I did get some new tidbits from the book. Like supplementing with leucine (an amino acid) and melatonin. I tried melatonin way back for sleep problems but as it didn’t help, I stopped. The Eades, however, is saying that lack of melatonin is not beneficial for fat loss, so I might start up again.

As with regards to the cause of the middle-age middle gain, there were no big surprises. Hormones. That is pretty obvious as the vast majority of people my age (50+) have problems with the middle expanding, despite eating sensibly and exercising. The 6-week cure supposedly helps to get a flat stomach back.

The cure consists of three 2-week steps.

The first step includes a liver detox phase where all substances causing the liver to work hard are to be avoided. This includes alcohol, caffeine and any unnecessary medications. The diet during these two weeks consist of 3 protein shakes per day and one LC meal with very limited vegetables.

Two things about this surprises me. First that Splenda is allowed. To me, Splenda is a chemical and while it hasn’t proved to be detrimental to the body, I don’t think it’s a good think to use when you are trying to do a detox. However, there are protein powders out there with Stevia, so perhaps that is a viable alternative.

There are also rumors in the Zero Carb community that this book promotes a “meat-only” diet. It doesn’t. There are vegetables and even berries with every meal, although in very limited quantities.

Week 3-4 are lowcarb meals, again with very limited quantities of non-starchy vegetables and berries. Alcohol and caffeine can be reintroduced.

Week 5-6 looks like a maintenance diet to me.

When it comes to exercise, they recommend only 30 minutes of weight training per week. Plus a simple ab exercise that can be done anywhere at any time.

The Eades are sharing their own experience with their middle-age middle gain and I can identify with Mary Eades. I also did not have any weight problem until I entered peri-menopause. What is disappointing though is that they say that Mary was not successful with the 6-week cure only until she got her hormones adjusted but they don’t go into detail about any of the hormone theraphy. Personally, I don’t know if it makes sense to feed your body hormones to stay at a perpetual 35 year old level for life. But then, I’m not a doctor and they are.

I have approached my middle gain differently. I maintain a relatively flat stomach by regular exercise, and it’s not enough with just 30 minutes per week. I need 30 minutes 4 or 5 times per week at the minimum. No cardio. Heavy weights. I have proven over and over again that, for me, this is the only thing that makes any difference to my “muffintop.” I don’t fully understand why. Hormones? I wish they had addressed this fact as I’m sure I am not unique.

While my review may not sound all that positive, I do recommend the book. It’s a good read and the recipes alone are worth the money. The cure is probably also a good plan for someone that quickly needs to shed some pounds and likes to follow a strict routine with given meal suggestions.

Finally, I wonder what the Eades’ target audience is. The book is not directed towards people that have a lot of weight to lose (even though it might work well as a starting point for transition into Protein Power). The book seems more directed towards people that have not been overly overweight and now find themselves with 20-30 stubborn pounds extra. If this means that lowcarb will be sold to a larger audience, I’m all for it. In my opinion, we can all benefit from lowcarb becoming more mainstream.

I wish the Eades the best of luck and great success with this book. They do a lot of free work on their blog for the lowcarb community.

My local radio station is blasting weight loss ads for everything from Evercleanse (lose 10 – 25 pounds of toxic waste from your colon!) to a skin care company (!) that now has developed a diet pill.

Online is even worse. New “diet” supplement ads pop up all the time.

There must be money to make, otherwise these companies would not stay in business. Constantly changing product names to reel in people by using keywords and ads for the latest fad. From colon cleanse to Wu-yi tea to Acai to ….

The product with the new name is probably the same as the previous one. Just a new label. Who would analyze the ingredients anyway? And sometimes they don’t even bother with new labels. Many that ordered Acai Burn received shipments of Wu-Yi Burn.

