abstinent - 2 Food is a bigger deal and harder Top weight over 350 lbs.
I am now in a body and a mind that does not include dieting.
I just wanted the diet, I can do this! For a while
For me steps 6 and 7 were the miracle steps. Transformed my relationship with me.
I imagined a abstinent life of suffering. I din't hear that, just imagined that.
I was not ready for so long, I prayed be ready and one day it happened. I stopped convincing myself of the path I imagined and started to accept reality which was not anywhere near as bad as my scenario.
I have maintained an over 300 lb weight loss for past 4 years.
in High school I had friends who were concerned. at 250 lbs.
As I moved up in weight I just gave any thought of approproiate eating. I knew I needed more that a diet.
I prayed to have the weight removed and it was still there in the morning.
Massive health problem gave me pause to think about it No More. I was sure I was going to die and surrendered to that which led me to surrender to believing i was a compulsive over eater which allowed me to allow OA into my life.
I hit a bottom which was the moment I stopped digging.
Once I got a sponsor and started working the steps, my recovery started.
Not only the weight loss but keeping it off is a miracle,'
My children no longer have to be my caregiver. I get the be the dad.
OA - Simple yes, Easy no
Came in over 350. Was told I needed surgery but not until I lost 70 lbs - I put on 20.
I got candy to keep my dad's alcohol secret and got paid with candy to rat him out.
I learned to pray, but for stuff.
I ended up married and pregnant an got permission to eat like I wanted.
I volunteered for everything all over the place to prove I was worthy.
There was a moment when I realize I was choosing between life OR chocolate cake.
i am no longer alone. I work with a sponsor and my doctor.
Highest weight - 460
I had lots of real feelngs, food kept me safe.
I had skills, sought and achieved validation. but it was never enough.
I had a way of pushing people way, and feel rejected. Food never rejected me.
2018 dangerous diabetic diagnosis.doubled up on food and medicine.Made since to me.
11/11/2020 arrived in OA and admitted I was powerless over food. Had negative side affects.
Got a sponsor early on and went through the steps but still do step 1,2 and 3 every day.
Every step was transformational the first time trough and still is. More is revealed every time I go through them.
now know I have a multitude of characters defects which I work on AND characters assets which continue to grow.
1st abstinence I lost over 200 lbs.
Verbally and physically abusive upbringing. Food helped.
Top weight over 400.
2 devastating losses brought me to my knees.
My self talk was extremely negative until I started working the steps
Still working on improving my relationship with a higher
power.
Thin untill High School Up to 350.
Drugs were the only diet than helped until OA.
After car accident 1983 I ended up in OA. I heard my story. Abstinent since 5/31/83
Initially I was reluctant because of the God stuff.
Jumped into the steps I WANTED what you had.
When my sponsor went out I moved to the middle of the herd.
I realize now I was very angry my first 5 years.
I hate the phrase 'More will be revealed' It is true and today I have twe steps to handle this new stuff.
I talk the tools in and out of the program........
I came from a long line of good cooks and compulsive over-eaters.
I thought I could eat whatever my husband ate, added baby weight and kept it all and more.
Medical, pay and weigh, hypnosis and a multitude of other weight loss schemes failed to work for very long.
June 201 I started a diet took me form 317 to 192 in two years. No steps yet. 2020 landed in OA, qualified according the test questions, discovered my tribe but didn't know it yet.
Today I am retired andand not afraid. I work the programs, am involved with my meeting. do service and have a good realtionship with my higher power.
I am active, accountable and am loving my life due to OA.
Abstaining over 37 years. Came in over 340 lbs.
I came to OA because a friend but n=knew nothing of any anonymous program.
My only motivation to come to OA was because I was afraid of loosing my children.
Could not come up with a good enough lie to not go to the 2nd meeting.
I got a sponsor who tricked me into more meeting per week and discovered a thurday night meeting of people just like me. Still my home group.
I do everything for one day. Same routine. I invite my higher Power into every aspect of my life listed out loud.
I have never left, I am still teachable, and I can ask for help.
Topped out 576. lbs in 1999.
Came into program thinking I would loose enough weight to do Barriatric surgery. God had other plans.
It was 'suggested' I work the program.
My food plan has changed but my program has not.
i was a compulsive rebel - today I have a pause button which helps me to take more appropriate actions.
Today I have a God of my understanding which, like my program, has never failed me.
I am blessed with a home, a family a career and a partner. I am 350 Lbs lighter without surgery. It is all result of my working the OA Program to the best of my ability.
I recovered through AA literature and it has stayed my focus.
I remember the anticipation and pleasure from my first steak when I was 6 and my life changed.
I would binge on bologna sandwiches.
I could not stop doing the binging which caused me so much misery.
I realized there was something wrong with me. Nobody did what I did with food.
In my mid thirties my world became very small.
Working a graveyard shift allowed to go to 3 meetings a day. I had physhical success from my diet. No recovery whatsoever.
Finally it seemed that getting a sponsor may be helpful.
I surrendered my sugar and was allowed my atheism. So I stayed.
Today my health, my PTSD and my Atheism have been addressed.
For me I remain in action for my recovery and helping other which helps me.
I discovered comfort food as a infant.
I was tall and big before I was 9.
At 25 I had my first suicide attempt.
I was blackout eater.
I have been paddled back to lifetwice at 350 lbs. There is so much more.
Today I have a daily ritual, which keeps me sane, abstinent and useful. I record my food and and express my gratitude to my Higher Power maintaining a 150 Lb. weight loss.
I Was in mental hospital at 16 and learned about drugs. It did not help my weight but I was taken to AA.
Found OA grey sheet in 1977. Got physical recovery and several relapses.
For me the "OA Diet" worked briefly several times with more weigh gain up to 300.
For more than 35 years I took what I liked and left the rest.
Eventually I actually did all 12 steps with a sponsor
Today I have a food plan. Participate in service, sponsor people, and work the entire program to the best of my ability.
First came into OA in 2006.
After multiple relapse I finally realized my recovery HAD to be my primary focus in order to have the rest of my life.
As a child I wanted to be invisible but my weight made that impossible.
I had excel spreadsheets for the diets I would start on Monday.
Today I have am maintaining a 150 lb weight loss.
The level of my honesty is reflected in the quality of my recovery.
I have walked through a myriad of problems and not turned to the food.
My daily ritual for my recovery it sacred for me.
When My relationship with God is right relianace of food is gone.
33.75 years abstinent and maintaining121 lb weight loss.
Prior to OA I was a nutritional expert gaining and loosing over 700 lbs a little at a time.
I knew how to get shinny, but not for long.
Heavy I was angry, Thin I was angry. Hmmmm.
About the time I was planning my suicide I went to OA. Found people who didn't overeat AND they didn't want to. They had the 12 steps.
I have had tragedy and good fortunes and did not turn to the food on either end.
I can put an abstinent meal together anywhere in the world.
I do not believe I could just go to a couple of meeting a week and maintain my life. It is the whole program. meetings, sponsoring, calls and introspection that works for me and keeps my disease at bay.
2002 Came to OA hundred pounder. Knew about AA and felt sorry for those poor addicts.
My pitch is for those who are tortured by what they eat.
I was convinced I need a sponsor, needed to call him and I recived a new life. Got involved in service, met a girl and got married.
By 2017 I lost interest in recovery. my weight climbed, my enjoyment in my life plummeted.
Every plan I made feel through until I the only thing left was back to OA.
I thought if I lost weight fast I was getting better.
Today I make no food decision on my own. I am food neutral.
I am an atheist who prays a lot.
There are some gaps in the recording due to poor internet.
Even as a child the goal of being thin and eating as much as possible were at odds.
At 11 I went OA. They were nice but that was all I remember.
At 15 all I wanted them to do was' Stop Talking!'
I followed a diet and called it recovery.
In '94 I began my recovery, getting a sponsor and following directions he gave me.
I got amazing results loosing weight AND found the ability to spout OA wisdom like it was my own.
I got so good I began sponsoring myself because I was so good.
Finally got back with all my weight, followed new directions with a slight degree of humility developed and relationship with my higher power and began the road to real recovery.
My childhood was devoted to sweets.
A friend died of obesity when we were 41. Got me to a doctor who scared me healthy for a moment.
Found a new diet online called OA. Followed grey sheet, lost weight with no recovery. and paid the price.
Finally found my way back to OA and the Pizza Box meeting. They were extremely serious about their recovery AND had fun.
Today I have have a daily ritual including the tools of the program and tools I have learned from other abstinent members.
Today I do my best to do the right thing around food, relationships, driving - life.
My step zero is to always remember WHY I am in OA.
Isolation is my enemy. The fellowship helps me conquer that enemy.
Sugary and starchy foods are a problem for me.
I was a chronic dieter and nothing ever lasted.
At 5' 1" almost 300 lbs is a lot of mass. My thinnest got me hospitalized. Always Malnourished.
I came to O. A. seeking and external solution to an internal problem.
Self loathing is not the path to recovery.
I was inspired (Not my idea) to attend an OA Conference. I was struck abstinent at that weekend.
I am always moving toward or away from my Higher Power. Toward is better.
I cannot do this alone. I need all of you and all the tools.
My GPS is God's Powerful Spirit.
Came in 2007 at 519 lbs
I had a core belief ' I am not ok". If thing did not go the way I wanted it proved me right, kept me outside. I learned to accept that truth. My relationship with food verified it more.
My weight went up, down, up more, down, up more up to a high of 525.
The honest awareness and acceptance I could not do it by myself got me into O.A.
Step 1 was a grieving process for me.
When I want too know what I am supposed to do, I look at what I am resisting.
Any time I think I got away with something, it becomes a heavier weight than the food.
I think I was a compulsive over-eater as kid. Thin kid with a belly. I got in trouble for bumming food.
I picked up drugs and that worked for me. I ended up putting down the spoon and picked up the fork.
I ended up using and eating up to over 300 Lbs.
I found out about OA, got a food plan and literature and did it on my own. But not very well.
Finally realized I needed a sponsor. got a real food plan and accountability. He helped me realized how many of my thoughts were insane. Helped me discover the phone was not my enemy.
Riding a stationary bike, I lost 100 lbs, gained 80, lost it again all while riding the bike hours a day. Discovered the quantity of appropriate food I was eating made a difference.
By the time I finished the steps I was eating extra bites with the obvious results.
For the past 20 years I call my sponsor, am accountable for my food, sponsor other men and hold the programs as sacred.
Spring bringing a sense or renewal parallels my experience in OA
Prior to OA I was a Seed, full of potential but eating and nothings happens, In OA I germinated and began to grow - spiritually. But not right away.
My highest was at least 562. so far over 300 lbs
Walking upstairs is a miracle given to me by my participation in OA.
There are "God shots" which give me appropriate times to share about program.
Things tend to work out better when I am present and that only happens when I am NOT in the food.
The problem is rarely what I think it is, It is more likely how I think about it.
I came into OA wondering why everyone was cheerful.
My eating habits were reflected in the birth weight of my children.
I picked a sponsor for their energy and joy, not the weight loss.
I don't know what ' A little bit' means. I am better off when have a solid food plan and don't have to think about it or make decisions.
I survived my son's wedding.
I work to avoid complacency.
I am maxed out with 2 sponsees, school and a family. It all brings me joy as long as I work my program.
I am look forward to what God has in store for me tomorrow.
Normal weight up till 11 when my Dad died.
In HS I was 4'9" and 250.
My mom put me on every diet available and none worked.
1st time in OA I lost over 100 Lbs but it brought up issues I was unwilling to deal with. OA works if you work it. I didn't.
Came back with a clearer understanding my step one.
I lived with the paradox of the my weight saying 'Notice me' and also wanting to be invisible.
My 2nd time in ended with one bite of See's candy.
I came back a 3rd time with a commitment not to leave, no matter what.
Today I am comfortable in my body, I am healthy and happy.
I know OA saved my life, gave me self-esteem. I exercise regularly, talk with my sponsor and more.
My food plan varies based on an honest evaluation of my relationship with particular foods at particular times.
I have had all the promises come true and can still be a jerk.
I came into program 40 years ago.
Living in Woodland hills drove to LA to meeting. the obsession hit and I bought food on the way home but was to sick to eat it.
GOD = Gift of Desperation.
I came in angry at everybody and everything. Today I am a safe person.
Find someone you trust and can really talk to.
Happy joyous and free is feel safe and secure in yourself.
At the end of one successful diet I gained 17 lbs in one week.
I still report my food in every day. It is what works for me.
Never a time when food wasn't the most important thing to me.
First OA Meeting when I was 12.
At 23 I was my top weight 423 but because I was young the physical damage was not that bad yet.
I broke toilets, lived through surgical complications and more all because of my weight without any change.
My body was killing me and I couldn't do anything. It was the only body I knew
When I fanallly return to OA that meeting was about death and I felt at home.
For the first year I sponsored myself rigorously and had some results until I hit my own plateau several times.
Regardless of where I was food wise I never left the program.
I am two different people. My life in the food and my life in recovery.
Today I have a life where I am trusted, I experience love in both directions and I have self esteem.
100 Pounder multiple times.
I lost the weight but i was still me and my best friend was food.
I am a survivor of abuse as a child. As an adult I addressed my part and moving from victim survivor.
I was always my own worst critic and I was brutal.
I found my first OA Meeting broken and hopeless. They welcomed me. WTF??
Current weight loos is about 155 lbs.
Service has saved my life I recommend it.
I continue to connect the dots from my past to adjust my future.
My disease wants me dead. Today I want to live.
Top weight over 500 lbs in high school. Now around 195.
I flucuated between 350 and 500 many times.
Coming into OA I had a food plan AND I restricted. I started lying, the food and weight was coming back and I acknowledged I was in relapse.
I eventually ended up praying, had a spiritual experience and the journey to recovery started for real.
Rigorous honesty became a way of life as I made my amends.
I still want more - That is my disease. But I don't act on it - That is my recovery.
Cannot remember a time when I was not obsessed with food.
Major disappointment when I realized my size was related to my food and thought it was my fault.
Going away to college opened up all the doors.
Top recorded weight was 236. now about 135.
On my own I lost weight but was super unhealthy and the stress was still terrible. Why can't I control this?
Came into OA realizing I was an alcoholic with food. Crazy for the first few moths, Then settled down as I did the steps.
Some of the tools every day.
No matter how long I have been in the program I need to be accountable for my food.
I gained 110 Lbs in my last relapse which brought on a host of physical problems
When I took my 1st compulsive bite 4 years ago it did not occur to me downhill path I would go down.
I never stopped going to meetings or the OA birthday event.
In a moment without my intention I jumped back in. got a sponsor and took direction against my will.
Day by day I developed and improved a relationship with a higher power. . for REAL.
Now I have 2 years.
A ropes course became the metaphor for my not having and then reconnecting with my higher power.
Joined OA In San Fernando Valley for a year.
The premise ' I can do it in my own' did not work. My intellectual armor was the wall I kept banging into.
Coming back to OA it was a spiritual focus on the steps and tools which relieved me of the bondage of self and made the difference for the long term.
Our food plan is personal based on our PARTICULAR way of eating compulsively.
I was packing food. Loved being full.
Day after day - "I'll never do this again."
I married the first guy who asked and had 2 kids by 21.
I believed I was a victim . . .of my husband, of my disease of everything.
It was always a diet, Goal weight and immediately 'game on'
I got caught eating a spoiled sandwich for the first time I was outed for a particular behavior.
When I admitted I was a compulsive over-eater I had my own identity for the first time.
I embraced the concept of 'No Matter What' from the beginning.
I feel anxiety over any change in my food plan.
I avoided the God stuff in the beginning. then it changed.
When I ate I got things done.
I was choosing food over shelter.
A 300 lbs I felt small.
I went to OA, got embraced, hooked and started my recovery. I get an apartment and a job the first week.
The foundation of my recovery is honesty. That creates the space for God to come in.
My recovery is not a return but a discovery and becoming who I am.
I am in multiple 12 steps programs and I need to be. but OA is my home base.
I have been through a lot of emotional events and stayed abstinent.
Question begin @ 26 minutes.
Thin to normal until late teens.
by 24 years old I added 3 kids and 125 pounds.
Tried to manage my weight myself with little results
Came to OA 2 years ago, Had 1 short slip after 6 months and now a back on track.
I have medical issue and medicine that affects my weight.
At one point I would try to make my husband responsible for what I ate.
As a child my constant discontent was only salved with food.
Joining the service kept in under control . . for a while.
When everything failed even in the program I finally surrendered and got a sponsor and followed direction. and i worked. Who knew?
I am not an occasional or moderate over eater. I am addict as outlined in the Big Book
My relationship with my higher power mirrors my recovery.
My recovery jumped into high gear when I started working the program as outlined in the Big Book.
We are united by a very personal and individual disease.
well over 300 LBS a number of times was one way my disease manifested in my life.
Rapid weight gain and rapid weight loss was a recurring pattern.
My therapist 'suggested' OA.
I became abstinent immediately. It was a shock. I found I was able to out foods down for one day . . repeatedly.
The Doctor's Opinion in the Big Book meant a lot to me.
I Liked the effect of my reaction to my addictive behavior. As a result of this program I HAVE experienced the psychic change.
I had my stomach pumped at age 5.
I ate over every single feeling. My family tried everything, doctors, bribes etc, some worked . for a second.
Food was my second addiction, Poor me. Joined a very strict program, Felt great for two years, then back out and plus 100.
Important to trick the fast food clerk that it wasn't all for me.
Found OA in order to work the steps on food through the Big Book.
Honesty was a real problem for me. Or rather lack of honesty.
First miracle was starting on a Thursday. This time through the steps was an eye opener (understatement). Doing what was asked yielded real results.
Zoom is gift of Covid allowing me to sneak back into the rooms before I was perfect.
Today I do morning prayers, text my sponsor, read from the Big Book. commit my recovery to my higher power.
Still working on my honesty.
I had a good childhood. No major drama, church etc. However Love = Food and I wanted love.
with weight - Loosing =Good, Gaining = Bad.
Only in hindsight do I realize food was my drug even as a child.
I was active which helped keep my weight down but I still used pills.
Left on my own in college - Game on!
Through marriage, kids the YoYo got bigger, more expensive, and more devastating.
I knew there was a spiritual problem but knowing it didn't work.
I ended up in OA,, surrendered to God, have given up 197 Lbs, and maintain it.
