Isn’t that what we all want?

The fad diet industry is banking on it. Lose 10 pounds in a week! Lose 100 pounds in 5 months! No faster diet, none! Better than gastric bypass!

Sounds good? Apparently, as we keep on paying for new diet fads all the time. Looking for the magic diet/pill/supplement that will take the weight off once and for all.

Why is “quick” weight loss so important? Because we know that we can not stay on the diet forever!

If I can lose my 100 pounds in 5 months, I might have a chance to stick to it. It’s such a short time; surely I can make it that long. Just be determined and suffer through it. Then I can go back to eating, huh, normally? Whatever. I’ll deal with it when I get there.

So I start a starvation diet like Kimkins. Enthusiastically. The first couple of days are hard and I’m hungry, but the scale number drops so fast that it’s easy to fight through it. Sure, it’s water weight but who cares? It’s quick and I weigh less!

The diet is easier that I thought. I lose my appetite and it is not that difficult to just eat 500-600 calories per day. I gain self confidence. I can do this. Yes, I’m fat but I’m doing something about it. I’m in control.

Soon, “excessive” hunger and cravings appear. What do I do? Most people quit the diet at this time. Often with a binge. Berating themselves for being weak, a failure.

Too many return to the diet after the binge. It did work after all. I did lose weight on it. I just wasn’t strong enough last time. I’ll do better this time. Try to remember that it’s only for a short period of time. When I have reached goal, I can eat normally again.

Did it ever occur to you that there is a reason for the binge? The irresistible cravings? That is not psychological? That it’s not your “fault”? That you are not “weak”? Could your body be trying to tell you something?

The lack of food and especially the lack of fat cause a “starvation” response. The body does not get the required nutrition and this results in cravings. Normally cravings for sweets, but high fat sweets. It’s a natural reaction and has nothing to do with being “weak”. It has to do with survival.

A very obvious example of how the body objects to Kimkins diet abuse is when dieters that follow K/E start craving salads and vegetables. K/E (Kimmer’s Experiment) consists of lean meat and eggs only. Who would have thought that they ever would crave a salad? But many K/E dieters report just that. Isn’t it obvious that the diet lacks some essential nutrition? That the body is trying to tell you so?

And no, a daily multi-vitamin will not help.

If you can not stick to a diet, there is nothing wrong with YOU. Don’t blame yourself, blame the diet. And find a diet/woe (way of eating) that you can live with for life. Healthy food. I recommend Atkins. According to the book, not at induction levels as a quick fix.

The “quick weight loss to reach goal and then I can go back to eating whatever” is an unrealistic dream. Think about it. Does it even make sense?

The Kimkins Diet website was launched in June 2006 but had a rather obscure existence until an article in Women’s World magazine caused a large influx of customers one year later.

Many people tried the diet but rightly decided that the diet was not sustainable and disappeared. The $59.95 membership fee was written off as yet another waste of money on a fad diet gimmick. There are plenty of those around, and most of us have tried more than one.

These were the lucky ones. They left before they were harmed; physically or psychologically. The not so lucky ones stayed around a little longer, but eventually most of these abandoned the diet as well. The Kimkins starvation diet can not be followed for a longer period of time and the most natural reaction is binges.

Not surprisingly, the weight comes back on. Often as fast as it came off with starvation level of calories. The months of sacrifice and counting every morsel ended up with no results, or very little lasting weight loss to show for it.

So what do these dieters do? They return to Kimkins for another starvation cycle. Expecting a different result this time. Why? What has changed? The diet is still nutritionally bankrupt and the deprivation will lead to the same binges as last time. Why wouldn’t it?

But, the diet works, they say.

No it doesn’t. A diet you can not stick to does not work. What’s the point in keeping losing the same pounds over and over again?

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

I do hope that all the exposure the Kimkins Diet is getting on the blogs is brought to the re-starters attention. This information was not available a year ago, and hopefully it will make a difference. Their life might depend on it, or at the minimum, their health.

One consolation is that Kimmer, a.k.a. Heidi Diaz, does not get any more money from the returning dieters. They already paid their “lifetime” membership fee. I’m sure Heidi is kicking herself for not making it a monthly fee instead.

Of course, we feel that the body failed us in the first place by becoming overweight. Why did it?

Looking back to the evolution of man, there really doesn’t seem to be an advantage to survival by packing on excessive fat. On the contrary. The logical conclusion would then be that the body in itself has no desire to become overweight. So why does it?

The first reason, in my opinion, is that perhaps we were not overweight in the first place when starting a diet the first time. Yes, we might not have been as skinny as the present fashion ideal dictates, but perhaps we were at an healthy weight based on our body build and genetics.

Any diet attempt at that time would have started the evil “feast and famine cycle” I wrote about the other day. Clearly, that doesn’t help “letting the body take care of itself”.

Another reason, again in my opinion, is long term carbohydrate “abuse”. I don’t think we were made to eat a high amount of carbohydrate. Think about it. The hunter/gatherer survived mainly on proteins and fats, with the occasional carbs from grains, nuts, fruits and roots. A find of honey provided a rare indulgence of “pure sugar”.

This scenario has little comparison to how I grew up eating. Sugar, sugar and more sugar. Soda, candy, sweets. White bread, pasta, potatoes and rice. Combined with fat.

Carbs promote fat storage and make us hungry. Increased appetite may cause us to eat more than our body was intended for. The natural hunger/full signals become distorted.

While some people manage to stay slim when they are still young, the weight gain eventually catch up with most of them. Could it be that we build up carb sensitivity over time? How long time depending on genetics? That “naturally skinny” people have genes that handle carbs better?

I’m not arguing that hormones, thyroid issues and medical conditions do not have an effect on weight gain. I’m just wondering what came first. The hormonal/medical issue, or the carb sensitivity. Or are the issues a result from the “famine” during the “feast and famine cycles”?

The “famine” theory is supported by Kimkins Survivors‘ stories, where many report thyroid issues after following this starvation diet.

Restrictive dieting is obviously to be avoided. It’s been shown again and again that diets do not work. Why would there otherwise be so many of them?

I think that dieting is the main cause of weight gain and a HUGE impact on the “obesity epidemic” is from the skinny ideal promoted by the fashion industry. It will lead teenagers (and even children) to dieting at a young age, starting the “feast and famine cycle” which more likely than not will end up in obesity.