I started out life as an outwardly happy and healthy little boy. But I now see that by a very early age, I had the personality traits of a potential addict. I had a lot of trouble adjusting to life situations. After my parents’ divorce when I was three years old, I began to isolate and to develop a rageful and explosive personality. School became a continual struggle for me. As early as second grade, I violently rebelled against doing what I was told. In junior high school, my violent behavior toned down; but I became very depressed, withdrawing more and more into a world of drawing, science-fiction books, comics, and weight lifting. I hated being a skinny teenager and was continually frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get more muscular. For a while, my eating was rigid and controlled, but then I began to go to the other extreme,... Continue Reading
Me, a food addict? Are you kidding? If you had told me just five years ago that I would soon be addicted to food just like an alcoholic is to alcohol, I would have thought at the very least you had a few screws loose. First of all, I wasn’t fat! Far from it, I was a skinny teenager and had even tried to gain weight for several years. How could someone like me be a food addict? By the age 19, I could no longer ignore my frightening loss of control over my eating. Why did I eat so much that I was sick and bloated, often stealing other people’s food and eating in secret? My eating habits had always been a bit strange, but now I was out of control. Day after day I would repeat this desperate behavior. I could not seem to control myself. As my... Continue Reading
I found this program of recovery when I was 19 years old and in college. I have kept 80 pounds off and haven’t binged for almost 13 years. When I was a kid I had loving parents and many friends and got good grades. However, I never felt “normal.” It seemed as though everyone else knew how they were supposed to act, but I didn’t. I was very self-conscious about my weight. I loved food, especially sweets and junk food. I used to go to the homes of certain friends just because I knew they had food I couldn’t get at my house. In junior high, I never got asked to dance at the school dances. I was klutzy and always got picked last in gym class. I was so jealous of the skinny girls in their skinny jeans. I ate to make myself feel better, to push the sad,... Continue Reading
“Okay, you are right Dad, I’m addicted to food…now what?” At the tender age of fourteen, I agreed with my dad that I had a problem with food. I couldn’t deny the late nights, leaning into the refrigerator, countless missing leftovers from the kitchen, or the fact that I was fourteen and 225 pounds. No, I couldn’t deny it anymore. But what could I do about it? My dad printed out information about FA. That day I was able to admit that I didn’t know everything, and in fact I probably knew very little. The food had defeated me, and I needed help. My mom and I went to a meeting and I started Program, resisted a bit, and then got into the swing of things. I got abstinent the first month of high school. I soared through life with ease, not because things didn’t come up, but because I... Continue Reading
I am a girl who spent the majority of my life putting wrappers in my bed, bags, car and even my own underpants to sneak food past my parents every night. I am also a girl who got my 90 days in FA this past Tuesday. I am a nineteen-year old college student who was, until mid-November, a tortured food addict. In FA we say that food addiction is a progressive disease; it certainly is with me; I gained over 100 pounds in under two years. This obviously took a great toll on my body; as I was nearing 250 pounds I felt the muscles in my back spasm and clench walking to the mailbox. Sweat constantly dripped down my back, legs and face, which I found mortifying. Perhaps the worst pain was that of my parents watching me physically and emotionally deteriorate before their eyes. I couldn’t fit into any of... Continue Reading
