Weight-loss surgery (actually 2 surgeries) was not a magic bullet for Anonymous who writes after having joined OA in the last few years. Not only did she gain weight in the process, but when she lost weight, she “struggled with the comments abut the weight I was losing and the flirty attention I was receiving.” With OA, she has found emotional recovery and a sensible plan of eating.
Can you find recovery from compulsive eating later in life? Nancy from Texas USA came back in her mid 60s after 30 years of relapse with compulsive eating. “That first meeting when I returned to OA was a ‘God moment’ for me,” she says, “and I’ve had many more God moments since.”
“Before OA, I had tried every diet, every exercise, every new ‘thing’ to lose weight. What I hadn’t tried was fixing myself from the inside out.” Join Agnes, a compulsive overeater, as she shares how OA helped her find a workable plan for freedom from her food behaviors.
Roberta L. from California USA joined OA in 1979. In spite of an early relapse, she kept coming back. She experienced her spiritual awakening in 2002, and since then she says, “My self-esteem has blossomed, and so has my life.” Enjoy her story of living in recovery.
Anothony V. from Pennsylvania USA finds a lesson in the pain that comes from emotional pain, whether a slip or relapse back into compulsive eating or childhood trauma. “Today I can thank God for that pain . . .” he says.
Elaine from New Zealand reflects on Lifeline and the amazing changes OA has brought to her life. “The OA program works. . . . Though I have wanted to leave many times, I have stayed and begun to see the transformation of my outlook on life.”
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.
Sepidah, an OA member from Iran, came into the program feeling physically, mentally, and spiritually bankrupt. “I could barely bear the weight of my soul,” she says. Through OA and working the Twelve Steps, however, she has found a workable solution. “I am calm,” she says. “I sleep more peacefully . . . and I have better balance in working the Steps.”
Even after weight-loss surgery, Kaveh from Tehran, Iran, discovered that he could not overcome the feelings of inadequacy that had led him to overeat. He tried books and therapy, but ultimately found emotional recovery in OA. Working all Twelve Steps, Kaveh learned to “heal the overeater not only physically but emotionally and spiritually.”
“I can say without a shadow of a doubt that OA has completely saved my life,” says Renee D. from California USA. “I can’t wait to see what the next 900 days has in store for me.”