One company that caught my eye recently is GNS Inc out of Colorado. In December last year, they were selling something called Slim Pro Shakes. Those don’t exist any more. The ads/blogs that still pop up on a search for them lead to Acai Berry Edge. The sales pitch is the same. A FREE offer and then in fine print on the bottom of the page:

21-Day Free Trial Terms and Conditions: Get two bottles of Acai Berry Edge free for 21 days during the trial period. You invest $3.97 s&h today then $39.95 per bottle at day 21 only if you are satisfied. Auto-shipments follow at the same terms and conditions. Cancel at any time. See the complete Terms and Conditions on the next page for complete details.

Most people just see FREE and don’t notice that this is an autoship program. In addition, for most of these schemes, the trial bottles arrive after 2-3 weeks, so there isn’t even any time to try out the product and cancel before the automatic debit hits your credit card. Of course, most don’t even know they have signed up for autoship before they find the charge on their credit card bill.

Many find a way to cancel at that time. The majority of them just pay the bill, and put the cost down as another expense for yet another failed diet attempt. A few get their credit card company to reverse the charges.

The main GNS website is not much better. While I at first didn’t see any autoship scams there, they are revealed when ordering a product. Then you get the offer to:

SAVE 20% and Get FREE Shipping When You Join the GNS Preferred Customer Club…a fresh bottle of Energy Matrix will automatically be shipped to your doorstep every month at this low price so you don’t have to remember to reorder!….Monetary refunds are not given for autoship products once they have been processed.

So, what products do they sell? One of them, Slim Body Matrix, seems to be just an expensive whey protein shake. This particular shake is advertised as:

the absolute best-tasting, most satisfying weight loss shake ever…

But, when you read on the actual can, there is this little box with the statement:

Notice: Use this product as a food supplement only. Do not use for weight reduction.

A “weight loss shake” that is not intended for “weight reduction?”

Not that his particular company is unique; it just served as an example. There are hundreds of others, perhaps thousands, with equally misleading advertisements and overpriced “weight loss” products.  The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) may be looking into some of these online scams (Acai autoship) and the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) has released a list of weight loss supplements judged to be unsafe.

But, considering the ever growing number of websites trying to cash in on desperate dieters looking for a quick fix, I don’t think we will see any changes soon. I just wish that people would stop falling for unrealistic promises and fake testimonials. If nobody buys the “magic XYZ” there will be no business in selling it.

There have been many articles/blogs listing sure signs to recognize a scam. To me, the most obvious is:

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Another way of researching a diet, product, supplement, or really anything, is to google it on the internet (Yahoo search, MSN search, etc work just as well, of course). For example, a search on the company “GNS” leads to ripoff reports. There are 129 complaints about this company. That might tell you something?

The Kimkins Diet Scam taught me the google trick. Not that it would have helped much when that particular disaster of a diet had it’s heyday in June of 2007, thanks to a Woman’s World article. Back then, only pro-Kimkins articles, fake pictures and fake testimonials were to be found on the web. Not as today when the anti-kk bloggers overwhelm any positive Kimkins.con information out there.

So, that is one more lesson. If there is nothing but obvious ads on the internet, perhaps it would be a good idea to hold of parting with my money for a while. Or, look at the ads and research from there. For Acai, it is pretty obvious that most of the ads have the same origin. It’s also easy to find out that there is no scientific proof that acai has anything to do with weight loss. None.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that there is a range of diet pills being sold nationwide, as well as over the internet, that are now considered unsafe.

FDA suggests to consult with your health care professional before taking dietary supplements to treat obesity or other diseases. All consumers should be familiar with the following signs of health fraud:

• Promises of an “easy” fix for problems like excess weight, hair loss, or impotency.
• Claims such as “scientific breakthrough,” “miraculous cure,” “secret ingredient,” and “ancient remedy.”
• Impressive-sounding terms, such as “hunger stimulation point” and “thermogenesis” for a weight loss product.
• Claims that the product is safe because it is “natural.”
• Undocumented case histories or personal testimonials by consumers or doctors claiming amazing results.
• Promises of no-risk, money-back guarantees.

