Recovery Meditations: July 27th

FOOTWORK

"I've lost so much weight
that I should be hanging from a charm bracelet."
Erma Bombeck


I have lost and gained the same weight so many times I've lost count. Lack of willpower was never an issue with me. I've whipped myself into shape many times. There was nothing I didn't do in order to lose weight. I just couldn’t keep it off.

The tide finally turned for me when I quit relying on my own power, turned my focus away from my weight problem and toward "trusting in God and cleaning house," as the Big Book states.

I did Step work under the guidance of my sponsor. I passed along to others the lessons I'd learned. I did service work. I kept practicing a conscious contact with the God of my understanding. I went to meetings and talked to others. I kept a journal. Then one day I looked up from the tasks at hand to discover I was abstinent. God did for me what I couldn't do for myself.

One day at a time...
I will do the footwork and leave the results up to God.

~ Shirley G.

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What yo yo dieter can't relate to these words? I've lost so much weight that I should be hanging from a charm bracelet. Hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds I've released and regained over the years.  Compulsive overeating is not something that can be controlled with 'willpower'.......that horribly elusive word we can never seem to develop.  "Willpower" suggests hanging on for dear life, white-knuckling it through the days of deprivation until we cannot bear another moment, and then we go back to overeating.

Abstinence suggests a daily commitment to God & to ourselves, to eat 3 (or whatever) moderate meals containing no trigger foods, and nothing in between.  Abstinence suggests NO white-knuckling, NO willpower, and just a 24 hour commitment to sanity!

For today, I will quit relying on my own power, turn my focus away from my weight issues, and toward "trusting in God and cleaning house."  I will get out of my own head and into the Big Book, instead.