“I am not like normal eaters,” says Lori B. from Canada, who joined OA at age 62. Learning this in her first OA meeting “lifted a huge weight from my shoulders,” she says, “as I could hear the promise of a solution.” It has taken 6 years, including one bout of relapse, but today Lori has found her secret to recovery.
A.F.S. from Illinois USA was a “revolving door member, joining and dropping out, for decades, and during that time she continued cycles of binge eating and restricting. It was not until she was given the gift of desperation that she committed to truly working the program. “And I hated it,” she says, “but the freedom tastes much better than any food I could eat.”
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.
Every single time Denise B. from California USA tried to leave the OA program, her binge eating and excess weight returned. Read as she shares years’ worth of experience, strength, and hope on a journey that has ultimately has led her to absitinence and recovery.
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.”
I opened my heart to my Higher Power’s will and discovered I was a part of the worldwide Fellowship. I walked into my first OA meeting alone and afraid. I had been defeated by food, weight, and life. I was desperate. In the meeting, I found OA members who wanted to help me. They reached … Continued
Arriving at an empty meeting gave one OA member the opportunity to shake the fear that her local OA meeting was going to shut down. Instead, she picked up her pen and wrote checks to her intergroup, the World Service Office and her region, and she reflected on the overwhelming sense of unity she felt at the last OA World Service Convention.
“What was so fun about World Service Convention?” OA member Beth recalls an epic road trip and the amazing recovery vibe she felt at the three past Conventions she attended.
“I’ve been blessed to attend some of our World Service Conventions,” says Bonnie. ”I know I‘ll be reunited with my ‘worldwide friends’ and meet new ones. Most heartwarming is when . . . ‘I put my hand in yours’ again.”
“Connection with another person on any level is what I love most,” says Elizabeth from Missouri USA. But even after losing 120 pounds (54 kg) her defects of character kept her emotionally isolated. See how she found success working the OA program.