I would like to add “studies suggest” or “extensive research indicates” or “patented.” None of these statements really say that what was studied, researched or patented actually did anything.

But when I first saw this announcement a couple of weeks back, I was under the impression that while these pills / supplements were completely useless, they might not really pose much danger. Not so. Reading closer, I find that  these “natural supplements” may “contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dose.”

The updated (01/08/2009) list includes the following products:

Contains Sibutramine

• 2 Day Diet
• 2 Day Diet Slim Advance
• 2x Powerful Slimming
• 3 Day Diet
• 3 Days Fit
• 3x Slimming Power
• 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming
• 7 Day Herbal Slim
• 7 Days Diet
• 7 Diet
• 7 Diet Day/Night Formula
• 8 Factor Diet
• Eight Factor Diet
• 21 Double Slim
• 24 Hours Diet
• 999 Fitness Essence
• BioEmagrecim
• Body Creator
• Body Shaping
• Body Slimming
• Cosmo Slim
• Extrim Plus
• Extrim Plus 24 Hour Reburn
• Fasting Diet
• Fatloss Slimming
• GMP
• Imelda Fat Reducer
• Imelda Perfect Slim
• JM Fat Reducer
• Lida DaiDaihua
• Meili
• Meizitang
• Miaozi MeiMiaoQianZiJiaoNang
• Miaozi Slim Capsules
• Natural Model
• Perfect Slim
• Perfect Slim 5x
• Perfect Slim Up
• Powerful Slim
• ProSlim Plus
• Reduce Weight
• Royal Slimming Formula
• Sana Plus
• Slim 3 in 1
• Slim 3 in 1 Extra Slim Formula
• Slim 3 in 1 Extra Slim Waist Formula
• Slim 3 in 1 M18 Royal Diet
• Slim 3 in 1 Slim Formula
• Slim Burn
• Slim Express 4 in 1
• Slim Express 360
• Slim Fast
• Slim Tech
• Slim Up
• Slim Waist Formula
• Slim Waistline
• Sliminate
• Slimming Formula
• Somotrim
• Super Fat Burner
• Superslim
• Super Slimming
• Trim 2 Plus
• Triple Slim
• Venom Hyperdrive 3.0
• Waist Strength Formula
• Zhen de Shou

Contains Rimonabant

• Phyto Shape

Contains Phenytoin

• 3x Slimming Power
• Extrim Plus

Contains Phenolphthalein

• 8 Factor Diet
• 24 Hours Diet
• Fatloss Slimming
• Imelda Perfect Slim
• Perfect Slim 5x
• Royal Slimming Formula
• Superslim
• Zhen de Shou

Contains Bumetanide

• Starcaps

FDA details what these ingredients do:

Sibutramine is a Schedule IV controlled substance and the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Meridia, an approved prescription drug to treat obesity. Some of the identified products recommend taking more than 3 times the recommended daily dosage of sibutramine. Because of this, even consumers without a history of health problems that take these high doses of sibutramine may suffer serious adverse effects if they take these products, such as increased blood pressure, tachycardia, palpitations, and seizure.

Rimonabant is the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Zimulti which has not been approved in the United States. In Europe the drug is known as Acomplia. In June 2007, the FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee unanimously voted not to recommend approval of the drug because of increased risk of neurological and psychiatric side effects—seizures, depression, anxiety, insomnia, aggressiveness, and suicidal thoughts among patients. In June of 2008, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom linked rimonabant to 5 deaths and 720 adverse reactions over the past two years. In October, the European Medicines Agency recommended that marketing and sales of Accomplia be suspended due to safety concerns.

Phenolphthalein was an ingredient in some Over-the-Counter laxative products until 1999 when the FDA reclassified the drug as “not generally recognized as safe and effective” after studies indicated that phenolphthalein presented a potential carcinogenic risk. Phenolphthalein has also been found to be genotoxic in that it can damage or cause mutations to DNA.

