Mill Creek OA 100 Pounder Speaker Meeting

L L from OC

Marcy M

Laurie S

Nickie L

Sheila T

Jennifer P from LA

Helen from Long Beach

Josh from LA

Margie from SouthBay

Howard S: San Fernando Valley

Frank P from the OC

Adam S from San Fernando Valley

Joe H from San Fernando Valley

Cori K

Shari B

Doug B

Annie G

Eric G

Edith Rae

Carrie N

Wanda N

17 yesrs of abstinence, 100 pounder

Jon E

Lost hundreds of pounds over her eating career, hard core sugar addict with long term abstinence

This relapse survivor has been in OA for 8 years and abstinent for 6 months.

9 years abstinent, lost 240 pounds and found peace and recovery in OA

Amazing story of recovery of a women who found God through working the steps and has maintained a 240 pound weight loss for over 20 years.

Join JJ as he inspires you with his personal story leading from 375 pounds of food insanity to 14 years of sanity in OA. His story includes: His wonderful definition of happiness and abstinence. A great expression his sponsor shared that has to do with flat tires, and how it helps him with abstinence. How having to walk an extra block led to a profound realization that helped him with abstinence. How he deals with people who insist on giving him non-abstinent foods. A scale that drove him crazy, made him do math, and help him realize his insanity. The ailments related to compulsive eating that he used to have but are mostly now gone. What he did when his doctor told him he was a heart attack waiting to happen How he set himself up to fail and how OA helped him overcome. How he was committing slow-motion suicide, and the very dangerous things his food insanity caused him to do. The contradictory things he believed about God, and how it led to hope. How wild weight swings in another program led him to OA. The thing he refused to buy when instructed by his sponsor, and how it related to his childhood. A step he does every day even though he doesn’t like it.

Janis B tells her very inspirational story of how she dropped from 365 pounds to maintain almost a 100 pound weight loss and over a year and a half of abstinence. Her share includes: Wonderful blessings she has received from OA, including one that has to do with her steering wheel, one having to do with “taking selfies” at a lake, and one having to do with stepping out of a dressing room. How a Catholic school nun devastated her relationship with God, how this related to the Charlie Brown character Pig Pen, and how OA eventually helped her to come close to a loving God. How being molested by a family member affected her view of her body and men, her tragic view of being a victim, and how she healed. What horrific thing she used to do, especially in front of an audience of people without them knowing. Why Hawaii was a very difficult place to keep off weight, and what Hawaiian tradition she enjoyed doing that was unusual for someone her weight. Her binge habits, including what she did at fairs and an odd thing she prayed just before she binged. What she doesn’t mind occasional food inconveniences anymore. Why she never tried diets at all. What powerful thing a room full of ladies told her when she first walked into OA. How a farmer analogy helps her deal with stress.

Debbie S. has a wonderful story of hope that led to a 110 pound weight loss from 271 pounds. Sit back enjoy her fascinating life and useful ideas, including: Her morning ritual and how it allows her to have a wonderful life that’s really big [this is VERY useful—take notes!]. Example: how she uses the powerful acronym AEIOU The special kind of people who help keep her program strong, and why Whose business it is how much she weighs, and why it prevents her from sabotaging herself What her dysfunctional family did to her and what lifestyle it led to Why she can be grateful to Google What made her stop from sneaking out of her first OA meeting What she means by “a God thing”, and how it made her realize she needed OA What scared her away from a lap band How she defines her special kind of abstinence

You’ll enjoy Mickey B’s entertaining story of hope, stretching a lifetime of compulsive eating from his childhood in Ireland to his adulthood in America. Mickey shares a number of interesting things that occurred in his life that led from food insanity to his current abstinence and maintaining 60 pounds of weight loss: What it was like to grow up in the middle of the Irish war What terrible thing was communicated to him in boarding school, why it affected him for many years, and the unusual thing he did after it happened His extreme patterns of eating, occasionally over 12,000 calories is sitting What his emotional state was like after he binged Other types of compulsive behavior he used to deal with binging Crazy things he believed How he “audited the class” at his first attempt in OA What it took for him to rejoin OA Something he had to learn that most people know how to do already Why he jumped into a trash bin for “legitimate purposes” The expression he used to hate that he uses all the time now

