Document text
Ashland woman coaches overeaters Photo by Bob Pennell Marian Willingham of Ashland jumped through a lot of weight-loss hoops before settling on what worked for her. Now the eating coach wants to help other women find the same thing, using her experience as a guide. Helps clients work on inner beauty first By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- There's Little League coaches for kids aspiring to be baseball players, and writing coaches for hacks dreaming of spinning out lyrical prose. TO LEARN MORE Marian Willingham, of The Shape of You, recommends these books to aid in weight loss: "Thin Within" by Judy Wardell. "Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating" by Geneen Roth. "The 7 Secrets of Slim People" by Vikki Hansen. "The Woman's Comfort Book" by Jennifer Loudin. "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. But a new kind of coach arrived in the Rogue Valley a couple of months ago. An eating coach. "Most people have lost touch with that inner voice that tells them when they are hungry and what they are hungry for," said personal eating coach Marian Willingham, 37, of Ashland. "When we listen to our bodies and honor physical hunger, we discover what it truly means to be satisfied with food, as opposed to being uncomfortably full." Willingham doesn't have any credentials. She doesn't even have a bachelor's degree. But she believes she has the ability to help people with eating problems overcome lifelong misery through her business, The Shape of You. So do her clients. "I've never met anyone so optimistic and positive and loving," said Lori Van Horn, a pediatrician in Fredricksburg, Va. "It doesn't matter what degree she has because she's done something that I want to do: lose weight. And she knows how to help other people do it and that's enough for me." Willingham used laxatives, diet pills and starvation to try to lose 60 pounds during her 20s. Nothing worked. She turned 30 and made one last desperate attempt: she listened to her body. At 5 feet, 6 inches, she has maintained a weight in the 140s for six years. And the former hairdresser from San Francisco is now trying to coach other women into doing the same. Most of her coaching is done over the phone in half-hour sessions that cost $40 each. Many of her clients, like Van Horn, find Willingham after calling the toll-free number at the end of the book "The 7 Secrets of Slim People" by Vikki Hansen. Hansen met the outgoing Willingham when she was still cutting hair. "I got tired of making people beautiful from the outside, and really wanted to help them see the beauty that was inside," Willingham said. Her coaching is based on helping clients learn to love themselves as they are, and trusting their body's signals. But all of her methods aren't exactly Weight Watchers-sanctioned techniques. She starts by telling clients to surround themselves with the foods they crave. And eat whenever the fancy strikes. "Everyone I give that assignment to is scared to death," Willingham said. "But once you have a box of Pringles on an empty stomach, you'll realize it's a bad choice." Christy Hetzell, the only registered dietician in private practice in Jackson County, said Willingham is working off a good set of books as a foundation for her coaching. But, she said, she believes different approaches to weight loss work for different people. "Some foods remain addictive to people even after all the psychological work," said Hetzell, the owner of Dare to be Healthy. "Sugar is physically addictive to some people and they have to learn to deal with their addiction." But Jocelyn Jennings, of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada said the proof is on the scale. She's been working with Willingham since she became unexpectedly pregnant with her second child only a few months after her first was born. At eight months pregnant, she's gained just 14 pounds. "I was using food for everything happy or sad, and now I've learned that if I'm sad, to cry, and not take it out on the food," she said. "I stick to eating when I'm hungry." "And Marian has always supported me in the times I doubted myself." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA