I didn’t grow up on a farm, but when I married at 19 years old, that’s where life took me. My husband and I built our lives there, raising four daughters amidst long days and hard work. It was a beautiful place to raise a family, but as the years passed, depression crept in and food became my escape. Over time—through isolation and the exhaustion of motherhood—food became more than just fuel. It was comfort, distraction, and relief. At 230 pounds on a 5’3” frame, I felt trapped. I tried every diet and made countless promises to myself, but nothing worked. I was hiding food in cupboards, in my purse, and in the glove box of my car. I was losing hope—until a family member introduced me to Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA). Though skeptical, I was desperate, so I asked for help. A sponsor guided me into a structured way of eating and living, and over 100 pounds melted away in the first year. But the real transformation wasn’t just physical. FA’s Twelve Steps helped me face my emotions instead of numbing them with food. My addiction had strained family relationships, and recovery gave me the tools to rebuild what was broken. Life still has challenges, but today I face them with strength and grace. After a decade in FA, I live with gratitude, serenity, and faith. FA didn’t just help me lose weight—it gave me back my life.

#depression #farmliving #isolation #healinginrecovery

For as long as I can remember, I was either too much or not enough – too thin or too heavy. At 5’7”, I’ve been as low as 105 pounds and as high as 220. I ran, played tennis, and tried to disappear into thinness, but no matter how much weight I lost, I still saw flaws. I obsessed over food, swinging between control and chaos. My addiction manifested in bizarre ways: while studying at college, I’d reward myself with a treat after each page I’d read, and at work, I’d bring sweets to the office only to consume them all myself. Business trips became opportunities for planned binges, where I’d spread out multiple snack foods on the hotel bed and then eat everything, drowning in shame. When I walked into my first Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) meeting at 197 pounds, I was desperate. I didn’t think FA could help me. Then, a woman stood up and

told her story. I couldn’t believe it. She looked nothing like me, but she had lived my life. After the meeting, I got a sponsor. That night, I binged one last time, but the next morning, I called her and began. I didn’t think I’d last a day, but I have been here 22 years now, living in a body that feels like home. I weigh a steady, healthy 141 pounds, and more importantly, I’m no longer tormented by food or shame. At my first meeting, I heard that working the FA program offers “a life of sane and happy usefulness.” That combination – sane and happy – sounded pretty good to me. And that’s exactly what I got.

#overeater #undereater

In 2013, weighing 193 pounds, I was caught in an endless cycle of gaining and losing the same 20 pounds despite exercising six hours daily. At my heaviest, I had reached 309 pounds. Food was my solution for everything—my way of stuffing down emotions in a family where we never discussed feelings or learned healthy communication. As a child, I soothed myself by sucking my fingers until age 12. I had no stable identity, defining myself only in relation to others. Consumed by fear, doubt, and insecurity, I obsessed over others' opinions while compulsively trying to fix everyone's problems. My dieting began at 15 with a weekly Thursday weigh-in, followed by weekend binges. Working at a grocery store gave me both money and dangerous food access. In college, I met my future husband and gained 35 additional pounds. After college, in the year before our wedding, I lived above a bakery, and my eating behaviors only worsened. Our marriage struggled because of my dishonesty about both food and finances. After adopting a five-year-old boy from foster care, I built my identity around motherhood. When he left for the boarding school where my husband taught, I felt completely lost. Realizing I needed help, I found Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA), where I met two women with decades of recovery who showed me another way. I found boundaries, structure, and community. Today, despite my husband's leukemia diagnosis and my son's chronic health issues, I face life without fear. One day at a time, I've maintained my abstinence and my weight loss of over 100 pounds. It has been eleven years since my last binge.

#EmotionalEating

#BingeEatingRecovery

#BingeEating

#FoodFreedom

#FreedomFromFood