All his life, Majid from Alborz, Iran, aspired to be like others, including other OA members. After trying all suggestions to find and keep abstinence, he finally came to understand that only by looking at his own experiences could he write a Plan of Eating that helped him find abstinence.
Donna from Massachusetts USA has seen just about the worst in terms of the hardships that life can throw at you. Yet in OA, her life has been transformed into one of abundance. “I love the real stuff of this world,” she says. “I appreciate the struggle.”
Lisa A. from California USA saw that abstinent OA members not only committed to their plan of eating but also committed to working the OA program. Keeping her abstinence has required adjustments over the years, but nevertheless, “I am free from compulsive eating . . . and free to experience the promises . . . of the Big Book,” she says.
The sexual abuse that Blanca suffered as a child led her to gain weight in an attempt to make herself less attractive, and led later to multiple suicide attempts. Thankfully, her desperate attempts to outrun her pain were soothed and solved in Overeaters Anonymous. “My practice of the Twelve Steps leaves me with some very empowering ways of seeing life,” she says. “My smiles . . . . are coming from a place of inner peace, confidence, and happiness.
“For decades, I tried every diet plan, no matter how crazy.” says Denise M. from New York USA. When she started gaining weight after bariatric surgery, “Something in me snapped! ‘No! I was not going to be one of those statistics,” she thought. She tried OA and found Neurodiverse/neurodivergent specific-focus meetings. And 90 days of abstinence. “I found my tribe,” she says.
Martine from Texas USA used to binge eat on the way home from work, stopping at multiple fast food drive-thrus. “But tonight . . .,” she says, ”I thanked my Higher Power . . . and the OA program for giving me the freedom . . . to look back on my day of healthy and abstinent eating.”
Laura from Connecticut USA originally thought that coming to an OA meeting was the same as taking the First Step. But for eight years, she never found a lasting abstinence. It wasn’t until she faced the prospect of an early death from obesity that she came to understand what it truly means to work Step One.
As I continue to work the Steps and continue to attend meetings, I’ve been delivered more hope and faith in the power of this program . . . I came into Overeaters Anonymous nearly a year ago, distraught and caught in a relentless cycle of bingeing and at other times bingeing and purging. I was … Continued
OA member A.M. recalls the exasperation she felt one day because she could not stop eating compulsively. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” she cried. To which her husband, also in a Twelve Step program, replied, ”No, hon, you can do it alone. I suggest you go back to OA.”
Deborah has endured jail, marital separation, and cancer, but today she shines with recovery. “I am now claiming six years of abstinence,” she says. “Y’all have taught me life is fun, but my meals can’t be fun. . . . It’s worth all the daily discipline for freedom from food obsession.”