The pills weren t working, and one of the doctors who prescribed them for me had been arrested. But I knew I was hooked and it was getting more and more difficult to find them. I thought that the diet pills were going to do it for me that they would save me. At night, I d stuff myself with food and then crash. I d send my boyfriend to the store for rum. About four o clock in the afternoon I d go downstairs and start cooking for everyone. I d take the diet pills, then drink coffee and smoke cigarettes all day to get a buzz going. I lived in an apartment with no gas and no heat because I didn t pay my bills. I felt great, but after I had my daughter, my addiction took off. 5Ħ The pills worked and I got down to 200 pounds. The first time I went to the doctor to get pills, I weighed 289 pounds. At one point, I really wanted to lose weight, so I started taking diet pills. As far back as I can remember, I was obese. Food has always been my drug of choice, though I never knew that food could be a drug. I was a single mother on a roller coaster straight to hell. When I first came into program, I weighed over 350 pounds and I was alcoholic, drug addicted, food addicted, and welfare dependent. The program has worked a miracle in my life and I will be eternally grateful. My relationships with family and friends have been restored, and I have gained self-respect. Today, I have clarity and a peace of mind that I would never have believed could be mine. I lost 100 pounds when I joined FA, and now, more than 20 years later, my weight remains stable, and I wear a size 10 (two sizes smaller than I wore the day I was married more than 40 years ago). I became willing to trust and to give this program my best effort. I was told that I would never have to diet again, which was music to my ears. I learned that there is no cure for addiction but that it can be arrested one day at a time.
4ĥ When I came into FA, I was so relieved to learn that I had a disease and that it had a name: food addiction. My feelings of self-hatred and inferiority were unbearable, and I hated getting up each morning to face the new day. I hated myself and found fault with everyone and everything around me.
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I wore a size 22-1/2 dress, my shoes went up a full size, and hopelessness set in. Over the years, it became more and more difficult for me to stick to a diet for any length of time and my life began to fall apart. I kept believing that if I could have the perfect body, my life would be fine. I ll lose weight and my life will be perfect. Each time, I thought, This time it will work.
At the end of each cycle of dieting and weight gain, I resolved to find a different diet or another doctor, and I tried again. Each time, as soon as I lost weight, I went back to eating, gaining everything back so quickly that I could hardly believe it. From age 16 on, I went from one diet to another. My life was a constant struggle with weight from when I was 16 years old until I came into the FA program at the age of 43. 3Ĥ Each time, I thought, This time it will work. There is help, hope, and a long- term solution in FA. Whether you have 25 or 200 pounds to lose, or are simply defeated by constant struggles with your weight, you are not alone. Today, all of them have found a common solution in Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA), a Twelve-Step program for food addiction. There are no dues or fees we are self-supporting through our own contributions.ģ Is food making you miserable? Have you spent years on futile diets, losing and gaining weight repeatedly and ending up heavier than you were when you started? Or are you watching helplessly, unable to diet, as you steadily become heavier than you ever imagined you would be? Are you obsessed with food? When you eat, are you filled with selfhatred and depression because of your failure to control yourself? Do you feel hopeless? In this pamphlet, you will read the stories of people who could not stop eating, even though they hated their weight. Many people are finding recovery in FA from obesity, undereating, bulimia, and obsession with food. 1 Food Addiction There is a solution Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) offers a solution for all forms of food addiction.