Will Heaven Answer Your Dieting Prayers?

CLEVELAND -- It may be an unusual approach to weight loss, but some dieters believe there is help in the heavens.

A new type of weight-loss program claims that prayer takes over where other diets leave off.

Gwen Shamblin created the Weigh Down Workshop, a Bible-based weight-loss plan. She came up with the idea of eating to live, not living to eat, from Bible verses.

People who've tried everything from Jenny Craig to water pills said she's onto something. Clients claim to have lost hundreds of pounds.

"You get to eat real foods, not diet foods. You don't have to exercise to burn off calories. You get to enjoy food the way God intended it to be," said Lori Scheutzow, with Weigh Down Workshop in Cleveland.

Participants believe in its power.

"Eating when you're hungry, stopping when you're full, is still an outward thing. But it's listening to God's voice and allowing him to meet that hunger that's in me," Karen Skutt said.

Filling up on prayer also is enough for Mike Russell. His 3-year-old son is a snacker and turned Russell into one, too, causing unwanted weight gain.

But now Russell claims he lost 9 pounds in two weeks.

"I feel better. The energy level is just incredible," Russell said.

For some people, the change has been drastic.

Jane Debogdan is 50 pounds lighter and healthier. She is still feeling good after being in the Weigh Down Workshop for more than three years.

"I dropped from a size 16 to a size eight. I'm thinner now than I even was in high school," Debogdan said.

Three months of instruction at Weigh Down Workshop cost about $100.