What brought you to OA or back to OA?

What brought me to OA was a dear friend who had watched my weight inch up year after year from 150 to 295. with her a few years back, I was crying and desperate about having had just failed yet another attempt at weight loss. I felt like a complete failure. She mentioned OA. At that moment, I knew it existed. However, it took me another 6-8 months of pain, desperation, and misery before I went to OA.org and took the quiz to determine if I was a compulsive overeater or not. I answered all but one, “yes”. I shortly thereafter drummed up the courage to walk through the doors of OA for the first time. That was on 6/1/2014. I have regularly attended meetings ever since and am so grateful that I was willing to take that first step towards recovery.
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I tried everything on my own and it worked… but only for a few months. I knew about AA and that it helped people. I just didn’t realize they had programs for food. A friend told me her mom was in OA and I decided to try it, after thinking about it for a year. I knew from the beginning I was a compulsive overeater. That was almost 6 years ago. The people, my HP, and the Steps keep me coming back.
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The people is what brought me back after my one year hiatus from OA. People cared enough to reach out to me to just check on me. I didn’t always take their calls or emails, but I remembered those people.
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A small God voice told me that, even if I wasn’t open, I should still come back. Something kept telling me that I was where I needed to be. I gave myself the ability to take things slow, at a snail’s pace, and that this would be ok. My mom being in this program when I was a teen was helpful for me to become open to this process and meeting.
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I saw this: “Welcome to OA! If you need help with your food, or with life in general, I’m willing to help you find your answers.”
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When I heard people share in meetings that they “used to” eat like I ate at the time and that they “used to” think about food like I thought about food at the time, I decided that I needed to keep coming back -at least until I figured out how they accomplished that.
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I left my first OA meeting never intending to return. I thought it wasn’t for me. I didn’t understand what the members meant when they spoke about abstinence, the steps, a food plan, etc. I came looking for another diet plan. I just wanted someone to tell me what to do and then I would do it for a while (like every other diet I had been on). A few days after that first meeting I received a phone call. That phone call got me back to my next meeting. And I’ve kept coming back ever since. Don’t underestimate how God may work through you when you reach out to newcomers.
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My deep desire to no longer be so incredibly miserable due to my overeating and depression. No matter what I did, I kept overeating. I kept going back because I saw others that were successfully no longer binging and overeating. I wanted that hope and freedom. I wanted out of the pervasive darkness. Through the tools and steps, I have experienced this.