“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.“
“It’s that time of year again,” says Edward, “when the national focus is placed on . . . food!” Learn how Edward uses his recovery to change the focus of any holiday from food to living in recovery.
“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.
Every night, Meg went out shopping for snacks. She’d come home, stuff herself, and then suffer from bad sleep caused by her compulsive eating. “I’d feel my ongoing failure as a human being,” she recalls. But after finding abstinence in OA, she now says “I feel light-hearted and excited about life. I’m blessed with so much more.”
Even with two relapses, Christine has found that life in the OA program is immeasurably better than life before OA. “Abstinence is the most important thing in my life,” she says.
What does it look like to be a compulsive eater? The answer is it depends, but what Meg B. from California knows for sure is that being a compulsive eater in recovery means getting to be a gracious and honorable human being.
“I will be the first to admit that I have been a control freak,” says Beth. “As I worked the Twelve Steps, I learned to let go of thoughts about how someone should have acted or how things should have gone.”
Thanks to recovery in OA, Jacki from Connecticut will spend the holidays in a state of abstinence and abundance. “In recovery, I no longer seek my thrills from the holiday goodies,” she says.
“I work with therapists, dietitians, OA sponsors, and medical doctors to manage my mental illness, and I work on healthy eating and achieving a healthy body weight,” says Vicki. “Many food miracles miracles keep occuring, as I continue to work this program.”
“Coming into the program, I didn’t even realize how isolated I was,” says Jesse. “Soon I started to see a glow in others and in myself: The glow of recovery.”