PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT THAT IS CURRENTLY PENDING IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, IN RIVERSIDE, CALILFORNIA.

INTRODUCTION

1. On May 20, 2009, the Riverside County Superior Court, located in Riverside, California, issued an order certifying this case to proceed as a class action.

2. The plaintiffs are six individuals who bought memberships to kimkins.com through the kimkins.com Website (www.kimkins.com) from January 1, 2006 to October 15, 2007. The defendants are Heidi Diaz, an individual, and Kimkins (also known as Kimkins.com), a business entity that conducts business in Corona, California.

3. The plaintiffs contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com induced them into buying memberships for kimkins.com through false and misleading information provided on the Kimkins.com Web site. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants violated California Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq., which authorizes courts to provide relief from unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices. The plaintiffs also contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com violated common law prohibitions against fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

4. This notice provides you with information regarding the litigation, including the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants and the current status of the litigation. This notice also provides you with information regarding the court’s class-certification order.

THE LITIGATION

The Plaintiffs’ Claims

5. This lawsuit is based on the plaintiffs’ claims that Diaz and Kimkins used unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices to induce them into buying memberships to Kimkins.com. This lawsuit is also based on the plaintiffs’ claims that the false and misleading information contained on the kimkins.com Web site constituted fraud or negligent misrepresentation by Diaz and Kimkins.

6. Here’s a list of the kinds of misconduct that the plaintiffs have alleged:

• that Diaz and Kimkins concocted a false persona, “Kim Drake” or “Kimmer” to sell memberships to Kimkins.com
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that “Kim Drake” was real by using photos of real women and then falsely claiming that the photos depicted “Drake”
• that Diaz and Kimkins posted lied about “Drake’s” purported weight loss
• that Diaz and Kimkins provided false or misleading information to Women’s World magazine
• that Diaz and Kimkins fabricated 41 “success stories” and published on the Kimkins.com Web
• that Diaz and Kimkins made up celebrity endorsements
• that Diaz and Kimkins misused labels and metatags to steer Internet traffic to the Kimkins.com Website, in violation of the law
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that they were buying lifetime memberships, when in fact Diaz and Kimkins.com terminated memberships at their whim
• that Diaz and Kimkins intended to mislead potential members and assumed that potential members would rely on her misrepresentations.

The Defendants’ Position

7. Diaz and Kimkins have denied all allegations of wrongdoing and liability, and they continue to deny that they have done anything wrong. Diaz and Kimkins also have asserted various affirmative defenses to the plaintiffs’ claims.

THE COURT’S CLASS-CERTIFICATION ORDER

8. In an order filed May 20, 2009, the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. The Court certified for class treatment the plaintiffs’ claims for equitable relief, including disgorgement of the subscription fees paid to Diaz and Kimkins by the plaintiffs and the members of the class.

9. The certified class is defined as all individuals who purchased the Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007.

THE COURT HAS NOT EXPRESSED ANY OPINIONS
REGARDING THE MERITS OF THE PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS

10. The Court ordered that this notice be provided to advise class members that this case is pending and that the Court has certified the case to proceed as a class action. You should not consider this notice or its mailing to be a statement by the Court that the plaintiffs are right or that their claims will prevail.

INSTRUCTIONS TO CLASS MEMBERS

11. You do not need to do anything to remain a member of the class. If you bought a Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007—including either of those dates—you are automatically included in the class. Your rights will be represented by the plaintiffs and their attorneys. You will not be personally responsible for any attorney fees or for the any of the costs of this litigation.

OPT OUT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

12. You have the opportunity to opt out of the class action lawsuit as detailed herein. If you incurred a personal injury as a result of using the Kimkins.com aka Kimkins Diet, you have a right to opt out. Notices to opt must be sent to jtiedt@tiedtlaw.com or mailed to Tiedt & Hurd at 980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209, Corona, California 92879.

