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.”
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.“
“Without a sponsor,” says one OA member, “I would be unable to continue to recover.” But this OA member’s journey has meant working with many sponsors, and she has learned something from each one along the way.
A healthy check-in from Rosanne’s sponsee leads Rosanne to reflect on what it was like for her before she found OA. “I wanted to be thin but not give up the food. . . . OA encouraged me with more than just food issues—I no longer felt alone.”
“In our area, we are struggling to attract and retain new members,” says Heather from New Zealand. “I have been mentored over the years . . . to share the solution. This writing is the service I can do today.” Read how Heather works her program daily.
What happens when you apply a “speed dating” format to match up OA sponsors with sponsees? Only good things, as Christine from New Zealand describes from her experience at an OA retreat.