Phenytoin is the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Dilantin, an approved anti-seizure medication.

Bumetanide is a the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Bumex, a prescription diuretic. Potential risks associated with the use of Bumetanide include serious and significant fluid and electrolyte loss and an elevation in uric acid concentrations.

So who wouldn’t lose weight eating just 500 calories? Why would you need to pay for expensive HCG injections when the calorie limitation will cause you to lose just as much weight in itself?

The HCG proponents (sock puppets) share their wisdom. The tiny HCG amount supposedly enables you to draw from your fat stores, and the HCG makes you not being hungry.

How funny then that the Kimkins starvation diet produced the same results, without the HCG. Kimmer suggested 500 calories or less. Lean protein, just as the HCG protocol does. People following Kimkins did lose a huge amount of weight, quickly. But they also suffered health complications due to it.

There is no reason to think that HCG would work any different, in my opinion. The dieters starting out on Kimkins didn’t feel hunger initially either. Ketosis does that to you.

Here is a study that shows no difference in weight loss or hunger with or without the HCG:

Our investigation was designed to retest the hypothesis of the efficacy of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) on weight reduction in obese women in a clinic setting. We sought to duplicate the Asher-Harper study (1973) which had found that the combination of 500 cal diet and HCG had a statistically significant benefit over the diet and placebo combination as evidenced by greater weight loss and decrease in hunger. Fifty-one women between the ages of 18 and 60 participated in our 32-day prospective, randomized, double-blind comparison of HCG versus placebo. Each patient was given the same diet (the one prescribed in the Asher-Harper study), was weighed daily Monday through Saturday and was counseled by one of the investigators who administered the injections. Laboratory studies were performed at the time of initial physical examinations and at the end of the study. Twenty of 25 in the HCG and 21 of 26 patients in the placebo groups completed 28 injections. There was no statistically significant difference in the means of the two groups in number of injections received, weight loss, percent of weight loss, hip and waist circumference, weight loss per injections, or in hunger ratings. HCG does not appear to enhance the effectiveness of a rigidly imposed regimen for weight reduction.

[Am J Clin Nutr. 1976 Sep;29(9):940-8. Ineffectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin in weight reduction: a double-blind study. Stein MR, Julis RE, Peck CC, Hinshaw W, Sawicki JE, Deller JJ Jr.]

Getting calories from body fat doesn’t mean that you get ALL nutrition your body needs. The body fat doesn’t contain vitamins or essential fatty acids. And don’t fool yourself that a vitamin pill will provide what should be gotten from food.

Coincidentally, many Kimkins dieters complained about “excessive” hunger around week 4 – 5. The HCG protocol is following the 500 calorie diet for 3 weeks, when food is added.

But how many of the HCG dieters stop at 3 weeks? Perhaps they, just as the Kimkins dieters, decide to fight the hunger by filling up on non-calorie food such as broth and diet soda? After all, they all want to get to goal as quickly as possible.

And how many of the HCG dieters regain the weight like most of the Kimkins dieters did? A 500 calorie diet teaches you nothing about how to eat to maintain weight loss.

HCG is just another quick fix, in my opinion. A magic pill for a desperate dieter that wants to find an easy way to get the weight off. And of course, HCG is a big money maker for the companies selling it. They most likely use sockpuppets to help promote the product. As with other fad products, support threads on diet boards are populated by people new to the board, that post on that thread only, that have “fantastic success” with the product, and encourage other board members to buy it.

TIPPING THE SCALES TO HEALTH

is now open!

The online world has a wonderful new resource
for desperate dieters and
anybody else who is determined to make health a priority in 2009.

Join old friends and new as we kick the New Year off
with a renewed dedication to health and weight loss!

So what to look for in a weight loss role model? What would I look for?

Would they need to be young and pretty? No, not for me. I’m neither young nor pretty and losing weight would do nothing to change that fact.