WHERE TO GO & WHOM TO CONTACT
SHOULD YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION

13. This notice provides only a brief summary of this litigation. For further details, you should take one or both of the following steps:

• Review the documents in the Court’s file for this lawsuit. Many of these documents may be viewed or obtained on-line at the following URL: http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/ . You also may review the Court’s file in person by going to the Office of the Clerk of the Court for the Riverside Superior Court, during regular business hours. The Clerk’s office is located at 4050 Main Street, Riverside, California 92501.

• Write a letter to the attorneys who are representing the plaintiffs and whom the Court has appointed to represent the class. Here are their names and their contact information:

John E. Tiedt & Marc S. Hurd
Tiedt & Hurd
980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209
Corona, California 92879

Michael L. Cohen
Michael L. Cohen, a PLC
707 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4100
Los Angeles, California 90017

Ray Moore
Moore Winter McLennan LLP
701 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 200
Glendale, California 92103-4232

If you decide to contact one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, please do so in writing. To make it easier for them or one of their staff members to respond, however, your letter should include both your e-mail address and your telephone number.

There are estimated to be as many as 40,000 members in the class. So please, DO NOT CALL THE COURT OR ATTEMPT TO CONTACT THE COURT BY E-MAIL.

DATE: ___________________________, 2009

____________________________________
Hon. _________________________,
Presiding Judge

How much fiber should I eat? It’s not easy to find an answer to that question.

FDA says 28 grams, minimum (14 grams per 1,000 calories).

Numerous google hits tell me that “high fat, low fiber” causes constipation. Of course, none of them say anything about the total carb consumption on the low fat diet they recommend. Perhaps it’s the excess carbs and not the lack of fiber that’s the problem?

Some sources cite the study, now disproved, that fiber prevents colon cancer. While others acknowledge that this long established “fact” is not true, they still insist that high fiber intake is required for colon health. Supposedly, it is not good to have this “toxic waste” sitting around in our intestines, and we need fiber to push it out. The now so popular colon cleanse products are also based on this fear of the “toxic waste”. To understand why our body could not handle the waste it was designed for in the first place is beyond me.

Many diets suggests high fiber intake. The higher the better. Fiber is supposed to fill you up, absorb some of the fats/calories you eat and bring them out undigested, and prevent the apparently inevitable constipation from any calorie restricted diet.

Even Weight Watchers is promoting high fiber consumption. In their point formula, fiber is subtracted so the more fiber you eat, the more other foods you can fit into your alloted points. For example, a slice Scandinavian Bran Crispbread (16 cals, 3 carbs, 3 fiber, 1 protein) adds up to minus 0.28 points.

Then there is the other camp that believes fiber is not necessary and might even be harmful. Coincidentally, this camp is also in favor of high fat, low carb.

Of course, this other camp most likely have their own agenda, just as the “low fat, high fiber” camp has.

Barry Groves, the author of “Eat Fat, Get Thin” wrote an interesting article about fiber: The Bran Wagon. Is it true? I have no idea but it certainly provides another point of view in the debate.

Another anti-fiber author is Konstantin Monastyrsky, who is promoting his book Fiber Menace. Again, I have no idea how much of this is true, and I do not recommend buying the book, but I find the website a fascinating read.

And last, perhaps the best anti-fiber article, by Dr Eades: A cautionary tale of mucus for and aft.

Personally, I find much more in the anti-fiber information being true (for me) than the pro-fiber claims. I did an experiment the last couple of weeks, eating a lot of fiber in the form of bran.

The experiment started out unintentionally. I just happen to like the crunch from Scandinavian Bran Crispbread, and can eat a lot of it. I probably have had in excess of 40 grams of fiber as compared to the 10-15 grams I normally get from vegetables.

The result?

• More frequent bowel movements, bordering on diarrhea. I didn’t “need” this as I don’t suffer from constipation and never have.
• Bloating. This amount of bran requires a high water consumption. The two combined certainly filled up my stomach, and not in a pleasant way. Some “high-fiber” diets use this fact to claim that this would diminish appetite. That didn’t happen in my case.
• Gas. And a lot of it. Thankfully odorless. While fiber is not digested directly by the body, the bacteria we have in our guts thrive on it. I think I prefer to starve these particular bacteria for a while.

