I came into FA while I was in college. By that time, I had a long history of not having used my mind for anything but concentrating on looking good and deciding on the next meal to concoct. I was constantly obsessed with where to get food, how to make it, and how to get the most checked-out. One time I was so desperate to get food unstuck from the vending machine at school that I tried to tip it over from the top. I was so embarrassed! In my beginning years of college, I was intoxicated with sugar, flour, fat, fear, doubt, and insecurity. The only conversations I was interested in having with people were about the state of my body—how it was either growing or shrinking. I would talk about the latest diet I was on and how it was or wasn’t working. It was always all about... Continue Reading
Before I came into FA I weighed 230 pounds and was suffering from a daily feeling of depression, anxiety, and despondency. Every morning I woke up with a feeling of desperation and the desire to escape from life. I ate from the time the alarm went off in the morning until I crashed into bed, with hands still sticky from the snack on the bedside stand and my teeth not brushed. I couldn’t get from home to work without a snack, and I couldn’t get from work to home without unbuttoning my pants because I was squeezed so tightly into my size 16s and 18s. I ate when I was bored, busy, anxious, or happy. I thought that food was my cure-all, but it only made my problems worse. Eating addictively made me ill and zapped the life out of me, but I couldn’t stop. I always had a way to disconnect from my feelings.... Continue Reading
This was my eleventh Christmas in recovery and the first Christmas without my mom. Not that we had been terribly close, but over the last four years, she had become a bright spot in my life. Then one day she was found dead in her garden, and all I have now are memories. Our last phone conversation was full of love, mutual caring, and tolerance. We were really listening to each other. The last couple of times I had seen her, I had pocketed my pride and my childhood pain so I could show her the love and affection I had found through FA recovery. I made my amends to her, and whenever I visited, I stayed in close touch with FA, via my outreach calls. My mom became loving and caring and did not control me at all. What had happened? That was not the kind of dragon I... Continue Reading
It amazes me that after one year in FA, with 155 pounds off my body, I still will resort to my old destructive ways. I used to overeat, binge, and purge. I was also addicted to cooking and to looking at recipes. My sponsor often has referred to my recipe hunting and viewing them online as a form of pornography for me. I didn’t see the harm as long as I didn’t make any of the recipes. But I do have a problem: once I start reading and looking at recipes, I can’t stop. I have to admit that even recently, with a year in Program, I sat at my desk at work and ended up printing recipes for Christmas treats. I am not going to bake them; I just had to have the recipes. I have made a commitment more than once to my sponsor not to look at... Continue Reading
I put in a FA CD and heard a woman talk about exercising. I thought about how, when my children were young, I couldn’t do activities that my family wanted to do. The woman on the CD related how she exercised because she enjoyed it. She didn’t do it for the usual food addict’s reasons: because she ate too much and had to work it off or as an excuse to eat more. I was 52 years old, 100 pounds overweight, and so unhappy with my life. I had tried dozens of diets and gimmicks. Some worked for a short time, but none were successful. But when I came into FA, got a sponsor, and worked the program, my weight fell off. Now what? I had not been in a thin body in over 30 years. I wanted a new goal to focus on. After my first year in FA, I... Continue Reading
