“I am not the poster child for OA,” says Carol M. from Washington USA, “but I have a stable relationship with food and eating behaviors.” Read more as Carol shares how she created positive momentum in her OA program.
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.
“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.
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.
Regarding the start of her relapse, Lee R. from Massachusetts USA reflects, “Looking back, I realize that what I was trying to do was “to be normal,” which could never happen. I am a compulsive overeater and nothing will ever change that.” But she never gave up hope and the miracle happened for her.
“I though God had forgotten me in my relapse,” says Hafeze from Gilan, Iran. She later realized that God was simply waiting for her to ask for help. When she came back to OA, she was blessed with a better understanding of the disease and how to find recovery.
“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.
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.
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.