Would they have had to lost a significant amount of weight? No, not necessarily. While there may be differences in being 200 pounds overweight as compared to 40, the weight loss strategy does not necessarily need to be different. Any more different than individual adaptions that are always required, of course.

Would they need to be stick thin? Not necessarily very slim, but certainly not morbidly obese. I would like to see that they are following their own advice, and that it results in lasting weight loss.

Would they need to have maintained their weight loss for a long time? Yes, absolutely. Anybody can lose weight with a crash diet, but it’s another thing to keep it off year after year. The suggested diet plan needs to have a way of transitioning into maintenance. There is no point in losing weight if the pounds are going to pile back on again.

Heidi Diaz fails on every point of my requirements. Her make-believe persona met them all, including looking young and pretty. However, the real person does not. Not even close. Why anyone would take diet advice from this woman is beyond my comprehension.

So what do the Kimkins survivors have to say about the diet and the founder, Heidi Diaz?

A few snippets from Kimkins Survivors:

I began to feel more tired, more worn out then ever. . . I was told this was normal. I wondered when my legs began cramping until I couldn’t even walk or move hardly at all. . . but again this was normal. When I began getting heart palpitations and a serious choking feeling, I began to get worried that something was seriously wrong.

I stayed on the plan for 2 months. After a few weeks, my emotions went flat. I didn’t feel happy, sad, anything. It was really bad. I stopped the plan as I felt I was choosing between being fat or being clinically depressed. After about 2 weeks, my hair began falling out by the hands full.

I was dizzy and my life became sedentary due to the lack of food. My hair also started to fall out.

People go from “strict” to “even stricter” when they are highly encouraged to go as low in calories as possible…many of the “big” losers hang out around 300-500 calories daily. Also, because the plans don’t have much in the way of fiber to “push things through”…it’s encouraged to take laxatives daily. The owner of the site, Kimmer, even goes as far as to say that people shouldn’t be afraid to do this since recent studies show that they’re perfectly safe and not addictive after all. (omg)

The weight loss made it easy to ignore the dizziness, nausea, and exhaustion. I brushed off the concerns of friends and family about the amount of food I was eating and for my health. I had read many accounts of other members experiencing the same side effects that I was having and the responses explaining them away as normal, signs they were doing the diet correctly.

In no time at all, I became weak, fainting, angry, shakey, dizzy. My hair fell out. I was still overweight but was sick as hell. I stopped low carb all together. I have been seeing Drs ever since with complications with blood sugar and kidneys ect…

Within 15 minutes of my ER admission, I was rapidly being set up to check for a stroke or a brain tumor. I was so sick and I simply couldnt believe this was happening. At NO time did I suspect the KK diet. I still feel so stupid. MRI’s, Neurologists, CAT scans, IV medication to try to stop the spinning. 5 days of laying on my side with a wet towel over my eyes, they finally got the vertigo under control enough that I could walk slowly. They did find my electrolytes were all out of whack and my liver enzymes a little elevated….

While I did lose weight, I also began to experience significant hair loss, nausea, bouts of dizziness and was freezing all the time.

…some days my calorie intake was lower then 500 calories. My hair thinned out too…but I am older and thought that was due to age, dizzyness or light headed sometimes too. I lost fast, lost alot, and gained it back just as fast too.

I can only hope that some day I’ll find my metabolism again.

I joined in July hoping to put my low carb lifestyle back on the right track. All I accomplished was further derailment. I got off the train when the dizzy spells crept up on me. One call to the Dr. and he said STOP! Healthy lower carb is ok, but this isn’t healthy. This is disordered eating.

I am losing hair in clumps, awful joint pains and dizzy/nauseous frequently.

I was one of those who kimmer told to take a full dose (laxatives) the first day and then take 1/2 dose everyday after.

