Samantha was desperate to control her eating habits and continuous weight gain. Over the years, she tried everything — diets, pills, weight loss programs, even bariatric surgery — yet nothing worked for the Graniteville resident who, at around 5 feet tall, weighed more than 200 pounds. 
Compulsive overeaters can turn to a 12-step program to lose weight and take control of their lives
Food was her comfort. It was what she turned to when she couldn’t deal with life, when her self-esteem hit rock bottom and she felt like she wasn’t smart or good enough. For Samantha, food equaled love.
“I was definitely a binge eater and an emotional eater,” she said. “I would feel guilty after I ate. But then I would eat more because I felt guilty.”
In 1976, Samantha tried Overeaters Anonymous (OA) for the first time. But like the diets and pills, the 12-step recovery program based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous didn’t stick. Three years ago, she gave it another try, this time with a different mindset. She looked at her lifestyle, family and job, and most importantly, her own faults.
The program — which celebrates its 40th anniversary on Staten Island this year — clicked. She lost close to 100 pounds and changed her eating habits and way of thinking.
“I no longer feel like there’s no hope for me,” she said. “I know I can sustain whatever comes my way. I haven’t been in the state of mind where I want to sit down and eat myself into oblivion since 2009.”
UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP
OA is for anyone who has an unhealthy relationship with food, said Naomi Lippel, the international organization’s managing director. Members include a range of compulsive overeaters, from bulimics who binge and purge to the morbidly obese who consider food an addiction.
The first OA meeting was held in 1960 and has grown to include about 6,500 meetings worldwide — including 11 on Staten Island. Members come from all walks of life, although for many the food issues started in childhood and adolescence.
Signs of a problem can be obsessing about food all the time, eating in secret and to escape worry or troubles, feeling guilty after overeating, and bingeing alone at night.
The foundation of OA is the 12 steps for recovery utilized by AA. Steps members must take include: Admitting to being powerless over food; believing a greater Power can restore them to sanity; admitting to God, themselves and another human being the nature of their wrongs, and creating a list of people they harmed and making amends.
“When people go through OA, they find other areas of their life improve remarkably, like relationships and work life as well as their feelings about themselves,” Ms. Lippel said.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The organization’s membership consists of newcomers, people who relapsed and those in recovery for years. While they share their experiences during meetings, it’s not group therapy with back-and-forth dialogue, Ms. Lippel noted. This, along with the anonymous nature of the group, allows members “to say what’s going on with them without being judged or evaluated,” she said.
There are no weigh-ins or diet plans, although some members frequent a dietitian or doctor. Everyone has a sponsor, a fellow OA member who offers physical, emotional and spiritual guidance.
Katrina first frequented OA about 28 years ago to help treat her exercise bulimia. On the outside, the Tottenville resident appeared healthy. But she was compulsively overeating — and then over-exercising and smoking cigarettes — to control her weight.
She tried different diets and exercise programs, but nothing curbed her bad habits. Finally, she realized it wasn’t just what she was eating that needed to be fixed; it was what was eating her.
“I was able to get to the reasons why I was eating compulsively, the life problems and life situations I couldn’t deal with and instead, picked up food to numb it,” she said.
ISLAND VOICES
Growing up, Frank always overate, but was thin due to his active lifestyle. But in his 30s, the New Springville resident began to gain weight as he exercised less and continued to eat as before. Every time a major life event occurred, i.e., a new job, kids, a divorce, he packed on a few more pounds.
Frank eventually became diabetic and tipped the scales at 349 pounds. His ex-wife pushed him to go to an OA meeting and he began his road to recovery eight years ago. He went to meetings on and off and reports he now “has been back solidly” since November.
Frank said he’s down about 20 pounds and has learned to “grow up” in the process.
“It’s not just about the eating. It’s about how you’re dealing with life as a whole,” Frank said, adding, “There are issues that go beyond putting food in your mouth.”
For Lola, food was an obsession and a coping mechanism. The New Dorp resident said she often found herself eating alone at night and sneaking food when no one was around.
But as she packed on the pounds and became morbidly obese, she wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not herself. She joined OA in 1992, looking for a “life plan” to get to the core of her overeating.
“I felt very alone,” Lola said. “When I got to the meetings, I found a lot of people like me.”
As she went through the 12 steps, the weight began to come off. Even though she slipped up over the years, she said she is down 121 pounds and has a more healthy relationship with food.
Lola also is doing things she never thought possible. Her family owns a summer home, she said, and a pool with a water slide, which she never went down for fear she’d get stuck.
Last summer, she finally took the plunge. Like walking into her first OA meeting, she said, “It was a little scary going down, but it felt really good.”
Andrea Boyarsky is the Health editor for the Advance. She may be reached at boyarsky@siadvance.com.
Are you a compulsive overeater?
Overeaters Anonymous is a group for anyone who determines they have an unhealthy relationship with food. If you exhibit the below behaviors, you may be in need of help.
*Eat when you’re not hungry.
*Go on eating binges for no apparent reason.
*Have feelings of guilt and remorse after overeating.
*Give too much time and thought to food.
*Look forward with pleasure and anticipation to the time when you can eat alone.
Plan secret binges ahead of time.
*Eat sensibly before others and make up for it alone.
*Resent others telling you to “use a little willpower” to stop overeating.
*Crave to eat at a definite time, day or night, other than mealtime.
*Eat to escape from worries or trouble.
Source: OA.org
Celebrating 40 years
The Staten Island Overeaters Anonymous Intergroup – a collection of members who help facilitate meetings in the borough – is sponsoring an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the group on the Island.
When:
June 3
12:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Where:
Regina M. McGinn, M.D. Education Center at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze
RSVP
By May 10 to intergroup@sioa.org or 718-605-1393
Suggested donation
$5, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds
More information
Visit sioa.org
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