My experiment convinced me that I don’t need to add fiber to my low carb, high fat diet. And while I like the bran crispbread, it has to be an occasional treat (note, most people find these resembling card board and would never label them as a “treat”).

My results might not be typical. My diet is not low fat and I have never had to rely on laxatives to “help”.

From what I understand, high fat consumption combined with low carbs prevents constipation and fiber supplements are not necessary.

By the way, did you know that oil is a well proven, harmless (as far as I understand) home remedy for constipation? Suggested dosage is 1 tablespoon twice per day. That’s why I’m not surprised that my low carb, high fat diet keeps me regular without any added fiber supplements.

Now, a low fat diet probably needs fiber supplements. At least it seems to be a MUCH better alternative than the laxative abuse recommended by the Kimkins founder, Kimmer.

One of the main concerns for people starting a low carb diet is the apparent lack of fiber in the diet. I say “apparent” because it’s really a misconception. One of those accepted “truths” that keeps on being repeated over and over again.

The FDA recommends 28 grams of fiber for a 2,000 cal diet. Using their other recommendations for servings, I fall just short of that. For example:

• 4 servings of fruit (2 cups)
• 5 servings of vegetables (2.5 cups)
• 6 oz grain (6 slices of bread)
• 5 oz meat
• 3 cups milk

add up to only 24 grams of fiber. And this is only because I used “100% whole grain wheat” for the grain servings. Whole grain bread was introduced to help increase fiber intake so it can really be compared to a fiber supplement in my opinion. If I replace it with white bread, the total fiber ends up being 15 grams.

On a low carb diet, staying at induction level carbs (<20 when subtracting fiber) I can easily achieve the same 15 grams of fiber as on the “normal” diet. My sample menu included 2 cups cooked cabbage, 1 cup cooked green beans, three cups lettuce and one tomato.

So do I need to be worried about just getting half the recommended daily fiber intake? No, I do not. Why would I need more fiber?

The FDA fiber myth claims:

• Lack of fiber causes colon cancer. This “fact” was never proved in the first place and has been shown not to be true.
• Lack of fiber causes constipation. This is just not true. Lack of fat causes constipation.

But, IF you don’t want to try a low carb diet with just these 15 grams of fiber, the problem is easily solved by fiber supplements that do not add much to your net carb count. I routinely eat Wasa rye crackers and the Bran Crispbread I order from Netrition. But that isn’t because I think I need more fiber. I just happen to like them. Actually, I have to be careful with the bran crispbread as too much fiber will give me diarrhea.

However, a NO fiber diet that is also LOW FAT is bound to cause constipation. Look at the K/E menu below. The plate has the food for ONE FULL DAY, i.e. 3 meals.

K/E is short for Kimmer’s Experiment. It was a diet devised by Kimmer/Kimkins to produce heavy ketosis (or as she calls it, “real” ketosis) and quick weight loss. Lean meats and eggs only. No vegetables. Originally suggested for 3 days to jump start weight loss, the time limit was soon removed and it was recommended for long term use.

The problem with this diet is not really related to fiber. It is LOW calorie and LOW fat. This particular menu, based on Kimkins recommendations, provides just 376 cals (only 12 grams of fat) for ONE DAY!

Kimmer, or Heidi Diaz, does not recommend fiber supplements. They are bulking and a negative reflection on scale weight before the “bulk” has been eliminated is to be avoided. Instead, she suggests laxatives. On a daily basis.

Beware of the Kimkins Diet! Don’t be fooled by its claim to be a low carb diet. It’s low everything. Low carb, low fat, low calorie.

Who didn’t start their first diet when they were just a few pounds overweight? Dropped some weight and then put it back on, plus a few pounds more? Kept on repeating this cycle with each attempt ending up at a higher weight?

