Welcome swansong56 and josaphina330
It has been a while since I have been to OA but I remain very active in the original 12 step program.
Step 1. "We admitted we were powerless over food ~ that our lives had become unmanageable"
This is a two part step. The first part admitting we were powerless over food comes hard for many of us. I was a reasonably smart man so why couldn't I find the answer to stop my over eating? I tried hundreds of ways. Different diets, different times, different foods, different medications, the list goes on and on. Each time I thought this new way is the answer, but it never worked for long. I would start the day with a very sincere mindset that I am not going to overeat and would always eat more usually much more than I had planned. I could not understand why and I was very demorilized and ashamed. It seemed like I had absolutely no control. We say in OA that you must surrender to win and this was the case with me. When I surrendered and said I can't fix this food obsession, I started down the road to recovery.
The second part of the step that our lives had become unmanageable was a little easier for me to accept Here I was grossly obese, hiding food, sneaking food, lying to myself and others, always overeating and most of all I hated myself and who I had became. If that is not an unmanageable life, what is?
Guess what? At that point I had completed working step one and I was on my journey to a whole new life. Step one is simple. It is making a decision, Nothing more and nothing less, only a decision although possibly the most important decision that I ever made.
We tend to complicate the 12 steps. They are simple the whole program is simple, NOT EASY!!, but it is simple.
Hope this helped in some small way.
Larry,
Last edited by Larry H; 07-04-2011 at 07:40 AM.
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