Stats - came in 2011 at 35 years old and 320 Lbs. Now maintaining a 150 lb loss for the last 4 years.
Only one of 5 kids who was overweight.. I was a participant in my life. My weight did not define me but it was always with me.
Lost 90 lbs before getting pregnant, Put on 100 during and after.
I had heard about OA from my mom forever so I knew where to go when I was ready.
3.5 years for physical recovery. Finally hooked up with a sponsor and worked the steps from a phone meeting way before Covid forced it upon us.
Going through the steps and the Big Book transformed my recovery, my relationship with a Higher Power and I achieved food neutrality.
I ended up overeating with fruit which was triggered by dextrose in salt pack at work AND because I did not tell the truth to my sponsor.
Today I maintain my weight and my clothes always fit.
I can be with my family without enjoy them enjoying thier food.
I work the steps every day as need without shame. and wrap my day up with a review of my successes and a ask God to help me get better in other areas.
I put on 250 lbs in high school.
I had success with a soup, Valium and scotch diet, for a minute.
I thought drugs would be my solution. I had highly negative side effects.
I ended up in OA with 3 three meals nothing in between one day at a time and today I have a level of serenity and acceptance beyond anything I could have imagined.
My goal weight is what I weigh today and adjust my food plan accordingly when it drifts.
I can find an abstinent meal in any restaurant in the world.
My never ending journey through the steps has ups and downs with continuous improvements in my behavior.
My dreams are coming true because of OA.
Young trauma, Covered it up with food. There was a moment when I really did eat a full dinner for 5 by myself.
I used my size and was successful in football and still wanted to avoid the spotlight.
My binge was a cycle. dramatically dropping weight for specific events.
I struggled with letting people in. Good at work but no social skills.
A woman, God and church came into my life and chased the binges away - for a while.
I was sure if anyone knew how I ate they would reject me - horribly.
I had a medical emergency which turned into a miracle. Then ate up to 670 Lbs
Treatment ended up in white knuckle recovery. worked for a year. Back up and back to treatment where the OA seed was planted.
Miracle after miracle led be into my current successful recovery and a quality life.
I come from an obese family so we were all big boned.
I was able to be a large drug addict.
My 20's and 30's was a series of Pay and Weighs.
I started out as an OA Rockstar led to 'I got this'. Back up to 300.
I came back and have been weighing and measuring for over 5 years. It works for me.
It took me while to find my spiritual groove for my life and my food. Everyone is different.
I have been in the same weight zone and have been the same size for years. I no longer weigh myself so I am not affected by the number.
I wish I could include my family on me recovery journey but that it is their choice.
I am no longer envious of 'normal' eaters.
I did not realize I was overeating until I found family photo when I was 9. I was devastated.
I believed I was a hopeless case.
Came to OA at 29 and found my people. Got a sponsor and got up to step 5. Then I met him.
Got to top weight. The was series of OA meetings I didn't go to. Finally back to OA 26 years after the first time.
I have done the steps multiple times; each time different because each time I am different.
I thought nobody did what I did, lied, hid etc
I have had the same food plan for 18 years.
Today food is fuel for my body. I came in just to change my body, what changed was everything.
As I read the big book I identified with so many of the stories.
I have admitted, accepted, surrendered and changed.
My sponsor says "What do you want to talk to me about that you don't want to talk to me about?"
Action is the magic word.
Now my life is the opposite of the Bedevilments (Big Book P. 52)
Geographics, Hair/no hair, nothing helped me stop eating.
Today I have over 15,000 days abstinent.
I thought OA was going to be a cult, I went to a meeting halfway out the door. Instead I heard MY story and had recovered.
I resonated with the term ' Food Addict'. I Did go through withdrawal. and I only had to do it once.
Aha - If it works for you it might work for me. Worth a try.
Much to my chagrin the day I hit goal weight was just another day.
Our spirituality is based on service.
1st abstinence after my third son for a few years and thought 'I got this' and did not leave meetings.
Thought I couldn't do school and OA, -I Picked school.
Ended up in pain unable to walk much and all the physical stuff. I was scared I would die in my sleep.
Controlling my program got me to 242.
Following a food plan gave me food neutrality.
My life is not perfect but I am not in the Hell I had with the food.
The least of my positive results is my weight loss. My family relationships are so much better. I aspire to behave as a woman in recovery one day at a time.
I know in my heart ' It works if you work it . . with a sponsor.'
Food was my little buddy. Didn't know how to be without it.
In Jr High I controlled my weight but I was an emotional wreck.
I vacillated between managing my food or my emotions but not both.
I had the lap-Band surgery and gained 20 lbs because I was always a grazer, small amounts all the time.
Second surgery for sleeve, same results. just took longer.
Covid was my last food failure but OA on Zoom became my Savior.
I got a sponsor who gently dragged me through the steps and I have some recovery.
My relationships, my finances, my self talk has all improved - ALOT.
Daily 10th step keeps me emotionally present.
Missing First 15 Minutes of the speaker.
Outreach calls are gestures to God that I am willing to participate.
We do not have to face this disease alone.
I was trained to be open and tell the truth.
I got the sponsor and threw myself to the steps. I wanted to make my amends abut my sponsor made me do the steps in order.
Her amends are inspirational.
35 years of service in OA has uplifted my program and my fellowship.
My 27 year amazing marriage was a direct result of OA.
I was obese and active, leave me alone.
My OA Journey started 5 years ago when I was traveling. But I didn't have a problem. Even though 5 doctors had told me to loose weight.
I was already a member of several 12 step programs but OA started to drip into my consciousness opening the door to listen and change.
OA Birthday parties always kicked my program back into gear.
Suddenly 7 months in I am in a hotel with a microwave feeding 2 for months. It wasn't pretty. I did it better each of the next 5 times.
My open heart surgery was a major turning point to make more healthy food choices . .seriously!
I have let some foods go and embraced new foods. Its a healthy adventure.
Begin anytime. and begin again anytime.
Today I am excited to see what my Higher Power has in store for m.
I was an outsider in my own family.
I ate a lot at meals and more is secret.
I discovered I judged others to feel better about myself.
Sometimes I had hard time sleeping so I found meeting for 24 hours a day.
I got recovery when I followed the program suggestions.
I can find an abstinent meal at any restaurant.
Today my life it full of 'Thank You God' moments.
My mom threw lots of money at my weight.
I came into OA for the diet. Today I will never diet again.
At my high weight I was a physical and emotional wreck.
First I wrote everything I ate, then three meals a day, incremental additions became my recovery.
I thought my Higher Power was my servant. Eventually I reversed it.
My weight loss was a by-product of focusing on my recovery.
I no longer steal my children's food.
Today rather than fixing everyone and everything My Higher Power helps me seek to adjust my mind. my attitudes, my behavior,
Three legged program - Physical, Emotional, and spiritual.
Today I am willing to wear red pants.
I went to church and had a relationship with God, Not one I liked.
Growing up I turned to food and as long as I didn't eat the last one, avoided trouble .
My disease manifested as a single path to isolation.
Today I am surrounded by loving friends and I believe them.
22 years in program.
I am 5' 6" and was a shade under 600 lbs.
I returned after a 6 week relapse with a renewed commitment leading into a spiritual change. . but not right away.
Not only do I have a toolbox of recovery, I have learned how to use the tools and DO.
I know my problems, OA offers me the solutions.
I work the 12 steps AND the 12 traditions.
My first psychic change was in 1973 - Before OA.
I can still be willful, vindictive and have learned to make amends.
There are other weight loss programs. This is a spiritual program.
I eat my entire food plan and no more.
Today I have a conscious and continuous contact with my higher power.
My family relationships are less than perfect. So it goes.
Abstaining member of OA for more than 36 years. and a recovered liar, sneak, cheat and thief.
I was 340 LBS, miserable, my job in jeopardy and I could not stop.
I bought the book so I could find the secret.
OA didn't teach me how to eat. It taught me how to stop. . . for one day.
Little by little I made different choices and avoided certain food. OA was working in my life.
Once I was powerless over my addiction I was able to accept help from a higher power.
I get to practice not eating compulsively all day today.
I use most of the tools every day. (not big on writing)
Don't have any memory before food.
I was over 400 lbs by 14 years old.
This disease stole so much of my life.
I have always felt bodily and mentally different from my fellows.
Fear of what can happen to me only sent me deeper into the food.
Today, working the steps, being free from my food obsession, my life is a constant miracle.
I have lived in the same place long enough to have them raise my rent, What a gift.
I was stealing and lying about food as a young kid.
Supplements, diets, all worked for a short time once.
Got the 15 questions of OA in the military. Did a treatment center, Spiritual retreat and got a sponsor. Ended up more sober than abstinent.
Left military, college on GI Bill - up over 300 lbs.
Got back into OA, 4 years of abstinence but minimal recovery. led to relapse.
Once I got back I got enrolled into Service at the Intergroup level and more but stilled bounced up and down.
Today I have a sponsor, do service, stick to my food plan and am close to my goal weight and just stay here.
Everything hopeful started tomorrow, Monday or 'on the first'
I was my own worst critic.
Lies I told myself about me. - Fat people are lazy, unlovable, ugly, have no will power, hopeless.
Compulsive overeating is a lonely pass-time.
I always wanted to be thin. I was not willing to do what I needed to do.
2008 I went back to OA through a convention. I surrendered with a prayer 'God, I can't do this alone'. I got a sponsor that weekend.
I got abstinent 4 days before Halloween.
If you are alive you will experience celebration, sorrow, love and loss. It is always easier abstinent.
Today I CAN hear the small voice that tells me 'Kara, you are OK.'
Came in at 16 but not a smooth trajectory.
Food was my solution to escape from my reality.
I would do anything to avoid my body being seen.
I was banned from the Soup Plantation.
I ended up growing up in these rooms which was very uncomfortable.
Today . Abstinence is my only shot at a big, great life.
I choose feelings over food. I have intimate, honest relationships with other people.
I can get through anything as long as I don't try to do it alone.
Needed a Dr.s note for my first go at Weight Watchers.
I started as a Catholic and learned how to pray . . . for me.
I didn't worship God, I worshipped food.
I became super woman - alone.
Finally a therapist got me to consider I was a compulsive over eater and got to OA. So I wanted to learn the food plan.
The moment I actually said I was willing to go to any length, I had a spiritual experience. and my journey to recovery finally began for real.
I was over AND under-eater.
I noticed odd behavior as a child picking my friends by their snacks.
I only thought about what the food did for me, not what it was doing to me.
I was different Bobs with different people as any good people pleaser. No clue who I really was.
After a health scare I learned how to eat but could not do it. I heard of OA but it took 3 years to hit my bottom.
In program I dieted successfully until one fateful binge night brought the reality of my disease and my need for a sponsor and the steps to the forefront.
A food plan helped me resist the thoughts of 'I need more' 'I am full I should stop', Just stuck to my food plan.
It feels like my service work helps me more than the service I provide helps others.
Entered high school at 350, left over 500.
First OA meeting was not my people, That was not MY problem.
I lost 200 lbs by restricting and self will. That led to my relapse
Upon reentry into OA I still struggled with the steps. Finally had a spiritual experience when I committed to going to my Father's wife's funeral.
I still harbor the thought "I will never be satisfied' Today it is not as loud and I have tools to work towards an alternative.
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- There are some gaps in the first few minutes of the recording. * *
My first time in I became Miss OA without doing any of the work.
My resentments with my father prevented from embracing a higher power. So I left
During my relapse I had Gastric Bypass AND started putting on weight. Back to OA. This time with a Higher Power.
Meetings (4 a week), Big Book, I have a sponsor, do the steps and I do service. That is my program today.
Every day I am the best person I can be. Physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
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- Missing 4 minutes of recording @ 3 minute mark. * *
When I lost my abstinence I gained the weight.
No amount of food could fill the hole in the center of my being.
My biographical timeline is marked by food.
I was a secret eater until I got found out.
Pay and weigh worked dramatically for the weight but not for the 'me'
I left the dynamics I grew up with when I went to college, But I took me with me. Back to secrets.
College went from 175 to 0ver 300. Now to work.
3 Continuous fears. Not getting what I want, Loosing what I have, or Being found out.
As my fears got bigger, my world got smaller and I was 525 lbs.
It was a year after I asked God for help before I got into the program.
Early on my life I learned how to keep secrets, and how to hate.
Morbid obesity arrived in my 20s.
While over 300 Lbs I was neurotic about what my son ate.
I did not diet. Any weight adjustments were from changes in my activity.
When I joined OA I resisted being told what to do.
I lost 125 Lbs with very little recovery.
Rich honest emotions are a gift of recovery.
Paul D from Seattle
Annual suggestion to diet and exercise got me started, for a minute.
At one time I was taken to the hospital - FOR OVEREATING
4 Cs crisis, clarity, colliding opportunities, commitment to a spiritual solution,
A multitude of health issues should have given me a clue about my problem with food.
I discovered Buddhism was the religion of moderation - Poof I'm a Buddhist.
I have studied OA, read ALL the literature, completed the steps and got involved in service.
I have sent a gratitude list to my sponsor for more that 1000 days.
My abstinence is about foods, behaviors and thoughts.
I had a list of things I wanted from my relationship to OA. They have come true.
6 Months before I came into the program due to my health I considered suicide.
Prior to OA I had no idea of how my life had become such a disaster.
Oatmeal chicken chicken was not for me.
My addictive foods became VERY clear to me.
Established my recovery right out of the Big Book of AA.
I have to understand it is not about lunch. It is about a fatal disease.
Today I am a healthy member of OA and society trying to do my best and be of service.
I favor sponsors with AA background and their that approach to the Big Book.
I turn to my higher power in times of stress rather than the food.
If I go back out I really will die due to my chronic health issues.
A consistent food plan is my salvation.
I share about my issues to let others know they are not alone.
I have friends outside of OA and they are Real friends.
Over 350 when I graduated HS.
On going pattern - Loose weight, have emotions, put it back.
Complacency does not support recovery.
When I had emotional pain in any form, food and sex really did help relieve it... for a while
I no longer focus on the food, I focus on my surrender. Seems to work better.
My need for acceptance led me to some REALLY BAD choices.
For me real healing must include abstinence.
Three questions for offering help.
I didn't come to OA to suffer, I came to be free. Today I am.
My process or recovery was SLOWbriety.
My Dad locked food not knowing what to do with me.
In college I had unsupervised access to all the food I wanted.
* Missing first 2 minutes of the talk * *
Diets and drama worked for a minute.
I got to 12 step though my husbands' recovery.
Real recovery is more than meetings and prayer.
Terror, fear and hunger all felt the same in my body.
Yellow light foods are really red light foods I am unwilling to give up.
I was born prematurely. That was the last time I was underweight.
Growing up we showed love with food. I couldn't get enough love or food.
I did lots of diets, They all worked for a while and only once.
Every time I thought I was doing great it led to my doing poorly and then regaining my weight.
I finally surrendered into the program over a can of oysters.
At my highest weight I was using a cane. Any physical activity was a challenge.
I recently played Basketball. Different set of emotional flooded me than I was used to.
My life was finding a way to fill the void which could not even describe.
I fled from people who liked me because something had to be wrong with them.
My eating kicked in when I gave up smoking.
OA was not my first 12 step program. Any 12 step program started improving my life.
Having a structured program works for me. I want freedom of choice but that did not work.
Black was slimming ... I thought
The most important amends that I had to make, that took the longest, was to myself.
Abstinence did not suddenly give me social skills.
Relapse is part of my story. Acknowledging in allows me to help others who may be struggling and ashamed.
My goals ended up being limiting. God had way better plans for me.
I use tool every day.
Defiance is still one of my character defects.
Today my food plan and my lifestyle activities directly support my health.
Growing up alcohol was just liquid sugar.
I was stealing food in first grade.
As youngest of 11children I was in the 'who could loose weight' family competition in the third grade.
I failed at anorexia and bulimia.
Sugar was my 'drug' of choice.
By 22 I was over 300 lbs
Gained and lost over 100 lbs at least 6 times.
Nailed the program. Lost weight, spoke, was a super hero for a moment.
The message of OA is welcoming, supportive and available to all who want it. All excuses are accepted.
Black and white abstinence is the only thing the works for me. I don't do well with 'wiggle room'
Nothing changed until I got a sponsor.
HOW had the food plan I rejected/needed/accepted but actually led to weight loss.
I needed the program much longer than I wanted it. Today I want it.
I was told Our built in freezer would kill me. I went in all the time.
I used food to feel better. I used Alcohol to not feel at all.
I would eat as if it was I was in a blackout.
They said it's not about the food but I wasn't buying it.
Even putting down the food did not make my life manageable.
The more I try to control others the more stress I experience.
The disease gripped me in a death grip at age 30.
I would binge on appropriate foods and lots of it.
I came to OA at 33 and the welcoming made it not scary.
I keep coming back, food continues to speak to me. I act on it by making a call.
I lost weight but I also lost most of my crazy thoughts. and I have tools when they come back.
Tonight I will talk about the 12 Traditions And the principles behind each tradition.
'A great set of explanations connecting each tradition with its fundamental Principle'
Barb 9-9-88. My "in my disease" life was a minimal closed in reality.
* Polly Q I spent years in 'white knuckle abstinence' It was not fun. and ended in relapse.
Today my abstinence is all about my relationship with my higher power
* Beth - Lost 140 LBS, Gained a modicum of sanity.
- Amanda - Escape artist with food as my favorite tool
My behavior was based on my addiction.
I was advised to address 'what was killing me the fastest' It was not food at that time.
* April In program a long time but in the background. 'I'm good thanks'
Today my journey is about surrender.
In for 12, out for 12, back in 2009 to present.
Clear precise abstinence makes is the only way it is possible for me to stay abstinent.
I had a Loose/tight problem. I had to Loosen up in some areas and tighten up in others.
How I eat today is largely influenced by how I ate yesterday.
80/20 God/me. In reality my part is much less.
Could not find clothes in Paris.
I binged because I was ashamed of being fat.
In OA I was a dishonest people pleaser.
After a brief relapse I asked the scariest woman to be my sponsor.
Certain foods became poison to me.
I identified specific 'Alcoholic' behaviors to avoid.
Kimberly goes through her experiences with the steps.
My whole life became about my loosing weight. and my family agreed.
I have certain white powders which are drugs and toxins for me.
When I finally got to OA, I dove right in (meetings, steps service) and my life changed. Who knew???
