FA and Body Dysmorphia

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The free 12-Step program of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) helps people with Body Dysmorphia love their bodies

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) address symptoms of Body Dysmorphia including:

• Constantly checking the mirror
• Avoiding mirrors
• Comparing your body with other people's
• Avoiding social activities
• Feeling anxious or depressed

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"I was always obsessed with how my body looked."

I was always obsessed with how much I weighed and how my body looked. I constantly sized myself up in mirrors or tried to avoid them altogether. I battled with what I should put in my mouth and with the guilt that followed eating something that I “shouldn’t have.” My self-esteem was tied to my weight. When I walked into a room, or when I encountered another person, I played the “compare and despair” game. If you were thinner that I was, you were the better person; if you were heavier, I was the better person.

After several years in FA, at the age of 48, at 119 pounds, I wear a bikini at the beach and at public pools, and am not too self conscious to run and play in the sand and the water with my two young children. I do not measure my success in life by how much I weigh.

"I am no longer a ball of self-hatred and shame."

In my early teenage years, I remember shopping at a warehouse clothing store with my mother. I was already extremely self-conscious about my body, and I was sure I was fat. 

We staked out a spot by a mirror in the communal dressing room. My mother tried to shield me, but it was still a humiliating, uncomfortable experience, and I absolutely could not enjoy trying on the pretty outfits. The whole experience was suffocating and stressful.

In FA I became able to walk into a store and try on a whole bunch of clothes that fit me. Instead of walking out of a store with red eyes from crying in the dressing room, I walked out with a full shopping bag, meeting the glances of other people with a smile.

I am no longer a ball of self-hatred and shame. The confidence I feel about my right to be anywhere in this world, including in a store, translates into a grace that I can share with others. I no longer have to hide; I can meet other people’s glances head-on. 

"I no longer feel shame about my body and my sexuality."

I came into the FA program filled with shame, confusion, doubt, insecurity, and guilt. I was riddled with fear about coming out to my parents, about my sexuality, and about how I would fit into the world as a gay woman. I just needed all the noise in my head to stop.

Today I accept me exactly as I am. I love my body today, even my stomach, which I used to hate. I have less fear, doubt, and insecurity, and when those feelings come up, I use my tools, and they work.

Find out more about how FA works and learn what steps to take to get started.

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