My First Post

...and I am a compulsive overeater.

Wow! It felt good to say that.

I joined OA in January feeling totally helpless and powerless over food. As a New Year's Resolution, I had started a diet on January 1st. Between Christmas and New Year's, I had gained 6 1/2 pounds. All I thought about was food that week. So, at a plump 171 1/2 on January 1, I started a diet. The first week went well and I was back to my Christmas Day weight (165). But then the yo-yoing started and I was up and down, up and down. You get the picture. For the first time, I felt that I could not do this alone. I needed help.

After lots of searching on the Internet, my options were Alli (I had never tried a diet aid before and after reading about its side effects, I decided to pass on it), Weight Watchers or OA. Between Weight Watchers and OA, OA was free (except for the Seventh Tradition), so I thought I'd give that a try first. I actually thought I might not be heavy enough to join! I really thought you had to be obese to be in OA. When I weighed 250 pounds, I was obese. But I knew I was not obese now. Boy, was I surprised when I walked into my first meeting on January 20, 2008. There were people there of all sizes: thin, too thin, HWP, chubby and obese. I never made the connection that anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating were all part of the same disease.

I had a Newcomer's meeting where I mentioned that I was agnostic and concerned about the whole HP spirituality thing. It was suggested that I make the "OA meeting" my "HP" and work with that concept for now. Yep, got me right over that hurdle and into the program.

That was Sunday night, Day 1. I will talk about Day 2 in my next post.