Childhood sexual abuse and family dynamics can drive someone to turn to food for comfort. Without a solution, these patterns can grow with us into adulthood, complicating relationships with romantic partners and with weight. As one member has discovered, however, a new and healthier sense of normalcy can be found in Overeaters Anonymous.
Karen, who has maintained a 210-pound (95-kg) weight loss for more than fifteen years, uses the Tools of Recovery to maintain her program just as diligently as she uses tools and resources for automobile maintenance to keep the first car she ever bought new in good running condition. The road in OA, she notes, is ”not always smooth and comfortable, but it is leading me to freedom” (For Today, p. 288).
“I knew I had huge self-will…” says one member who came in broken after trying to work the program her own way. But she was also desperate and willing, and her willingness led to progress, and her progress eventually, and inevitably, led her to her dream of “a peaceful and serene life.”
Before, I was ready to explode at any time, but now it seems that without excess food and junk food, space has opened for me to think calmly and either solve things with more serenity or . . . really deliver it to a Higher Power. I’ve reached my twenty-ninth day of abstinence. Tomorrow will … Continued
After four and a half years in OA, Rachel had experienced both solid abstinence and a period when life’s challenges had her surviving but not thriving. “What really propelled me through,” she says of this challenging time in her life, “was working another set of Steps.”
OA invites DIVERSITY and promotes UNITY. In this episode, one OA member describes their experience with weight-loss surgery and another OA member shares their rock bottom moment and coming back to achieve a 100-pound (45-kg) weight loss.
The Milwaukee Area Intergroup’s International Day Experiencing Abstinence (IDEA) event featured a speaker, a writing activity, and a lively discussion based on the Lifeline article *Outside and In*, exploring the contrast between trying to be abstinent and being willing to embrace abstinence.
“Our small but mighty IDEA celebration brought together recovering compulsive eaters to share powerful insights on abstinence, threefold recovery, and the strength of unity.”
“Through nurturing both a small plant gifted in celebration of abstinence and my OA program, I’ve learned that with care, patience, and renewed enthusiasm, growth and beauty can always be rediscovered—even after 9,190 days.”
“International Day Experiencing Abstinence (IDEA), observed the third Saturday of November, reminds us that abstinence is not only freedom from compulsive eating but also a profound connection to a Higher Power and spiritual balance.”