Frequently Asked Questions

Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.

OA sees the problem differently and therefore approaches the solution differently.

OA sees the problems we have with food, eating, and weight as significant in themselves, but also as signs or symptoms of deeper issues – including the possible phenomenon of physical craving.  OA provides a comprehensive approach – physical, emotional, and spiritual – to ease those deeper issues and reduce the symptoms, with on-going support for as long as it is desired.  The Nine Tools of OA, used regularly and applied repeatedly to the Twelve Steps of OA make up the blueprint for an approach to living in harmony with ourselves, our bodies, our families and our society – all while acquiring a healthy, sane manner of nourishing ourselves and working toward a healthy body weight.

In Overeaters Anonymous, you’ll find members who are extremely overweight, even morbidly obese; moderately overweight; average weight; underweight; still maintaining periodic control over their eating behavior; or totally unable to control their compulsive eating. OA members experience many different patterns of food behaviors. These “symptoms” are as varied as our membership. Among them are:

• eating binges or grazing
• preoccupation with reducing diets
• starving
• laxative or diuretic abuse
• excessive exercise
• inducing vomiting after eating
• chewing and spitting out food
• use of diet pills, shots and other medical interventions to control weight
• inability to stop eating certain foods after taking the first bite
• fantasies about food
• vulnerability to quick-weight-loss schemes
• constant preoccupation with food
• using food as a reward or comfort

Our symptoms may vary, but we share a common bond: we are powerless over food and our lives are unmanageable. This common problem has led those in OA to seek and find a common solution in the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions and nine tools of Overeaters Anonymous.

The concept of abstinence is the basis of OA’s program of recovery. OA defines abstinence as “refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors.”  By admitting inability to control compulsive eating in the past and abandoning the worn out idea that “this time it will be different,” it becomes possible to abstain from overeating and from compulsive food behaviors—one day at a time.

Many members, but not all, use a food plan to provide guidelines for their eating. The members’ individual guidelines are varied, but many begin with identifying their “alcoholic” foods – those that cause a craving or urge to eat more and more — a craving too great to control. Many members find that, by eliminating these foods, the cravings lessen or even stop. Many members find it helpful to consult with an OA sponsor to affirm, create or arrive at this important set of guidelines for recovery.  OA also supports using advice from qualified professionals..

Having eliminated most of our cravings, which enables moderate eating, most overweight members start to lose weight at a healthy rate and quickly begin to regain the self-worth that had become so badly damaged.

However, when the cravings stop, we still have more work to do. Work that enables us to continue to behave with our own best interest at the forefront — even when life throws us challenges or our friends and family can’t provide all the support we need. This work is outlined in The Twelve Steps and many OA sponsors are available to help you progress through them.  The work is done steadily and deeply, rather than a quick and shallow approach.  Most of us have a long-term problem and short-term solutions do not work for us.

While a diet can help us lose weight, in the long run, it often intensifies the compulsion to overeat. Most OA members find a diet is not nearly adequate to relieve the symptoms and suffering of food compulsion. This is why the solution offered by OA does not include diet tips. Instead OA offers a wide array of suggestions that help the individual navigate their own life without the need to use eating or food behaviors as a crutch.

The same suggestions that help us start losing weight, also help us to maintain our weight. OA is a comprehensive, whole-person approach that works in all stages and situations.

Anonymity allows the Fellowship to govern itself through principles rather than personalities. Social and economic status have no relevance in OA; we are all compulsive eaters. Anonymity at the level of press, radio, television and other media of communication provides assurance that OA membership will not be disclosed.

Overeaters Anonymous has no dues or fees for membership. It is entirely self-supporting through member contributions and funds raised at the annual convention. Most groups “pass the basket” at meetings to cover expenses. OA does not solicit or accept outside contributions.

OA is not a religious society or organization and does not require any religious belief or affiliation as a condition of membership. OA has among its membership people of many religious faiths as well as atheists and agnostics. The OA recovery program is based on acceptance of certain spiritual values. Members are free to interpret these values as they think best, or not to think about them at all if they so choose. Many individuals who come to OA have reservations about accepting any concept of a power greater than themselves. OA experience has shown that those who keep an open mind on this subject and continue coming to OA meetings will not find it too difficult to work out their own solution to this very personal matter.

We offer unconditional acceptance and support through readily available OA meetings. The face-to-face OA meetings of the Milwaukee Area Intergroup are the most comprehensive place to find all that you need to find relief from the heart-wrenching problem of compulsive eating. At meetings you will find support for your physical needs, and also your emotional and spiritual needs. Because the disease of compulsive overeating effects most aspects of our lives and spirit, we use the road-tested Twelve Steps (adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous).

The Twelve Steps embody a set of principles which, when followed, promote inner change. With inner change, we discard old attitudes that are not working for us, in favor of different attitudes which do work for us. Sponsors help us understand and apply these principles. As old attitudes are discarded, we often find there is no longer a need for excess food. Those of us who choose to recover one day at a time practice the Twelve Steps. In so doing, we achieve a new way of life and lasting freedom from our food obsession.  For more, please read Our Invitation to You, which summarizes what OA offers and how it can help the still suffering compulsive eater find recovery.

We in OA believe we have a threefold illness—physical, emotional and spiritual. Tens of thousands have found that OA’s Twelve-Step program affects recovery on all three levels.

In addition to face-to-face meetings, the Milwaukee Area Intergroup provides special programs and events throughout the year, including annually both a retreat and convention, to further enhance the recovery process for our members. Check the Events Calendar for details.

OA’s Find a Meeting page will help you find local face-to-face meetings as well as phone and online meetings. Search the internet for other OA websites with information about what’s available in your area, or contact the World Service Office for further assistance.

The idea of OA came to founder Rozanne S. at a Gamblers Anonymous (GA) meeting she attended with a compulsive gambling friend in 1958. As GA members shared their stories, she heard her story—not of gambling, but of compulsive overeating. She knew then that the Twelve-Step and Twelve-Tradition program founded by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and modeled by GA offered her a chance to change her life and reduce her 152-pound (69-kg) body to a size that would fit her 5-foot-2-inch (157-cm) frame. Not until 1960, when her weight had increased to 161 pounds (73 kg), could she find other people who shared her convictions. Her chance meeting with a new neighbor, Jo S., gave Rozanne strength in numbers, even if it was only one person. Together they found another compulsive overeater, Bernice S., and convened the first OA meeting in Los Angeles, California, January 19, 1960. Today, about 6,500 OA groups meet each week in over 75 countries. With OA divided into 10 regions worldwide and over 60,000 members worldwide, it helps thousands of compulsive eaters find new life in recovery. (For more on OA’s history, read Beyond Our Wildest Dreams.)