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.