Kimkins Revisited

Like many of you who are fans and/or followers of low carb, I'm an avid reader of Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low Carb blog. He is, after all, the poster child for the active, successful low-carber and has been so supportive of so many of us who read his blog.

While Jimmy runs a lot of ads for the Kimkins program and reports on its many success stories, I was really surprised to read this recent post that Jimmy, who has had an amazing success with losing weight on Atkins, was going the Kimkins route himself due to a little bit of what I call "creepage and leakage" on his weight.

I have really mixed feelings about the Kimkins program.

Does it work? Oh, heck yes. I lost about 40 of my 65-pound loss last year on Kimkins and have tentatively been planning to do another Kimkins round later this summer when I have a few months without any big conflicts like trips or houseguests. So probably about August 1. Sound like an excuse to postpone? Probably, but from a voice of experience.

Why do I feel the need to plan to go on Kimkins so carefully? Because it's very, very, very unforgiving. And it's not for the faint of heart. You have to commit 110% and be absolutely unswayed.

I haven't been back to the Kimkins site (linked above) in several months, and it sounds as if there are some more variations to the plan than when I was on it last summer.

Basically, Kimkins--at that time, at least--was both low carb and low fat and very low calorie. You ate the basic Atkins Induction diet except all the protein had to be lean, and it was limited to a certain # of ounces per day, or as little as possible to stave off hunger. Most people posting on the Kimkins chat boards were eating fewer than 800 or 900 calories per day, and mine added up to about 900-950. I reached the Kimkims-desired state of SNATT (slightly nauseous all the time), which meant that even though I felt a deep, deep emptiness, I didn't really feel the need to eat. But even one or two off-plan bites would send me into a weeklong stall. Once, when I was only losing two pounds a week and sent in my menus in frustration--after all, I was eating 900 calories a day--I was told that I should cut back on fat.

Seems very counter-intuitive to a traditional low-carb plan. And when I added in more fat and calories and went back to Atkins, I started losing weight again.

But who am I to question any plan since I've been doodling around not accomplishing much of anything the past few months? Kimkins does work, and it works quickly--which is plan founder Kimmer's whole point (she lost about 200 pounds on the plan), that you lose your weight fast and get on with your life. And I will likely go back on it this summer to kick-start my weight loss. I'll check to see if there are other variations to the basic plan now and report back. Stay tuned.

Oh, and best of luck, Jimmy! I'll be following your Kimkins progress with great interest--please give us frequent updates.