So, You Think You Can Keep The Weight Off After Doing Kimkins Starvation Diet, eh?

This is a difficult post for me to write, I’ll say that at the outset and get it over with.  I hate to post such a personal account, but this needs to be said, to serve as a warning to anyone trying to lose weight by cutting calories too low.

I lost almost 40 lbs in 2006 by carefully counting my carbs, while also keeping my fat intake at a moderate level. Was I doing Kimkins?

No.

However, I was definitely influenced by Heidi Diaz’s low-fat, low-cal propaganda.

Like those doing Kimkins, I ate lean protein, such as water packed tuna, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and turkey breast. I also ate boneless pork loin, with as much fat trimmed off as possible, which makes it a fairly lean protein, along with whole eggs, some cheese, and nuts, which gave me a total daily protein consumption of approximately 65-90 g protein.

I ate 20-40 g of net carbs daily (deducting fiber only), primarily in the form of salad greens and other very low carb veggies, such as green beans, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, and zuchinni, but there were also occasional incidental carbs from condiments such as mustard, mayo, and vinegar, as well as various herbs and spices. Of course, I also counted the carbs from cheeses and nuts.

I cooked the meats and eggs in small amounts of fats (usually 2 tsp or less per serving, depending on the particular recipe I was using), but did not butter my veggies, or add butter to anything at the table. I did however use full fat mayo and salad dressings, which along with the cheese and nuts is one of the few things that distinguishes my eating from Kimkins.

I exercised 5 days/week for at least 90 minutes each day, with approximately 2/3 of my time spent in aerobic activity, and 1/3 on weight resistance machines.

My calories were averaging around 1400 each day.

However, my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) during this weight loss period began at nearly 1750 calories/day. When I reached my lowest weight, my BMR was still well over 1500 calories/day. Add in my workout calorie expenditure, and my Active Metabolic Rate (AMR) started out at more than 2700 calories. Even when I reached my lowest weight, my AMR was still over 2400 calories/day.

One would think that because my calories were below my BMR and still so far below my AMR, I would have continued to lose weight, right?

Wrong!

Through most of 2007, I barely maintained my weight, still eating the same average 1400 calories/day, still maintaining the same exercise schedule.

Towards the end of 2007, the cravings started. Not for high carb foods. I had no desire to dive head-first into the tortilla chips and mashed potatoes - I just wanted more food in general. More low carb veggies, more cheese, more meats, nuts, and fats of all kinds. Because I was eating more veggies, nuts, and cheese, I was admittedly eating more carbs - approximately 30-50 net per day. And because of the increase in fats, I was also admittedly eating more calories too, somewhere in the range of 2000 calories on a daily basis.

Even eating like that, logically I should certainly have still been able to continue to maintain my weight loss, or even continue to lose weight. I was still eating at a low carb maintenance level, even if I wasn’t keeping my carbs low enough to be in ketosis. The main thing is that I was still more than 400 calories per day under my AMR for my lowest weight, which should have still resulted in a loss of slightly less than 1 lb per week. Right?

Wrong again!

When the cravings began, I started gaining weight. Not just a little weight, either. I began gaining it at a dramatic rate, for a total gain of more than 30 lbs in about 6 months.

When I started gaining weight, I began blaming myself for having so little self control, and for eating entirely too much food.

So I tried cutting back again.  I was drinking more water, eating sugar free jello for snacks (not the commercial kinds with the aspartame in it - I made my own nearly-calorie-free jello, using unsweetened kool-aid, unflavored knox gelatin, and stevia, so no hidden carbs, and no artificial sweeteners to stall my efforts) - just anything to stave off snacking, or eating larger meals, and more real, calorie-laden foods. The 1400 Low carb calories had worked before, so I tried to get back to it.

Even cutting back a little bit should have certainly stopped the weight gain in it’s tracks, right?

Wrong yet again!

