Is it the weight that makes us unhappy or does our unhappiness keep us at an unhealthy weight? Mollie R. from Idaho USA shares her perspective and make sa discovery, “The weight I’ve lost hasn’t been limited to extra pounds on my body. . . . I’ve dropped pounds of shame and resentment.”
Mimi D. from California USA shares a personal prayer she uses to practice the first three Steps and Step Eleven by surrendering her compulsive eating to her Higher Power just for today.
When obsessive thoughts come, like worry about regaining weight, turn to Higher Power because you open the door to Higher Power turning to you when you are in need.
Mimi D. from California USA has gained and lost 100 pounds (45 kg)—twice. The first time was during her first 18 years in OA. Thinking she was “cured” was the beginning of a decade of relapse and a rapid 100-pound weight gain. Yet today, she is abstinent and says, “My soul like a watered garden.” Learn how she found her way back to OA and abstinence.
Jean C. first joined OA 35 years ago but failed to work the Steps, which she attributes to another 18 years outside the rooms. Today, however, she is back, she is abstinent, and she is here to share what she has learned.
Diane D. did all the right things to find recovery in OA, from surrendering in Step One to adopting a plan of eating and throwing herself into service. But then everything crashed because of illness and an outside addiction, and God seemed nowhere to be found. How did she make it back to recovery?
“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.
Kara M. did all the “research”: dieting, binge eating, bulimia, weight-loss surgery. In the end, she still felt malnourished. “I was starving for something take-out food could not provide,” she recalls. And then God called her back to OA, and she learned how to change with the help and support of our program.
When Judy E. fell into relapse, she never stopped working her program. She used all the Tools and worked the Steps, but she just couldn’t stop herself in the moments leading up to that first compulsive bite. Then she heard a message from her Higher Power and set a goal to improve her awareness. Read on to find out how she did it.
As a psychiatric nurse, Nancy Z. from Missouri USA knew what insanity looked like, so at first it seemed absurd to her that she needed to be restored to sanity. But as she started to look at the evidence—her weight and her relationships—she started to see that there was something for her in taking the Second Step.