Meetings

About

Our History

We began our journey as a phone group within another 12-step fellowship, to whom we owe utmost respect and gratitude. Back in 2011, we started as a singular Big Book study on a Saturday night — which soon added several affiliated meetings to carry the message of recovery from compulsive eating.

Our group follows the legacy of the Primary Purpose Group of AA in Dallas, Texas. Our sponsors taught us that our problem was not with food, but with the behavior of compulsive eating. Many of us desperately tried to control our eating and our body, yet we failed every single time. We asked ourselves — what is wrong with me? Why can others stay on a meal plan, and I can’t, no matter how hard I try? Even if I don’t eat sugar, flour, whatever — I’m still obsessed about my eating and my body. Why?

We finally discovered that we are chronic compulsive eaters — those beyond human aid. We accepted that our illness of chronic compulsive eating could not be overcome by restricting, weighing and measuring food, attending meetings, having accountability partners — and so on. But we could recover by having a spiritual awakening, precisely how it is described in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. In fact, if we substituted the words “compulsive eating” for “alcohol,” the Big Book was about us. And therefore, we had to seek the exact same solution — a spiritual one.

Armed with the Big Book, we launched into action. We carried the message in person, online, and on the phone, explaining to people that we are actually powerless over compulsive eating, not food. We also called ourselves recovered — because we are, and because the book tells us to do so.

We didn’t have much choice — it was either follow the instructions from the book precisely or die from this illness (or end up in a mental institution). We were that “special” group of people for whom nothing worked except strict adherence to these principles. So, if we wanted to save ourselves from ourselves, we had to follow the original 12-step instructions.

In July 2024, after more than twelve years, our home group voted to create a new fellowship. It was joined by several other groups, and we called ourselves Chronic Compulsive Eaters Anonymous. A general service board (CCEAWS, Inc.) was created, and in January 2025 we held our first general service conference.

Now we are carrying this message to the next chronic compulsive eater who desperately needs this freedom as much as we needed it. We carry it in many languages and in many countries.

If you find yourself in the same situation and are willing to do the work to recover — join us on this journey, and we will do everything we can to help you find freedom.

Frequently asked questions
Get help: Join a meeting today!

12 STEPS of CCEA

  1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive eating—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive eaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

12 TRADITIONS of CCEA

  1.  Our common welfare should come first:  personal recovery depends upon CCEA unity.
  2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.  Our leaders are but trusted servants:  they do not govern.
  3. The only requirement for CCEA membership is a desire to stop compulsively eating.
  4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or CCEA as a whole.
  5. Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the compulsive eater who still suffers.
  6. A CCEA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the CCEA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
  7. Every CCEA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
  8. Chronic Compulsive Eaters Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
  9. CCEA as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
  10. Chronic Compulsive Eaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the CCEA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
  11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, film, tv and other public media of communication.
  12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Frequently asked questions

What should I do first?

If you are seeking help, the first thing to do is to attend a meeting and announce yourself as a newcomer.

Is this a diet plan? Will I lose weight?

This program is not about weight or food. It helps relieve the mental obsession and compulsive food behavior. We consider food ingredients and weight to be outside issues. The CCEA program promises (and delivers) sanity, which is a foundation for a lifetime of maintaining both mental and physical health.

What if I am not ready?

We are here to help when you are ready. Until then, our best advice is to follow your conscience and try the things that you think might help. Maybe they will. But if they don’t, you know where to find us.

How do meetings work?

The majority of our meetings center around studying the Big Book. You can hear recovered people talk about the solution for our problem, chronic compulsive eating. Each meeting has its own guidelines, but we generally do not engage in personal discussion (i.e. sharing about yourself). We invite newcomers to announce themselves (usually at the half-hour mark) and at the end of the meeting recovered sponsors leave their contact information. We encourage you to reach out to any recovered members, whether you think you want a sponsor or not.

Are you religious?

The first word of the Serenity Prayer that you hear on each meeting is God. However, we do not belong to any religion and you are free to understand and define your Higher Power however you wish. We have no doctrine on what that Power should be for you, but it is a spiritual program of action —  we rely on our Higher Power for recovery, and we work the steps every day.

What is a sponsor? How do I choose one?

A sponsor is a person who will guide you through the steps. The Big Book asks — do you want what we have? A sponsor is someone who has the recovery that you want, and whose instructions you are willing to follow. Sponsor-protégé relationships are long-term. Each recovered compulsive eater has a sponsor to ensure that our illness does not return.

Can I go through steps without a sponsor?

You are free to use the 12 steps whichever way you choose. They are available to all humanity without restriction. But in our fellowship, everyone has a sponsor, as we discovered that solitary self-appraisal is insufficient. We need the help of a sponsor to see ourselves with complete honesty.

Why the Big Book? And where can I buy it?

We found that for the case of chronic compulsive eating, only the original instructions on how to work the steps produced real recovery, real neutrality around food. We have tried everything else, and found that other literature simply did not work for us. You can find the book on Amazon (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition) or you can read the PDF online at https://www.aa.org/the-big-book.

What is the Big Book Study Guide?

Our mentors from the Primary Purpose Group of AA developed a guide with questions for virtually every sentence in the book. Big Book Mornings and the Saturday meeting of the Big Book Solution Group use this as an interactive guide for conducting the meetings. You can also use it  to help with deeper understanding of the book during individual study. You can download it on the PPG AA Dallas website.

More questions?

Join one of our meetings, talk to any recovered member of CCEA, and we will be happy to answer. If you have questions for World Service, please email us at info@chroniceaters.org.