Have you used willpower as your primary weight loss tool, but it’s no longer working for you? Have you dieted to the best of your ability but with no success? In Overeaters Anonymous we learn that a lack of willpower isn’t what makes us compulsive eaters. In fact, compulsive eaters often exhibit an exceptional amount of willpower.

I realized willpower no longer worked for me when I was in training for my first Ironman competition and was gaining weight because I was eating more than I was exercising it off and I couldn’t stop eating/binging at night. The food was in complete control and I couldn’t stop.

I felt relieved and started crying when I came to my first OA meeting and I heard that I had a progressive, cunning, baffling and powerful illness called Compulsive Overeating and that it wasn’t my fault.

I learned that I can be relieved of the symptoms of this illness one moment at a time by asking for help from a power greater than myself since I was powerless over my food and food behavior. I prayed “God let this be enough” and that power greater than me did it. I was amazed and kept coming back to Overeaters Anonymous so that I would stay out of the food and food behaviors.

The tools I use now in my recovery, over 12 years later, is I still pray to a power greater than me and my illness. I keep attending OA meetings, work with a sponsor, work the 12 steps daily, work with others with their recovery, writing, reading OA literature, follow a plan of eating with my Higher Power’s help and guidance and recognize that it’s just for today. This is what I do daily so that symptoms of Compulsive Overeating do not over-power me again. It has saved my life.

What most of us compulsive eaters have in common is that our bodies and minds seem to send us signals. A normal eater gets full and loses interest in food. We crave more. You can explore if OA is right for you or someone you know by visiting https://www.oamilwaukee.org/food/

By an anonymous member of OAMAI