One Year Ago Today
“It was only a few moments into my first meeting that I realized it was not about the weight, but the way I was leading my life,” says Marti, who reflects on her one-year anniversary of abstinence from compulsive overeating.
Newcomers
Figuring Out + Fitting In
Bonnie, a longtime OA member, came into OA as a teen in the 1970s and reflects on the challenges and benefits of fitting in with older OA members. Bonnie says, “More young people who need OA are out there … I want to be the hand that says, “Welcome to Overeaters Anonymous. Welcome home.”
Introduction / “Step Zero”: “The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps” Podcast Series
This episode explores the nature of the disease of compulsive eating and the willingness it takes to begin the recovery journey. Some refer to the state of being just before accepting the OA program as “Step Zero.”
Listen to an OA Meeting
Listen to OA members share at a real OA meeting about OA’s First Step: “We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.”
Interview with Kaitlin: Sugar Addiction, Bulimia, and Anorexia as a Teen
Kaitlin’s sugar addiction started in middle school after her parents’ divorce caused a number of stresses in her life. She later discovered bulimia and started overexercising, using laxatives, and vomiting. Today she has a new life that she once thought was impossible.
Interview with Charles: Exercise Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating
ane. That’s the word Charles uses to describe his relationship with food before OA. He went to his first OA meeting only to support a friend, but he did not recognize his own problem. Years later, when he could no longer control his weight, a growing sense of hopelessness made Charles ready to hear OA’s message.
Interview with Esti: Compulsive Eater and Dieter
Esti remembers as a teen feeling a compulsive need to diet and believing she was heavier than she actually was. She ate to cope with negative emotions and could not stop thinking about food.
Esti recalls immediately feeling comfortable at OA meetings and finding abstinence. Looking back, Esti says her inner life has changed significantly, and she is able to live her life without obsessing about food.
Interview with Joe: Compulsive Eater
A preacher’s son, Joe’s compulsive eating was born when he became an adult and renounced the religion of his upbringing. From then on, Joe says he was “running too the food or away from the food.” At Joe’s first OA meeting, he felt hope seeing that others had overcome their food obsessions.
Interview with Dodie: Compulsive Eater
Before OA, food ruled Dodie’s every waking moment, even from a very early age. In college, Dodie weighed 215 pounds (97.5 kg) and felt trapped in ugliness. When she realized she had a problem with food, she found OA, and now maintains a 85-pound (38.5-kg) weight loss.
Interview with Bob: Overeater and Overexerciser
Bob was already in shape and at a healthy weight but learned in OA that his exercise habits masked a food addiction. He describes how OA gave him a safe place to find recovery and build a productive life.