Mill Creek OA 100 Pounder Speaker Meeting

My mother was Manic/Depressive and a Compulsive Over-eater. When I was 9 , my older 19 Year old brother was hity by drunk driver and was in a coma for 3 months. I needed more allowance to buy more candy. I went to diet DR. at 16. Goal weight in a week. Game on! What ever I did. I didn't look good enough.  In 1976 I wen to OA, They sent me to AA and my food took off. Much later (2013)I was working...

I grew up in NY and a large Italian Family. Eating was a sacred ritual. I needed to learn to protect myself from my brother. I protected my self with food up to over 500 lbs. Everyone felt it was OK to give me advice. My wife passed in 2020 presenting my with major life choice.  I had the bypass surgery but statistics told me I might need more help. OA was that help. I originally thought they were...

Both parents alcoholic so I grew up in a dysfunctional environment. My father killed himself rather than stop drinking.  I treated my body like garbage can for drugs, alcohol. and food. Sober at 31. Even though I was around the 12 step community I was outside as I was still eating compulsively. I was in and out of OA for years. Couldn't do it my way. I didn't need meetings I 'Lived' the program. N...

Bulimia and anorexic was an eating disorder, I was just overweight. Every day was the same,Great intentions, Break my intentions and then beat myself up. I am a poster child for step one. with an allergy of the body and obsession of my mind. Today i am living the definition of abstinence. for 12 years Resentments are the thought' The past didn't go my way'. My fears are the thought the 'The future...

Pictures. Shame based eating even very young. No matter how poorly I was treated growing up no one treated me worse than I did. Joined the military to loose weight, it worked AND I was dismissed for failure to maintain below weight limit. Came into program 2008 and followed direction. I has worked ever since. Even at a good weight I am still working on the authentic Domingo  Today I like others, I...

Even though we have unique stories there s a common thread that joins us. I Have one picture form 2004. I have not been there for a long time but i could be me tomorrow. I thought I could control EVERYTHING. I wrote a new plan for my food and my life every Sunday. Worked perfectly until Monday noon. All my self hate was projected on to other people. What brought me into OA was an event where I dra...

2010 5 years old eating rolled balls of bread, chubby and judged by my parents Evan heavy I excelled in athletics just to prove my dad wrong. I had a feeling, I needed to eat. I maintained a weight loss with hours of excersize and handfuls of laxatives. in 2015 I went to an Xmas party and partook of the food to the fullest. Early 2016 I started meetings for 9 moths with no food plans,steps or hone...

I was large as a child. first meeting August 1988 and the recovery started.' I grew up in an unsafe household. with multiple candidates fr 12 step work.  When I started babysitting all my money went for food.  I ended up in the biggest size I could find. No where to go. The laughter pissed  me off. It took a while for me to have the change. I got a life, i started dancing in recovery, I have a spo...

Wide weight swing - 5'8' and 108lbs  And way up. Confusing childhood. Finish you food, you're fat but a later a reality check indicated I was not. I was given 'Metrical' as a kid. On the cleanup I could finish lots of plates. Protein shakes lost weight fast. seemed like a plan. until every parts of my life was compulsive including fasting, excersize, weighing myself, drugs and alcohol. I sober fir...

I was fat and teased by my family Came into OA 55 years old, 130 lbs overweight with 30 years sobriety. Recently I was at a party that had EVERYTHING that was of my list , abstained and had a great time actually relating with my family. None of my alcoholic foods are in the produce aisle. Accountability is still uncomfortable for me. Long timers mentioned they do service, so I got involved in serv...

It is important for me to attend strong meetings where people ave gone through all the steps. My weight popped between first and second grade. Food helped me handle my home life. Admitting I was a compulsive eater was easy. Surrendering to the program - not so easy. I developed daily practices,  had a spiritual connection and i was working. When it slipped, I slipped for about a year. When I came...

Addictive family, Dinner was a challenge. A smorgabord  of food behaviors. My first obsession was bread and I knew enough that is brought me sham My first real addiction was cocaine and it helped me eat less. Exercise bulimia was also part of my story. When drugs and alcohol left my left there was room for food. Being in 2 12 step programs, heard of OA and one more time I found a way to not belong...

