Types of compulsive eaters

There are a lot of different reasons people are compulsive overeaters (though OA also has groups for anorexics, it is really a group for people who are compulsive about their eating).

The types are:

1. Compulsive OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) types.
2. Carbohydrate addicts.
3. Misplaced coping skills (people who eat to cope).
4. Misplaced set points

Most people when they start OA enter what is called the "pink cloud." Just starting results in a period of weight loss for most people. It isn't until that is over that anything relevant happens.

The OCD types just flip their switches. Instead of eating compulsively, they are compulsive about not eating. Carbohydrate addicts either end up with the Nazi OA or the Fat Acceptance OA (OA-HOW or mainstream OA). The troubled, who eat to cope, will end up at their natural set point (probably displaced by years of abuse). Those whose set points are just off for one reason or another won't make much progress, but they'll be more relaxed about it.