I have experienced a 160-pound weight loss in FA. I have come to believe that “practicing these principles in all my affairs” is an effective way to address the many other addictions in my life. As a recovering chronic spender and credit card abuser, I now live each month on a balanced and reasonable budget. Knowing exactly how much money I can spend for food has brought tremendous peace to my life. This past week I had $44.00 left in my budget for food and over a week to go before another paycheck. As I shopped the aisles, I looked at each item from the “do I need this or do I want this?” perspective. I didn’t do any mental math manipulation. I simply asked God to help me discern what I really needed. I stood at the checkout and watched the total rise. As the clerk neared the end... Continue Reading
Looking back to when I entered into that threshold that is the first 90 days of FA, three-and-half years and one-hundred-thirty pounds ago, I can say that I never want to go down that painful road again. Coming off of flour and sugar was so hard for me that if I knew then what I know now, I would have taken time off from work and stayed at home for a several weeks! I was an emotional basket case, to say the very least. My feelings were a roller coaster of never-ending ups and downs. My mood was completely unstable. I was extremely rude to those closest to me. Mostly, I regret my behavior towards my coworker and friend during that time. Putting it simply, I acted “holier than thou” toward her because I had found recovery from food addiction and she had not. In my early days in Program,... Continue Reading
I found FA through a tortuous route that took years of self-discovery. I had weighed well over 200 pounds for 20 years, my body felt as though it were seizing up into an inflexible mass, and I despaired of ever again being below 200 pounds. I could not take another day in my life. I grew up an optimistic child in an optimistic family. Even though we moved a lot and my parents were separated for three months out of the year, they maintained their loving attention to their three children. I had an attraction to sugar from the time I was just two years old; my parents had to hide sweets from me. When I was in first grade, I stole money from my piggy bank to buy forbidden sweets and hid in a vacant lot to eat them. I don’t remember having enough sugary food—there was always a... Continue Reading
Thankfully, during my first year in Program, I lost more than 120 pounds, did my tools daily, completed an AWOL, and began sponsoring. I happen to be a pretty joyful person, and I often get asked how to be happy. I tell people that even the cheeriest people need tools to help them stay positive when life happens. But dark storms often do come. During a six-month period, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, had adrenal exhaustion, my father died, I lost my job, my mother had heart failure, and I had to sell my house to get rid of a bad loan. Keeping my abstinence during this time was challenging. My health problems were frightening and expensive to treat. Among other symptoms, I suffered from anxiety, weight gain (from the illness, not from eating), and low motivation. My dreams and personal pride were destroyed. I could easily have believed... Continue Reading
Five years ago I came into FA, desperate to lose weight. I weighed 330 pounds and was ravaged by medical complications. I had sleep apnea, hypertension, fibromyalgia, renal failure, incipient heart failure, premature osteoarthritis, and pre-diabetes. At the age of 55, and after decades of obesity, my body had lost its ability to buffer any further insults. It had lost its functional reserve to the point where organs were starting to fail and show the clinical effects of longstanding food abuse. The only option open was bariatric surgery. Nothing else had worked and I thought nothing else was available or would work. I had reached rock bottom. Some would say that it was serendipity that I heard about FA while driving home. For me it was nothing less than a miracle, because the week before I found FA, I was on my knees crying and praying to God to give... Continue Reading