There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience when Cindy W. told us her amazing story of hope through 13 years in OA, dropping from a high of 479 pounds to normal weight and eating sanely today: Her very first memories in her life and how they related to food. What it was like to be 225 pounds 11 years and 440 pounds at 15 years, and how it affected where she went to school. How two mean old ladies got her to go to OA age 12, and what happened there that made her want to return to OA years later when she was ready. Why an application for work shocked her and gave her self-realization. How she dealt with an abusive husband. Was she tells herself if she is tempted to take a compulsive byte. How she views her weight loss scars.

Kia M. has a wonderful story of hope, sharing with you her long road to abstinence since May 2011 and maintaining well over 100 pounds weight loss to normal weight, down from 280 pounds. She shares many events in her life and the wisdom she has gained from OA, including: What it was like to feel so overweight that she refused to be photographed. What she always wore to prevent her from feeling weight gain, and what revealed her weight gain. What epiphany she realized that made her give up sugar. What she believes is the difference between abstaining and abstinent. What she craved eating after giving birth, what crazy thing it drove her to do that endanger her babies, and what she realized that helped her be a better mom. How her relationship with food improved. What happened to her finances since she has been abstinent. Her ideas on the psychology of losing weight. What is happened to her compulsion to overeat. One of her quotes: “don’t let your fear rob you of the best life you have”

Enjoy Nancy J's 40th OA anniversary celebration! You will feel her joy as she tells what it has taken to maintain a 150 pound weight loss, including: The three most important words in OA What embarrassing thing happened when she needed to be weighed for a checkup What it was like to be over 200 pounds in junior high, and what she did to eat faster What unusual thing her sponsor asked her to do when Nancy could not define her higher power Which she means by compulsive eaters being great compensators Why she joined OA even though she thought it was a cult What she thinks all sponsors should try to do What it takes for recovery to set in and free you The greatest things that OA gave her What we have to accept in order to deal with compulsive overeating Why service is slimming

Get out your pencil and notepad as Heather O. shares the wisdom she has gained in OA that has allowed her to maintain a 110 pound weight loss since. She discusses her belief that it was okay for her to be overweight, even when she stole food and money. She talks about what it took to overcome shake diets and exercise bulimia. Some of the interesting and useful topics she covers are: One word that described her inability to deal with fear, pain, and anxiety. The thing that it is okay for her not to know. The ways of being connected that maintain her abstinence. A hopeful thought on how to deal with a rough life. What promise is the greatest to her. Visualizations that helped her maintain abstinence. As a special treat, she will walk you through a simple eleventh-step visualization exercise that will help you hold onto serenity.

Loni G. shares her story of hope as a recovering compulsive overeater, telling how overeaters anonymous helped her drop from 340 pounds to normal weight. As a bonus, she shares great quotes you will want to make note of. Some of the things she talks about are: · What wonderful thing she does in front of a mirror before she leaves that she never did before. · What important thing she remembers when she wakes up each morning, and what she does after that. · The special prayer she uses to ask God to stand between her and fear and food. · Why terror after her big binge at Christmas of 1985 drove her to join Overeaters Anonymous in January of 1986. · The only thing she took away from her first meeting, and why losing her nerve prevented her from leaving her first Overeaters Anonymous meetings. · Why her horror and fascination with a rowdy OA group in LA was inspirational to her. · What she does instead of a fourth step checklist. · What she remembered that helped her get through her step work. · A great quote about ranting. · What three things she finds effective in reporting to her sponsor about her food.

Ira shares his story of hope.

Ashton shares her story of hope

When Ron replaced his other addictions with food, he had NO IDEA that eating compulsively was a disease. He thought nothing of the fact that he was overeating. Doesn’t everyone do that? He discovered OA through a friend from another 12 step program. When he found that the program did, indeed, work and that he was still losing weight without exercising, he was surprised. He then began to exercise, not to lose weight, but for his health. The combination of doing what his sponsor told him to do, i.e. calling his food in daily (even though his food choices never changed), working the steps, making amends, and being of service, he has been able to remain abstinent for eleven years. He still prays and meditates daily and is now able to handle difficult situations by putting time between his actions and his reactions. Ron said he has had a spiritual awakening, not a spiritual experience. He wakes up in the morning with no fear, is a positive thinker, and is working the steps for the 3rd or 4th time. Learning to surrender is one of the best things he has gotten from this program. He said “As long as I surrender and follow direction with my sponsor, life’s going to stay good.”