I couldn’t stay at that 1400 calorie level. The cravings for more food were too strong, so I kept bumping it back up to around 2000 calories.

I continued to gain weight, to the point where as of a couple months ago, I had re-gained nearly every pound lost in 2006

What went wrong?!

Coincidentally, during the period of weight gain, I learned about BMR, and how our bodies conserve calories when we go below our BMR for an extended length of time.

Basically, the problem was that I was eating below my BMR the entire time I was losing weight. When you do that, your body thinks that food is in short supply, and conserves every calorie it can get. No matter how hard you exercise, your body simply becomes more thrifty with the calories you consume. You could cut calories even more, or exercise even more, and perhaps lose a little more weight, but your body simply recognizes the calorie restriction as a more dangerous famine state and revs up it’s efforts to become even more efficient at conserving energy. If you continue in the cycle of further cutting calories every time weight loss stops, your body will simply become more and more efficient at conserving calories.

Starvation mode really does exist.

I was therefore destroying my metabolism, by eating at semi-starvation calorie levels for so long. Yes, it can happen even at what looks like “normal” calorie levels for a normal sized woman, if your calorie intake is below your BMR for any length of time.

When the cravings caused me to begin upping my calories, my body responded by replenishing it’s fat stores, just in case another famine cycle would hit, hence the dramatic weight gain.

Kimkins dieters, beware of the Wrong you’re doing to your body!

Kimkins members regularly consume 800 calories or less, while their BMR could be anywhere from 1400 to well above 2000 calories per day. That means they’re consuming 600 to 1200 calories below their BMR.

Remember that the BMR is the number of calories your body needs to function at it’s most basic level - the number of calories you would need to keep your organs functioning, if all you did was lie in bed 24-7. If you go below this level of calorie intake, your metabolism will slow, in an effort to avoid catabolizing lean tissue (muscle, organs) to support basic function. Go significantly below the BMR, and your body will have no choice but to catabolize lean tissues to support basic function.

I had these weight regain problems after a period of going only a maximum of 350 calories below my BMR. When I stopped losing weight, I was still staying only 100 calories below my BMR.

That doesn’t sound like much of a difference, does it?

It’s not.

But it gives you an idea of just how sensitive the body’s metabolism is to regularly consuming fewer calories than it needs to maintain basic body function.

If you’re doing Kimkins and are regularly eating 600 or 1200 calories below your BMR, the damage to your metabolism will be even more dramatic.

The weight regain when going off Kimkins will also be even more dramatic than what I experienced, because not only will your metabolism be trashed from the extremely low calorie levels, the body will be so starved for much needed nutrients that your calorie consumption will probably skyrocket to a point well above your AMR.

Remember, there is not now, nor has there ever been a maintenance program on Kimkins. Even maintaining your weight while continuing to starve yourself at Kimkins calorie levels will become increasingly difficult, as your body learns to conserve calories more efficiently.

There is Hope for Righting the Wrong!

As I continued gaining weight for several months, both my BMR and AMR were also increasing, to the point of my AMR being as much as 700 calories higher than my daily calorie intake.
However, this bit of information is an important detail: My weight has now leveled off, in spite of continuing to eat the same approximately 2000 calories per day, which is the same calorie intake as when I was still gaining weight - but remember that both my BMR and AMR have continued to increase also, so it’s not simply a matter of eating up to my maintenance level.

What happens is that after eating at least as much as your body really needs to maintain itself for an extended period of time, your body will finally decide that it’s no longer in immediate danger of starvation. It will cease to conserve every possible calorie as fat. Your metabolism will eventually heal - but only if you give it what it needs, for a long enough period of time so that it can heal.

If you are currently doing any Kimkins plan, please quit now, before you damage your metabolism further.

If you are looking for a healthy diet plan to start losing weight, or to heal your metabolism after a period of eating below your BMR, so that you can begin to lose in a healthy way, I personally would suggest Atkins, Protein Power or South Beach.

