I’ve always loved to travel, but most of my itineraries were built around food. On one memorable trip to Chicago, in one day I spent 45 minutes at the Art Institute, which is a world-class museum, and six or seven hours taking cabs around town feeding my food addiction. Chasing after the food instead of seeing life left me feeling empty and unsatisfied. I came away from that trip feeling even more hopeless about controlling food and my weight, and I missed my opportunity to really engage with life outside of food. I have traveled quite a bit, abstinently, since joining FA. I’ve been all over the U.S. for business, and spent ten days in Europe visiting my brother. I rented an apartment in Copenhagen, shopped for groceries at the local market, and had wonderful weighed-and- measured-meals that were fuel for my exploration of the country, rather than being the... Continue Reading
As a child I was needy and insecure. My earliest memories are of being filled with fear, doubt, and insecurities. I was never comfortable in my own skin. Although I was loved and well cared for, something was missing inside me. I simply could not get enough. Food played a big role in my family. My stay-at-home-mother cooked and baked, and many family celebrations included lots of great food. Somewhere along the line, I figured out that food helped me feel better and took the edge off. Some of my earliest memories include sneaking home-baked frozen sugar treats from the freezer in the basement, then rearranging the layers, hoping nobody would notice. I played games that involved sugar snacks, and ate forbidden foods until I felt sick. I look at pictures of me growing up, and while I was always conscious of being bigger than my sisters, I was not... Continue Reading
I had never heard the term “food addict” before. I discovered it on the Internet, along with the website telling me that there were FA meetings in my city. I came into FA beyond miserable, and I decided that this would be my very last attempt before I finally resigned myself to a life of hopelessness. I had contacted a willing sponsor the afternoon after attending my first meeting and assured her I did not want to start my food plan until Monday morning. I always started my new diets on Monday mornings. I was amazed to find that I was still on my new “diet” a week later, but what I had not thought through was the fact that I had a major event coming up the next week: taking my first child to college out of state. Not only did I usually start my new diets on Mondays,... Continue Reading
I came into FA two years ago. I knew my relationship with food was warped and that I looked at food differently from the way other people did. I had tried several other Twelve-Step programs that dealt with food and I found some recovery, but never really “got it.” I thought of myself as a compulsive overeater, an emotional eater, and a bulimic. I knew I used food to stuff down feelings. I knew I was powerless over my emotions and the people around me, but I never thought of being powerless over food. It was easier to accept the diagnosis of the medical community that I was over-sensitive, bipolar, and that I needed anti-depressants. The medication helped with the mood swings, but they never helped with how I used food. I came into FA weighing around 367 pounds. The minute I walked into my first meeting, I knew that... Continue Reading
I have been heavy from a very young age and began dieting at the age of 15. I have been on every kind of diet. I used to win T-shirts and prizes because I had ordered so many diet books off the TV shopping channel. I guess I thought that having the book, even if I didn’t read it, might help me lose weight by osmosis or something. I got married when I was 17. I was fat, but my husband was with me through the thick and thin of all my dieting years. When my daughter, my youngest child, was three, I decided to solve my problem once and for all. I got my stomach stapled. Actually, I got it stapled twice. This solution worked really well for me until the day I discovered that my new stomach could handle junk food much better than “real” food, because junk... Continue Reading