When Rich wanted his problems to disappear he “pigged out to pass out”. He calls the disease of overeating the “disease of numbing”. He learned about OA at an Orange County Fair OA booth. When he attended his 1st meeting he connected with the people but didn’t feel comfortable with reading “The Big Book,” so at this point he decided not to come back. However, a few years later he did come back to meetings and worked the 12 steps in earnest . He is an agnostic and chose his HP to be the group. He found that reading chapter 4, “To The Agnostic” was very helpful for him. He said “this program saved my life”. He talks about resentments, sponsoring others and the gifts of the program. He uses the tool of prayer daily and gratitude is the foundation of his recovery.

Holly shares a heartfelt story with a great ending. She is a single parent who spent most of her time working. Her relationship with her daughter was strained, to say the least. Her weight was over 445 pounds and she was miserable. Her therapist suggested she try OA and to her surprise she realized that she was not the only person on earth who felt worthless. She never met anyone who understood what she was going through before she attended OA meetings. The promises of the program are coming true for Holly. Being a sponsor and working with others has changed her life. She loves the fellowship and working with others.

Marci always felt she had a love/hate relationship with food, mainly sugar. When she was young she would sneak food or steal money to buy food. Because she was an active child, she didn’t show a weight gain until she was in her late teens. When she got older she wasn’t honest with anyone, including herself, about what, and how much she ate. When she gained 150 pounds during her pregnancy she knew she had a serious problem with food. Even though she had a sincere desire to stop compulsively overeating she wasn’t able to stop. Being obese started to seriously impact her health and that is what brought her into these rooms. In the past, fad diets and taking prescription diet pills were her temporary fix. These fixes never lasted very long and the weight would always come right back on, plus more. Since joining OA, Marci has given away over 100 pounds and has been abstinent for over 11 years. Her abstinence is saying no to compulsive overeating and saying no to her “red flag” foods. To Marci this means that overeating brown rice and vegetables while abstaining from her “red flag” foods is not abstinence. For Marci, abstinence is NO COMPULSIVE OVEREATING at all. Today Marci is a very peaceful and serene person who is working her 12 steps over and over again, and she truly believes if you work the program it will work for you.

In these rooms Chaya learned how to do the little things in life so that when major things in life happened, eating food was not an option. Chaya plans what she is going to eat and eats what she plans…NO MATTER WHAT. No substitutions. To her, substituting food is compulsive over eating. Chaya believes that serenity is knowing she is powerless over people, places, or things and that everything in her life is exactly the way God wants it to be. Because her focus is not on food anymore she is now able to enjoy her family. Also, now she has a positive point of view and she only talks about the foods she CAN eat rather than what she can’t eat. She says that dwelling on what she can’t eat sets her up to feel deprived. Today it is Chaya’s CHOICE to eat the foods on her food plan. When she is offered food that isn’t on her plan she politely says “ thank you, I appreciate your hard work and thoughtfulness”. To feel comfortable saying these words she found she really had to practice a lot. Chaya knows she never again has to go through things alone because she always has the people in these rooms to turn to. She has also learned that she can choose how to react to events, good or bad, and that she doesn’t have to act on every thought.

Sit back and be inspired by Victoria's message of hope and recovery. She tells how being in another 12 step group helped her realize she was a compulsive eater, what was blocking her spiritual growth, what tools helped her deal with her “crud”, what risky behavior she did that saved her life, her halfhearted suicide attempts, what she means by “weeds still coming up”, what she does in the morning and is so enjoyable spiritually, what her “safety latch” is, which is her most important tool, whether she or God "leaves first", what happens when she acknowledges character defects, and what her vital “baby steps” are. We know you will be blessed by Victoria’s honest share.

