Saturday, January 19, 2008

Kimkins Diet Math Scam

In an effort to "clean up" the Kimkins diet disaster, Kimmer recently declared:

“It’s best not exceed the 1000 cals, 20 carbs, 20-30 fat grams, and keep the Protein at 60-90 grams per day. These are the limits for newbies, but you will find that as you stick with the plan you will see lower numbers in all the above categories. If you have any other questions or need help PM me anytime, I love to help.”

I had to LOL at the "I love to help." Who would want help from an obese Kimmer that never lost weight and now is struggling to lose even a pound per week on her own diet? What about the "MORE" weight loss that the Kimkins front page announces? But, I digress.

While the limits now stated by Kimmer is much higher than earlier promoted, they still do not add up to 1000 cals, and it is clear that Kimmer intends people to eat less as she says: "as you stick with the plan you will see lower numbers in all the above categories."

But lets look at the "start" numbers: 20 carbs, 30 grams fat, 90 grams protein. This adds up to:

20 x 4 + 30 x 9 + 90 x 4 = 710 calories as the upper limit. Huh? What about the 1000 cals? Surely Kimmer has done enough Fitday entries to be able to do the math.

The lower limit: 20 carbs, 20 grams fat, 60 gram protein adds up to 500 cals, and this is only for newbies and you would be expected to go lower?

Even with the "new guidelines, Kimkins remain a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) and while such a diet is approved for some patients under doctor supervision, it's nothing you should try at home on your own.

The Magic Chicken Diet, that we bloggers are not supposed to criticize as the founder "may" be a "real" success story, does not look any better. I used a sample menu and came up with a total of 468 calories; 16 grams fat, 26 grams carbs, 54 grams protein. Another VLCD.

A Pinch of... explains the dangers with VLCD:

Research on Very Low Calorie Diet (VLDC) Risks

1 comment:

OhYeahBabe said...

People repeatedly ask where we get these numbers from. It's MATH! Thanks for spelling it out. Again!