This dieting pattern is called a “feast and famine cycle” and is caused by restrictive diets.

The body’s natural response to excessive calorie restriction is:

• Reduced metabolic rate. As much as 15 – 30% fewer calories are burned.
• Cravings, especially for sweets and fat.
• Increased ability to store calories as fat, whenever excess calories become available again.

The result? A binge, and/or quitting the diet. Or for the unfortunate that “manage” to fight the hunger, anorexia.

During the period of re-feeding, weight is put back on. Even worse, while the weight loss was both muscle and fat, the regain is primarily fat. We end up bigger and with lower metabolism than before the weight loss as fat doesn’t burn as many calories as muscle does.

After this episode, or a period of time, the restrictive diet is restarted. The diet works, I did lose weight. I just wasn’t strong enough to stick with it.

Wrong! If the diet is not sustainable, the diet is wrong. It’s not the dieter’s fault. It’s the diet’s fault.

So what works for weight loss then? It’s obvious that restrictive diets are not doing us any favors. I strongly believe in lowcarb and “healthy eating” which to me means to eat the right foods, but not limit how much I eat.

With lowcarb, there is no need to feel deprived. There is no need to go hungry. If hungry, then eat. It’s not a diet, it’s a Way of Eating (WOE) that can be sustained long term.

And guess what? When we are ready for maintenance, we have learned how to eat. Do yourself a favor and follow Atkins as written, climbing the carb ladder. Then there is no sudden change from “weigh loss mode” to maintenance, with the common regain and struggle.

Beware of quick fixes that promises fast weight loss, like Kimkins. Not even the founder has been successful on the diet, but still keeps on promoting it. While starvation produces weight loss, the damage done to your body in the process might be permanent even when the weight loss isn’t.

The results from the study are really confusing, but they indicate that weight loss is not indicative of better health, at least not when it comes to mortality rate.

To summarize (numbers adjusted for smoking, alcohol, and other factors):

• Wanting to lose weight and doing so increased mortality by 87%
• Wanting to lose weight but not doing so decreased mortality by 16%
• Wanting to lose weight but gaining weight decreased mortality by 7%
• Not wanting to lose weight and staying stable was used as baseline
• Not wanting to lose weight but doing so increased mortality by 17%
• Not wanting to lose weight and gaining weight increased mortality by 58%

The study provides a lot of details, but the one detail that is lacking is what diet the subjects used. However, considering the time frame (1975 – 1999) I bet that the participants were on low fat, high carb diets.

Not even the researchers could interpret the results and they speculate that loss of lean mass or release of toxins in body fat could play a role. The simple answer is that they don’t really have a clue.

My non-expert interpretation of the results is that changing your lifestyle and eating better will decrease mortality rate. The study subjects who wanted to lose weight but didn’t do so were the ones benefiting the most from their efforts. Even the ones wanting to lose weight but failing to do so decreased their mortality rate!

Eat healthy, live longer! And healthy does not mean low fat!

What is painfully obvious is that being successful on a low fat diet is not beneficial if you want to live a long life.

I really, really hope that people avoid low fat diets like Kimkins that possibly could be the most deadly of them all.

Illustration by Squeakie

You are not alone. Most of us are brainwashed to believe that fat is bad for us and that eating fat makes us fat.

This misconception seems to be based on two factors:

1. Fat has 9 calories per gram as compared to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates or protein. Trying to cut calories, it seems logical to reduce fat to get most “bang for the buck”. This approach is totally disregarding effects on blood sugar, satiety and nutritional needs.
2. An effort back in the 50′ies by a doctor (Keys) to prove that saturated fats cause clogging of arteries. His theory was never proven but it was still accepted by the medical community and became a mantra repeated to this day.

The fat phobia is driving people to try low fat diets like Kimkins. Kimkins is catering to consumers that hear that a low carb diet is the best way to lose weight. Kimkins being low carb and low fat must then be even better, right? It is also low calorie and to eat less to lose more weight makes sense, right?

