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Welcome Home
  • Have I ever wished I could lose 10 pounds, 20, 40 or 100 pounds, or more?  
  • Have I ever wished that once I got it off I could keep it off?
  • Have I ever felt out of step with the world, like a homeless orphan without a place where I really belong?
                        Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • Have I ever wished my family would get to work or school so that I could get busy eating?
  • Have I ever awakened first thing in the morning and felt happy because I remembered that my favorite goodies were waiting for me in the fridge or in the cupboard?
  • Have I ever looked up at the stars and wondered what an insignificant person like me was doing in the world anyway?
                        Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.
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  • Have I ever cooked, bought, or baked for my family and then eaten everything myself so that I wouldn't have to share?
  • Have I ever wanted to hide in the house without getting cleaned up or getting dressed, without seeing anyone, and without letting anyone see me?
  • Have I ever hidden food under the bed, under the pillow, in a drawer, in the bathroom, in the wastebasket, the cupboard, the clothes hamper, the closet or in the car so that i could eat without letting anyone see me?
                        Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • Have I ever been angry, resentful, defiant -- against God, my mate, my doctor, my mother, my father, my friends, my children, the salesperson in the store whose look spoke a thousand words as I tried on clothes -- because I believed they were thin, because I believed they wanted me to be thin, and because I believed I was forced to diet to please them, to shut them up or to make them eat their words and their looks?
  • Have I ever sobbed out my misery on a dark night because no one loved or understood me?
  • Have I ever felt that God (if he existed at all) made His biggest mistake when he created me?
                        Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • Have I ever wanted to get on a bus and just keep going without ever once looking back?
  • Have I ever thought the whole world was a mess and if they would just think and act like me, the world would be a lot better off?
  • Have I ever thought that OA people must be a bit nuts?  That they might be compulsive overeaters, but I just have a weight problem which I can take care of beginning tomorrow.  Have I thought they might be one bite from insane eating, but I am just a little or a lot overweight?
                        Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • Have I ever told anyone who would listen how great I am, how talented, how intelligent, how powerful -- all the time knowing they would never believe it -- because I didn't believe it?
  • ​Have I ever lost all my weight and found that I was thin-unhappy instead of fat-unhappy?
  • Have I ever worn a mask, or hundreds of masks, because I was sure that if I shared the person I really am, no one could ever love me or accept me?  
                        I am accepted in OA.  They offered me a home.  -  Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • Overeaters Anonymous extends to all the gift of acceptance.  No matter who I am, where I am coming from or where I am heading, I am welcome and accepted here.  No matter what I have done or failed to do, no matter what I have felt, or haven't felt, no matter where I have slept or with whom, who I have loved or hated -- I am sure of my acceptance.  I am accepted as I am today, not as I may be tomorrow.  I am accepted as I am, not as I would be if I could melt myself and mold myself and shape myself into what I believe others think I should be. 
                        Only I can decide what I want to be.  -  Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • OA will help me to work towards the goals I set, and when I am successful I will rejoice with fellow OA'ers.  I hold out my arms in love and stand beside others as I pull myself back up and walk on again to where I was heading.  I will never have to cry alone again, unless I choose to.  
                        Welcome to OA.  Welcome home.

  • Sometimes I may fail to be all that I should be and sometimes I am not there to give others what they need from me.  Accepting imperfections, I will love, accept and help others who have a need.  That's what OA is:  progress, not perfection.
                        I rejoice in this effort and in the assurance that I can have a home if I want one.  An OA home.  Welcome to it.