We end up lying to ourselves when we remember what food did for us and forget what it did to us.
Heavy as a child, bullied in school.
I was a good dieter but it only lasted a minute.
I actually had a accident while eating.
I knew I was home at my first meeting.
Knowing I was crazy was my first evidence of my recovery.
T. R. U. S.T Try Really Using Steps and Traditions.
I had the moment when there was nothing but God between me and the next compulsive bite. God was there and I stayed abstinent.
I practice the principles (Steps for me AND Traditions for my marriage) in all my affairs.
Grew up in alcoholic family. I was paid in candy to keep secrets. By both sides.
My mom took me to Weight Watchers.
The catholic God had nothing to do with my life. I had to figure it out on my own. Food was my God.
Loosing weight did not make my life beautiful.
Tried OA @ 22 for 30 seconds. Got sponsor, she fires me, I fired OA, back to sponsoring myself.
Weight and I ballooned, Health problems came on and I ended up wheelchair bound.
Today I hear God in my heart louder than the disease in my head. Health stats are mostly back in normal ranges.The rest are getting there.
I know it kicked in around 5 years old.
It was suggested that more will power would help me with my food misuse. Nahhhh
Diet was the next answer.
I went to my first OA meeting when I was 11.
Eating Rehab in high school. Way to much talking talking talking. If you lost weight- you got my attention.
Sponsoring myself led to relapse, weight gain, and more pain.
Got a sponsor, took direction, had great results and took all the credit. . . relapse.
Finally in 2005 I truly connected with the program.
I was hospitalized at age 6 from overeating, I was 65 years old when I entered OA.
YoYo was me. I guess I'm not the only one.
I had a lower body aneurysm that brought serious health issues. but I ignored it until I came into OA.
I was known as 'The Sleeper' At Wendy's, at the movies, at the wheel.
Weight training became an important part of my physical recovery.
I committed for one year, After the year I did not want to go back.
I couldn't loose weight, even for $5000 dollars.
Even my therapist convinced me I was different.
I was NOT a dieter.
Once in OA I never left. There really was nowhere else for me to go.
I was full of anger. OA has released me from that aura.
I even want the best for my Ex-husband - BIG Miracle.
Today I can truly look at food as art, and not miss it as food. Really.
My Life in college was my personal brown out. Everything was dim and half power.
Health issue had me stop sugar, flour etc. It did not go well.
I went to OA because I recognized I had cravings.
Embracing my feelings was a long time coming. I am still working on it.
I heard about OA from a speaker in another 12 step program.
Surprisingly a boyfriend didn't fix me.
For me, 3 meetings a week are required for my recovery to progress.
Today my daily routine includes morning and evening rituals.
My willingness to make ammends is now, When I get to do it is up to God,
9 years of not quite abstinent = Lying
Change in recovery is not about pain, it's a about growth.
I still don't like hearing "It takes time".
I still send my food in, do service, make a ton of calls. It seems to work
Cheryl B 10 Min
First time in program I got weight loss and little more.
Anne T 20 Min
Several periods of multiple year abstinence.
I learned to binge on food in my food plan. result = 40 lbs.
There is a missing 65 seconds after 1:30.
This day 42 years ago was my first OA Meeting.
Top weight over 400 lbs. Came into OA at 380.
I was an Atheist and completely unwilling to be converted.
By 16 years I was deep into relapse and terrified of being seen but went to a convention.
For the last 15 years I continue to work the steps and improve my spiritual life.
Growing up in an abusive home, in college and grad school my best friend was sugar/candy.
My life was one crisis after another. One is not enough including suicide attempts.
I went from 88 lbs to 223 and everything in between for 40 years.
I was having physical problems, labelled as obese and that got my attention, getting me into OA.
Started out only willing to call my sponsor daily. Eventually I was gifted with abstinence.
I have had the same body for 10 years and today I love it.
I get something new every time I go the the AA Big Book. How could Bill Wilson know how I felt about my hopelessness?
I did food plans like I did diets.
Today I do the program - the steps, writing, meetings, exercise, service, higher power.
Seeing others who have lost 100, 200 300 pounds and more inspired me and helped me believe it was possible for me.
I could still eat compulsively while on my food plan.
My food choices were based on convenience. MY convenience.
The 12 steps clarified my defects which I had overlooked, denied or suppressed.
I switched careers rather than address my overeating.
Planning my food helps me avoid impulse eating.
A single mistake is not a slip. A second time... let's talk.
I have a daily 'quiet time'.
I ate lots but stayed thin through basketball.
Eventually I got married and slowed down playing and slowly moved into obesity. I started the yoyo for years.
There are some gaps in the recording and lost the last minute.
I went to OA for a while. It worked so well I left.
In my 70s I ended up morbidly obese with heart problems. This got my attention.
My wife passed and I was alone and fat.
I am back for 3 years, over 100 lbs lighter and involved.
I am a literature junkie. Even some Non OA approved readings has been inspirational.
The 12 steps exist in many spiritual
At 41 I had a wake up call with way dangerous blood results.
I found I could mess up and if I told the truth you would still allow me at the meetings.
Consistency in my program includes meetings, a food plan, a sponsor, calls and the truth.
I carry food when I travel so I am in charge of what I eat.
Daily basics every day.
Continuous member since Jan 24 1994 Abstinent from Feb 16.
I have written for my sponsor every night over 4300 times.
Resentment, remorse, rebellion, resistance cause me problems
She offered a VERY clear analysis of how she uses the steps consistently.
In NYC following an acting career I was just surviving -
I had to call back to California to find a meeting in New York.
It took me more than a year to really accept the first step.
One moment at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time OA had brought me a life of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual recovery.
Today I have gratitude for all that has happens.
Step 1-12 explained as what they mean to ME.
No matter what happens, how I feel or what I resist I kept coming back
A marriage without ANY recovery was not working.
I heard a speaker I had nothing in common with and identified with everything she said.
Working the steps will GUARANTEE you will change.
I have had the same sponsor for 20 years. AND I work with other members on specific issues.
** Due to technical diffuculties there is 7 minutes of sharing missing starting @ 8:29
Didn't know what eating regularly meant until I was in a foster home.
Ate my way up to 440 Lbs.
Today I have a routine for my food and my life activities.
Miracles don't hapen without the footwork.
I was a compusve overeater in the fasion industry.
When I got to OA I did what I was told. and it worked as long as I did it.
I keep doing fourth steps (When told to) and they are always transformational.
It is too easy to forget what works. That's why I have a sponsor.
The program keeps me abstinent, the fellowship keeps the rest of me on track ...no matter what.
Abstinent from 10/86
I was 10 when I got on my first diet from my mother worked for 5 days.
Food took me out of where I was, unsafe, and put me in a safe place.
My bravest moment was to stand, Indentify a compulsive overeater and in that moment I became 'a part of'.
It was a shock when I realized the world did not revolve around me.
I continue to improve my conscious contact with 'God'.
1st meeting 1988.
I knew what was the right way to eat but I could not refrain from binging/eating for any length of time.
Grew up in home with no structure.
Could not imagine talking about my food in front of men.
I got a sponsor,what she asked me to do made no sense but I did it anyway.
Discovering a higher power is an ongoing process for me. Recovery is in the seeking.
For me it has been a slow and consistent road of recovery. Like the tortoise.
Used Lunch money to buy candy on the way to school.
Hit 250 in high school.
Found OA in college, followed the program and.... it worked.
My relapse happens slowly, loosing one peice at at time until I was completely out of the program.
Gastric Bypass seemed like a miracle.... for a while.
The food blocked me from the joy of the American Dream.
From all out to all in was the beginning of my recovery..this time.
In the beginning, feelings seemed like negative byproduts of doing the work.
Really wanting and choosing a salad was a miracle of the program.
Graduated HS @ 270 with 50" waist. It frightened me.
Fear ruled me. I fixed/avoided with food.
I was willing to go to ANY lengths. Alone - Every diet work for a short time... Once.
46 days in OA led to my worst binge ever. It was a turning point.
I discovered a Higher Power of "MY" understanding.
Abstinence gave me lots of extra time to do my program.
Food was my crutch when I was 12.
Even pudgy brought about massive shame.
God was for uneducated, weak- willed people.
I attended meetings without participating until somebody actually talked to me.
Not a program of feeling, thinking, wanting... It is a program of action !
lost 140 lbs first time in OA.
After a major relapse I have 17 years today.
I am a skid row compulsive over eater.
I learned to show up, sit in the front, raise my hand, be of service and tell the truth.
The Doctors Opinion nails it for me.
My program is the infrastructure for my life.
I now have someone who I love and loves me. I never thought it could happen for me.
Abstinent since 9/8/2003
My addictions does not get triggered if I avoid foods I am allergic to.
I knew the foods I was allergic to but kept buying and eating them into oblivion. and wake up with another failed commitment to do it differently.
A friend from another 12 step program mentioned OA. I went but did not work the OA program.
I was afraid to go shopping at first.
I did all the steps in order out of the big book with a sponsor. It worked.
Today I am dependent on my Higher Power ... in a healthy way,
Growing up I looked good on the outside. But.....
Everything I did I did compulsively, Food/ Sugar was the major negative one.
I learned to tap dance at as a child and used it physically and emotionally for years.
I created a seemingly cool life on the outside as a designer in Europe until I can back to US. Not cool = Not OK
Women were meeting is a restaurant I worked at were having an OA meeting. Ding Ding.Ding.
I picked my sponsor because she judged like I did.
I have maintained a healthy body weight for 34 years always participating in OA, keeping commitments, sponsoring and doing the steps many times.
Stopping my compulsive behaviors is the BEGINNING of my recovery.
I always saw myself as a fat child, but in retrospect is was not always true.
I had heard about stopping hard drugs and it sounded like my trying to stop eating chocolate. Long before I got into OA.
2 weeks into OA I discovered Fear and Resentment were the underlying issue for my compulsive eating and cravings.
Growing up I never learned how to identify and talk about my emotions in realm time.
This is my current work. I can get a resentment when things are not clear and/or consistent and I can eat over it. The work never ends. Today I write about it rather than eat over it. Yay OA
Lonely kids. I knew all the 'Lonely' songs.
Big in elementary school.
Got sober in '75.
Introduced to OA in '76. started on to 18 years of abstinence. Was involved, did service. did not stick.
Basic instincts went awry.
PAGGLES 7 deadly sins On me to make adjustments with God's help
12 steps in 10 words.
1 Give up
2,3 Look up
4-9 Clean up
10, 11 Keep up
12 Show up
9 of 10 Children. Family dinners were always an adventure.
If I excelled in sports I could get Dad's attention. Led to perfectionism and people pleasing and led me to my first 12 steep program.
Sugar got me so high my face would tingle.
Anytime I step on a scale I feel bad. So i don't step on a scale.
Once I got to OA I never left. I didn't do the program well but I never left.
I lost my first sponsor - then fake sugar led to weight gain, changing meetings, thinking a nutritionist would be better than getting a new sponsor.
Everything changed when I really started 'Doing the Work'.
This past year has changed everything in my life for the better.
I no longer manage people except as required at work.
Recovery can bring back memories of how bad it was. A Fat American in France
I ate violently, destructively and disturbingly.
At one point I did a cost-benefit analysis of my addiction...didn't help.
My fancy education made no difference.
Once in the program I became Miss OA. My physicality came back.
'I got this' led to an 80 lb weight gain
I finally did get this Nov 3 2008.
Today I have a daily ritual morning and evening which includes reading, writing, step work and A E I O U Y
I really do have a life beyond my wildest dreams by doing a few things every day.
Grew up thinking I was unwanted as 5th of 5.
Within 3 days of joining the program there was a month long orientation workshop which gave me a deep understand on the program and what I could expect.
Unity between my program, my marriage, my higher power and my life keep all the parts working.
I was a sensitive kid obsessed with my body image.
At 15 I got diet pills, then speed and was not actually overweight.
I restricted, was an exercise bulimic and tried it all.
I stopped eating sugar because I was a people pleaser. AND just kept coming back.
Today the program and my higher power have helped me all the challenges life has thrown at me and maintained my abstinence.
The promises have come true
In my youth I got a rush from stealing and an escape with the food.
Long term cycles of feast and famine(excersize, restriction tec.)
I was in OA for 8 years without a sponsor. 'Surprise' I had no recovery.
Today i have a daily ritual for my recovery which has led to my 2.5 years abstinent,
I was given sugar instead of a bottle.
Program worked when I laid down the food and picked up a pen.
Never, Never, Never give up.
my 4th step made me suicidal because I had no God.
Since I developed a belief and relationship with a Higher Power he has saved me regularly.
Lost 100 lbs and put it back before entering Law School.
Wore Tee shirts until I was 30 because I was afraid of bursting my buttons.
The beginning of my recovery was a spiritual experience that makes no sense, cannot be explained and has been with me 40 years.
Huge amount of food and huge amount of laxatives.
It took four months after a 3 week relapse to feel sane.
After a long time in the program I had to give up all my sponsees to work on myself.
I am on a spiritual journey. The food blocks me from this process.
All about Step one.
When I came to OA I thought everyone was abstinent, so I did to.
Last Xmas I 12 stepped 2 caregivers.
I will never have a normal relationship with food.
Weight kicked up at puberty
My first OA Meeting the church was locked. There was one other person and I knew I was home.
I lost 100 lbs in 9 months and was rocking in OA until Iost my sponsor and decided to sponsor myself.
160 later I found my way back to OA and was welcomed.
The OA community and service makes me know I am not alone.
Dieted from 7th grade to age 50. yo-yo-yo and the swings got bigger.
I had a plan for my college reunion to loose weight. I did not go to my reunion.
I had a friend who talked about OA. She lost weight while I gained.
Gave up sugar after my first OA Meeting.
God was the hardest part of OA for me. That is absolutely not the case for me today.
in my 20s and 30s I was a great dieter as a restrictor leading to being under nourished.
Today I turn to my Higher Power in times of stress instead of the food.
1st OA was just me and the speaker. She spoke and got my attention.
Weighing, recording and reporting honestly is critical for my recovery.
Excellence was expected at home and it separated me from my peers. Food filled my emotional holes.
Eating other's leftover from the trash was a hint something was wrong.
In college my life looked good superficially, but it wasn't.
I completely gave up, was suicidal and my recovery began.
My spiritual awakening was transformational but not the end of my journey with food.
I could rationalize minor incremental moves away from abstinence.
Today my FIRST priority will be my addiction OR my recovery. There can be only one.
Every Diet worked once. I tried them all.
I was 12 stepped by my wife and I didn't even know it was happening.
OA was OK but I had a big problem with the word 'GOD'.
After a substantial relapse I was finally, 'Willing to go to any lengths'.
Today my program affords me an astounding life.
Was living the bedevilements (P.52 BB) when I came to OA
Gained 60 Lbs during first pregnancy which led to marital problems
Used my 3 year old to collect MY Halloween candy
Lived the 301 plan- 3 meals, 0 in between, 1 day at a time.
Downed a bottle of Children's aspirin for the orange flavor.
Being extremely active helped me avoid weight gain.
Sugar free chocolate was a gateway food for me.
Came back to OA in 2004 letting everyone know I already knew everything about it.
Amazingly when I changed my food plan with anothers help, I lost my weight.
Now miracles happen daily.
Grew up in angry home
By coincidence I found an OA meeting I could walk to right after I had been given I Big Book and identified.
I found a sponsor who took me through the steps after I was abstinent from my alcoholic foods.
Today I am overcoming the bedevilments (Page 52) and experiencing the promises (Page 83-84) one day at a time.
Grew up in overweight family. Food competition was the norm.
Food, Drugs, alcohol became my life, I had no clue.
12 steps in my first program changed my life but not my food.
I found OA and it worked so well I decided I didn't need it.
Finally got back with new sponsor and took direction.
Now I have added Spirituality into my food plan.
I pulled over an Xmas Tree but held on to the candy cane.
Knowledge of nutrition did not reduce my obsession.
A life change led to isolation, skipping meetings and the thought I can do it myself... It did not go well.
Finally made it back, got a sponsor and followed direction.
Today I have a daily ritual which helps me stay on track keeps the obsession at bay.
Long term over eating eventually getting into program at age 65
Listen and take notes:
A. S. I. S.
4 Cs
3 Ps
T. A. C. T. T.
As a child chubby turned into obese and brough in speed.
I just wanted to be able to pick a dress off the rack.
I had lost weight but was very unhealthy when I was 12 stepped in a hair salon.
Changed from 'What are you going to do about it' to what am I going to do about it.
Binged and purged my way up to over 200 lbs.
If you think you can't do your food plan the rest of your life, it is a diet.
Food helped me feel safe in an unsafe environment growing up.
When binging and restricting failed me I added exercise bulimia to my repertoire of inappropriate tools.
First came to OA in 2003, Did everything I was told except get a sponsor and do the steps.
Once back I came to believe if it worked for others it could work for me.
Food was not my problem, it was my solution but it was killing me.
I hid my pain by eating compulsively.
Coming from my very dark place the light offered by OA was blinding. I need the program and steps to make the adjustment possible.
Understanding I had a disease and it wasn't my fault was the beginning of my recovery.
My recovery starts in the grocery store.
Teased in school.
Eat in secret.
How OA was 51 years ago. none of our own literature, books etc. Just a higher power.
Working the steps from the big book helped me identify my lcohilic foods and refrain.
Talking through the steps and the relationships between them weaves the tapestry for a life of recovery.
Now it is still all about service, sponsoring, and passing it on as directed by God.
I binged and purged while in a treatment center for another issue.
Uing the tools does not equal recovery. I Finally Did the Work of the 12 steps for the spiritual recovery offered in OA.
Truly doing the 3rd steps releicved my pain.
My current hunger is to know God and his will for me, be of service and help others. It is better.
My inability to control my eating and my weight made me hate myself
When I FINALLY got a sponsor I did whatever she said.
Recovery is better than a size 4
I remember the food at weddings I went to when I was 10 years old.
Overweight in school, compensated by being funny.
Success in business allowed to pay for lots of plans, drugs, formulas, They all worked ...for a nano second.
Traded my food for the 12 steps and my life is better.
A Sunday promise led to Monday amnesia.
I did not connect the quantity component while eating 'Approved' foods.
Attended OA Meetings for 16 years but did not work until I REALLY embraced step one, got a sponsor and Worked the Steps.
