Kimkins Diet

Looking for a new diet? There are many, many offerings online and most of them ask you for money. Some have inventive names such as Kimkins, The Magic Chicken Diet, The Genie Diet, and the WeightLoss4Idiots diet to name a few. How do you know if they offer value for your money, or if they are just out to scam you?

There are a few clues:

1) Asking for a one time payment. After you have paid, you are useless to them. They have already gotten your money and have really no interest if what they sold is working for you or not. It’s not like they care about you. They just want to make money, and they did.

2) Paying for a Lifetime membership. A “Lifetime” membership will only be valid as long as the website exists, OR until the webmaster decides to lock you out by banning you for any or no reason at all.

3) No information up front. That probably means that what they sell is not worth paying for, but you will not know until you have paid.

4) No money back guarantee. Even if they claim to have one, how are you going to get your money back? This is an online business and who knows who the owner is and how to contact them. At least for kimkins, there is now a class action lawsuit. Please join if you have been scammed by Heidi Diaz aka Kimmer.

5) Exaggerated claims such as “no faster weight loss, none,” “no exercise,” “better than WLS,”, “100 pounds in 3 months.” If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

6) A large number of success stories and testimonials. Pretty girls and professional photos. How do you know they are true? Do these people exist? Did they do this particular diet? There is no way to find out. It is so easy to do what Kimkins did; scour the internet and copy pictures at random.

7) The owner/founder hides under a fictional name and refuses to show herself in public. Did she even do the diet herself? What are her credentials? Are the photos really of her? The pictures Kimmer tried to pass off as herself were all proven to be fake. They don’t even look like the same person! And even less like the person they were supposed to resemble, Heidi Diaz.

Free Diet Support

New Year’s Resolution to lose weight? Looking for the magic pill?

There are many online resources for weight loss. They all promise FAST, EASY, TURBO weight loss, provided that you either buy their product, pay to download a program, or pay a fee to join a support forum. They typically use pretty pictures with slim women that allegedly lost weight on their program, and there is very little information available until you have parted with your money.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Before shelling out money for any of the online programs, it is a good idea to do a little research. Just using Google to look into what other people say about the program can save you money and prevent physical and mental ill effects from a dangerous diet, promoted by unscrupulous people.

Also be aware of the many, many FREE resources available on the internet. There is something for all preferences, and they are FREE.

Kimorexia has really good advice on what to look for when choosing a diet forum.

FREE support forums are available in all shapes and forms.

Diet specific forums like Atkins offers FREE information and support.

“General” lowcarb forums offer a great variety, FREE. Details of all the popular plans are provided FREE. There are also members on these sites that willingly share their extensive knowledge in nutrition and of dieting FREE. Challenge groups and journaling are provided FREE. And if nothing else, go there for all the wonderful recipes provided FREE by members.
The larger forums are typically FREE to read for anybody. Registration is required to post and ask questions but registration is FREE.

Smaller forums offer a more intimate setting, and may be focused on a more limited selection of plans. They may require FREE registration to access the forum.

Yahoo groups exist for any type of diet imaginable. It is easy to make a search for a group that follow the diet of your choice. Some are private while others are public but they are all FREE to join.

I follow a lowcarb plan and these are my two favorite FREE sites:

Active Low-Carber Forums

FREE to read. FREE registration required to post and ask questions.

Low Carb Friends
FREE to read. FREE registration required to post and ask questions.

Oh, and the pretty girl in the red dress used to promote Kimkins was fake. Well, the girl isn’t fake. It’s just that it wasn’t Kimmer and she had nothing to do with Kimkins. It is a Russian girl on a bride web site. This is how Kimmer of Kimkins actually looks:

Merry Christmas

Ruffled Feathers

I literally stumbled over the Magic Chicken Diet a couple of weeks back. A web search for Kimkins led me to Getafreelancer where someone was soliciting a web designer to make a website that should look like a clone of the Kimkins website. Having heard rumors that Kimmer had a backup site prepared, I was naturally intrigued.

The website and the diet had many similarities to Kimkins but also differences. Probably the most important difference is that to the best of my knowledge, the Magic Chicken Diet is promoted by a real person (Bonnie Luper) with a real weight loss story. Therefore, the fraud component of Kimkins should not come into play and as far as I know, nobody has suggested that it would.

