For Today: December 18th

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

Aesop

Weight loss is not what the OA program is about.  A normal-size body is a fringe benefit received in the course of reconstructing that which cannot be seen.

Inner change is the substance of the twelve-step program.  It is sad to contemplate that there are OA meetings where food plans and “food sponsors” take precedence over the twelve steps.  Newcomers are given shadow in place of substance.

When I take a sponsor, both of us understand that we may or may not discuss food and food plans.  The whole idea of having a sponsor is predicated on my need for guidance in working a spiritual program---by someone who has attained a measure of experience in doing so.

For Today:  I have done enough “research” on diet and weight loss programs to know that the program we have in Overeaters Anonymous is not one of them.

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I can lose weight from my body, but, if I don't make some internal changes, that weight loss is just temporary.

I know, because I've lost weight 100 times, only to turn around and regain every pound I'd lost, and then some.


This time is different for me.  This time I've embraced the OA program and I'm working the 12 Steps on a regular basis.


This time, the weight loss is a side benefit to the serenity and peace of mind I am feeling from within.

I no longer obsess over the scale; I no longer obsess over what to eat or not eat............because my abstinence Food Plan directs me.  If I stay true to that plan, my body stays at a normal weight and within healthy parameters.

And, more importantly, when I stay true to my abstinence Food Plan, my mind stays healthy.


Trying to make physical changes without trying to make inner changes at the same time results in failure: failure to be all I can be, and all that God intends for me to be.


For today, I am putting abstinence first in my life.  From there, all good things flow, because I am happy with myself.