How I lost the weight

On Election day in November 2004, I weighed around 320 pounds and I had given myself gastroenteritis from trying to gain enough weight to qualify for gastric bypass surgery. I had weight related joint and skin problems and sleep apnea. I couldn't do anything without losing my breath. I was miserable and hated myself and completely uncomfortable every second of the day. Looking back on that time I believe I was trying to kill myself with food.

Fortunately, the therapist I started seeing around that time told me that she couldn't do anything for me until I dealt with my food addiction. She recommended that I go to a program called CEA-HOW. I went to my first meeting two days later and my life was saved.

CEA-HOW is an offshoot of Overeater's Anonymous. One of the main differences is that there is a food plan, which I believe is why it worked for me. I needed the discipline of the food plan to cling to like a life preserver. Defining your own abstinence like in OA doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

The #1 way this program helped me was in helping me get to the root of why I was eating compulsively. These reasons were the same reasons I drank and drugged in my 20's. I was an addict (although never a gambler; it's funny how rumors get started) and I needed help. I had white knuckled my way through quitting drugs and alcohol by turning to the food as my sole addiction. I went from 220 at the time of my marriage to 320 3 1/2 years later. Clearly, I was a mess.

In my first 45 days in the program, I lost about 40 pounds. In 4 1/2 months, I was down to 187 pounds, 3 below my goal weight. This program works, but you have to be willing to change everything about yourself to make it work. I did with a lot of help. If you feel out of control with food or any other addiction, I highly recommend getting to a meeting like CEA-HOW. It helped me.