Not so. The equation isn’t that simple. Food composition plays a role. Metabolism plays a role. Nutritional requirements play a role. Blood sugar response plays a role.

There are many examples of people losing as much, or more, weight with a low carb diet without fat or calorie restriction as with the Kimkins starvation diet. And with a proper low carb diet like Atkins, there is no need to feel deprived. Deprivation generally leads to binges, weight regain and yo-yo dieting.

While starvation works for weight loss, you might end up losing more than scale pounds. What’s the point in being thin if your diet caused permanent damage to your health due to nutrition deficiency? Isn’t losing weight supposed to make you healthier instead of the other way around?

Going back to my fat rant, I found a great article on a blog: Fats and Oils – Rethinking Our Fat Phobia.

The article gives excellent explanations to why it’s unjustified and wrong to fear fats. USDA has not yet seen the light however.

While the latest USDA recommendations were updated in 2005 and acknowledge that we need some fat, I still don’t agree with most of what they say:

Fats and oils are part of a healthful diet, but the type of fat makes a difference to heart health, and the total amount of fat consumed is also important. High intake of saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol increases the risk of unhealthy blood lipid levels, which, in turn, may increase the risk of coronary heart disease. A high intake of fat (greater than 35 percent of calories) generally increases saturated fat intake and makes it more difficult to avoid consuming excess calories. A low intake of fats and oils (less than 20 percent of calories) increases the risk of inadequate intakes of vitamin E and of essential fatty acids and may contribute to unfavorable changes in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) blood cholesterol and triglycerides.

The recommendations continue with:

• Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids and less than 300 mg/day of cholesterol, and keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible.
• Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.
• When selecting and preparing meat, poultry, dry beans, and milk or milk products, make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free.
• Limit intake of fats and oils high in saturated and/or trans fatty acids, and choose products low in such fats and oils.

The only thing I agree with from this last section is to avoid transfats. Transfat is a man made substance and it is no surprise to me that it has been found to be largely “toxic” to the body. [For the same reason, I try to limit my use of the man made Splenda. They haven't found any ill effects of it, yet, but it hasn't been around for a long time either.]

The rest of the recommendations just make me exasperated. “Lean, low-fat, or fat-free”? Why? Even with the calorie in /calorie out hypothesis that I need to reduce calories to lose weight, why do I need to cut calories from fat? To be able to eat more carbohydrates? Sugar? What good will that do me?

Other nutrition experts are following suit. They now say that fats are to be used in “moderation” and then just the “good” fats. “Good” fats are unsaturated fats; vegetable oils and fish oil. “Bad” fats are saturated fats; butter, coconut oil and fats in dairy. If they even explain why these fats are “bad”, they still reference Keys’ false assumption of saturated fats “clogging the arteries”.

Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories did a good job to show how unfounded the bad rep of saturated fats is. It’s an excellent book but not easy to read as it’s packed with references and facts. Well worth the time though.

Butter sculpture displayed at a Farm Show in Harrisburg, PA.

“Get a life” is an originally American idiom and catch phrase usually intended as a taunt, to indicate that the person being so addressed is devoting an inordinate amount of time to trivial or hopeless matters. The phrase has also appeared as a generally more emphatic variant of the taunt “get a job” and implies the addressee needs to go out and make their way in the world, without being supported by outside sources such as parents or benefactors. It may also be directed at someone who is perceived as boring or single-minded; suggesting they acquire some other, more practical interests or hobbies and get dates, find a job, or move to their own house.

It was also applied to so-called workaholics and others who are perceived as dedicated to their work (out of “labor of love” as opposed to money or loyalty to the company) but not taking the time to relax or enjoy life.

Sometimes the phrase is used against people who are viewed as officious or intermeddling in someone else’s affairs. It is another way of saying “Get your own life”, or “Stay out of my business.”