I don't eat anything can't leave on the plate.
Today I remember this disease if permanent, progressive and fatal.
Weight was a problem in by the time I was 10.
President's fitness challenge was terrifying.
Major weight loss in High School gave me a validation I continue to chase.
My first 12 step program suggested I eat to handle my new feelings. up 30 lbs following direction..
Today my recovery includes how I treat others, how I treat myself, is my recovery work consistent, and am I staying connected.
Started early,manipulating for food in grade school.
Could loose weight for a prize, and get it Immediately game on bigger and faster.
Just kept going to meeting, no matter what.
Program first seems to work.
Food handled my emotions right from the bottle.
20 Years old, functionally illiterate, overweight, and working up the ladder.
My body started breaking down at 38 years old.
Entered OA. learned the rules, Attended meetings, participated, sponsored, lost 165 LBS and I was King Sh*t!.... not good.
Now 23 years abstinent, humbly involved in the program, loving and loved.
Abandonment issues were helped with food.
I always at the charity Candy Bars and Girl Scout cookies.
Stomach Stapling led to binge purge cycle.
OA with Big Book, And Sponsor led to recovery,
Was not taught any adult skils growing up.
Overachiever AND overweight
In my disease eating utensils were optional.
Can never get back to the feeling of that first bite.
Attacking the steps was the real solution.
In old pictures I looked more normal than I felt.
Meetings alone did not deliver the results I wanted.
I grew up in a small community. Now I have a large OA community.
The only people who really get to act how they feel are 3 years old.
Doing the steps id the best tool for weight loss.
9th step promises are true.
In high school super excited about lots of chinese food.
I can't see God but I CAN see the effects of God.
Completely mind fucked over 3 gum drops..
Having Incremental improvements with my willingness helps my willingness grow stronger.
Lots of Tequila and lots of Oreos. But never together.
Gastric bypass, like every other diet, worked.... for a while.
When I finally admitted iI was a compulsive over eater that bell could never be unrung.
5'2" 288, Hmmmm
Lost who I was because of eating.
a meal - ok. A meal, twice in a row, I qualify.
Stayed in meeting even when I wasn't abstinent. OA meetings were a breath of fresh air.
Maintaining 150 lb weight loss for overt en years.
Problem with sugar, flour and quantity. Need to handle all 3 to be abstinent.
Came to OA at 66 years old.
Active in sports junior high and high school. College- no sports just food.
Now -Dailey10 steps. makes a difference.
My Higher Power sometimes forces me into better decision than I make on my own.
I was isolated emotionally
Weight problem by 8 years old.
Yo Yo - Weight Watchers, Speed, Excersize bulemic, All worked once.
Even when I finally got a sponsor I had not realized I actually had to work a program.
38 Years abstinent.
Great Dieter. Used grey sheet, lost weight but no steps, thus no recovery.
Recovery compares where we were to where we are, not where we are to where we want to be.
I do have control over my attitude ans my actions, the rest is up to God
The 3 Parts of the disease need 3 areas of recovery - Pysical, emotional and spiritual.
I had to eat cake every day for my 12 minute ride home.
I had no higher power, I left 'God' off the Serenity Prayer.
Even with drugs and alcohol, food always worked to make me feel better.
Thin did not fix anything.
actually doing the steps works better than just reading them.
Waist 32" to 58" and everything in between.
Over 30 years I would get a little recovery, loose weight and take my will back .
My abstinence needs to include eating behaivior that seeks to avoid or change me feelings.
1976 - Called OA central office - No answer, 17 hours later Someone suggested OA. Could be she was sent by God.
Pacifier glued to lips. always had to be in my mouth.
Food over alcohol right from the start.
Lying and stealing about foor started in elementary school
Binge, gain weight, program light, loose 100 lbs, good enough. binge, repeat - - up to about 400 lbs.
Finally it took actually doing the full program. I decided to Mimic the OA Yodas.
I just did it, It didn't make sense, did not want to, didn't understand it but thought I would give it a shot. By George it worked. I still do it today because it works.
First signs of compuliveeating amnifested at age 12.
Active is sports kept it balanced.
In my 20s started dieting and a cycle of yoyo up and down up to 360lbs.
12 steps made sence except foer the God stuff.
6 years in program before acceptance and surrender took hold and it started working .
Today the compulsion is gone. I live in the present and make better choices.
Top weight 305, now 170.
College was the kick off for unrestrained compulsive overeating.
Getting a job I liked helped my self esteem but not my food
I did my work with my sponsor and the steps like a check list and never waivered. Consistancy trumps perfection.
Big, strong kid, Very active in sports.
Regular activity, withoput change diet ledd to weight gain - Duh!
Acident at work laid me up, topped out over 385.
First astinace - no french fries.
Certain foods cause certain feelings. Certain feelings call for certain foods. Helps to notice the connections.
We had a family competition to see who could eat the most. I held my own with brothers.
Today weight, Glucose, Triglycerides, Hemoglobin, Cholesterol, LDL, All down in healthy range.
Abstinant 6-8 times over 39 years with 60 Lb average loss, Every time my life got full so...... stopping meetings was the first step out.
Today I use all the tools AND have a full life.
The weight allowed to be a charcter actor which allowed me to justify the weight.
Lost 100 lbs by running, then stopped running....
2 years into recovery I was terrified of relapse. a 2 lb weight gain led me into my current recovery.
Doing the steps in AA truly kicked in my spiritual awakening.
Childhood anxiety was not understood,.
Thinking 'Thin is good' had me restricting in kindergarten and into anorexia by 4th grade.
The positive aspect of gastric bypass surgey can be overcome with careful compulsive overeating.
I fired a series of sponsors who had really good suggestions.
Fast forward years of up and down weight, in and out of program, loving and hating myself, today I have healthy relationshiops with my husband, my son, my program, my sponosr and my higher power. I follow direction and my life gets better. Rock on OA!
Very active youth but food took oever about age 11. by 16 my weight made me uncomfortable so I solved that feeling with drugs and alcohol and became fat and high.
100 lb swings became common.
I know have my passion back.. for OA.
I always find a way to eat appropriately with the help of God and my sponsor.
Food was my families medicing for everything physical and emothional.
Side effects included weight gain and self loathing.
LAter on I learned eating carbs causes small intestines to releases seretonin.
If I don't eat my red light foods, there is no struggle.
Added almost 100 lbs from HS Graduation through first semester of college.
Bypass surgery helped me switch from binging to grazing continuously. Not a good switch.
Once I started really working the program with a sponsor I discovered eating healthy foods in moderate quantities, with a little excercize produced weight loss. Who knew?
Grew up on Pot farm. My mother gained weight with organic food.
At times I lost weight but never dealt with underlying isses.
I had two food plans, A local plan when I was home and a travel plan. Not so good.
Today I love the program, I love you guys, I love my family, I love my higher power and at long last I love myself.
Stealing cookies at age 5
Sneaking was it own thrill
Grew up in violent alcoholic household, created the same inmy marriage.
I Overcam gastric bypass by eating small meals all the time.
Finally working with a sponsor and following direction helps me stay sane around food.
Wheels really came off in college.
Binge, purge, depession, suicidal, drink, act out - just spin the wheel, repeat.
Failed the phych eval for stomach staple.
Lost the weight, no need for steps,
Finally got sponsor, then recovery began
1st Meeting at age 12
Mom was my eating buddy and my diet buddy.
Today I want the best for my ex-husband and it not even fake.
Underlying Thought "I am not enough" food was the only thing that Always helped.
The seed of OA was planted when she was 19, finally germinated 15 years later.
Flour was my Thing.
I relasped without Sugar and flour.
A spiritual Experince and outlined in the Big Book can happen when you least expected it but always when you need it.
First diet worked for a year - Then a month, Then a week, then maybe days.
I thought alot to avoid my feelings. Problem was this is a program of action, not a program of feelings.
Years of half measures failed me but I kept coming back and once I caught the disease I ended up with a sponsor, abstinance, and recovey.
Food made the pain of family disruption go away for about a second.
Wouldn't steal from stores but parents - OK
A desire to stop eating compulsively does not equal recovery.
Once she really 'heard' The Doctor's Opinion" she realized htere is No way but OA.
Circumstances don't cause my syuffering. How I think about my circumstances does.
Born a compulsive overeater,
Every diet program worked for while
OA always treated me better than I treated myself.
Sugar addict birth to death but today not active at it.
Really good dieter... Every goal was a rebound.
Lied to avoid invitations and maintain isolation.
The beginning or recovery was when I learned to love myself no matter what I weighed.
Childhood Dancing, Track, Drill kept is at bay.
Abstinance is fragile and often taken for granted.
A sliver leads to a slive which leads to a slab which leads to a slob.
Now I go to meetings to speak and listen. It has to go both ways.
Mom loved sugar, Dad loved snacks, I loved sugary snacks.
Today I do my part (Meetings, outreach calls,etc) God does his part (the results). It seems to be out working well.
Finally arriving at OA with heart disease , and diabetes he follows direction and his whole life got better,
My mom thouhgt freezing the Ding Dongs woudl stop me... She was wrong.
Incredible membership benefits of OA include, friendships, support, help and a healthy life.
I can pass as normal but you all know they truth. What a relief.
Born a compulsive eater any recovery can be fleetinmg without a higher power to depend on. What can I say, it works.
Sugar in his baby food stopped his crying. Eventually he found every diet worked ... for a while.... Once.
A journey from Food to allcohols, to food to OA to God.
Some times we put on out best face. Tim put on his most honest sharing his recovery on a 'Bad' day. We could identify completely.
Speed may not be the best solution for overeating. Googling AA for fat people does bring up OA. OA Led to a lifelong solution for compulsive overeating. as offering relationships which may be approaching friendship.
Franks always remembered what food did FOR him forgetting what it did TO him.
Meeting atendance, even with commitments, does not equal recovery. But it helps
OA is the only hope for long term abstinence and health Fred had found. and he has tried it all.
Picked a lock to get the food, weighed on a meat scale, up and down for 40 years, and more until OA brought him back God, as he understans him.
Compulsive overeating trumps, everything, booze, drugs, excersizer AND wil power untill OA was the ace.
She learned in OA she had accepted 4 big lies.
1, I will start on Monday
-
I will just have a little bit from the bag/package.
-
It doesn't show so no one will know.
-
I can do it myself.
Loosing the weight was not enouigh to make the perfect life. A 200 pound weight loss, although remarkable, could not fix her. It took the steps, honetsty, doing the work,calls and a solid sponser she was willing to listen to in order to achive real recovery.
It took Mike long time to "Get it". For years he dabbled in OA Waving the banner of sobriety convincing himself they were different. He tells his story with humor and emotion and comapssion everyone can identify with.
Food became a safe place during an uncertian, unsafe and challenging childhood. Eventually it stopped working. OA is now offering a great life.
Growing up with no life skills Victor turned to food.
He found personal and emotional accptance in OAand learned tools for living for the first time.
Relapse may be part of alot of our stories. Tim recounts his on again off again relationship with OA. There is hope for everyone
Long term success may be based on always going to meetings no matter what. It worked for Cynthia.
Kari shares about recovery, relapse, gaining weight eating abstinent foods, and maintaining 150 pound weight loss while living the active peaceful life she always dreamed.
In this very open and honest share, Ken expresses the value of, as he calls it, his "tribe", the people within OA. Starting out as a child of two holocaust survivors and being a gay man, Ken has had a lot to confront in this world. As a leader in a popular "diet" program, he says anyone go on a diet but it was the people of OA that taught him how to care about himself and each other.
Ellie steps up as a backup speaker for a great pitch on transitioning from a voice that spoke negatively to her about her body to a higher power that has taken care of her, continues to take care of her and allows her to have the positive life she has today.
Deanna talks about how she removed the laws of the food from her image and tapped into the power of a positive self image.
Hear how Holly overcame the control of her mother, husband and food through the support of these rooms and the OA program.
Over 30 years abstinent, Alice tells us how this program is not just about food, its what has made her a better wife, daughter and mother.
Hear how Elaine talks about why she still needed OA after she thought she had gamed the system with bariatric surgery.
Want to know how this thing works? Listen to someone like Teryl with 38 years of abstinence tell it like it is.
Jackie explains how she had to learn to face her fears instead of hiding from them in the food.
Coming from growing up surrounded by wholesale food to 8 years of abstinence, her story is one of great hope.
**Tech Note - If anyone has the correct name spelling for this speaker please let Tim T know at the Sunday night meeting. Thanks!
Hear this OA veteran and self-proclaimed "Liar, Cheat and Thief" get honest and real about his OA journey including relapse to recovery.
Surrendering to win is his message. Ron H celebrates 14 years of abstinence and OA recovery.
Suffering with diabetes and heart disease, Jim F finds a spiritual solution to his medical problem in the 12 Steps.
Celebrating his 11th anniversary of recovery, a loss of over 300 pounds, and a new life.
Sheila T shares how she thought she had the power to cause bad things like Hurricane Katrina.
John from West Hollywood shares how he was like a mouse in a maze who kept going down the wrong path.
Imelda T. shares how being of service has been a crucial part of her recovery and 205 pounds of weight loss.
Cindy W with a top weight of 479 pounds and 15 years in Program shares in a beautiful way how everything happens for a reason.
Deanna J, with 166 pounds lost, shares what the Yoda of OA said to her that helped her get abstinent after a period of relapse.
Find out why John E. wanted to be a ninja in this great share of experience, strength and hope.
Howard S. with 29 years of abstinence and 150 pounds given away explains how the Steps are like gravity in this wonderful pitch.
Adam from Los Angeles shares how he is like a man who lost his legs and can never grow new ones.
Laurie S. from Long Beach gives a wonderful pitch and shares how Gus played an important role in her recovery.
Victor S shares how it only takes 12 steps to get out of the hole that is the disease of Compulsive Overeating.
Three abstaining members of OA share their experience with abstaining through the Holiday Season.
Scotty B shares his experience with the steps including an amazing Step 1 where he learned it is not his fault.
Annette L., a hundred pounder from Long Beach, CA, shares in a humorous way how she broke up with Little Debbie and Suzie Q on her road to recovery.
Lauren, a roller derby athlete and hundred pounder, shares her experience, strength, and hope.
Came down with the disease of compulsive overeating in his 30s, it quickly took over his life.
Chaya shares a story of hope and strength, over 100lbs of weight loss and 22 years of abstinence.
Adam S shares his remarkable story of hope, strength and recovery from "sick eating" and giving away 135lbs
Helen shares her story of hope and strength and overcoming body dysmorphia to loose over 100lbs!
Quincy shares her experience of strength, hope and heavy metal and amazing recovery after a childhood of sports, obesity, and dieting.
Sean M, who first joined OA as a 9 year-old, shares a frank and heartfelt story of strength and hope about how he came of age in OA.
JimF shares an inspiring, funny and very quotable story of recovery from compulsive overeating
Kari's brave struggle with her weight and her overeating is inspiring. Her story of personal humiliation while swimming and trying to get back on board a boat will make you cringe and laugh at the same time. It is easy to empathize with her experiences. She is a joy to listen to.
With a 148 pound weight loss Gary has experienced the miracle of OA both physically, mentally and spiritually. Excess food was always something he was drawn to. After having lost his weight he relapsed gaining 100 pounds in 3 months.
He shares, “In an act of rebellion, which was subconscious, I went back into the hospital for a suicide attempt because I couldn’t deal with life on life’s terms. I couldn’t deal with my emotional and mental state.”
Doug continued going to OA meetings and had an epiphany that allowed him to find a concept for his Higher Power. A few days later he got abstinent and remains that way – one day at a time.
In the beginning Aaron needed the hard nose variety of a sponsor. “ I’m that kind that needs a punch in the head, and told to sit down and shut up and follow directions to get it.” When he first came in at age 24, he thought he could wait until he was older to get the program, but he had seen members in his family who struggled with this problem and decided to try OA.
Now after 10 months and 54 pounds weight loss he still works the steps with his sponsor. Sometimes he will skimp on the work with reading and writing and his sponsor will say “Hey – nice diet you’re on!” That gets his attention and he knuckles under and picks up the steps and the tools again.
Roz offers her moving story of how it was in the beginning of her eating disorder and how it nearly killed her. She then shares how her life was transformed with the miracles promised in the Big Book.
The first 15 mintues is of her telling her story. The second 15 minutes are an answer and question section which may be hard to hear. And the very last 2 minutes is of Roz re-telling the touching story of the Velveteen Rabbit. Please be patient with the sound quality.
Roz B. is the driving force behind helping to make Orange County, California, the thriving recovering community it now is. We are all deeply grateful for her continuing positive influence on our lives in OA.
Bob opens his talk saying, “Instead of asking God to give me the strength, I thank God for the strength he’s already given me, and I thank God for the ability to speak clearly, tell the truth and carry the message of hope tonight.” Once he got to an OA meeting he stayed and did what his sponsor said and got service commitments. Later on his sponsor asked, “What do you want to do with the rest of your life?” He felt like a deer in the headlights – He had never considered that since he didn’t think he’d live very long. Encouraged by his sponsor he was able to go back to school and get his dream job of being an aircraft mechanic. By example he shows that it’s not just about the weight.
Liz always worried about getting her share of food at home with her family. She always wanted more, more, more. She hated school so when she got home she'd eat an entire bag of Doritos - in first grade!
She got abstinent working the steps and will have a year of abstinence soon with about 56 pounds of weight lost.
Even on a cruise she lost weight!!! Half the reason she choose a cruise was so she could enjoy all the food. But she brought her program with her, did the work, worked on her fourth step. She stayed absintent during the whole cruise. She says God meet her more than half way. She says the OA program gave her a level of freedom she never thought she could acheive.
With 13 years of abstinence and a 97 pound weight loss Ron’s story is riveting. In his early teens he was felt insecure and self conscious. After having gained about 100 pounds in 6 months he tried karate, racketball and basketball to try to exercise the weight off. But he could never get his weight down to where he wanted it to be.
His family teased him one day at a restaurant saying, “Just hand Ron the food when you’re done – he’ll eat it.” That embarrassment led him to decide to diet. So he went to some OA meeting and tried it on his own and it went horribly. Finally he looked at the newsletter and the list of sponsors and called one. That changed everything for him.
