What I Have Learned From Kimkins

[zerotolow]

I just started reading and posting on Low Carb Friends in an effort to communicate openly about my weight loss. My goal is to be open and honest about my weight and my diet success and missteps. Reading and participating in LCF is part of my effort to feel accountable for my actions. In order to do this I need to receive from and give encouragement to those on the boards. This is how I discovered the Kimkins story.

It didn't take long to figure out what the controversy is. Kimkins is a scam promoted by a scam artist. There are 5 Kimkins plans that restrict calories, fat and carbs to varying degrees. Kimkins had an affiliate program and many people looking to fulfill the dreams of speedy weight loss and work at home income fell victim to this unhealthy approach to weight loss.

After reading so many angry posts from those betrayed by Heidi Diaz, founder of Kimkins, I am left wondering, what can I learn from Kimkins? The following are my thoughts on how to take away something positive from the Kimkins scandal.

Hiding The Truth From The Camera
Heidi "Kimmer" Diaz claimed to have lost over 100 pounds with her Kimkins plan. According to her family she never lost this weight. Kimmer refused in person interviews with magazines and television shows. I have hidden myself from the camera in my own life. I don't enjoy seeing myself with 150 extra pounds. I don't like the idea of others scrutinizing my image. I'm working on changing that self esteem problem. I'm no longer hiding from cameras. I am not happy with the fact that I'm overweight but I am attractive and I have a lot to offer. My friends and family love me and want to remember good times with me no matter what I weigh. My weight is a result of my decision making and I'm done punishing myself and my loved ones by hiding from my actions.

Eating Only When Hungry
From what I've read, one most dangerous aspect of the Kimkins plan was it's severe approach to denying hunger. Dieters were encouraged to try and determine if the hunger was simply an emotional desire for food. Kimmer denounced the theory of "starvation mode", claiming that there could be no starvation if there was body fat present. Some members were dipping below 600 calories per day. People on this plan worked hard to psychologically trick themselves into believing their hunger pains were emotional. They were encouraged to drink chicken broth with egg whites stirred in to stave off hunger. This approach has reminded me to think about my own habits in dealing with my hunger. I run both extremes. I don't like to follow rules when it comes to what I can or can't have. I have ignored my hunger for long periods of time and I've also ignored my feelings of fullness to the point of binging. I now follow the 5-6 small meals per day method of eating because of this. The Kimkins plan recommends to only eat when truly hungry and I can take this to heart. I believe that I am not emotionally in touch with my hunger so every two to three hours I need to evaluate my desires to over eat or not eat at all and take immediate action. Have I eaten enough calories? Have I exercised yet? What will I be doing in a couple more hours? If I have not eaten for three hours or more but I am not hungry I will eat a small handful of macadamia nuts or something equally nutritious and convenient. I won't stop what I'm doing to prepare a meal so I can keep busy and distracted from emotional eating while keeping up my energy and metabolism. If I feel hungry I prepare a mini meal that ranges between 200 and 400 calories that will satisfy my need for something delicious. By doing this I haven't had a problem over eating or feeling deprived and irritable in a couple of months. I am not over or under eating. Kimkins followers showed how powerful human will is by pushing themselves through starvation with the encouragement and mind tricks the program offered. Reading about Kimkins reinforced how important evaluating hunger is. It reminds me to keep in mind that I do tend to have emotional needs that lead me to starve or overeat and I'm glad for that.

Stress As An Excuse For Weight Rebounding:
Kimmer's site addresses the recent scandal. She admits that she has "regained" her 100 pound weight loss due to the stress she's been going through. Haven't we all been there? I've lost weight and regained it to varying degrees more times than I can recall. One thing about weight loss is that although it can improve your life dramatically it is not an end all to stress and hardship. There will always be major and minor issues that will give even the strongest of us a reason to fall back on old emotional crutches. Stress and hardship is not a cause of weight gain. Weight gain is only caused by over eating, lack of activity or a handful of medications. Seeing Kimmers fall back on the stress excuse has shown me how pathetic it is to use outside reasons to get sympathy for bad choices. I don't want to be helpless. I'm going through divorce right now and when I was served papers, I wanted to serve myself some pasta or cake. I worked out for half an hour instead. I talked to a friend instead. These steps are teaching me that I'm strong. Kimkins followers that marched themselves into starvation are much stronger than Kimmers has proven to be. She uses the discovery of her scam as a reason for weight gain. Her family says she never even lost the weight in the first place. It's great to have Kimmer as an example of how not to get attention and sympathy at this stressful point in my own life.