I have lost tons of weight. But guess what…at a price. I went to the DR not feeling well. My blood levels are all off . My thyroid is shot . Know what the DR asked me…..She said..you are not starving yourself are you? I have such bad blood work that I need to have some injections to fix it..such as Vit . I also have to have scans to see if my thryiod can even be saved. This all got started because I was having dizzy spells and bad pain in my bones.

My hair was falling out, I couldn’t potty, I couldn’t stay awake, I had no energy, I felt waves of nausea and dizziness every time I changed positions…and worst of all, I was becoming completely obsessed b/c I was trying to keep up with everything on there–you know–low, low calories, very small portions, etc.

…..losing handfuls of hair, having heart palpitations, a strange tingling down my left arm, a total loss of energy, I went and got blood test because I had lost my short term memory, I could not remember my sons birthday even and it was scary, I was suffering from insomnia and all kinds of different things. When I got my blood test back, everything was screwed up, all my female hormones, it put me into early menopause, I am 37 years old, my human growth hormone was at the age of a 97 yr old woman…

These testimonials for the Kimkins Diet are just from the first few pages on the Survivor blog. There are a lot more. Over 100 “survivors” have shared their experiences.

Who in their right mind would try the Kimkins Diet after reading these?

My calories were 1600 – 1800 per day. And no, I didn’t exercise a lot. I did go to the gym 4 times but burned no more than perhaps 200 calories per time.

So what did I eat? Pork spareribs, beef stew, egg salad, hamburger, bacon, salami, egg salad, cheese, and nuts. Even peanut butter. About 70% fat. Less than 20 carbs from veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, celery). Not as strict as Atkins induction (which does not allow nuts and peanut butter, plus I ate more cheese than allowed).

Sure, the weight lost is mostly water, but so is Kimkins when starting out. But the point is that I did not have to restrict calories at all. I did not have to go hungry (appetite suppression from ketosis has never worked for me, possibly due to lower bodyfat?).

Why would you even consider Kimkins (lean meat, just enough fat to make your menu work) when you can lose better doing Atkins and not feel deprived at all?

So why did I need to lose the weight in the first place? I, that have successfully maintained at 124 – 126 lbs for 4 years. Without counting carbs or calories. Without thinking about what I’m eating (or not eating). Well, every Fall I gain some weight, 4-5 pounds. Generally in October, it just came early this year. I then maintain (over the Holidays!) at a higher weight until late January or so when I effortlessly drop down to my normal range.

To me it seems to be a seasonal cycle my body likes, but if I had tracked my food I could possibly find the explanation there as well. Fall is a busy work period for me with a lot of traveling. This year there wasn’t any down period during the summer so perhaps that’s why the gain occurred earlier than usual.

It will be interesting to see if October brings with it the normal weight gain, or if I have already gone through this year’s cycle. Leaving for another business trip today so I will know soon enough.

To my understanding, the diet was never intended to include a maintenance plan. It was to be used as a crash diet and as the vast majority of people couldn’t stick to the diet all the way to goal, a maintenance plan was never needed.

For sure, Heidi Diaz never needed a maintenance plan herself. I doubt that the “thousands of people” she has “helped” on the boards and via email during “more than 10 years” have needed it either. Reading the Ask Kimmer thread at Low Carb Friends it is obvious that the diet provided only short term weight loss.

But following a request from a dieter on Kimkins, Heidi took a shot at starting to formulate a Kimkins Maintenance Plan. Not a very good shot, in my opinion. Actually, I was surprised at how bad it was considering that while Heidi never followed her own plan, she did a lot of reading about diets and has never been shy of stealing ideas from someone else. Surely she could have come up with something better than this:

Designing a Maintenance Plan – Feedback!

