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Mill Creek OA 100 Pounder Speaker Meeting
Speakers who have lost 100 pounds tell their stories.

As a kid diagnosed with clinical anxiety, Robin steals food from convenient stores. He uses amphetamines around 17 years old. He finds that it works so well at getting thin. Over time, however, he realizes that there seems to never be enough weight loss to satisfy him. He comes to OA in 1983 and leaves in 1990, gaining 100 lbs and developing a nasty case of acid reflux. He is around 300 lbs when he gets back to OA in 2000. Today he holds a much more normal weight. He is a firm believer in reading the literature and working the steps. For him, making amends has been central in his recovery, and he holds the belief that God works through the wisdom of the group in meetings. Service is extremely important, whether it’s at home or in a meeting.

Direct download: RobinT_2013_03_24.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:30pm PDT

Milly grows up in a fearful home where mom teaches the kids to never trust anyone. Dad is in the military for thirty years, and home life is very dysfunctional. She is sexually and physically abused by one of her brothers. At sixteen, she gets into a bad accident reaching for a candy bar that she dropped and had to have. At seventeen, she gets into abusing heavy drugs, and gets arrested twice. She is hospitalized for a bad LSD trip. She becomes an IV drug user too. At twenty-six, she joins weight watchers and loses 100 pounds. She gets pregnant, and has an abortion. At thirty, she comes to an OA meeting. She loses weight and then leaves. At thirty-five, she has a baby. Things change. She vows to never use drugs or alcohol again; however this does not apply to her compulsive overeating. At forty-six, she loses ninety pounds. At fifty-two, she finds out that she has uterine cancer. In January 2002, she goes back to OA, and sticks with the program. She finds it was a piece of cake to put down the drugs and alcohol, in comparison to abstaining from the food. She has to end her consumption of sugar completely after being in OA for six weeks, and then finds she has to start working a program if she is to stay abstinent. Today she works a very service oriented program of recovery. She has a solid food plan. She has a social life she never thought possible, knows great people, and has lots of fun in recovery. Although she was never religious, her main focus today is her relationship with her higher power, whom she believes has a great plan for her life. She has had some major life events happen while in recovery, and OA has been of immense help during these times, providing her the opportunity to stay abstinent time and again. Furthermore, she is able to set a great example for her son because of the program. She shares some very useful tools and a lot of great experience, strength, and hope with the group. Her abstinence date is February 21st, 2002 with a maintained weight loss of 100 pounds.

Direct download: MillyD_2013_03_17.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:30pm PDT

Adam, at a weight of over 300 pounds prior to recovery, spends a lot of time & effort making sure people’s attention isn’t on his weight, through making them laugh or sounding good. He has a “master of the universe” mentality, and tries other methods of recovery. He becomes beaten down, sick, tired, and desperate for help as he wants to stop with the out of control eating, but can’t. Two years later, he comes to an OA meeting. He fights aspects of the OA program for years, and questions everything about it. His abstinence date is 11/30/1998, and he has a weight loss of 135 pounds in recovery. Today he calls himself an asset in the workplace, a decent father, and a good husband in a working marriage.  

Direct download: AdamS_2013_03_03.mp3
Category:speaker -- posted at: 10:51pm PDT

Evelyn, from the San Fernando Valley, has maintained a weight loss of 115 pounds for 24 years, and has been abstinent from compulsive overeating for 26 years. She shares how she had lost 100 pounds just for spite towards others in recovery that claimed time and again that she would never make it. Evelyn gives us insight into the tools she has used over the years to help keep her abstinence, such as waiting 26 minutes after each meal (the time it takes for the brain to process that the body has been fed) through keeping herself busy walking, calling others, reading, or writing. Evelyn risks losing so much without working her program, including her 22 year marriage to her husband, her repaired relationship with her daughter, opportunities from her returning back to college, and all of the integrity, self-esteem, and well-being that has come along with working a solid program of recovery. She also risks continued opportunities to be a strong example of how the program works for her daughter, who is 200 pounds overweight and does not believe the program is for her.

Direct download: EvelynR_2013_03_10.mp3
Category:speaker -- posted at: 6:30pm PDT