The Kimtologists frequently tell us, the Anti-Kimkins ducks, to “get a life”. Wikipedia gives two interpretations that may apply. Do they mean that we are “devoting an inordinate amount of time to trivial or hopeless matters” or that we should “stay out of my business”? Both, would be my guess.

Inordinate amount of time?

What would I do with my free time if I didn’t write Anti-Kimkins blog posts? Watch TV? And yes, it is my FREE time. I have a job that I’m paid for. I have a family. I cook. I clean. I go to the gym.

Trivial or hopeless?

Kimkins is a dangerous diet, promoted by an unscrupulous scam artist. The Anti-Kimkins blogs provide a way for an unsuspecting consumer to get a second opinion before paying $79.95 for an online scam. A year ago, there was nothing negative about kimkins available on the internet.

For me, this entire ordeal has been (and continue to be) a great learning experience. I have:

• Formed friendships with a wide range of people on the internet. They are interesting, intelligent and funny and have lives outside the Kimkins Debacle that I get to share in.
• Learned how to manage a blog on Blogger and WordPress, and even my own domain. Not too deep into html yet, but it’s coming.
• Learned to set up yahoo groups and message boards.
• Found out about new web tools and tricks.
• Become a google expert in finding information.
• Begun to get an understanding of Internet Marketing, including blogs, ads, article sites.
• Found out that such things as Russian Brides sites and BDSM bulletin boards exist on the internet. Nasty porn too. (Not everything on this journey has been a pleasant experience.)

Stay out of my business?

What exactly is the Kimtologist’s business? I know what Heidi’s business is but what about her customers? Losing weight by starving themselves? Posting within the safe confines of the Kimpound?

Shutting Kimkins.con down is my business. I paid for a lifetime membership and Heidi defrauded me out of that money. First by having me pay based on fraudulent representation of herself (there were no fake success stories yet at that time) and then by banning me from the site without grounds.

Existing members on kimkins.con that value their friendships there better exchange information so that they can get together elsewhere when kimkins.con is gone (not that the posters going around on the blogs telling us to “get a life” sound like somebody I would want to be friends with, but, whatever) .

Of course, now we know that she really looks like this:

Seems that the “no-exercise” diet didn’t work for her.

I’m going to share my weight loss story. It’s anecdotal but so is Kimmer’s. Except my story is true and hers isn’t.

When turning 46, I had slowly put on about 20 pounds over a couple of years. Before then, I had been a “naturally skinny” person for reasons that are unknown to me (and the medical community at large, it seems).

Vanity didn’t send me to the gym, but my doctor did. At my annual check up, he was lecturing me about my cholesterol and the risk for osteoporosis (small bones). I refused to even consider medication for it, and bit the bullet and started to go to the gym.

I lost 16 pounds over a period of 5-6 months. No diet at the time. I looked great (well, my body did) and I felt great. Next annual showed perfect cholesterol and the doctor didn’t even say anything about possible bone loss. The latter might be due to me not shrinking. I was still the same 5′6″ as I always had been.

I maintained my weight loss for over two years, and then the pounds started to creep back on again. Why? I didn’t stop exercising but went to the gym much less often and stopped challenging myself.

This time, life changes had made the gym less practical and I decided to try to diet off the pounds instead. Did it work? Not really. One month of Atkin’s induction showed no weight loss at all. Not even a single pound.

The gym still not being practical, I somehow found callanetics. Callanetics is a great workout to do at home, and I highly recommend it. It looks deceivingly simple but try it, and you will see that it isn’t. Or better yet, have your husband to try it with you. If he is anything like mine, you’ll laugh your a$$ off. Callanetics requires both flexibility and coordination which is not all that common in men, at least not if they are older.

This time, it also took me about 5-6 months to get back to my goal weight, from combined regular exercise and a low carb diet.