OK, let’s take a look at “maintenance”. Let me jot down a few ideas and you all let me know what you’re thinking. My vision of a successful Kimkins Maintenance Plan should be focused on high nutrient whole foods. Brown rice instead of instant white rice, whole fruit instead of juice drinks, 7 grain bread instead of white, lower calorie higher carb choices (fresh fruit or winter squash) over high calorie lower carb (faux cheesecake). Kimkins Maintenance should be as simple as Kimkins. A few easy to remember rules that you’ll always have with you. Nobody is going to drag a diet sheet in their purse or wallet for eternity or whip out a calculator at a restaurant — not for long anyway.

After 10 years as a self-proclaimed diet guru, and “30 years of diet experience”, a maintenance plan is still just a “vision” for Heidi? Isn’t that proof enough that the Kimkins Diet doesn’t lead to goal? No maintenance strategy is needed.

Kimkins Maintenance must be very simple. I think regular Kimkins is ultra simple, but some newbies have problems at the beginning figuring it out. Maintenance will more complicated, but it needs to be simple.

Yes, the regular Kimkins is simple. Just eat at starvation level calories and the weight will come off. Newbies are getting confused when they follow the new rules (unlimited protein, 3 cups of veggies) and don’t see the weight coming off as fast as promised.

I don’t see why maintenance has to be complicated. It isn’t for me. However, it might be complicated for Kimmer to put a plan together as she has no clue what she is talking about. Has no clue what amount of carbs or calories would be required on maintenance.

Should Kimkins Maintenance be calorie or carb oriented? If a combination, what limits? The accepted definition of “low carb” is 100 carbs or less per day. To us that sounds very generous until we realize that much fast food, fruits, grains and carb snacks can easily meet that limit with 1 serving. If a limit of 300 carbs is chosen, then any maintenance plan fits the bill including Weight Watchers.

What a dilemma. Kimkins is marketed as low carb, low fat, low calorie. So what to increase in maintenance? The answer is really that after following the Kimkins Diet, maintenance is still low carb, low fat, low calorie. Or, why not suggest that any maintainers find another plan, like WW? After having provided Heidi with “before” and “after” pictures, they have served their purpose. She has no use for them. She will get no more money from them and they are just using up bandwidth on kimkins.con.

How do we add back junk food? Few people are willing to give up cheeseburgers (on buns), pizza, spaghetti & garlic bread, beer, Grandma’s fudge, Hot Pockets, mashed potatoes & gravy, Girl Scout cookies, or nachos for the rest of their life. My vote would be that they not be included in Kimkins Maintenance choices, but I don’t think that’s realistic.

Junk food is now defined as higher carbs items? What happened with the 300 carbs WW plan?

What about restaurants? Would a good solution for Maintenance to state a calorie limit and advice to check the restaurant website in advance?

Hey, Kimmer! Don’t you remember when you recently spammed the internet with an article with diet advice for eating out? Perhaps you didn’t read the borrowed article before submitting it. Seems that there were some practical ideas in there that you could have adopted as your own. Which you did.

I’m reminded of Dr. Atkins research. A criticism of Dr. A was that high fat went hand in hand with heart disease and other conditions. Dr. Atkins’ research over 30+ years showed that it is high fat WITH high carb that triggers heart disease and poor cholesterol profiles. If Kimkins Maintenance leans toward typical American diet aren’t we leaning toward typical American health problems?

??? Is she really suggesting that Kimkins maintenance should be high fat, high carb? Or is she just rambling?

If we suggest a calorie limit will people be shocked to realize that they can’t eat as much as they think? Permanently? I’ve talked with thousands of people about low carb and weight loss over the past 10 years. One of the top 3 questions people have (or want to argue) is calories. Particularly for people who once weighed 300+ pounds (eating maybe 3500 calories a day or more) it’s a shock to learn that at 125 pounds they’re looking at 1300-1500 calories for life — and 1500 calories might require 30-60 minutes of exercise a day.

No Heidi. It’s not a shock and if you had ever been 125 lbs you would know this. 1500 calories might not sound much when you are 300+ pounds (as you are, or at least you look as if you are). For a 125 lbs person (like myself) it is plenty of food. When making healthy choices.

