An upcoming knee replacement surgery was the catalyst for Stephanie to take a really good look at using the action plan Tool. The result of her preparations and efforts? “I am no longer afraid of what is to come or whether I will be able to remain abstinent. . . . Now I am a Spiritual Light.”
I must . . . practice acceptance, no matter how uncomfortable that may feel. I am currently having difficulty practicing “principles before personalities” (Tradition Twelve). We have a challenging OA member at one of my meetings. Her attendance is erratic, but when she is there, the meeting immediately takes on an “uptight and on-alert” vibe, … Continued
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.
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.”
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.”
“I was a fat kid, a fat adolescent, and . . . weighing 315 pounds (143 kg), I was a fat adult,” says Stuart, an OA member from Louisiana USA. Stuart suffered relapses and weight gains “but I never quit coming back,” he says. “In concert with my Higher Power, I have achieved a normal body weight of 139–144 pounds (63–65 kg) for the very first time in my adult life. . . . I am eternally grateful.“
“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.
Ways to find Overeaters Anonymous near you or online. Reprinted from Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition
A poem of recovery — of taming the “dragon” of compulsive eating through the guidance of the OA Fellowship.