Six and a half years in OA, heavy sugar addict, Jessica lost hundreds of pounds over her lifetime, but is now maintaining a 60 pound weight loss for 5 years
Cindy grew up being a recluse and completely isolated from the world. When her sister acted out using drugs, sex and alcohol, she just wanted Doritos and cheesecake. A lot of her childhood she can’t really remember much. But she she does remember tiny grandmother would come over and tell her eat yogurt – eat lots of yogurt! That is the answer! Then when she was 14 her grandmother offered her $5,000 to get down to 200 pounds. She wanted that money more than anything but she couldn’t stop eating. Now with a tremendous weight loss, Cindy’s story is remarkable and inspiring.
Evelyn has 28 years of abstinence and maintaining a 150 pound weight loss for 25 of those years. "When I was 11 years old I was 100 pounds overweight."
"I have a wonderful life. Life is hard. I'm so grateful I'm not alone. I'm grateful that you give your time to be here." "The group has kept me coming back. I'm so grateful for that."
With over 3 years of abstinence and 113 pounds of weight loss Aaron shares how when he started out he was skinny. His brother was the fat one. In adolescence he started to get heavy he believed he was being punished for teasing his brother for being fat. That was just the beginning of trying to figure out why he was putting on weight.
“I believe I lost my teens and my 20s to this disease. I was fat through high school and during my attempt to go to college.” Near tears he asked his sponsor for help.
Karl shares honestly about his lonlieness while weighing 400 pounds. His OA program and his 170 pound weight loss transformed his life. Listen in.
Excerpt: “It is not in my nature to talk in front of people and share about what I’m so ashamed about. Things I didn’t know other people dealt with…..My grandparents were Holocaust escapees so there was always this feeling that nothing was enough and things had to look good on the outside.”
Warning – strong language used in this talk.
“The day I figured out I could cross my legs I did a happy dance!”
For Melody the real gifts of the program is real relationships, real friends and a relationship with a Higher Power. She’s been through Weight Watchers ten times and finally found recovery in OA.
She lost 140 pounds and gained a ½ inch in height – her spine had been compressed with all the weight!
Victoria honestly shares her journey and offers hope for those who suffer from this disease.
“To not feel I started trying to numb my feelings and fill myself up with anything from the outside…. That continued on for the next 23 years. I had headaches pretty much all the time…. Now it’s a journey and a path…. I needed a loving perspective about myself.”
Wanda just had a 2 year birthday having lost 70 pounds. She shares her story of transformation. She lived out on a farm six miles from town. Most of her teens she felt out of step with others. Her father being an alcholholic. She grew up not feeling "with it". Later she went to an OA meeting in Orange and saw people in recovery and couldn't believe it.
Lost hundreds of pounds over her eating career, hard core sugar addict with long term abstinence
Amazing story of recovery of a women who found God through working the steps and has maintained a 240 pound weight loss for over 20 years.
Join JJ as he inspires you with his personal story leading from 375 pounds of food insanity to 14 years of sanity in OA. His story includes:
His wonderful definition of happiness and abstinence.
A great expression his sponsor shared that has to do with flat tires, and how it helps him with abstinence.
How having to walk an extra block led to a profound realization that helped him with abstinence.
How he deals with people who insist on giving him non-abstinent foods.
A scale that drove him crazy, made him do math, and help him realize his insanity.
The ailments related to compulsive eating that he used to have but are mostly now gone.
What he did when his doctor told him he was a heart attack waiting to happen
How he set himself up to fail and how OA helped him overcome.
How he was committing slow-motion suicide, and the very dangerous things his food insanity caused him to do.
The contradictory things he believed about God, and how it led to hope.
How wild weight swings in another program led him to OA.
The thing he refused to buy when instructed by his sponsor, and how it related to his childhood.
A step he does every day even though he doesn’t like it.
Janis B tells her very inspirational story of how she dropped from 365 pounds to maintain almost a 100 pound weight loss and over a year and a half of abstinence. Her share includes:
Wonderful blessings she has received from OA, including one that has to do with her steering wheel, one having to do with “taking selfies” at a lake, and one having to do with stepping out of a dressing room.
How a Catholic school nun devastated her relationship with God, how this related to the Charlie Brown character Pig Pen, and how OA eventually helped her to come close to a loving God.
How being molested by a family member affected her view of her body and men, her tragic view of being a victim, and how she healed.
What horrific thing she used to do, especially in front of an audience of people without them knowing.
Why Hawaii was a very difficult place to keep off weight, and what Hawaiian tradition she enjoyed doing that was unusual for someone her weight.
Her binge habits, including what she did at fairs and an odd thing she prayed just before she binged.
What she doesn’t mind occasional food inconveniences anymore.
Why she never tried diets at all.
What powerful thing a room full of ladies told her when she first walked into OA.
How a farmer analogy helps her deal with stress.
Debbie S. has a wonderful story of hope that led to a 110 pound weight loss from 271 pounds. Sit back enjoy her fascinating life and useful ideas, including:
Her morning ritual and how it allows her to have a wonderful life that’s really big [this is VERY useful—take notes!]. Example: how she uses the powerful acronym AEIOU
The special kind of people who help keep her program strong, and why
Whose business it is how much she weighs, and why it prevents her from sabotaging herself
What her dysfunctional family did to her and what lifestyle it led to
Why she can be grateful to Google
What made her stop from sneaking out of her first OA meeting
What she means by “a God thing”, and how it made her realize she needed OA
What scared her away from a lap band
How she defines her special kind of abstinence
You’ll enjoy Mickey B’s entertaining story of hope, stretching a lifetime of compulsive eating from his childhood in Ireland to his adulthood in America. Mickey shares a number of interesting things that occurred in his life that led from food insanity to his current abstinence and maintaining 60 pounds of weight loss:
What it was like to grow up in the middle of the Irish war
What terrible thing was communicated to him in boarding school, why it affected him for many years, and the unusual thing he did after it happened
His extreme patterns of eating, occasionally over 12,000 calories is sitting
What his emotional state was like after he binged
Other types of compulsive behavior he used to deal with binging
Crazy things he believed
How he “audited the class” at his first attempt in OA
What it took for him to rejoin OA
Something he had to learn that most people know how to do already
Why he jumped into a trash bin for “legitimate purposes”
The expression he used to hate that he uses all the time now
There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience when Cindy W. told us her amazing story of hope through 13 years in OA, dropping from a high of 479 pounds to normal weight and eating sanely today:
Her very first memories in her life and how they related to food.
What it was like to be 225 pounds 11 years and 440 pounds at 15 years, and how it affected where she went to school.
How two mean old ladies got her to go to OA age 12, and what happened there that made her want to return to OA years later when she was ready.
Why an application for work shocked her and gave her self-realization.
How she dealt with an abusive husband.
Was she tells herself if she is tempted to take a compulsive byte.
How she views her weight loss scars.
Kia M. has a wonderful story of hope, sharing with you her long road to abstinence since May 2011 and maintaining well over 100 pounds weight loss to normal weight, down from 280 pounds. She shares many events in her life and the wisdom she has gained from OA, including:
What it was like to feel so overweight that she refused to be photographed.
What she always wore to prevent her from feeling weight gain, and what revealed her weight gain.
What epiphany she realized that made her give up sugar.
What she believes is the difference between abstaining and abstinent.
What she craved eating after giving birth, what crazy thing it drove her to do that endanger her babies, and what she realized that helped her be a better mom.
How her relationship with food improved.
What happened to her finances since she has been abstinent.
Her ideas on the psychology of losing weight.
What is happened to her compulsion to overeat.
One of her quotes: “don’t let your fear rob you of the best life you have”
Enjoy Nancy J's 40th OA anniversary celebration! You will feel her joy as she tells what it has taken to maintain a 150 pound weight loss, including:
The three most important words in OA
What embarrassing thing happened when she needed to be weighed for a checkup
What it was like to be over 200 pounds in junior high, and what she did to eat faster
What unusual thing her sponsor asked her to do when Nancy could not define her higher power
Which she means by compulsive eaters being great compensators
Why she joined OA even though she thought it was a cult
What she thinks all sponsors should try to do
What it takes for recovery to set in and free you
The greatest things that OA gave her
What we have to accept in order to deal with compulsive overeating
Why service is slimming
Get out your pencil and notepad as Heather O. shares the wisdom she has gained in OA that has allowed her to maintain a 110 pound weight loss since. She discusses her belief that it was okay for her to be overweight, even when she stole food and money. She talks about what it took to overcome shake diets and exercise bulimia.
Some of the interesting and useful topics she covers are:
One word that described her inability to deal with fear, pain, and anxiety.
The thing that it is okay for her not to know.
The ways of being connected that maintain her abstinence.
A hopeful thought on how to deal with a rough life.
What promise is the greatest to her.
Visualizations that helped her maintain abstinence.
As a special treat, she will walk you through a simple eleventh-step visualization exercise that will help you hold onto serenity.
Loni G. shares her story of hope as a recovering compulsive overeater, telling how overeaters anonymous helped her drop from 340 pounds to normal weight. As a bonus, she shares great quotes you will want to make note of. Some of the things she talks about are:
· What wonderful thing she does in front of a mirror before she leaves that she never did before.
· What important thing she remembers when she wakes up each morning, and what she does after that.
· The special prayer she uses to ask God to stand between her and fear and food.
· Why terror after her big binge at Christmas of 1985 drove her to join Overeaters Anonymous in January of 1986.
· The only thing she took away from her first meeting, and why losing her nerve prevented her from leaving her first Overeaters Anonymous meetings.
· Why her horror and fascination with a rowdy OA group in LA was inspirational to her.
· What she does instead of a fourth step checklist.
· What she remembered that helped her get through her step work.
· A great quote about ranting.
· What three things she finds effective in reporting to her sponsor about her food.
When Ron replaced his other addictions with food, he had NO IDEA that eating compulsively was a disease. He thought nothing of the fact that he was overeating. Doesn’t everyone do that?
He discovered OA through a friend from another 12 step program. When he found that the program did, indeed, work and that he was still losing weight without exercising, he was surprised. He then began to exercise, not to lose weight, but for his health. The combination of doing what his sponsor told him to do, i.e. calling his food in daily (even though his food choices never changed), working the steps, making amends, and being of service, he has been able to remain abstinent for eleven years. He still prays and meditates daily and is now able to handle difficult situations by putting time between his actions and his reactions.
Ron said he has had a spiritual awakening, not a spiritual experience. He wakes up in the morning with no fear, is a positive thinker, and is working the steps for the 3rd or 4th time. Learning to surrender is one of the best things he has gotten from this program. He said “As long as I surrender and follow direction with my sponsor, life’s going to stay good.”
When Rich wanted his problems to disappear he “pigged out to pass out”. He calls the disease of overeating the “disease of numbing”. He learned about OA at an Orange County Fair OA booth. When he attended his 1st meeting he connected with the people but didn’t feel comfortable with reading “The Big Book,” so at this point he decided not to come back. However, a few years later he did come back to meetings and worked the 12 steps in earnest . He is an agnostic and chose his HP to be the group. He found that reading chapter 4, “To The Agnostic” was very helpful for him. He said “this program saved my life”. He talks about resentments, sponsoring others and the gifts of the program. He uses the tool of prayer daily and gratitude is the foundation of his recovery.
Holly shares a heartfelt story with a great ending. She is a single parent who spent most of her time working. Her relationship with her daughter was strained, to say the least. Her weight was over 445 pounds and she was miserable. Her therapist suggested she try OA and to her surprise she realized that she was not the only person on earth who felt worthless. She never met anyone who understood what she was going through before she attended OA meetings.
The promises of the program are coming true for Holly. Being a sponsor and working with others has changed her life. She loves the fellowship and working with others.
Marci always felt she had a love/hate relationship with food, mainly sugar. When she was young she would sneak food or steal money to buy food. Because she was an active child, she didn’t show a weight gain until she was in her late teens. When she got older she wasn’t honest with anyone, including herself, about what, and how much she ate. When she gained 150 pounds during her pregnancy she knew she had a serious problem with food. Even though she had a sincere desire to stop compulsively overeating she wasn’t able to stop.
Being obese started to seriously impact her health and that is what brought her into these rooms. In the past, fad diets and taking prescription diet pills were her temporary fix. These fixes never lasted very long and the weight would always come right back on, plus more.
Since joining OA, Marci has given away over 100 pounds and has been abstinent for over 11 years. Her abstinence is saying no to compulsive overeating and saying no to her “red flag” foods. To Marci this means that overeating brown rice and vegetables while abstaining from her “red flag” foods is not abstinence. For Marci, abstinence is NO COMPULSIVE OVEREATING at all.
Today Marci is a very peaceful and serene person who is working her 12 steps over and over again, and she truly believes if you work the program it will work for you.
In these rooms Chaya learned how to do the little things in life so that when major things in life happened, eating food was not an option. Chaya plans what she is going to eat and eats what she plans…NO MATTER WHAT. No substitutions. To her, substituting food is compulsive over eating.
Chaya believes that serenity is knowing she is powerless over people, places, or
things and that everything in her life is exactly the way God wants it to be. Because
her focus is not on food anymore she is now able to enjoy her family. Also, now she has a positive point of view and she only talks about the foods she CAN eat rather than what she can’t eat.
She says that dwelling on what she can’t eat sets her up to feel deprived. Today it is Chaya’s CHOICE to eat the foods on her food plan. When she is offered food that isn’t on her plan she politely says “ thank you, I appreciate your hard work and thoughtfulness”. To feel comfortable saying these words she found she really had to practice a lot.
Chaya knows she never again has to go through things alone because she always has the people in these rooms to turn to. She has also learned that she can choose how to react to events, good or bad, and that she doesn’t have to act on every thought.
Sit back and be inspired by Victoria's message of hope and recovery. She tells how being in another 12 step group helped her realize she was a compulsive eater, what was blocking her spiritual growth, what tools helped her deal with her “crud”, what risky behavior she did that saved her life, her halfhearted suicide attempts, what she means by “weeds still coming up”, what she does in the morning and is so enjoyable spiritually, what her “safety latch” is, which is her most important tool, whether she or God "leaves first", what happens when she acknowledges character defects, and what her vital “baby steps” are. We know you will be blessed by Victoria’s honest share.
If you want to work a successful spiritual program and are not sure how to do it, you will really enjoy Jim’s pitch. He talks about how his doctor friend suggested the OA program and how he originally resisted it. He talks about getting a sponsor and following directions, his first spiritual experience, doing the 11th step during his daily exercise program, and much, much more. Jim believes that a food plan is a critical part of the program and that compulsive overeating is a spiritual disease and there is nothing a doctor can do to fix it. He says that he needed to get a food plan that set up a spiritual boundary between eating and compulsive over eating. He daily commits his food to both his higher power and his sponsor. He uses the 12 steps to address the chemical reaction in his brain toward food. There are no foods that he is addicted to, only foods that are triggers and he eliminates them or reduces them at once after a discussion with his sponsor. Jim has his own contract with his Higher Power and shares each and every meal with Him. He stresses how this time with his Higher Power is very important and how safe, serene, and enjoyable it is. Today is Jim’s 15th birthday in OA and he stresses that a food plan has to have spiritual content or it isn’t going to work. Happy Birthday, Jim.
Kari is and has always been a very athletic person and didn’t start gaining eight until she moved far away from home to go to college. She found that in college her mom wasn’t monitoring her weight weekly and she could eat as much food as she wanted whenever she wanted it and with no punishment. She chose not to go home during school breaks for fear people would notice her weight gain. Kari liked to travel and found that being an obese person in Europe was a very humiliating experience. Apparently pointing and laughing is what they do.
Kari is quite the storyteller and you will be rooting for her as she tells of her journey from out of control eating and weight gain to the peace and serenity she has found by following the tools of recovery in OA.
Kelly shares her inspiring story of how she went from eating sugar, flower, and grease all day to maintaining a weight loss of 75 pounds. She tells what it was like to be a compulsive overeater since she was five years old, how she felt as the only chubby sibling, and what it was like when her mother tried to get her to lose weight. She shares what it was like being without hope and disgusted with herself as she unsuccessfully tried every diet she ran across, and why her goal is no longer just about losing weight. She describes the key reason why her first encounter with OA in 1990 failed, and what it took for her to get OA to work for her. Kelly also recounts what it took for her to” get busy” with the OA program, who she thinks God is and how she discovered this, what she things regarding OA versus AA, what she continually asks God, what happened when she tried to make amends to people she had offended, and what spiritual conditioning requires from her. Come and let Kelly share her life with you.
Tony talks about and names specific foods so he will not forget the compulsion he had for those foods for so many years. At age 7 he started to gain weight very rapidly. His parents created an abstinent household but when they would go out he would steal their money and go to the local market. When he didn’t have money he would go to the same market to steal whatever he fancied. Whatever it took to get his fix! He liked sweets because of the effect the sugar produced, even though it only lasted a few minutes. In those few minutes he felt as though all of his troubles were gone. At age 11 he went to his first OA meeting but felt uncomfortable around all of the adults. He didn’t return to meetings until he was 21. When he began to sponsor other people he found that the people he sponsored gave him exactly what he needed to look at in himself. Today, going to meetings, the tools, prayer, meditation and sponsorship are a very big part of his life. He realized that through the years he has been able to get through so much and has been given so much thanks to the OA program. He is a very grateful, and very happy recovering compulsive overeater.
Bob H. will give you a smile and some things to think about as he shares with his folksy, open, and practical style about his struggle and success with compulsive eating. He talks about what he used to eat in gallon cans, and the unpleasant kind of chocolate he ate before he went to Hometown Buffet. Bob tells how a non-OA 12-step group member offered to sponsor him, even though he didn’t like Bob at the time! Bob shares his wisdom on the 12 steps, such as why a diet isn’t enough for us, an unusual analogy of what it is like if we don’t follow the steps will following a food plan (hint: it has to do with apes), what he uses to follow the steps, why many people in 12 step don’t talk about their higher power, why following the steps is the most loving thing you can do for yourself, what happens to your issues if you don’t follow the steps, and how he develops the discipline to follow the steps and tools. Finally, he shares what he believes character defects are, and the wonderful benefits you will receive by being willing to have them removed.
Alice gives us hope that it can be done, and that one can stay abstinent no matter what. She shares her experience, strength, and hope and takes us way back...