Exercise And Diet
Kimmer boasts that exercise is not important to weight loss on her site's Thinking About Kimkins? page stating, "While cardio has many benefits including conditoning and toning, it does relatively little for weight loss. If a 200 pound woman walked 2 miles she would burn 175 calories. This means it would take 20 days to lose just 1 pound. Some people will actually avoid beginning a diet because they dread the required exercise of most plans. With Kimkins it's a no brainer! No exercise required." Seeing this preposterous statement made me look up once again the science behind burning calories with activity. The numbers are easy to forget. The amount of calories burned during any activity varies with the weight of the person and the level of intensity with which a person carries the activity out. Walking at a rate of a 15 minute mile will burn 70 calories for a 200 pound person at 10 minutes. 10 minutes is not too much time out of my life to burn 70 calories, even if it's an emotional and physical struggle to force myself to do it. At 200 pounds if I can walk 2 miles in 30 minutes I will actually spend 210 calories. The average 200 pound person will spend 229 calories walking up stairs for 10 minutes! What a disservice to us all it was of Kimmer to promote a sedentary lifestyle. Those were the words everyone wishes could be true, that you don't have to move to lose. Seeing Kimmer's attitude about exercise reminded me of Dr Atkin's statements in his diet revolution book about the importance of exercise. He had a gentle way of explaining how exercise enhanced the low carb diet even though you can indeed lose significant weight without exercise. He said when his patients exercised the weight came off even faster. Learning to be active gave them a sense of accomplishment. He said when you spend an afternoon playing tennis with a friend you feel great and you're more likely to follow low carb guidelines because you exercised. Without remembering his exact words, Dr Atkins explained that learning to be active will help you avoid the plateaus that all weight losers experience towards the end of their journey. He mentioned how good exercise is to deal with stress. Even if Kimmers tale of losing 100 pounds in five months is true, in her words she's gained it all back due to stress. Kimmer has taught me that not exercising may work in the short term, but without learning how to increase activity in the early stages of a low carb program it is hard to avoid rebounds during times of stress and hardship. I want to feel good and exercise helps even when times get hard.

Money Isn't Everything
Maybe Kimmer had trouble earning money by conventional means. Maybe she was just greedy and was willing to lie and cheat to get desperate people to give her 60 dollars. I don't know her needs or motivation. I do know that through her affiliate program many hard working diet blog writers were conned into giving her their social security numbers. Jimmy Moore from La Vida Low Carb was put through a lot of humiliation during a time when he was struggling to lose the last bit of weight towards his goal as he promoted and defended Kimkins blindly. Women's World magazine promoted the program in order to fill up pages and sell copies. People got caught up in this promotional hype without looking at the extreme recommendations of the plan or flat out ignoring them. As a result some dieters were hurt. I've learned that the prospect of money and attention can blind you. There have been times when I've based my bad eating choices on not being able to afford the right foods. I can remember buying top ramen, macaroni and cheese and dollar menu items from McDonalds because I was broke. I have also had times when I had money to go to fancy restaurants and over eat on rich foods. Celebrating good fortune can make an excuse for weight gain as easily as having little food budget. Kimkins has taught me that money is no excuse for my actions. I need to make my own wise decisions based on what my body needs. I can't eat properly while conning myself and others about my motivation no matter how badly I need money.

Community, Support, and Mind Over Matter Work
The most important and valuable thing I've learned reading about Kimkins is that the forums and support system that the plan's followers used along with their mind over matter training does work. I know that the Atkins way of eating coupled with exercise gives amazing results. I will be happy with my weight loss this time around even if it's not 100 pounds in five months as Kimmer claims can happen with Kimkins. Whatever my body is capable of losing under a sane and sustainable plan is good enough for me. My hopes and dreams of being at a healthy weight can come true by training myself to eat properly and to seek out help from others when I need support. Kimkin's dieters showed me how powerful forums can be and I've seen first hand how welcoming the people here on LCF are. I can't wait to share in weight loss success with all of you.

In short what I have learned from Kimkins is that we can do this. We can lose weight. We can make good decisions with the right support because will power is so very strong. Money, stress, trials and tribulations, happiness, grief and success may affect our emotions but they don't change the fact that weight loss is a process. Sometimes we sail through it, sometimes we fall back. Maintenance is more than a goal and it requires a good attitude, honesty and exercise. As long as we keep picking ourselves up again and again we can achieve great weight loss together.

[OhYeahBabe]

Amazing post, Zerotolow! It's important to learn from experiences, both good and bad. Your analysis is good. I wish you great health and success!
OYB
My blog: Kimorexia

[2big4mysize]

Thank you for sharing your lessons from the effects of this scandal on you. I'm glad you didn't have to learn by becoming a page on kimkinssurvivor.

[Debralynn]

Beautifully put.

Thanks for this thoughtful and insightful post!

[JuliaL]

Zerotolow - you're a smart cookie! Please post more often, especially in the ML where people need the kind of insight and thoughtfulness you put into your words.

[sweet&sugarfree]

Wow that was an amazing post!! You will get to your weight loss goals and you will enjoy good health along the way!

[fluffybear2]

Welcome and thanks for your post. Have you found the Kimmer Fascination thread yet?

[Magicsmom]

Wow, this is a great synopsis of the situation! You are very articulate!