Will people “modify” Kimkins Maintenance? If so, is it really Kimkins?

Modify how? There is no “Kimkins Maintenance” to modify. Didn’t Heidi suggest WW?

Should we design our ideal “Kimkins Maintenance” as the official plan and those who find it too healthy or strict can follow other plans? Do people really want a “low carb” maintenance plan?

An “ideal” Kimkins maintenance plan would have to be the Kimkins Diet so I can see that it would be too strict. But anything else would result in weight regain. So she just wants the “other plans” to blame when people find it impossible to maintain?

What do you think? The perfect maintenance plan for me won’t necessarily be what’s best for others. As an example I would look forward to adding back fruit, yogurt and milk — but others can’t wait to add back spaghetti, rice, tortillas and Sara Lee.

Heidi “looks forward to adding back fruit, yogurt and milk”? Did she ever cut them out? The latest photos certainly don’t suggest that she has been on any diet lately.

[Kimmer's quotes copied from fellow blogger Mayberryfan, who also provides an excellent commentary to Heidi's "maintenance plan". Kimmer's picture copied from another fellow blogger; AmyB.]

As someone that has maintained for several years, my maintenance approach is very simple: Avoid white stuff, limit carbs (fruits and grains but unlimited non-starchy veggies). I never count anything. I don’t limit fats but don’t go out of my way to add any either. I eat desserts and higher carb items on rare occasions but I don’t make a habit of it. Most importantly, I do not let myself feel deprived, ever. I can have one cookie but I don’t need an entire box. Why would I? I can have another cookie another day.

After all, there are other low calorie diets out there. Just look at the latest issue of Women’s World or some other women’s magazine and I can guarantee that the recommended diet is low calorie. It may not be announced as such but adding up the suggested foods end up with 1000 cals or less. For example, egg white omelet for breakfast, 3 oz chicken for lunch, 6 oz salmon for dinner plus the rest fat free or low fat. Salads (with fat free dressing of course), a slice of whole wheat bread and half a cup of brown rice will not increase the calorie count by much.

So why is the Kimkins Diet so much worse? Especially now when there supposedly is no calorie limit on it any longer? Not that the recommended 70-90 gram protein, 3 cups salad veggies, with minimal fat easily add up to more than 500-600 cals.

What I see as the main danger with the kimkins diet is not the diet in itself. It’s the cult-like atmosphere on Kimkins “support” forum. Where people are encouraged to starve themselves. Where feeling icky is applauded.

Other crazy, fad, diets might produce the same physical ill effects (and quick weight loss), but there is nothing to motivate you to keep on doing them. You just abandon them as not doable. Another failed diet attempt.

Not so with Kimkins. When struggling to stick to the diet (and who wouldn’t?) you just log on to Kimkins.con to get support for why you shouldn’t give in to your body’s demand for nutrition. Hear people saying KUTGW (keep up the good work). Look at you! You have lost so much! Keep going! Don’t be weak!

You get inspired by the success stories on the site. Big losers. Real or not, who cares? They have pictures! They look pretty and skinny in the “after” photos.

No negativity at all on the site. Just upbeat posts. Friendly challenges where you get to know people. Checking in daily to say hello and read about your friends’ overnight whooshes. How many pounds they dropped. Hoping to do the same.

To me, that is really the danger with Kimkins. Not the diet, but the website. Without the brainwashing that goes on there, nobody could stick to the diet long enough for it to do much harm. Without the forum and people posting there (even if they are mostly sockpuppets by now) there wouldn’t be a Kimkins.con.

I have great hope that Kimkins.con will soon be gone from the internet. The site was funded by members that signed up based on fraudulent weight loss claims (Kimmer’s 198 pounds) and an article in Women’s World that had fake pictures (Kimmer’s Russian bride photo). The Class Action Lawsuit may force the shut down. Or, Heidi Diaz might decide to shut it down due to lack of new members. Sockpuppets don’t bring in any money.