Goodbye food addiction and binge eating

Hi there, I’m a compulsive overeater and food addict, taking it one day at a time. I’m on day 155 of abstinence from my food addiction and binge eating. As of today, I’ve released 25% of my excess body weight. I feel lighter, not just because I’m less heavy than I was before, but also because I feel lighter in spirit. 
 
I thought that all my problems in life would go away when I lost weight. Turns out, that wasn’t true. I had lost the weight before—in fact, many times before. I was a yo-yo dieter, and I had strong will power. My will power was so strong at times that I could restrict my eating and lose weight really fast. But I always gained it back eventually. 
 
When I came to OA, I managed to lose the weight. But, like all the other diets that had failed me, I “fell off the wagon” and figured OA wasn’t for me. But the problem I had was my will power again. My will to go back to compulsive overeating was as strong as my will to stop. It was only when I realized that I couldn’t do this using my will power alone that things started to change. 
 
So, I lost the weight, gave up on trying to rely on will power alone, and turned to a power greater than myself by following the 12-steps. I followed the program “religiously” after many years of faking it. I stopped looking at OA as another diet and quickly, over time, things started to get easier for me. The food cravings went away, the mental obsession quietened, and the inability to control my emotions lessened. 
 
While I was able to look at the world differently, the world didn’t change around me. I still face challenges that come with life. I still encounter stresses at work. I still face challenges dealing with certain situations. And there are still things happening in the world that caused me fear, frustration, and anxiety. Rarely did things always go my way. But rather than turn to food as a solution to numb the pain, I’m now able to deal with them head on. That’s sometimes challenging and requires a lot of work at times. But I now have a solution and for that I am grateful. 
 
For me, the effort is worth the reward, but it requires rigorous honesty with myself. I can choose to take the easy path by turning to food, ignoring the problem, and lying to myself. But then I have to face the pain of my actions. Now, I choose the path that many have taken before me, which is to work the steps and turn my will and my life over to a power greater than myself. This program really works for me, but only if I work at it every day. 
 
I’d like to think that if I can do it, anyone can do it. But I had to let go of the fact that it was going to be easy all the time. Most of the time, it’s effortless to me now. 
 
I follow the steps daily, practice the principles in all my affairs, and deal with my fears, frustrations, and anxiety without the need for food. But at times, it’s hard for me, because I know that I am stubborn. This is probably a life-long disease for me. I’ve come to accept that, and it doesn’t bother me anymore, because I have a solution that makes it manageable. And while that solution isn’t always easy, it is straightforward, and thankfully I don’t have to rely on myself anymore.