I and other bloggers have been criticized for discussing the Magic Chicken Diet and have been accused of crucifying the Chicken Lady and driving the site out of business. (Of course, it was later revealed that the temporary shutdown of the site was most likely due to a non-paid bill and not due to any magic powers on Kimmer’s behalf; Kimmer supposedly having found out about the clone from our blogs.)

While the site is again up and running, we are still not supposed to discuss or criticize the diet, as “it’s free enterprise and anybody has the right to promote any diet they want”. While I agree with free enterprise, I can not understand why we are not allowed to discuss it, especially in a community that argues pros and cons for all types of diets. With so little information up front, would you not want to hear what people knowledgeable in nutrition and diet have to say about it, if nothing else so that you can ask Bonnie questions before you shell out $69.95?

It is also alluded to that we will somehow interfere with the Chicken Lady’s business by talking about the Magic Chicken Diet on blogs and lowcarb diet boards. This puzzles me.

First, if this is a good diet like Bonnie says, surely, discussing it will not cause any harm. Actually, it would only help promoting it.

Secondly, what facts are there that this is a successful business? That Bonnie claims that they have reached 200 members at the old introductory price of $19.95 while the website still states “introductory price (but now $69.95) for the first 200 members?” Do they have 200 members or not?

And how are new members recruited? Similar to Kimkins, Bonnie has a Lifetime membership so only new people coming in would generate revenue. There is absolutely no marketing of this company that I have been able to find, even when trying to search for it. Nothing on Craig’s List, nothing on “Yahoo answers,” no spam on celebrity sites, no articles, no ads, no affiliate program, no presence of Bonnie on lowcarb boards where she could attract new customers. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Apart from the Getafreelancer ad, there is no confirmed connection between Bonnie and Kimkins at this time. However, does that mean that I am not allowed to have questions about the Magic Chicken Diet?

Kimorexia, Anorexia and Bulimia

One of the earliest blogs to take up the fight against Kimkins was Kimorexia but as other blogs started to appear, Kimorexia became idle. As of today, it is back in business.

WELCOME BACK!

And, staying with the subject of anorexia and bulimia, Medusa has a very important post today:

ANOREXIA NERVOSA & BULIMIA NERVOSA…AND THEIR LINK TO THE DEADLY KIMKINS DIET

Please go and read it and be reminded why people like Heidi Diaz and websites like Kimkins have to be removed from the internet.

You might also want to go back and read one of the earlier posts by the original Kimorexia blogger:

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be anorexic

Just Saying………..

Nothing. Some blogs are best to ignore, especially when they will not “allow” comments.

The Chicken Diet is Magically Revived

Perhaps it was just a simple matter of paying GoDaddy’s bill after all.

So what about Kimmer having the site shut down for being a Kimkins clone? We know not to trust anything that Heidi, the Lying Liar that Lies, says but what about the son in law?

Perhaps it wasn’t the son in law. Anybody can make a blog comment using whatever name he/she chooses.

Chicken, chicken and more chicken

Kimkins Exhausted has posted the menu plan for the Magic Chicken Diet. It doesn’t look good to me, even if you like chicken.

Let’s take a look at the first day’s menu:

Breakfast: 4 chicken strips
Snack: 1 cheese stick
Lunch: Grilled chicken salad from Sonic (onion ring removed)
Snack: 5 strawberries and Diet Jello
Dinner: Grilled chicken filet and steamed broccoli
Snack: Diet Jello

In the text under the menu, it is recommended to keep calories between 800 and 1200. I can not get the above menu to even reach 800.

My total is 712 calories with 24 grams fat, 22 grams carbs and 106 grams protein. I initially had a pat of butter in there but had to take it out as I otherwise would have exceeded the 25 gram fat maximum.

Other words of wisdom from the chicken lady:

• If you want to lose a little faster just cut out a serving of veggies or the fruit for a couple of days.

• Try to drink between 80 to 100 ounces of water a day. I have not myself but it is better for you if you can. I always drink Crystal Light, Tea with Splenda and Diet Drinks.

• You can get Crystal Light Slurpees at most 7-11 or RaceTrac but also you can make your own.

• Sugar Free Jello is a great snack and only 10 calories. Try all the different flavors and get creative and come up with your own blends.

• I don’t eat any of the dressing but if you need it get the spray dressing at the store that is only like 10 calories a spray.

