overeaters anonymous

[Concordia]

Just wondered if anyone had been along to one of their meetings, adn what they are like?
i really do think i have a food (sugar mainly) addiction which goes further than just wanting to lose pounds. i am five stone overweight with high blood pressure and want to be around as long as i can for my kids.
i know this isn't treated the same as addiction to say alcohol but the effect on my life can be quite dramatic.
or does anyone recommend anything else for food/ sugar addiction?

I am an overeater, sometimes I can't stop myself really. I haven't been to overeaters anonymous but have found joining Slimming World has helped me back on the straight and narrow. Having smaller portions now, managing to resist binge impulses and losing weight. The more I lose the easier it is to keep my determination.

bumping for you as I've wondered about overeaters anonymous too. I have a big problem with comfort/binge eating and would love to know if it could help.

Thanks i had wondered about slimmingworld as i have tried weightwatchers in the past, whilst i did lose weight, don't think it solved the underlying problem and then i put the weight back on and then some, when i had children. lots of people on mn recommend slimming world so i may give it a go.

Wow mg2012 you're busy this evening!

I have this problem too. I haven't faced up to it until very recently, when I started to really get serious about losing weight, and realized how deep I was in this bingeing pattern. The thing that's helping me is being on a thread on here, and having people listen and offer advice when I binge.
I think the first step is the most difficult- Face up to the fact that compulsive overeating is an eating disorder, just as serious as the more well-publicised ones. I have to think of food as an alcoholic would about drinking.

hello yes I'm busy whilst my little one is in bed! Your body can and does get into habits and eating disorders are only too real. Trick is trying to break the habit easier said than done. Good luck

.

Concordia I have not gone to a meeting but I did look on their website.

Why not go along, what have you got to lose! Except weight hopefully, but more to the point finding a new way of eating.

I did a course recently and it was amazing, I heard that it was running and it was free and I was nervous to go but I did and I am so glad I did. It is called a New ID course www.newid.info/ This is a Christian course for people with eating disorders. I am a Christian and I know this course may not be right for everyone and it may not be available in your area but I found it very helpful.

The people on the New ID course might be anorexic, bulimic or compulsive eaters. (I was the latter!).

A bit like you coming to the conclusion you have a problem, I came to the same sort of conclusion about three months ago the penny finally dropped and I realised I was impulsively eating! The course was good in that it has helped me to annalyse some of the issues I was dealing with. So often I was eating out of habit or there would be other issues not really connected to being hungry! I am a bit addicted to food, but I am working on it. I think for some people there is a food addiction.

So for some people diets only work for a while. I really think looking into the reasons why 'we' overeat is helpful. Then combining it with enjoyable exercise (I walk a neighbours dog as I am really not a gym bunny!) and healthy eating rather than 'dieting'.

There is also something in the Berkshire area called OWLS

www.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/wards__departments/d/diabetes_and_endocrinology/owls.aspx?theme=Patient

Again this may not be for you and you may not be in this geographoc area, I don't live in Berkshire either but I have heard about it. It's not a Christian thing, it is run I think by the local PCT (Primary Care Trust). Might be worth seeing if other PCTs offer it? The only suggestion I would make in relation to this particular thing (and I am not recommending it as I have not gone on it) but I would say it might be worth contacting them and asking if they know where else it is offered OR contacting your local PCT and asking or both!

Please do come back and tell us if you go to Overeaters Anonymous. All the very best.

thanks italian greyhound. i saw you on the other thread and looked up the newid but there aren't any near me - mainly in the south of england i think.
i have found oa quite near to me on a saturday morning but think it may be some while before i have the confidence to go.
i am trying 'eating less' at the moment, have finally finished reading the book, and think it makes more sense to me than other thigns i have tried - paul mckenna, weightwatchers etc at least for my specific eating habits.

Hi Concordia I really do hope you will have confidence to go. If that is what you decided is for the best for you. I am sure if you do go you would receive a very warm welcome from everyone, I mean these places are set up for people like us to have problems with food so I am sure they would be very welcoming.

Please do consider joining our eating less thread if you would like some support.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/big_slim_whatever_weight_loss_club/1216651-Anyone-want-to-join-a-thread-about-Eating-Less?reverse=1

I am a very slow reader but am just reading Chapter 5 of 'Eating Less Say goodbye to overeating' by Gillian Riley, 'Set yourself free', about how being on a diet is like being a cell! It is fascinating. It certainly explains why people have big blow outs when they come off diets!

I got better from a dreadful eating disorder/ sugar addiction through Overeaters Anonymous. It's not for everyone but the 12 step approach has worked for me. No magic wand unfortunately though - took a lot of hard work. X

wileycoyote, well done for taking back control! Do you mind if I ask some questions about OA? What kind of things do they get you to do? is there a particular diet or method they use? did you find the group itself helpful or was it more the 12 step programme?

It is compulsive overeating/emotional eating for me, but it's also sugar addiction as I would hardly ever choose to binge on savoury foods. I'm trying to stick to a low fat small portion diet at the moment which I've been on for about 3 weeks, but I worry about hitting a bump, being upset, as I would normally turn to the biscuit tin and now I can't, what do I do etc

Well, it's about realising that of course it is not really about the food, it's about the feelings, but unlike an alcoholic who can give up drinking alcohol, we still have to eat. I don't go anymore - I attend AA - but i think there are some example food plans these days - they used to just suggest that one identifies one's own binge foods and dodgy behaviours and therefore defines one's own abstinence. Trouble is, when you are obsessed with bloody food this is difficult! I have been off sugar for 15 years now, and I avoid refined carbs, but apart from that am pretty much a normal eater to all intents and purposes now, which is wonderful. 12 step programme is great. You can use it to deal with everything as it os a broad umbrella. Are you going to try it?

I've been. I went after a particulary bad binge.

It was welcoming, and reassuring to be a room with some people who had found something that helped them. Talking "in the open" about your feelings around food and overeating was liberating. You don't have to share, you can just listen.

However, I am a perfectionist - something that I recently came to accept after my another counsellor - and when I didn't loose weight immediately I gave up, I guess I went for a couple of months.

I found the 12 steps idea the most difficult bit to get my head around. It really isn't explained that clearly, but I think you are meant to start reading and then people approach you to sponsor/support you. My mind was racing forward to get to the next bit!

It wasn't really for me, but I could see the support and the "rules" 3 meals and no sugar could work for some.

I would try it if you are curious. There were many in my group who had found "their" answer....

Good luck

Hmm, sugar and refined carbs are definitely my problem, so i think it might help me. however, sometimes i am guilty of trying lots of differnt conflicting things at once to try and lose weight and then giving up altogether.
i have decided to do eating less by gillian rilley and give that a good go, so i think i will put the oa idea on hold for the minute.
i can't imagine actually 'being off' sugar for 15 years wileycoyote, that would be amazing! well done...

Well done Wileycoyote.

concordia please do join us on the thread any time you want to.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/big_slim_whatever_weight_loss_club/1216651-Anyone-want-to-join-a-thread-about-Eating-Less?reverse=1

All the best with whatever you do.