Anyone attend Food addicts or overeaters anonymous meeting to get over the food addiction?

Pre-op or post-op

A few of my clients just started attending meetings and they said they have never been so satisfied. In a month they have lost 25 and 35 pounds. They said that there are a few post op patients in their meetings. After talking to them I thought it maybe a good idea to tackle the food addiction that got me to the weight I am today. Just curious other thoughts/experiences.

Thank you,
Amy

I've certainly had to do something to address my food addiction - and for me cognitive therapy was the best approach.  I was familiar with OA and found the rigidity of the program to be constrictive.  I eat in a highly planned structured way and have ever since my WLS and my challenge has been to learn to trust my body and be less rigid.  I have a friend who swears by OA and finds the accountability to her sponsor very important for her recovery.  I found that commiting to eating very specific food was not what I need at this stage - I need to be more flexible.   I also have feel that telling somebody else what I was going to eat as an accountability tool is passing the responsibility for my choices and that doesn't resonate with how I am now.....I've had to find the commitment to the best choices within myself.....and it is a daily process.   Any program that can make you mindful of your choices - and it fundamentally comes down to simply that...choice.....can be effective.  It is certainly worth a try.   I think the only mistake one can make is to rely on WLS alone.  If you don't deal with the 'head issues' the surgery eventually looses it's impact - the weight stops falling off no matter how you behave...and then you are faced with making durable behavioral chance.  Many people who have WLS never seem to get that.....and their outcomes reflect that dynamic.   Susan

I joined an on-line OA group about 6 weeks prior to my surgery (www.therecoverygroup.com )
and began by making a list of my 'trigger foods' --- and was willing to surrender to them and step away from them.

My triggers are sweets and I knew that most of that food would be a 'slider food' with my band --- so, I  began before surgery to stop eating them.

By the grace of God, I have been abstinent from those foods since April 1 ---- and I know that the OA program and my communication with my sponsor is a large part of my serenity and success.

I don't attend face to face meetings -- but I do attend a monthly Band support group here locally.
I also attend weekly Weigh****cher's meetings for support and accountability.

Kathy, I didn't know you could do this online. Can you please send me the link, or are these online meetings regional? Thanks! Maureen

Hey Maureen,

The link is .org

Here it is :

http://www.therecoverygroup.org/

There is actually an online OA group for those that have gone through WLS. I will find more info and send your way.

Hugs,
T

Whoops --- wrong link earlier


If you go to www.therecoverygroup.org you will see a way to get into on-line OA meetings.

Meetings are held on line (world wide) every 3 hours around the clock --- they are at
12 midnight, 3am, 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm --- all times Eastern (adjust to your time zone).

Additionally, the Recovery Group hosts many, many different email loops that you can join.

Every 3 months, (Jan 1, April 1, June 1, Sept 1) they begin an On-line OA Step Study.
Those studies have an assigned leader, who weekly posts shares about each of the OA 12 steps -- and typically posts questions for reflection -- and the group answers in email as they feel comfortable.
So -- you can join into email loops and meetings at any time -- and you can be prepared to join the new Step Study on Jan 1, 2010 if you are interested.

Periodically, they publish a list of people who are willing to act as OA on-line sponsors, and you can hook up with a sponsor to work through the program.

WHAT A GREAT IDEA.  THANK YOU. 

I attended OA and OA 90 day program prior to surgery.  I am considering joining again now that I am post-op,   There is much more to the program than just the food side of it.  It is about the reasons you are addicted to food or anything else.  It is about clearing up your past and living authentically in your present. 

You can have a food sponsor or you can ask for a "spiritual" sponsor.  That person would have nothing to do with your food and would only guide you on the program.  I truly believe that 12 steps is a miracle program.  I have met quite a few people in the weight loss world (from nutritionists to therapists) that feel that the only 2 long-term successes for MORBID obesity are surgery and 12 steps. 

I did lose a good amount of weight on the OA 90 day program (strict weigh and measure, no flour and no sugar, very outlined food program similar to FA Food Addicts) but I just couldn't commit to doing it forever.  I really really wish I could have done that over surgery but I wasn't getting any younger so I jumped on the surgery while I was laid off from my job. 

Now I realize that I have to deal with my head issues so I am going to go back.  It is a wonderful fellowship and spiritual program (not religious).  Hope that helps!

Cathy

 Overeaters Anonymous is the only long-term solution for me.  WLS was a tool like so many others - without the ability to address my lifelong attachment to food (which I found in OA), the surgery would have been just one of the thousands of other 'solutions' I found through the years.

So many of the respondants to this posting come from California.  This summer (August), the 50th anniversary Convention will be held at the LAX Hilton.  There is at least one panel discussion of working an OA program for those of us who have chosen to have WLS - it should be very helpful for those of us who use our surgery as a tool to help our addiction to food addiction.

I choose to go to OA as some of the other food-related 12 step programs are married to their food plan, and I can't eat the quantity that the food plans that they use - therefore I cannot "recover" according to their rules.  With the ability to utilize the plan of eating that my nutritionist has helped me to develop, I can work a program of recovery that works in my day-to-day life.

I desperately need a food sponsor--In OA 35 yrs--wgt loss surgery 6 years ago--

Gaining weight and my addiction/cravings are back--My life is unmanageable---

totally  

need help