OA Really did save my life. 1999  5x shirts .'6'4''  over 400 lbs,type 2  diabetes I remember Mary G.,  the person who first greeted me at my first meeting. I identified as a compulsive over eater not realizing I was taking the first step. She was diagnosed with cancer,and always shared she wanted to die sober and abstinent. Abstinence gave me the ability to have continuous improvement in every ar...

Coming into OA I have lost weight ans gained skills Started with junk food early in my youth. I powered through sugary, snacks. My physical activity offset my eating unll I got married. I treated myself with bags from the gas stations. Food programs never worked long term. Covid was a disaster for me and my food intake. I was in another program but had never heard of OA. When I did find out I jump...

I lived in LA when they started 100 Pounder meetings. I became and addict in infancy with teabags filled with sugar instead of a pacifier. I married at 17 to get away from my parents. I was not anything resembling a adult relationship. Came to OA first in 1976 In LA embraced the grey sheet food plan an lost 140 lbs. and relapsed as a blackout eater in and out for 7 years. Took me a long time to co...

When I came to OA in 92 I was broken. They asked me to read at my first meeting. I said "I can't read, I'm new" - Really? I call my disease my Lower Power. I will go through the 15 newcomer questions to confirm I qualify. I do. Today I am half the man I was both in weight and size. My relationship with my Higher Power, service and the steps are the foundation for my recovery.

I excelled in academics to hide my insecurities up through scholarship in undergrad and flunked out at Grad level. I am a sugar addict, Not a normal eater. I ended up suicidal in a locked ward. I tried going Vegan which was really not compatible with my body. My first 12 step program was ACA, Finally into OA where I learned I had to clean up other addictions to be sober in OA. Today I am active in...

I was not wanted and ended in an orphanage. I was adopted by parents who had their own personal and relationship issues. Big as a child and picked on at school.  At 20 I worked in LA, saw diet DRs, used speed and lost weight with unintended consequences. Got married for all the wrong reasons. Failed at DRs food plan, Did not qualify for bypass surgery, Was sent to OA - the free one. Eventually lea...

"Missed first few minutes, Mike G, amung a crew of guys whose sole purpose was to eat BBQ and lots of it. REALLY LOTS!!!" My BBQ band was my way of being. I would eat tons, publicly, deliberately and proudly. I came into OA  My sponsor suggested go to 3 meals a day and 5 things I don't eat. Meetings made it seem real. I was doing the deal. Others were doing the deal. Eating was my connection- now...

Grew up as a perfectionist which served me well during that time. Always overate. No amount of education would help. Drifted near OA but left when I realized there were no 'cheat days'. Like my Birthday. I next came back for a while dabbling as OA 'adjacent' I knew the word but not the behavior. I finally accepted that I am NOT the best judge of what I should be eating. 

Member of multiple 12 step programs.  I am retired and more to hang by the fridge. I grew up in alcoholic home. and learned to avoid everything with all five children with working addictions.  My brother was morbidly obese and recently passed away. I learned to use food to escape, specially at night.. Dinner . then the junk until I passed out. I do the first three steps before every meal.  I slows...

I took notes during meetings and used the notes as a topic for sharing during outreach calls. First OA meeting 1979. i@ 230 and  binging chocolate. I learned to ' Act as If' i believed these suggestions might possible help. Regardless of whether I 'Felt like it' or 'Believed it' or 'Liked it' I weigh and measure my food. 'Sharing pictures' The weight of my body and the weight of the food I eat are...

I came to my first OA meeting early, thought it was a free weight watchers.  My family enjoys exercise and outdoorsy stuff.  My dad put a padlock on the pantry for me and a padlock on the liquor cabinet for my brother. For a long time my I thought the most important thing was that I was not slim. Being fat was the cause for all my problems. In 1999 I went to OA full of shame the whole meeting  but...

Came into OA through Al-Anon. I grew up in a dysfunctional home and coped by being good and eating, supressing any emotions and pretending to be what they wanted. I accepted a suggestion from my wife, went to an OA meeting and knew I had found my people. I fell in line, got a sponsor worked the steps lost weight. Lost my sponsor, stopped working the steps and some weight came back on. Today with a...

My core family emotion was rage. Learned to ask for NOTHING. As an anorexic I was not connected to my hunger until I was way overdue for food and then I binged.  I entered recovery by removing all sharp knives and having my friends hide them from me. I was not well. Today I still weigh and measure my food at home. Every step has life lessons.  My food plan is redundant - That works well for me. I...