The Kimkins Scam: A primer

This is a slightly edited version of what I posted a couple months ago, on Ripoff Report.com.

Kimkins is an extremely dangerous, anorexic calorie level, starvation diet developed by one Heidi K. Diaz (aka Kimmer). Kimmer claimed to have lost 198 lbs in less than a year following her own super-fast diet, and even better than that, claimed she had kept all that weight off for 5 years. She provided supposed before and after photos “proving” that she was currently svelte.

Fraud: Two of the after photos provided by Kimmer are actually images stolen from Russian mail order bride sites (the search is ongoing for additional after photos, as there is now clear proof that none of the after photos are of Kimmer). There were also dozens of “success stories” on the site, which were actually falsified stories, with additional before and after photos stolen from various Russian Bride and Groom sites.

More Fraud: So what does Heidi K. Diaz really look like? Well, far from being the 118 lb beauty she claimed to be, she’s actually a good bit heavier than her 314 lb before photo these days, as evidenced by photos and videos provided by a Corona, California based private investigator, an attempted interview by a KTLA -TV news reporter, and video shot at a November 2007 deposition.

Genuine photos of Kimmer include the blue shirt photo above left, the “Before” blue flowered shirt photo from the Woman’s World article, above on the left, and the red jacket deposition photo labeled Nov. 12, 2007.

The ones known to be stolen “Russian Bride” images include the infamous red dress photo, top right, and the leopard print shirt photo labeled “after”, from the Woman’s World article. We are still looking for the original sources for the white shirt photo, and the lawn chair photo.

Still More Fraud: The “diet” itself was actually ripped off from the Stilllman’s diet and Atkins ‘72 diet, only with all dietary safeguards removed. The very name Kimkins denotes that it’s somehow approved by Atkins Nutritionals, and just another version of Atkins. The truth on both counts is that it is no such thing. The diet is denoted as a “low carb” diet, but the truth is that it is not only low carb, it’s also low fat, low calorie… low everything. Too low, WAY too low, especially in nutrients such as essential fatty acids.

Dangers: The eating plans are all starvation diet levels of 500-800 calories per day, plus a side order of daily laxative abuse to “keep things moving”. Due to the starvation calorie levels, weight loss stops after a week or two, as the body enters starvation mode. The advice at that point was to lower calories even more, so that some members were only eating 100-300 calories/day. The plan describes a state nicknamed SNATT (Semi-Nauseous All The Time) as highly desirable and proof the diet is working. However, this is actually a warning sign of the severe starvation state of the body from following her plan. Side effects from doing the diet range from heart palpitations, fainting, dizziness, loss of energy, weakness, cannibalizing of muscle mass (including heart muscle), dangerous electrolyte imbalances, the development of eating disorders, gall bladder problems, and extreme hair thinning, among other symptoms.

Did we mention Fraud? Kimmer’s plan, access to her expert personalized advice, a private members-only forum, and her e-book is sold for a lifetime membership of $59.95. However, Kimmer , who is supposedly the expert on her own diet, is now (December 2007) supposedly doing her own diet for the first time (there is proof that she never lost weight to begin with), and instead of being the expert on her own diet, is now asking for diet advice from her members!!! Hundreds of “Lifetime members” of her site have been banned without warning, merely for asking about physical problems, questioning the photos, without refund or recourse. Her e-book was nothing more than an email advertisement.

Just a few more of Kimmer’s Lies:

~All profits from the website were supposed to go to support her teenage Foster Boys as they aged out of the foster system. Turns out that it is illegal in California to solicit funds for foster children, whether they are in your care, not in your care, part of the system, or aged out of the system. There is also compelling evidence that Heidi K. Diaz has not cared for foster children for at least the last 7 years, and has no foster children in her care at the current time.

~Far from her members only website being the only source for her diet plan, the details of her plan are readily available on the Low Carb Friends forum (a free forum), as well as the Active Low Carbers forum (another free diet forum), along with extensive documentation of the fraud which has been discovered thus far.