Raised in a Catholic church, Annette shares with us how she did not believe in a god for the better part of her life because if there was one, he would have made her thin like she prayed for time & again. She emphasizes that she is brought up by a “pack of wolves”. During the course of her eating career, she goes to Winchell’s and orders from a staff that does not even speak English, but still is able to get across to them that she needs enough doughnuts for a work party, when it is really just for her consumption and she would have it devoured within two days. She comes to OA in 1985, mainly because it is free and her mother always had to pay lots of money for weight loss programs. She takes on service commitments early on in her recovery. She discusses her unmanageability with smoking cigarettes and how her doc diagnoses her with emphysema and chronic bronchitis at thirty years old. Annette talks about what she has to go through to become abstinent from them, and how it leads her back to consuming sugary snacks, and furthermore, to a new acting out behavior of binging & purging. She almost dies from this newfound hobby. Ultimately, she comes to believe in a God of her understanding, and that this Power is truly in control. If this Power could help her to stop smoking, then it can help her become abstinent from compulsive overeating. Having seventeen years of abstinence currently, she has maintained a ninety-five pound weight loss coming from a top weight of 250 pounds. Join us on the journey that is the experience, strength, and hope of Annette L…
Nancy B’s story is that of a woman who has gone to the bitter ends with her compulsive overeating habits. She is captivating as she shares her experiences of what it was like for her within the depths of this cunning & baffling disease. She tells of how she wouldn’t shower for weeks at a time as a consequence of it, and paints a clear picture of the demoralizing nature of the disease for us. She reveals how she is physically & sexually abused as a kid, and exposes some of the pain & suffering that would lead up to her ultimate acting out behavior involving food. Nothing seems to work for her—not food, not romantic relationships, not drugs. In the end, the one thing that has proven to do good in her life is the fellowship of OA, and she powerfully conveys the ways in which it does…
You will be inspired by Michael N.’s story of how he lost 400 pounds over 12 years in OA. He tells how he first was exposed to OA in high school, but didn’t get serious about dealing with his compulsive eating until he reached a point of desperation and the feeling of being isolated from everyone else, at which time he was reintroduced to OA when he called in to live radio program! The producer told him that he never had to suffer alone again when he was a member of the OA family. This turned out to be very true, because Michael was warmly welcomed in the OA. His sponsor, who had also lost 400 pounds, helped him reach a spiritual solution to deal with his eating obsession. Michael talks about how he learned that pain is an opportunity for spiritual growth. Today, Michael is now able to help OA people with spiritual issues. An important message he has is to keep coming back.
Iola was so uncomfortable in her skin that she couldn’t even say her name when she first arrived to the rooms of OA. She shares with us that it stems from her childhood growing up with an alcoholic father and going on diets as a young girl. Her eating is so out of control that even working in a hospital around a bunch of medical professionals, she maintains her obesity problem. Even working at Winchell’s doughnuts doesn’t satiate her. She speaks of her scores and scores of attempts at controlling her eating, but would always find herself back in the rooms of OA as it is the only place that gives her hope. Listen in on Iola’s inspirational story of what it was like and how it is for her today…
Spencer shares with us some of his experiences with the food, such as when he eats a whole ex-lax bar as a young boy because he thought it was a regular chocolate bar, and he ends up hospitalized. He first comes to OA in 1978 at 318 pounds. He tries weight watchers and other weight loss programs. After exhausting himself with all of his self-willed solutions, he commits to the OA way of life, and as an added bonus, sheds 140 pounds. Though he has gained a few pounds back due to medical circumstances, he has maintained the overall weight loss to this day. Take advantage of the experience, strength, and hope that this kind and loving individual has to share with us…
At seven years old, Tom joins weight watchers, loses seven pounds, and leaves after a week. His mother is into dieting and weight loss. He always feels separated because of his weight in school. While in his thirties, he bounces back and forth from 230 pounds to 300 pounds. He reaches 450 pounds and then goes down to 300 when he comes back to Orange County to live with his mom. He joins OA, and he relapses in 2005, leaves OA, gains 200 pounds, loses everything good in his life, and moves back in with his mom. One day, he finds himself laughing while in the shower, and realizes that he surrenders. He comes back to OA, and today has a life beyond anything he could have ever imagined.
Steve O has maintained 173 pound weight loss over the last two years, a day at a time, and a miracle for someone who was convinced that what was suggested would not work and was all nonsense. Today he realizes that, through the steps, the pain and guilt he experienced in active addiction has been experienced by countless others. He shares helpful tools with us.
Leslie shares her experience, strength, and hope with us, including the tools that help her stay abstinent a day at a time.
Nancy D comes into OA weighing in at 324 pounds and has gone down as far as 154 pounds in her recovery. She opens up with us about some of her insane behaviors while in active addiction, like how late one night a baking tray of cookies, a whole lemon meringue pie, and a batch of fudge was not even enough to help her “feel better”. She eats out of her trash can on different occasions. Even though she was diagnosed as morbidly obese by a medical professional, she could not stop. She shares with us that she had some “serious” binge foods, and did not “mess around” as she was not a “Twinkie girl”. Ultimately, only the fellowship of OA is what helps her abstain from compulsive overeating. Today she explains how she is able to apply the principles of the program to her recovery from a massive brain aneurism. This amazingly strong woman who has been in the program twenty-six years shares many of her helpful tools with us.
Having had over two years of abstinence at one point and then going into a severe relapse, Stephanie shares her story with us fifty-nine days after her last day of compulsive eating. Today she can safely say she is totally free of her obsession from the food. She brings up some of her insane behaviors with us, and how she got married to her sweetheart, got her dream job, and how recovery became obsolete in her life, causing her relapse. She has many struggles in her current recovery, and opens up to us about her experience with the twelve steps.
As a kid diagnosed with clinical anxiety, Robin steals food from convenient stores. He uses amphetamines around 17 years old. He finds that it works so well at getting thin. Over time, however, he realizes that there seems to never be enough weight loss to satisfy him. He comes to OA in 1983 and leaves in 1990, gaining 100 lbs and developing a nasty case of acid reflux. He is around 300 lbs when he gets back to OA in 2000. Today he holds a much more normal weight. He is a firm believer in reading the literature and working the steps. For him, making amends has been central in his recovery, and he holds the belief that God works through the wisdom of the group in meetings. Service is extremely important, whether it’s at home or in a meeting.
Milly grows up in a fearful home where mom teaches the kids to never trust anyone. Dad is in the military for thirty years, and home life is very dysfunctional. She is sexually and physically abused by one of her brothers. At sixteen, she gets into a bad accident reaching for a candy bar that she dropped and had to have. At seventeen, she gets into abusing heavy drugs, and gets arrested twice. She is hospitalized for a bad LSD trip. She becomes an IV drug user too. At twenty-six, she joins weight watchers and loses 100 pounds. She gets pregnant, and has an abortion. At thirty, she comes to an OA meeting. She loses weight and then leaves. At thirty-five, she has a baby. Things change. She vows to never use drugs or alcohol again; however this does not apply to her compulsive overeating. At forty-six, she loses ninety pounds. At fifty-two, she finds out that she has uterine cancer. In January 2002, she goes back to OA, and sticks with the program. She finds it was a piece of cake to put down the drugs and alcohol, in comparison to abstaining from the food. She has to end her consumption of sugar completely after being in OA for six weeks, and then finds she has to start working a program if she is to stay abstinent. Today she works a very service oriented program of recovery. She has a solid food plan. She has a social life she never thought possible, knows great people, and has lots of fun in recovery. Although she was never religious, her main focus today is her relationship with her higher power, whom she believes has a great plan for her life. She has had some major life events happen while in recovery, and OA has been of immense help during these times, providing her the opportunity to stay abstinent time and again. Furthermore, she is able to set a great example for her son because of the program. She shares some very useful tools and a lot of great experience, strength, and hope with the group. Her abstinence date is February 21st, 2002 with a maintained weight loss of 100 pounds.
Adam, at a weight of over 300 pounds prior to recovery, spends a lot of time & effort making sure people’s attention isn’t on his weight, through making them laugh or sounding good. He has a “master of the universe” mentality, and tries other methods of recovery. He becomes beaten down, sick, tired, and desperate for help as he wants to stop with the out of control eating, but can’t. Two years later, he comes to an OA meeting. He fights aspects of the OA program for years, and questions everything about it. His abstinence date is 11/30/1998, and he has a weight loss of 135 pounds in recovery. Today he calls himself an asset in the workplace, a decent father, and a good husband in a working marriage.
Evelyn, from the San Fernando Valley, has maintained a weight loss of 115 pounds for 24 years, and has been abstinent from compulsive overeating for 26 years. She shares how she had lost 100 pounds just for spite towards others in recovery that claimed time and again that she would never make it. Evelyn gives us insight into the tools she has used over the years to help keep her abstinence, such as waiting 26 minutes after each meal (the time it takes for the brain to process that the body has been fed) through keeping herself busy walking, calling others, reading, or writing. Evelyn risks losing so much without working her program, including her 22 year marriage to her husband, her repaired relationship with her daughter, opportunities from her returning back to college, and all of the integrity, self-esteem, and well-being that has come along with working a solid program of recovery. She also risks continued opportunities to be a strong example of how the program works for her daughter, who is 200 pounds overweight and does not believe the program is for her.
Carrie N is raised with nutritious meals, yet she always feels overweight. She tries weight watchers and goes from a top weight of 305 lbs to 250 lbs. In 2010, a doctor highly suggests she get on medication for her high cholesterol of 230. Instead, she decides she will simply change her eating habits and foods, no meds though, and has a successful weight loss down to 170 lbs. Victorious with the drop in weight but still sick, she remembers the OA meetings she had attended twenty years ago, when she had gone for about a year & a half, and then just stopped. She decides to go to another meeting, and it is the same speaker that was speaking at the very last meeting she had attended twenty years ago! Willing to work a program, she gets a sponsor, sets up her food plan, and reads a few pages out of the Big Book daily. She goes to three or four meetings a week. She is astonished that after a week in recovery, thoughts of compulsive overeating dissipate. She loses weight and works an honest program. At a party one day, she is serving the cake and is later surprised to find that she had avoided licking the frosting off of her fingers this time. All of these things bring her to believe in a higher power. Overall, she feels good about her life today, and this keeps her coming back.
Victor says that he began his overeating career within seconds after being born. He eats, sleeps, and breathes food growing up. His relationship with food takes him to the point of eating out of trash cans, some not even his own. He comes to OA in 1969 for the first time, and in two years, goes from 350 lbs to 189 lbs, decides he has the problem licked, and does not make it back to the program for another 14 years, when he weighs 450 lbs this time. Beaten down from the disease and desperate for a new way of life, he gets abstinent. This is a recovering compulsive overeater that learns to really work a rigorous program. He has some interesting tools, including a unique formula for one to develop an idea of what one’s higher power is to them. He shares a lot of his experience, strength, and hope with us.
Justin grows up with a mother that is firm in her practice of good eating behaviors and having healthy foods in the home. However, this does not prevent compulsive overeating habits and binge eating from entering his life, and in fact it becomes established in his life at a young age. His top weight in his eating career is over 500 lbs. Justin first comes to OA in 2006, however he has not had enough yet and continues in the sickness with a relapse. He ends up in the hospital with a blood sugar level of 989 and a case of diabetic ketoacidosis. Surprisingly, he gets out alive and without having gone into a diabetic coma, as his higher power sees fit. He feels that he has hit his rock bottom, and claims that the sick lifestyle must cease. However, the insanity still continues for another 2 ½ years as he goes on to live a life consuming 10,000-14,000 calories a day regularly…….until July 2nd 2010, his current abstinence date. He has maintained 170 lb weight loss over the last 18 months.
In a very animated way, Helen discusses the origins of the insanity of her disease, and what lengths she went to trying to conrol the problem herself. She talks about the profound positive changes that have happened in her life due to the program.
Roz shares her passion for OA and her program which is stronger than ever after almost 26 years. As life has thrown her curve balls she has used the program to hit home runs with ther family, those she has helped and those who have helped her. She is inspiring in her loving resiliance.
Just celebrating 3 years and 190 lb weight loss, Jon reveals the challenges he faced in his disease and the promises coming true in his rcovery.
Randi Z shares how she has achieved 36 years of abstinence in OA, overcoming the compulsive eating she had since four years old, triggered by family drama, sibling rivalry, and other dysfunctionality that led her to use food as a way to deal with feelings of inadequacy. She describes the trifecta her mom abused her with, how she used her brain to try to build self-esteem and why of that idea failed in college. She describes what triggered 40 pounds of weight gain college, how food became her “lover”, and how she was introduced to OA 1976.
She tells how she was led to believe that nothing is more important than abstinence, how to deal with feelings, how she dealt with being an angry person, how she broke the cycle of food addiction with her children, and what important relationship skills she has learned. Finally, she shares the miracle that occurred when she was looking for a job that helped her never doubt her higher power afterward. We know you will find Randi’s pitch an encouragement in hard times.
Join Hank N. as he describes his 24 years of abstinence, dropping from a high of 404 pounds to his current weight of 245. He takes you on his life’s journey, starting with his painful childhood, where his father was a gambler and alcoholic, and his mother said he was ugly, leading to 60 years of trying to prove he was worthy of love. He describes how he felt when he was sent to live with a grandmother who stole from him. He described the amazing story of what happened when he tried to steal a car as a boy, a humorous story of what happened when he tried to rent a tuxedo as an obese man, and why meeting a guy who used to be 800 pounds changed his life. He describes his experiences with Weight Watchers, why it didn’t work for him, what happened at his first to OA meetings. Hank shares gems of wisdom, such as why the acronym NUTS helps him keep his abstinence, the difference between “bleeding deacon” and an “elder statesman”, and what gift he asks God for every day.
Annie G. has 5 years of success in OA. She shares her story of her long path to normal weight, beginning compulsive behavior at 5 years when her girlfriends said she was going to hell, causing her to feel unloved and not good enough. She tells who she stole money from to buy junk food, how her weight in college yo-yoed from being a restrictor and trying a modified Atkins diet, and why the lack of spiritual connections caused her to break her diet because of a piece of fruit.
Her story of hope begins when a friend invited her to OA, where she felt the presence of love. She tells you the real reason she came to OA (not to lose weight), what she did to be successful in OA that includes the list of things she does every day, how she met her future husband in OA, how she was able to heal relationships, and what she realized she can turn to God for. You will be inspired by Annie's message.
Nancy B. will carry you through an emotional journey--from tears of pain to tears of joy-- that allowed her to lose 113 pounds, earn a year of abstinence, eliminate all her diabetic medication through OA, and recently walk 35 miles for a cancer charity.
She tells about the amazing amount of alcohol her raging alcoholic mother and stepfather drank, how her obese grandmother made her feel loved for the first time and cooked greasy redneck food for her. Her heartbreaking tale continues with the trauma of being molested by her stepsister and mom’s boyfriends, how she used food, promiscuity, and pulling out her hair to deal with it. Food met every single need she had and would help or appease any emotion she had,
She tells how--when her husband was out of town--she consumed meals so massive that she would pass out, spending up to $300 per day on food, draining their savings, topping out at 325 pounds. She tells how constantly eating helped her deal with the emotions of being diagnosed with cancer.
She shares how she joined at 18, dropped out after a few months, and rejoined a year ago, finding kindness and a happiness she never felt before.
She shares the wisdom she has gained: how all that is required to attend OA is a desire to stop compulsive eating, how abstinence came by the power of God, how she believed that this could be something that happened for her, how all she had to do what was before her and leave the rest to God’s hands, how she deals with a codependent relationship with her husband, how God took all the strengths and weaknesses and mashed it together into something that is priceless, and how she hopes that she always will have the heart of a newcomer which is the sweetest and recovery and lets us work the steps of this program. Don’t miss Nancy’s wonderful share.
Matt S. speaks candidly and straight from the heart about his devastating experience growing up in a family of alcoholics, drug users, mental illness, and sexual abuse, leading him to compulsive eating. He grew up thinking the world is against him, how he hated everyone, including God, and how he ballooned in weight, especially in college.
He tells how his life was transformed when he joined AA at the young age of 22 years old to help with compulsive eating, and eventually joined OA and earned six years of abstinence, dropping 160 pounds from a height of 340 pounds.
He tells how he learned to love his family and communicate with them. He shares wisdom beyond his years, such as how he can go through difficult times without being corrupted by what’s happening to him, how he can abstain through craziness happening around them, how you don’t have to believe your thoughts because they’re not all real, how he works the steps to survive, and how he still does all the things he did before OA but now he doesn’t act upon thinking.
Matt shares what his biggest fear is, the most difficult thing in life he is going through, why he flew to Los Angeles with no future money and what happened as a result, why his sponsor was very special, what he does that makes him feel normal eating in a group, his favorite pages in the Big Book, what he thinks “being relieved of the bondage of self” really means, how making an inventory makes him feel significant, and how OA offers to make you better.
You’ll want to take notes on his ideas, especially in the second half. Matt shares each of the 12 steps from his viewpoint.. He shares a touching story of healing between him and his brother. He finishes by sharing some of the most powerful things he discovered in OA that keep him abstinent.
Matt’s story is great for anyone to hear, and especially for a young person struggling with compulsive eating.
Join Laurie S. for her memorable story of a nearly-100 pound weight loss, starting with her family of compulsive eaters and drinkers in New Orleans, what it was like to be part of three generations of dieters (with her mother and grandmother), and what it was like to go to fat camps. She describes what happened when her therapist recommended OA, what a “gray sheet” is, what happened to her in an abandoned church that made her question OA, why Hurricane Katrina affected her strongly, what disgusting thing she did to chocolate that made her return to OA, what she decided to do that made her stick with OA for 6 ½ years of abstinence, what she means by “cosmic oneness” and “GUS” and how it helps her spiritually, why she thought she was worse than Hitler, why cleaning up a room kept her coming back to OA, who her “best boyfriends” were that were getting her fat, and the three words she uses to create her food plan.
You’ll be encouraged as Sharon P (five years of abstinence) and her sponsor Alice C (seven years abstinence) tell their stories.
First, Alice tells you her story, beginning with what it was like when she changed from being an active, thin child to being an overweight woman of 240 pounds. She tells you how she lost 90 pounds within eight months of being invited by a bulimic friend to OA, and kept it off despite cancer and family tragedy.
Sharon then tells of her childhood as an overweight girl who never liked herself. She tells why her first 10 years in OA were in an out of abstinence, and then explains how she managed to maintain abstinence for the past five years. She shares how she went from not wanting to know about God to knowing that God has a plan for her.