• Once a month I treat myself to a nonfat yogurt twist from Costco they are great but just do it once a month because it does have carbs.

• I never did through any of my weight loss exercise except for my normal route selling of candles. I do realize that I need to start now so that I can tone up, but it is not necessary.

And this is from someone who claims to never have heard about Kimkins.

Tippy – It’s All About Money

Tippy posted an undated and snipped email exchange with Kimmer on her blog. Surely, this is in reference to Kimmer telling Tippy that she will no longer be paid. (Or perhaps this was when the pay cut was made, as according to Tippy she first had a pay cut before being taken off the payroll entirely.)

It shows that money was the issue for Tippy, not any concerns about supporting a proven fraud. She had no problems promoting a fraud as long as she was paid for doing so. When the future of Kimkins became uncertain (i.e. a paycheck was no longer guaranteed) Tippy was no longer willing to put in the effort. Her “vow to the lowcarb” community meant nothing.

Kimmer to Tippy:

“Jeannie, I hope that you will understand that this is the best I can do at this time with an uncertain future for Kimkins.”

Tippy responded:

“As far as PR, my thoughts are IF Kimkins is uncertain about a future it would be wrong to promote Kimkins to new people, as a lifetime membership may not mean much. So I feel promoting may not be best for time being. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t want it this way. So, if and when we can get passed this and KNOW we are a secure site once again I will gladly do PR. Very gladly! For now admin is fine. This is the first time I have ever even considered the possibility of Kimkins not surviving. And I still hope it will not happen that way. But Kimkins has no need for a PR at present time, obviously. No need to make any announcements. It’s not a big deal.”

“as a lifetime membership may not mean much”
It didn’t mean much to all the existing members that were banned for no reason at all. Like many others, I never posted on Kimkins so Tippy can not claim any “hateful” posts. I never received any explanation to why I was banned, and did not receive any refund. How come that didn’t bother Tippy? Oh, I forgot, she was the one that banned me.

“No need to make any announcements. It’s not a big deal.”
Kimmer never made any announcement when Tippy was appointed, so why would she make one when she resigned? And, staying on supporting Kimkins as an admin? Tippy is right, it’s not a big deal.

Kkatastrophediet once asked:

WHAT THE HELL IS DRIVING YOU BESIDES UNADULTERATED STUPIDITY?

Now we know.

Read more at Medusa.

Kimmer trying to put out the Camp Fire?

Tippy Toes posted and email exchange between Kimmer and Brian, the webmaster of Tippy’s new site. You can read it on Medusa’s blog.

Based on the email from Kimmer, it certainly seems that Heidi is angry with Tippy Toes. But with Kimmer being the Lying Liar that Lies, I really don’t know what to make of it. To me, it is still not ruled out that Kimmer and Tippy Toes are still working together to re-create the cash cow at some other place.

Kimmer further claims that she had the Magic Chicken Coop shut down. However, is it possible that the Coop was the “alternative” site she mentions and the reason it didn’t work out was because we exposed it before the switch had taken place?

I have really no idea, I just know that Heidi’s words mean nothing.

While Medusa posted the emails, she did not include Tippy’s introductory piece:

“Below is a response followed by an email from Brian about he and Heather being banned from Kimkins. This email says I know of a back up site. Tomorrow I will post an email from Kimmer to me indicating otherwise… Oh Kimmer. Seems you can no longer keep up. And not to worry about copyrite infringements at Campcarbaway. We really want to be unassociated with you and Kimkins diets. Members who are already familiar may use them but we will not publish them or promote them. At one time you asked me to be a partner and I told you no, that you could not even GIVE me Kimkins and I meant that. I am showing your email so all can see we are NOT affiliated with you in any way. And why you banned such nice people is beyond me. And you also banned my friend Deb who made some friends there that she has no way of saying good bye to. You told her you were cancelling my accounts and that is why. Sweet of you. Lady, I have no accounts with you. I am starting to see who controls the ban button and I hope the rest catch on.”

For the first time, we see some anger directed towards Kimmer, orchestrated or not, I do not know.

And for Tippy’s character, it is very telling that she complains about a friend of hers that was banned and lost access to her friends on kimkins. But Tippy, what about all the people that YOU banned? Didn’t they have friends there too? How come this only bothers you when it concerns you personally?

I’m still waiting for a sincere retraction of Kimmer and Kimkins by Tippy. I’m not holding my breath.