~Kimmer, who has no medical or nutritional training, claims there is no such thing as starvation mode, and that if you have fat on your body, you don’t need to eat, that you can live off your fat until it’s all gone. On the contrary, the body needs a weight-related amount of protein to prevent muscle wasting, plus certain amounts of essential fatty acids each day, and if you lower calories below your basal metabolic rate (current weight related), you will go into starvation mode, when the body will conserve energy (bodyfat). Weight loss will then either come from fluid, resulting in dehydration and dangerous electrolyte imbalances, or muscle loss.

~Heidi K. Diaz has also given extensive, but extremely questionable advice about skin care and hair care, claiming that she has extremely youthful, smooth skin, and full, lush hair. I’m sure she wishes both those claims were true, but the photo/video evidence shows that she has extremely rough skin, and there is proof that she wears wigs because she is completely bald due to a condition called alopecia.

Why would anyone bother to join Kimkins?

So here it is, nearly swimsuit season. Within the next few weeks, there will be millions of people who have decided that they’ve given in to far too many cookies, cakes, candies and imbibed far too much over the last several months. The clothes are getting tighter, and with summer just around the corner, the many will be looking for a way to look their best on the beach.

No one wants to spend a long time losing the weight. We all want it to just go away as soon as possible. So we hit google and start our search for the perfect diet, one that will make the pounds go bye-bye as rapidly as possible.

There are many well known diets out there. Some are highly advertised low fat oriented, such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and Nutrisystem, just to name a few. Others are low carb, such as Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, Eat Fat Get Thin. Both types of diets have advantages, and even though I lean towards the low carb camp, if you feel like you can continue to eat low fat for the rest of your life, then perhaps one of those diets will be better for you.

One thing you don’t want to do though is to fall into a diet trap that bills itself as low fat, low carb and low calorie. Kimkins is the first one that comes to mind in that category. Kimkins is an amalgamation of Atkins ‘72 and Stillman’s, with virtually all the fat and nutritional safeguards removed, put together by a woman who goes by the name of Heidi K. Diaz (aka Kimmer). Kimmer promoted her diet by claiming to have lost 200 lbs in 11 months, keeping it off for at least 5 years, but her true results are pictured below:

(As if these photos are not disturbing enough as the true before and after photos of a self-styled “diet guru”, Heidi is now among her fellow dieters, asking those who have paid to join her site for help in losing weight!)

Aside from the fact that Kimkins doesn’t work, it is also an extremely dangerous diet, with starvation calorie levels, malnutrition nutrient levels, and a side order of laxative abuse. Common side effects are massive hair loss, heart palpitations, erratic menstrual cycles, severe constipation, electrolyte imbalances, gall bladder problems, fainting, muscle wasting, and dizziness, among others.

But even if you were desperate enough to try the diet, why would you pay $79.95 for it, when you can get all the information about what it entails for free? Simply by do a search on lowcarbfriends.com, and all versions of her starvation diet will be easily found… along with extensive descriptions of the scam Heidi Diaz has perpetrated on the unsuspecting public. (More information about the fraud will be published here, as I have time to type it out)

Not only is the information about the diet available for free, but as a member of Kimkins.con, if you dared to ask Kimmer any questions about physical problems associated with following the diet or how it is that Kimmer herself doesn’t seem to have had very good results from her diet, you’d be banned from her site, even though you paid for a lifetime membership.

Bye-bye, $79.95!

Say hello to new, ongoing health problems, and out of control weight gain!

Not exactly a wise use of your money, that’s for sure. If you need to lose weight, do it in a healthy manner. Go buy an Atkins book. Or South Beach. Or join Weight Watchers or TOPS. If you want support from fellow dieters, there are plenty of free support forums out there - Low Carb Friends, Active Low Carbers, Low Carb Discussion, just to name a few.