This is a team story of friendship and hope you won’t want to miss.
Mickey B. tells in his humorous, friendly way how OA has given him 11 years of normal weight, down 85 pounds. You’ll enjoy his fascinating story, starting with blurred memories as a boy in war-torn Ireland, where he was amazingly less focused on the violence going on around him than on scavenging Mars Bars from bombed grocery stores! Many years after immigrating to California, failing at diets and other “logical plans”, he tells how the guilt he felt when he binged led him to OA, and how astonished he was that it actually worked, allowing him to focus more on people than food once he was abstinent gained empathy for others. If you’ve ever dropped out of OA, you may relate to how he reached step 4 and then stopped all tools and steps, which led to guilt, depression, drugs, binge eating on airline food (!), then dropping out of OA. He tells what he ate in public that embarrassed him so much that he rejoined OA, and the strange thing he does when running. You will like his thoughts on how he deals with negative and depressing thoughts and stays positive and abstinent, and what he considers the key ingredient for success in OA.
Nancy J. has 39 years in OA (14,090 days, she says!), and is a grateful compulsive overeater because OA gave her a chance at permanent abstinence. Her fascinating story starts as a child suffering under a raging alcoholic father who beat her, where she learned to use food to cover the pain, reaching 175 pounds at 12 years old. She describes how the diet pills her doctor prescribed resulted in her being a speed addict, and cycling through 20 years of diet plans. A friend brought her to OA and became her sponsor, and Nancy relates the humorous kind of "can you top this" competition they had that degenerated into bragging. She will tell you how she achieved abstinence, including what her "gray sheet" and other food plan experience was, how she successfully used "act as if" and "do it anyway", what it took for her to treat her disease seriously, how to deal with food that calls to her, how she used AA to help her OA program, how she deals with her "fat days", and what God will do if she stays abstinent.
Rick F. has a special success story that will touch you, especially if you have ever dropped out of OA or have multiple addictions. He tells you how he was a normal weight until third grade, but he rose to a top weight of 490-- despite the many diets and he and his mother went on--as he learned to obsess on food as his compulsively-eating parents praised him for cleaning his plate and “packing away food”. They showed him that food was used to show love. He helped them hide their alcoholic foods from each other. After college he binged as he committed other compulsive behaviors including smoking, drugs, and alcohol. A friend recommended OA in the 80s, by which time he just took the food plan and left, not taking action. He returned to OA four years later but became a perfectionist and lacked spiritual tools, so when his father died he binged and left OA again. His weight continued to rise, and he returned OA again at 480 pounds because he was lonely. By the time he hit 490, he started to act on the spiritual side of OA, and took a sponsor. The last two years he has surrendered 230 pounds to reach a normal weight. He shares how he has become comfortable in his own skin, what gifts he gains each 24 hours, why he needed a sponsor, the best thing about addition that learned from OA, and how he gets through the discomfort of doing certain steps.
Bob’s good natured, humorous, and plain speaking story will give you hope if you think you are hopeless. He tells of his childhood having to deal with family dysfunctionality in West Virginia, who had poor food habits such as following an “ate to celebrate” lifestyle. This made him feel like The Beverly Hillbillies when they moved to Southern California. His success in high school football provided him with a lot of free food to “bulk up”, as his coach taught, leading to his top weight of 340 pounds. He tells how he started to lose everything and finally got the “gift of desperation” when he hit new lows as he was constantly arrested and didn’t care about anything. A member of OA guided him into the program where he stumbled around for a couple of years but learned much wisdom that is necessary for him to maintain a normal weight. He shares with you his definition of a character defect and how to deal with it, what is necessary to gain and maintain abstinence, how to deal with multiple compulsive behaviors, and much more.
Doug tells how he was a compulsive overeater and using food for comfort from a very young age, when at two years old he drank large milkshakes. His compulsion led him to steal money to buy food, dig in the trash for food, and follow many failed diets. He shares memories of his mother looking at him disgusted when he was in second grade because he was overweight, bringing him to OA at 16. When he moved away from home he didn’t work the program so he shot up from 190 to 325 pounds, damaging his health and relationships. When he rejoined OA, he followed the program and today has achieved many benefits: he was able to redefine his higher power into being approachable, overcome his fear of social interaction, overcome his anger, maintain friends and relationships, and has dropped 175 pounds and been able to maintain it. He is working toward having his higher power be all that he needs. He says that to be successful, you should get a sponsor, start calling people, and attend meetings--your success will happen eventually.
Carl K. tells his humorous and powerful story that led him to 21 years of abstinence, being able to maintain a normal weight and “wear the same pant size for 20 years". He tells how before OA, he was always eating, including a daily 3-pound binge of chocolate food each day. He tells how being non-athletic and gay resulted in being an outcast with few friends, so he used food as a friend, eventually stealing money for food binges. He describes the endless diets he tried, eventually meeting a woman who became his binge buddy but joined OA and began developing her spiritual side. Carl shares how this was the beginning of his spirituality--since he was brought up religious without the spiritual side—because he wanted the calmness she developed, even being willing to give up being “general manager of the universe”. Carl shares the wisdom he has learned, including how to shut up to avoid having to make amends, how to stay in his own business, how to be calm in high stress situations (he has a humorous traffic example), how to confront people in a constructive way, and how he realized that there is no off switch for food insanity so he uses the big book as a volume control.
Erika S. will inspire you as she tells you how she reached six years of abstinence and maintains a 120 pound weight loss. She shares her story of being raised by parents who abused drugs and alcohol, where her mom was a functional cocaine addict and a food binge buddy who eventually introduced her to OA. Erika tells of the many diets and diet pills she tried unsuccessfully, leading to congestive heart failure. She tells how she tried to eat normally during the day and then binged at night. After rejoining OA, she honestly shares how she reached a normal weight, but since she didn’t follow the steps, she relapsed, but eventually reached the point where the pain in eating was greater than the pain necessary for her early abstinence. She shares how abstinence is a precious gift they could go at any time, how she begins her absence each morning such as praying “let not my will but thine be done”, how she learned to deal with an inferiority complex, how she deals with her tendency to isolate, and how she stopped food from “calling to her” 99% of the time. Her story is one of hope and success.
Daniel S. opens his heart and tells you in a folksy, open way how he reached success in OA, droping from 400 pounds to normal weight and maintaining it for many years through today. He tells about his childhood upbringing by an alcoholic grandfather, and a food-pushing grandmother. He describes how he was teased for being an obese kid starting in third grade, found drugs and alcohol at age 13, and soon returned to food because he could legally medicate his feelings with endorphins by compulsively eating. He explains how compulsive eating has the same end result that drugs and alcohol do--killing ourselves--but just a little slower. Daniel explains the "more-ism" he went through with fad diets, why food is a symptom and not the cause, how his head is the root of all his problems, and what he did to stop hating and killing himself. An example of one of his great tips is "be willing to do the possible so God can do the impossible". We know you will enjoy Daniel.
Eric has a powerful story that led to his 352 pound weight loss and abstinence since 2005; He tells how he used food to cope with his parent’s divorce, even stealing from his parents and grocery stores to get food; he tells what it was like to be teased by his cool brother and friends for being overweight and having to wear his father’s clothes; he tells about the trendy diets he unsuccessfully tried and the depression he fell into when his mother died; his OA story began well with weight loss, but he tells what bad attitudes he had that caused him to fail, resulting in regaining weight; his story has a happy ending, where he tells you what it took to get his attitude right and surrender to his sponsor, resulting in a spectacular transformation of his life; Eric’s story gives hope to even the most compulsive eaters!
Domingo R. shares his OA remarkable success story, starting as an overweight child growing up while being scared of the world, using food to numb his mind and "stay sane" in a family of alcoholics, and eventually using drugs and people. He shares what it was like to compulsively exercise to compensate for overeating, finding that was unsustainable as he got older-- becoming 300 pounds by age 40, his emotions becoming a toxic mix of relentlessness, judging, anxiousness, and stress. He openly tells how his extreme food costs forced into become homeless. He explains what the most important things were that he learned when he first came to OA, including the phrase he learned to be aware of when he started scheming. He gives tips for dealing with stress, how to keep a healthy mind, how he dealt with his state of being perpetually burned out, what he means by the disease of "I know stuff", and many other bits of wisdom that have kept him at normal weight for such a long time.
Sit back, relax and listen to how Ron H. has achieved 10 years of abstinence and maintained over 100 pounds of weight loss. He tells details of his journey of compulsive behavior, starting with compulsive drug addiction at age 14 by using marijuana and then speed, continuing with compulsive eating when he quit speed and gained 85 pounds, followed by compulsively exercising hours per day while fruitlessly trying to lose weight. He tells how diet plans only led to wild swings in his weight. He shares how his journey of hope from compulsive eating began when he joined OA and got serious about following the 12 steps. With good humor, Ron shares insights he learned as he went through the 12 steps, including the catchy phrase his sponsor used to get him back on track, how he dealt with being a sponsor after only a month of abstinence, what his successful food plan is, what he means by “that’s a God shot”, how he changed from having a bad temper to “spreading cheer everywhere”, and much more.
You’ll want to keep your notepad handy when you listen to Jim share a wealth of wisdom on how to be successful in OA. He tells you how he avoided an early death due to eating normally during the day but compulsively eating all evening. You’ll enjoy how he shares things such as his definition of abstinence, how he communicates with his higher power and deals with spirituality (which he didn’t originally want to believe in!), why he believes compulsive eaters are not addicted to food nor have an eating disorder nor a psychological problem, what vital thing you are missing without a food plan, why a gaining weight doesn’t cause the medical problem anymore than losing weight removes it, and you will laugh when you learn what word he uses as a substitute for “exercise”. You’ll likely relate to his denial about being a compulsive eater, which was so deep he would eat things like a huge bag of M&Ms with a Diet Coke thinking that they would cancel. He explains how he didn’t know he had a disease, so he tried endless diets and exercise, leading into the demoralizing realization that he had no power of choice. He’ll tell you details of how his sponsor in another 12 step group, who was an M.D., became alarmed as he watched Jim in endure heart operations and onset diabetes, eventually referring Jim to OA. Jim will tell you the things that his sponsor said he needed to do to be successful in OA, one of which Jim was sure would not work but was absolutely amazed to find out was a key to successfully being absent and normal weight for the past 14 years. Don’t miss Jim’s share!
Kelly shares a treasure trove of wisdom that she has learned from OA, which she says has given her life real meaning and purpose. She shares with you her long path from being an overweight child compulsively eating sweets to the sane woman of normal weight she is today. Kelly tells how her mother tried and failed to control Kelly's weight, even as Kelly stole money to buy donuts and sweets. Kelly relates how she went through years of diets as her weight swung up and down. She explains why her perfectionism caused her to fail as a "brat" in her first attempt to join AA and OA in 1990. She explains why the belief in God she received from her family did not allow her to rely on God for eating sanely, what it took for her to overcome her pain, what decisions she makes at the beginning of each day, and how she knows when she is "playing God". Kelly's story will encourage you as you hear what it took for her to break with her insane patterns of thinking, and how it changed her from being a woman headed for death into a being tool for God.
Chris D. shares her heart and her story about being born a compulsive overeater, becoming very overweight by the time she was 11 years old--so much so that her parents bought her less clothing because it was much more expensive than her siblings. She describes how she stuffed her feelings by compulsively eating potato chips and soda at her parent's grocery store, eventually reaching 308 pounds. She shares how she discovered OA about that time but didn't work the program, despite her fear of dying of diabetes like her mom. She shares her joy as she describes rediscovering OA in 2010, which allowed her to lose 101 pounds by really following the OA program, giving her a reason to get out of bed-to help others-and to live a life she never thought she could live, such as being able to dance with her three-year-old grandson at her son's wedding. [note--the noise in the background is a fan]
Elle tells you in her honest, humorous style of her path from 260 pounds as a compulsive eater to eventually find peace in abstinence and a healthy weight. Her inspiring story begins growing up a restless, discontent kid in a spiritual family. She discovered alcohol and drugs at a young age, preferring "speed" to lose her appetite, and at age 15 committing arson and joining AA. You'll be entertained by her stories of entering beauty pageants thinking that it would keep her from over eating (which of course ended up badly), trying various crazy diets, letting go of a job she loved as personal trainer because she gained weight, and eventually scheduling a gastric bypass but having to join OA instead because she ran out of money. She finally realized our job is to stop trying to paddle upstream, and not to postpone enjoying life just because we aren't perfect.
Carrie shares her inspiring OA success story with you--how she tried OA 20 years ago and dropped out, then came back in 2010 and lost over half her weight, dropping from 305 pounds to a normal body weight of 149 pounds. She describes how she did it, a key point being that she just followed her sponsor's guidance no matter what. She shares how she achieved success in mental attitude adjustment--how she changed from focusing on the negative, which cause resentments, to now focusing on the positive. She shares how she succeeded in her spiritual life, starting with being a member of a religious organization at age 17 that resulted in being a depressed agnostic and a feeling of being in a tiny windowless room, but today reaching peace with her higher power. By the time you finish hearing Carrie's story, she hopes that no matter what struggles you've had you will realize that you can succeed in overcoming compulsive eating by doing the same things she has done. She shares how she doesn't understand the mystery, but she understands that there's a life outside the box that she wants to live in, and that has given her hope. A couple of key points she gives are "she learned the power is not her", and "decided to do what others succeed in".
Sue will have you in tears, both from laughing and from her bittersweet challenges on a long path to abstinance that led her from a top weight of 425 pounds to 145 pound weight loss. She has a number of humorous stories many of us can relate to, such as what happened when she was stuffing food in her mouth while a cop pulled her over, what she did when she dropped cookies while she was driving, and how she rationalized eating an entire pumpkin pie was the same as eating vegetables. You'll be inspired by hearing how OA, AA, and NA allowed her to overcome difficulties such as a life of being overweight in dealing with a verbally abusive family. You will share her sorrow as she tells the story of how she dealt with the death of her seven-year-old son. She will share some of the wisdom she has gained, such as how she overcame "planning and plotting to get food", how she learned to "put down the fork" to lose weight, how she realized that when food "calls to her" that there's something wrong spiritually, how no one says on their deathbed "I wish I had eaten more", and how to overcome temptation by using OA tools rather than fall back into using food for comfort. She shares how being married to another compulsive eater has affected her, and how OA has healed her relationship with him and positively affected them both. Her most heartfelt tip to overcoming compulsive eating is "if you're struggling, don't stop coming to OA"
Come along with Broscilla (A.K.A. “Cooky”) as she takes you on her journey from being 342 pounds overweight before OA to maintaining a 130 pound weight loss today. She describes her first short visit to OA 21 years ago when she heard the word God mentioned and thought OA was a cult. Later she realized something had changed inside her and her higher power was in her heart watching over her, especially during the hardest time of her life when she got sick and had 19 surgeries. Cooky we’ll tell you how she changed from being a loner to being part of a happy family even though she is divorced. She describes how she broke a cycle of food binging--eating on her bed watching TV--causing “sugar comas”, and throwing expensive food out due to guilt. You may relate to her story of her family food dysfunction, including how her brother died young at 300 pounds, how she carried around a bag of candy which she refilled by stealing money, and her fear of a domineering family in which she could never be herself. She describes the cycle of gaining and losing weight at a facility that gave her amphetamines. She relates the message of hope, where she learned to let go of the past, and how to deal with family stress better. She says she doesn’t understand OA completely, but she knows it works because better things are happening now than she ever thought would.
Craig shares with us his story of recovery and how no weight was ever good enough for him. Even at his length of abstinence, he still has to work the program. He emphasizes the need to have someone to confide in that will not cosign the crazy thinking that we all go through. Enjoy!
Roz shared her 25th OA birthday with us tonight. Her story is amazing. She came in at around 390 pounds hating herself and has progressed to loving herself after working the program, working through the anger, and getting to know herself. She emphasizes the point of progress not perfection in this program and it has obviously worked for her!
Mixing humor with wisdom, Annette will have you laughing as you learn from her challenging story. You will learn about her secret to maintaining a 140 pound weight loss for the past 16 years, in which she said she broke all the rules except her number one rule which is to keep coming back to OA. She shares how she used food and drugs as coping mechanisms, how she “discovered” bulimia as her magic answer to eating compulsively, how she found herself in a $140 per day food hell that consumed her life--even smoking joints to get hungry when she was full! Her story about a gun and a low rider is both funny and thought-provoking. Don’t miss it.
Marci tells her story of hope, starting her journey as a young 250 pound woman who stole food, ate anything and in any quantity, swept her feelings and bad relationships "under the rug", had no boundaries, and had an attitude of "mind your own business". After her doctor said she had to lose weight, she eventually realized that she couldn't use force of will. She tells the story of a major binge at Las Vegas buffets where she met sober alcoholics who taught her the reward of the 12 steps, eventually leading to her to be a grateful hundred pounder. She describes how she changed from being unable to reach her goals to being able to achieve 10 years of abstinence by being a "Big Book Fundamentalist". She explains what she means by "you can't stay clean in yesterday's shower", and what she does as a daily ritual to stay sane, maintain her weight loss, and see physical miracles.
Gaddy's heartfelt story starts as a skinny kid with a distorted relationship with food, giving an example of his morbidly obese mom's emotional attachment: he discovered he could hurt and manipulate his mother by rejecting her food. He describes how dealt with being unpopular by using food, drugs, and alcohol to become involved with others. After becoming sober in 1983 he replaced alcohol with compulsive eating, and talks about his motto "Being full was just the beginning" since there was never enough to satisfy him because his emotional void was so great. He details the two parts of his compulsive overeating: voluntarily choosing to overeat, as compared to involuntarily overeating. He describes how a lifestyle change was required for his long-term success, so he learned how to start over by self-dieting. He relates how he stole food in many ways, such as eating in the grocers. He explains how people can be in denial when they enter OA: thinking that they're not so bad and thinking that they're helpless. He describes the difference between eating "appropriately" and "abstinently", giving him greater connection to his higher power.
Ali articulates beautifully a message of hope as she guides you on her path from pain to freedom, starting as 200 pound elementary student with no relationships who used stolen food to numb her feelings, who believed "if I can cover my body you won't see my body" and who made her own clothes so that they would fit her. She will tell you how she felt as a 400 pound teen when she almost died because of blood clots caused by self-medicating, and how the lap band she got in Mexico did not help. Discover her transformation from writing a letter to a God she didn't believe in to developing a relationship with a God that she can turn to by "letting go, letting God". She will disclose how she deals with stress, how she gained the ability to exercise, how she conquered false expectations, and how she learned to live among others.