If you want to work a successful spiritual program and are not sure how to do it, you will really enjoy Jim’s pitch. He talks about how his doctor friend suggested the OA program and how he originally resisted it. He talks about getting a sponsor and following directions, his first spiritual experience, doing the 11th step during his daily exercise program, and much, much more. Jim believes that a food plan is a critical part of the program and that compulsive overeating is a spiritual disease and there is nothing a doctor can do to fix it. He says that he needed to get a food plan that set up a spiritual boundary between eating and compulsive over eating. He daily commits his food to both his higher power and his sponsor. He uses the 12 steps to address the chemical reaction in his brain toward food. There are no foods that he is addicted to, only foods that are triggers and he eliminates them or reduces them at once after a discussion with his sponsor. Jim has his own contract with his Higher Power and shares each and every meal with Him. He stresses how this time with his Higher Power is very important and how safe, serene, and enjoyable it is. Today is Jim’s 15th birthday in OA and he stresses that a food plan has to have spiritual content or it isn’t going to work. Happy Birthday, Jim.

Kari is and has always been a very athletic person and didn’t start gaining eight until she moved far away from home to go to college. She found that in college her mom wasn’t monitoring her weight weekly and she could eat as much food as she wanted whenever she wanted it and with no punishment. She chose not to go home during school breaks for fear people would notice her weight gain. Kari liked to travel and found that being an obese person in Europe was a very humiliating experience. Apparently pointing and laughing is what they do. Kari is quite the storyteller and you will be rooting for her as she tells of her journey from out of control eating and weight gain to the peace and serenity she has found by following the tools of recovery in OA.

Kelly shares her inspiring story of how she went from eating sugar, flower, and grease all day to maintaining a weight loss of 75 pounds. She tells what it was like to be a compulsive overeater since she was five years old, how she felt as the only chubby sibling, and what it was like when her mother tried to get her to lose weight. She shares what it was like being without hope and disgusted with herself as she unsuccessfully tried every diet she ran across, and why her goal is no longer just about losing weight. She describes the key reason why her first encounter with OA in 1990 failed, and what it took for her to get OA to work for her. Kelly also recounts what it took for her to” get busy” with the OA program, who she thinks God is and how she discovered this, what she things regarding OA versus AA, what she continually asks God, what happened when she tried to make amends to people she had offended, and what spiritual conditioning requires from her. Come and let Kelly share her life with you.

Tony talks about and names specific foods so he will not forget the compulsion he had for those foods for so many years. At age 7 he started to gain weight very rapidly. His parents created an abstinent household but when they would go out he would steal their money and go to the local market. When he didn’t have money he would go to the same market to steal whatever he fancied. Whatever it took to get his fix! He liked sweets because of the effect the sugar produced, even though it only lasted a few minutes. In those few minutes he felt as though all of his troubles were gone. At age 11 he went to his first OA meeting but felt uncomfortable around all of the adults. He didn’t return to meetings until he was 21. When he began to sponsor other people he found that the people he sponsored gave him exactly what he needed to look at in himself. Today, going to meetings, the tools, prayer, meditation and sponsorship are a very big part of his life. He realized that through the years he has been able to get through so much and has been given so much thanks to the OA program. He is a very grateful, and very happy recovering compulsive overeater.

Bob H. will give you a smile and some things to think about as he shares with his folksy, open, and practical style about his struggle and success with compulsive eating. He talks about what he used to eat in gallon cans, and the unpleasant kind of chocolate he ate before he went to Hometown Buffet. Bob tells how a non-OA 12-step group member offered to sponsor him, even though he didn’t like Bob at the time! Bob shares his wisdom on the 12 steps, such as why a diet isn’t enough for us, an unusual analogy of what it is like if we don’t follow the steps will following a food plan (hint: it has to do with apes), what he uses to follow the steps, why many people in 12 step don’t talk about their higher power, why following the steps is the most loving thing you can do for yourself, what happens to your issues if you don’t follow the steps, and how he develops the discipline to follow the steps and tools. Finally, he shares what he believes character defects are, and the wonderful benefits you will receive by being willing to have them removed.

Alice gives us hope that it can be done, and that one can stay abstinent no matter what. She shares her experience, strength, and hope and takes us way back...