Did I try Kimkins? Yes, I did. This was at the time when she dominated LCF and I tried it a few times when I was frustrated at lack of scale movement. I never lasted more than a few days on this starvation diet. And, no, it wasn’t from carb withdrawal as I was already low in carbs. Most important, however, was that by the 3rd day, I could no longer exercise. That seemed counter productive so I gave up any quick fix attempt and went back to regular low carb with enough nutrition to carry me through my workouts.

Last fall, I regained 5 pounds. Why? Hmm, I stopped exercising again. See a pattern here? I do.

Now I’m back in the gym (no longer being able to motivate myself to get it done at home) and have gotten rid of 4 of the 5 pounds.

Exercise might not be required for weight loss for you, but it is for me.

We have been all over the internet to pull kimkins weeds. One place kimkins articles were found was Article-Gems. They did not respond too well to emails sent by “angry weigh loss people”:

Running an article directory – like article-gems is not always easy. Apart from the hundreds of articles each day to approve you occasionally are targeted by spammers – or in the latest case an email campaign from angry weight loss people (must be missing the food). Seriously though we received a number of emails demanding we removed articles on the Kimkins diet because the diet was the subject of litigation.

We make it quite clear in our terms of service will take no responsibility for the content of articles on article-gems. We chose to remove two articles – the first one for failing to comply with our terms of service (it had a link in the main article body) and the second one, because it had an untruth that was publically admitted to be untrue and therefore failed to comply with the spirit of our TOS.

However the over riding principle at article-gems.com is FREEDOM OF SPEECH. If your article complies with our terms of service IT WILL REMAIN – no matter how many angry dieters send us emails.

I have not emailed this site. But now I will.

If you start at a high weight, the first week’s losses is probably going to be astounding; perhaps 10 pounds. But that is common for any low carb diet, Atkins for example, and is mostly water from the body depleting its glycogen stores and the water tied to them. Nevertheless, it’s thrilling to see the scale go down so quickly, and seeing the big losses becomes addictive. You are not too hungry either, at least not in the beginning, due to ketosis.

The fast weight loss is very motivating for continuing the starvation diet, despite feeling tired, nauseous, dizziness, dry skin, hair loss, menstrual changes and other issues that are soon showing up. As Kimmer herself has said, you have to take a “hit” during the weight loss period as it, in her mind, is more dangerous to stay fat. (I do wonder why she never thought that was valid for herself, but that is a different post all together.)

When serious hunger start to develop, typically around week 5-6, you are already addicted to seeing a daily loss, so you forge ahead, ignoring that the body is demanding nutrition.

Many people drop out, giving in to the body’s demands for FOOD, and end up feeling like a failure (see their stories at Kimkins Survivors). Others manage to “ride it out” by filling their stomach with no, or low, calorie foods such as diet soda, broth or egg whites. It will not stave off the hunger, but at least fills the stomach for a while.

A few of the Kimkins dieters manage to stay with the diet all the way to GOAL! Their body might not look exactly as they had envisioned, especially if they followed Kimmer’s advice not to exercise during the weight loss period. But hey, they are SKINNY.

So what now? WHAT NOW? How and what will you eat to stay at goal, to stay slim?

Maintenance. Hmm, there is no maintenance plan. Kimmer said, when asked by Jimmy Moore:

Jimmy: One of the questions, Kimmer, that I’m getting from a lot of people is, alright Jimmy you’re doing this, and you’re doing your own little tweaks with it as everybody should (K: Mmm hmm.), what are you gonna do once you lose the weight, for long-term weight maintenance? And that’s a question they wanna hear, how do you transition from Kimkins the weight loss plan to Kimkins the maintenance plan?

K: ‘K, well in the simplest sense, you can transition to any lowcarb plan, if that’s easier for you. (J: Yeah.) My struggle with coming up with a maintenance plan is coming up with something that is super simple. What I have found from studying the website is that even the Kimkins diet, which I think is ultra-simple, that people still have problems deciphering what the rules are, and interpreting what they should do in, in different situations. I’m working with different people now, that we can come up with something, and it’s something that you could write on the back of your hand and you would know always, how to maintain your weight, without — I can’t even follow Dr. Atkins’ plan of 5-carb increments, because there’s 5 carbs in a serving of asparagus, and there’s 5 carbs in a half a cup of cream cheese. The calories are wildly different, weight maintenance will be wildly different. (J: Yeah.) So it’s, it’s in progress.