Lessie will inspire you as she tells how OA helped her escape from her "personal version of hell", where at an early age of 3 her father died and she began to use food to capture a feeling of family and escape a feeling of being "fat, fearful, lonely, and never enough".
In her atheistic viewpoint she tried to fill her life using food, then later drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. When a psychologist introduced her to OA, she found a spiritual path and eventually succeeded in maintaining a 210 pound loss.
Howard shares with us his 25 year journey in recovery. He got to this program after venturing into other 12 step fellowships and has remained abstinent ever since. He came in close to 400 pounds and has maintained his weight loss. He felt like he never belonged anywhere his whole life, but this program has provided him the means to attain a recovery that enables him to laugh, have fun and enjoy abstinence.
Edith Rae came to the program at 51 and now has solid recovery. She loves life and herself now, which is a great change from the negativity she thought of herself when she first came in. Her story is inspiring for all of us.
Helen, who celebrated 13 years tonight, came into the program when she was young. She encountered some struggles in her recovery over the years, but her recovery is strong. She made it clear that we all have character defects and that we work on them the best we can. The program isn't just a diet for Helen, she lives and works the 12 steps.
Gail shares with us her story of recovery from compulsive overeating as well as anorexia. There have been ups and downs in her recovery, but she got the willingness this time around to work the program and has acheived great results.
Maricela shared with us her story of recovery from compulsive overeating. She explained how the physical isn't all that needed to change, she needed to change the spiritual and emotional components as well. She has a fire for life today as a result of working the program.
You'll be inspired by Don's story of how OA helped him overcome his compulsive eating, starting with his childhood as a country boy who got into trouble and dropped out of high school, how he joined the Marines and was the only survivor of 20 men sent to "Ground Recon" in Vietnam, his first encounter with a 12 step program when his daughter attempted suicide, the beginnings of his compulsive eating as a newly married man and a high school teacher, the reason his first attempt at joining OA failed and why his second attempt has succeeded for so many years.
Helen tell you her heartfelt story, starting with her childhood memories (which revolve about food), her progressively-worse obsession of eating sugar until she became ill, her attempt to analyze her pervasive fears, attempting to use food and alcohol to deal with the discomfort of "being in her own skin", being a young bride with a weight-obsessed husband trying to fix her, her struggle with many diets (including a very unusual one!), joining OA in 1994 but taking a few years to finally be willing to do what her sponsor told her, how her struggle to understand God lead to a spiritual awakening, her realization that everything that works in her life is a result of this program, why the problems she thinks she has are made up and don't matter, and how she deals with sugar temptations today.
Tarl gives one of the boldest and encouraging stories you'll ever hear about his path to 33 years of abstinence, starting as a small child who ate an unusual food compulsively, discovering that he couldn't choose what feelings were deadened by compulsively eating, overcoming the fantasy of being rescued from his eating compulsion, compulsively over-exercising, discovering OA at 17, discovering how to test whether an overweight person is a compulsive eater, finding how coming out of the closet interacted with compulsively eating, finding that nothing external would stop him from compulsively eating except blindness, and how OA led him to 33 years of abstinence.
Justin shares his journey as a 300 pounder at age 16 growing up on diets and binging while he played football, his realization that relapse is a process as he struggled to admit he had a spiritual problem, eating his way to diabetes and 500 pounds, finding a "safe fifth step space", and how he succeeds at his current abstinance today.
Spencer shared with us his inspirational story of long term recovery. His gratitude and joy really shined through and helps us to remain hopeful in our own recoveries.
Nathan shared with us how his obsession with food led him to some successes in life, but ultimately left him at a bottom until he met his eskimo. He has 3 years of abstinence today and his recovery has been great despite the fine tuning we all make as our time in program progresses. He is more comfortable with himself, he is working a program, and he stays connected through meetings, service, and phone calls to make sure that he continues to stick around.
Adam shares his story of coming in over 300 pounds and how he is now maintaining a normal bodyweight. His recovery in the spiritual, physical and emotional realm has enabled him to have a great life with family, friends and the fellowship of OA.
Jon shared with us tonight about how compulsive overeating affected his life, even as a very young child. When he came to OA, he got the weight loss, but still went back out for research. He is now back in the program with 2 years and is at his lightest weight since 19. He has an inspirational story to open the new year with. Enjoy!
Merry Belated Christmas!
Doug shared with us his story of recovery as a young person. He hit his first bottom young at 16 and now has a little under 2.5 years of abstinence with about 150 pound weight loss at 24 years old. There were many struggles, but Doug is recovering and learning how to live life while finding out who he is.
Victor describes to us how from the very first time he had real food, he knew he was a compulsive oereater. Food was always readily available and it wasn't frowned upon. When he hit his bottom and finally came to OA, he realized that he needed to let go of his punishing Higher Power and find one that worked for him if he was to find recovery. He did find that power greater than himself and has found spiritual, physical and emotional recovery. Even with long term abstinence, he still has to work the program just as hard if not harder than when he first came in, but he is willing and does it on a daily basis.
Marla shares with us her story of recovery over the past two years. She realized she had a problem with food from a young age and has finally found her solution.
Ken shares with us his story of recovery over the past 30 years. He came in at over 300 pounds and is now maintaining around a 170 pound weight today. His story is one of isolation, depression and anger, which he says depression is anger without enthusiasm. He was very ambivalent about working the program and only worked it so he could prove it didn't work and move on with his life. The program worked, however, and it got him through some very tough times in his life. He is proof that we can stay in recovery and keep coming back no matter what!
Daniel shares with us his story of long term recovery as a 100 pounder. His humor and wit, combined with the devastating nature of the disease before program puts a nice twist on his message of recovery. Without surrendering completely to step one, he would not be where he is today.
Michael shares his experience with the steps and breaks them down with a fervor and excitement for the way they were outlined by our mother program's founders-Bill and Bob. He struggled with all forms of compulsive eating and finally came to the program after reaching over 300 pounds. He gets to practice these principles in all his affairs, especially work life, and continues to carry the message.
Violet shares with us her journey of recovery through the program. With the help of the fellowship, she has been able to admit powerlessness over the food and has attained long-term abstinence and weigh-loss as a result. She emphasizes that it's not all about the weight, however, and she has been shown how to apply the principles of the steps in her daily affairs.
Robin shares with us his journey in OA as a long-term abstinence maintaining 100 pounder. He has had ups and downs, but with the program he has become spiritually connected and has been able to share that with others.
Bob came into the program after a run in with some other 12 step programs. His sponsor told him that he needed to make amends to himself for the weight he carried his whole life. He came into OA at 340 pounds, and over the years his recovery hasn't been perfect, but he's kept coming back to carry the message and is now maintaining close to a normal body weight.
Elle shared with us her story of recovery. Since she has been abstinent, she has lost 80 pounds and came in willing to work the program as suggested because she had nowhere else to turn for recovery from compulsive overeating. She had ran out of options. Growing up, she used outside issues instead of food, and was even able to keep the weight off due to her active lifestyle after giving up those outside issues. Eventually, she started justifying excess food and couldn't keep up anymore. Her higher power intervened and brought her to program instead of having her get a gastric bypass. She resented being powerless, but kept coming back, and eventually the program worked for her.
Sharon celebrated 4 years of rededicated abstinence with us tonight. She has been around the program for over 35 years which shows her persistence and intent to recover in this program. She struggled with her weight since she was about 5 years old and started going to diet doctors and taking diet pills at a fairly young age. After the diet pills stopped working as a barrier between the food, she tried commercial weight loss programs for many years and never found much success. She always struggled with self-esteem and wanted to be something that she wasn't. Eventually, she came to the program and has not left, even among moving to 3 different states. Over the course of her recovery, she has realized that she has something valuable to offer those around her. In addition, she now knows that the program is about the physical, emotional and spiritual recovery. To this day, she keeps at the forefront of her mind that her 4 priorities are Abstinence, Fellowship, Service, and Faith in her Higher Power.
This past Sunday was really a treat from Nancy J. As of October 5th, she has 38 years abstinent and had a lot of recovery to share with us as a result of that. When she got to program, she weighed 325 pounds and today she is at a normal bodyweight. After growing up in an abusive home where food was her comfort, and after surrendering to her drug and alcohol addiction, she made it to OA. In OA, she became aware that nothing could ever satisfy her and that she had a distorted self perception. After 4 months of coming in and out of program, she finally let go of the punitive God she grew up with and found a Higher Power that worked for her. This concept blossomed out of the simple fact that God existed and she wasn't it. Gradually, by taking the hand of those who came before her in the fellowship, she found her voice and a strong recovery.
Ron shares his journey over the course of the past 9 years of abstinence and his 97 pound weight loss. He had struggled with drugs and compulsive exercise before he came to OA, but once he put both of those down, with some help from another fellowship, he delved really heavily into the food. He now knows that certain foods, like white flour and sugar, cause an allergic reaction in him, and when he starts eating those foods, he cannot stop. When he finally surrendered in OA, his Higher Power put a sponsor in his life and gave him a regimented way of living, so that he could not find the loopholes at first. He reads from the big book, does the steps, and stays committed to the program. Along the road of abstinence, he has had to fine tune his food plan to keep his maintenance, but as long as he is spiritually connected, the physical aspect always seems to work itself out.
Ira shares the recovery he has experienced as a result of his 28 years of abstinence and 140-144 pound weight loss. He tells the group to take what we like and file the rest away for later use, because we will never know when it will come in handy. He struggled with weight his whole life, and knew that he was hurting himself, but continued eating until the pain endured was great enough to spark willingness in him to work the program. In OA, he has never been without a sponsor, and has received a spiritual experience that changed his personality so that he could refrain from compulsive overeating, make amends to those around him, and live a happier life.
Jim shares how the disease crippled his body to the point of heart issues and Type II Diabetes as an adult. He had experience with other programs and luckily his doctor (also his sponsor) encouraged him to come to OA. After 13 years of abstinence, he doesn't struggle with the food like its a tiger 3 times a day. He developed a relationship with his Higher Power and grew to be able to leave the weight in his Higher Power's hands. OA Overhauled Jim's Attitude, and as long as he does the footwork, his Higher Power takes care of the rest of his life.
Steve came from Long Beach tonight to share his story of honesty and self-discovery.
His top weight was 335 pounds and in 2.5 years of abstinence, he has lost 115 pounds from that top weight.
As a child, he knew he was different from his fellows and had resigned himself to a compulsive overeating death after he got out of high school. His Higher Power stepped in, however, and brought him around Overeaters Anonymous until Steve finally took hold of the program.
His abstinence is not strict like a lot of other 100 pounders, but he knows today what does and doesn't work. In addition, the way he works his program helps him to stay out comparison with others and allows him to focus on his program and his spiritual growth.
Domingo has wrestled with Compulsive Overeating since childhood but it wasn't until he joined OA and threw 'all in' that he became a winner in recovery
Long term sobtriety, more than 2 years abstinant, more than 100 lbs down and super grateful. This is a great pitch.
Gary, with 23 months abstinent and 106 pounds of weight loss, shares his lifelong struggle with compulsive overeating, exercise builimia and weight loss and the success he has obtained as a result of working the program. He came to OA many times in the past, but pride and ego led him back out. His final wakeup call before his current abstinence was triggered by the death of his father, kidney cancer, and atrial fibrillation. He recovered from all of these complications and knew that it was only by God that he was still alive. In his current abstinence, he focuses on his spiritual connection and on being of service to others.
Justin, from Santa Monica, CA, shares with us his story of recovery. He first came around in 2006 and is now 13 months abstinent and 140 pounds down from his top weight. He knew that his behavior around food was not normal from the time he was 5 years old. He felt like no one could relate to the experiences he was having, so he hid the behaviors so common among compulsive overeaters and got really active in sports. Eventually, he came into the program and lost weight, but did not focus enough on the spirituality and ended up relapsing. This time around, he worked the program and has been able to build genuine relationships with family and friends while maintaining a sense of sanity around the food.
Thier individual recovery stories are inspiring on their own. Together theyare revealing 'How it works.' A relationship in the program brings a whole new dimension. Tom and Stephanie reveal their personal stories of how they got from Compusive Overeating to a working marriage as they share a life beyond their imagination.
Evelyn came down all the way from the San Fernando Valley to share with us her story of recovery. She is 24 years abstinent and has been maintaining a 115 pound weight loss for 23 of those years. Her story shows the process she went through to learn how to enjoy the world and the relationships around her without being obsessed about the food. She wanted happiness and was determined to work the program and follow direction (out of spite, if necessary) in order to achieve that goal. Today, she is happy and she is comfortable in her own skin.
Joe shares his amazing story of how he got out of the isolation and self-destruction of compulsive overeating. He knew that he was different from his peers with regards to food at an early age and turned to food as comfort. His top weight was 550 pounds and he has an abstinence date of 2/14/2009. Through his recovery, he has given away 225 pounds. He finally found the willingness to embrace OA and follow a sponsor's direction. Although there have been many painful moments, he persevered with the help of the fellowship and his Higher Power.
Alma shares with us her journey of spiritual growth in recovery. 20 years ago, she came in, but her busy life led her back out and the shame kept her from coming back. Today, she is stronger than ever in her recovery, and she is letting her Higher Power lead the way.
Cindy's recovery from the lifelong devesation imposed by her disease has brought a hightened self esteem, a true sense of purpose and a 237 pound weight loss. This is what OA is all about!
Loni G from LA had a deep understanding of HER diesease that allows her to share her very serious commitment to her recovery and OA in a lighthearted and heartfelt manner which touches everone who hears this pitch
Tony P From LA - 24 Years abstinent - wears his recovery like a loose garment. With humor and humility, well actually more humor, he shares his experience so you can believe that the program can work for anyone.
Icomprehensible demoralization to unbeleiveable joy in 24 short years. A heartfelt story of love and recovery which is possible for all of us.
22 years in OA, Carl K from West LA details his daily relationship with his Higher Power, his sponsor, his food and his recovery. He has paid attention to the details one day at a time and it shows.
OA is not just for Jews. This is just one of the tidbits Rochelle has learned on her path to a lighthearted AND rock solid, well rounded recovery. Her example can inspire everyone who hears it.
Marcy came down from LA to inspire and remind us that recovery is available to everyone. We have already paid the price. Recovery is the reward.
The path of recovery is not always smooth OR easy. Susan's journey has now brought her to a renewed gratitude for the program and her life.
Hank from Tarzana shares his story from the deep self destructive pain of compulsive overeating to a life beyond his wildest drerams. Somthing for everyone who wants a deeper connection with thier own recovery.
Shari B from LA reveals with clear precision both the physical and emotional aspects of her struggle with compulsive overeating and her current tools for a strong and lasting recovery.
Ira reveals that his passion for OA has kept him gratefully abstenant one day at a time. The big book holds the same core truths for him today as it did in 1983.
Wanting to die in the disease, desparate to live in recovery, Ben's lighthearted style of story telling underlies a remarkable journey from a seemingly hopeless state of incomprehensible demorlaization to a life beyond his wildest dreams.
Loraine A from San Pedro reveals that for 37 years she has experienced and seen a multitude of miracles. She shares how it has impacted her with an honesty that comes shining through her every word.
24 years abstinent, his message of recovery is an example or how it really can work and reminds us that we can have a life beyond our wildest dreams.
Eda shares 35 years of continuous abstinance offering a wealth of practical experience with clarity, compassion and humor.
Adam, from Sherman Oaks shared the painful feelings of his compulsive overeating and his uplifting feelings for his recovery so we all 'Got it'.
Victor S from Southgate. His softpoken manner underlies a passionate commitment to his program, spirituality, sponsorship and service. It has worked for 16 years and continues strong.
Nathan humbly reveals how a progressive disease was transformed into progressive recovery with his commitment to OA.
San Clemente resident explains in comprehensible detail how the tools offer him a great life on a daily basis.
Jim F acknowledges it is his higher power and spiritual conditioning that has helped him maintain his abstenance for 12 continuous years.
Long term abstenance and solid recovery. A living example of the Big book and how it works for her.
Don brings a lighthearted clarity on recovery matched with a humble gratitude and compelling story.
TamaronG, Originally from LA Tells the story how her life just keeps getting better as she maintains a working relationship with OA.
Edith Rae is an cin if OA in the program since 1971. She filled in with a 15 minutes pitch that captures the real heart of long term membership, participation and abstenance in OA.
Michael M From LA Brings his story or how OA touched his heart to start his road to recovery.
Annie P from Van Nuys shared her journey from victim to empowerment in OA. A touching and inspiring story that touches everyone somewhere.
Stephanie, on the eve of one year of marriage, shares her bumpy road to a solid recovery.
Jill B 3 1/2 years, 160 Lbs weight loss, Clear about her program and extremely grateful, and careful. Completely inspiring.
June 6 2010 This is his 4th post. It just keeps getting better as he stays in program. Great message.
Physically disabled, life becoming unmanageable, a woman's story of recovery and discovery
Came to OA in 1961, abstinent since 1964, almost 50 years of recovery of mind, body and spirit
Using humor, Brian brings us through over 125 lbs of weight loss and recounts his story of recovery.
At one time over 350 pounds and close to death numerous times, this grateful compulsive overeater celebrates her 21st birthday.
She is fighting back from relapse, recapturing the freedom she found when she first jumped into the program with both feet.
From a family of compulsive overeaters and alcoholics, a story of over 20 years in recovery.
Gave up sugar on her own, but ate more of everything else. Stayed at over 250 lbs for much of her life. Now at a normal weight for over 4 years, Holly describes working the program of Overeaters Anonymous to live life without excess food.
Continuously abstinent from 1971, with 50 to 60 pounds weightloss, Jack recounts his first months in OA and the surrender he found that freed him from the obsession to overeat.
Down 110 lbs from her highest, now 9 months abstinent, a mother of 3 girls recovers with her family.
20 years ago, he was approaching 400 lbs, was a binge drinker, a 4 pack-a-day smoker and a problem gambler. At a normal weight, he is none of those things now.
After years of struggling on his own, a young man loses 167 lbs. He shares his experience with sponsorship and the steps.
Over 200 pounds overweight, heavy with debt and ruined health, a man recovers. How the Big Book and program can save a hopeless overeater.