Overeaters Anonymous - first meeting.

Here goes nothing! Off to my first meeting tonight, really anxious (so much so I just blew up at my husband and son ). I know I need to go, even if it's not for me. I need to make this step, I have tried everything without much success plainly because I haven't had the motivation and strength (emotionally) to lose weight (60kg, that's another person). I have had a crap time with a friend offering her child up for adoption to me, then taking back the offer at the last minute (she now wants a closed adoption). I cannot have any more children and I am fortunate to have one, but have hoped for a long time to have another. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me tongiht and has anyone else gone to Overeaters Anon and what were your experiences? Any advice would be great

Goodness, thats hard to handle, the adoption stuff. Huge hugs for that, cant be easy.

Good luck with the OA. Ive never been, but need to lose weight, so am interested to hear howyou go. Eek, anxiety provoking for sure!

Thanks! Well it went extremely well. I thought that it would be really religious, for some people its about god for others it's about a "higher power". I found it very nerve racking going in (I even got out, went to the door, then ran back to my car and sat for five minutes). I got the courage to go in and meet people. We all shared our story and it made me feel not so alone, I admitted I had an eating addiction and that its not my fault. It was like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. First meeting - bit rough. I mgiht go into a bigger meeting to see what that's like and I have been offered a ride into Christchurch on a Friday night (currently 20 mins out in Rangiora and it's a pretty small group) to a bigger group. We'll see how that goes on Friday!

well done you!!! thats so great that you went even though it was so hard to do. give yourself a big pat on the back for that one cos you deserve it! often its hard to do things the 1st time and sometimes even the 2nd 3rd and 4th time lol but gets easier over time and can be so rewarding!

Im sorry to hear about the adopton not working out, that would be so hard getting so close to your dream of another child, huge hugs to you!

let us know how it goes on friday k?

Well I didn't end up going to the Friday meeting as the lady I was going to go in with didn't ring me back until 5pm that night. I was already in my pj's and couldn't be bothered getting out of them. So second meeting tonight went really well it's nice to talk to people who are in the exact same boat as me but face to face. We were talking about how our addiction to food came about and what brought them to Overeaters Anonymous. I can pinpoint when I became a food addict (when I was 8 and wasn't allowed to eat due to health problems, but everyone around me ate) but believe I was most likely born with it (as my parents were obese as well as overweight grandparents). All suffered from some sort of depression as well. So it's great to know that just like mental health problems overeating is considered an illness too and in accepting its an illness that we have no control over, we will eventually find ways of recovering from it. I need to acknowlege that it will be something that will be with me my entire life.