There is still no maintenance plan posted on Kimkins. Of course, we now know that Kimmer never needed one herself as she has never lost weight and didn’t have to bother about maintenance.

There was a maintenance plan in the works, by Christin, before she left Kimkins. (Her thread has since been removed.) It’s been almost a year since the Women’s World cover girl, Christin, reached goal. So where is she today?
This is what she said yesterday on her blog post My Confession:
It is time for me to share something with you. I am coming clean about the excruciating difficulty that I have had in maintaining my weight loss that I obtained utilizing a Very Low Calorie Diet such as Kimkins. The road has been far from an easy transition. We think when we are on the road to losing weight that once we attain our goal that life will somehow magically get easier.

And the other Women’s World cover girl, Deni, said this on December 19th:
I have not maintained well since Kimkins. I am up almost 20 pounds from my low and struggling daily to get some of them off. I instantly gained the 5.. and have slowly yo-yo’d the other 15 pounds ever since.
I have been open about this in my journal and in my challenge thread.

And, finally, the staunch Kimkins supporter, Tippy Toes, that went on the Mike&Juliet show to promote Kimkins said yesterday:
I don’t know what I am doing anymore. My weight seems to have decided to be 153 as a new set point. 5 lbs over where it once was.
I mentioned in my journal (I think) that according to my calender I did maintain 147 for 3 months. But in taking a second look, I realized this was the 3 months I worked for Kimkins. I maintained at 147 BUT I was buckling down like crazy doing various K plans trying to reach 145 which never happened.
So, if all that did was maintain me at 147, well, that’s not good as I don’t want Kimkins to ever be THE maintenance plan!
Shocked.
Am wondering if this is my natural, true weight. I will continue with clean eating and see what the sunday weigh in (which I will record) will bring.
I know I could probably lose it again, either doing a short K round, Stillman’s or perhaps just limiting calories to 1000 a day. But, if I cannot easily maintain it why bother? lol
I just don’t know what to do, or for that matter, if I need to do anything at all. I guess it’s that 5lb span that has me so worried as now I have NO SPAN left. Course I could change it. Maybe my body is OK and my head is the problem. I just don’t know.

And I reported recently that another “successful” Kimkins dieter, Gary, is maintaining since 3 months on 800 calories. He is a 230lbs, 6′3″ man!

When you reach your goal weight on a VLDC calorie diet, you will have problems finding a maintenance level. Eating like a “normal” person? Not a chance! Any increase of calories will inevitably end up in a weight gain. Are you prepared to continue on a starvation diet for the rest of your life, just to stay slim?

If you have fallen into the Kimkins trap, please read this thread on LCF: Repairing your metabolism.
“The good news is that any damage you did by messing around with your metabolism can be corrected with exercise and the Atkins lifestyle. How long it takes e will depend on how far down the path you have traveled, and for how long. Just know it can and has been done successfully by all of us. “

There is hope, but unfortunately it’s not an easy process to get back to healthy eating, or healthy weight loss, after having followed Kimkins.

Do yourself a favor and chose a diet like Atkins. You can lose weight just as fast on Atkins as on Kimkins without deprivation and gradually ease into maintenance that you can stay on for life.

From Repairing your metabolism:
Reaching your goal weight is not—or should not be—about dieting. It’s about changing your body, and your mind-set, permanently and for the better. It is—or should be—actually just the opposite of the start-and-stop process that most people consider a diet. I tell my patients that they should plan not just on losing weight, but also on restoring energy and feeling their physical best. All they have to do is exercise regularly, start an intelligent nutritional supplementation plan and eat the healthiest foods imaginable. Sound like a lot? Hardly. In fact, it sounds like a cinch.