Ok, I started with Kimkins. I've been doing that since 6/12. Now I want to transition to Protein Power or Atkins (still trying to see how they differ and which might be best for me).

I guess I am "through" induction, technically, right? I have kept carbs 20 or below most days, protein around 90-125 gm. Ketosis sticks say nothing right now, but I'm not worried about that.

So would you say it's time to move into the OWL portion of either of these plans, or should I do strict induction per Atkins, or the "Intervention" I think it's called on PP? Or am I done with that?

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Hi Got2bthin! (BTW... I think I recognize you from that really long other thread I'd been reading about kimkins...)

Anyway, this is what I'd recommend, based on Atkins, since I don't know PP... (and I'm sure others will chime in too):

If you were doing K/E, I'd move to Atkins induction, just as a way to begin adding the vegetables back into your diet.

If you were doing straight kimkins, I'd move on to Atkins OWL, adding in the carbs as recommended in the OWL phase (5 at a time), AND I'd also recommend you slowly up your fat intake as well. The reason I'd take it slow on increasing the fat is I'd hate for your body to go "WHOA!" and give you, ahem, gastric problems. (In other words, all I'm saying is don't go hog wild fat-wise... for example, having bacon & eggs cooked in butter, a bunless double bacon cheeseburger & salad with HF dressing for lunch and a steak with a butter pat, some kind of veggie cooked with cream cheese and cheesecake for dessert might be over-doing it a bit. (Not that anyone I know eats that in a day, but ya know what I mean...))

Also, how was your water intake? Were you drinking a lot, or were you drinking a lot of diet pop? If it was pop, I'd recommend upping your water to 1/2 your weight in ounces. A lot of people finds that drinking at least this much helps the weight slide off.

HTH! And welcome to LCE!!

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Mada
221.6/193.8 <--- ONEderland! /sz 8

Hi Mada!

You don't mean a thread on this board, do you?

Anyway, I was doing "straight" Kimkins with some minor tweaks depending on how hungry I was or if I was stalling out. Starting Monday, I began adding in a few more calories and fat. Now today I've made the decision to just move off Kimkins entirely and try something less scary and less rigorous.

My water intake has been great. Probably at least 64 ounces per day. Almost no sodas. I'm askeert of sodas for the most part, LOL--health reasons. I'm a bit of a health nut anyway (organic, high fiber, grow it yourself kinda stuff, we have a nice garden, yada yada)

And, just as you suggested, I've been real careful about upping the fats, after reading what a gallbladder might do having been deprived of fats for a while. I had some GB issues last winter, then pancreatitis (dr. induced, from a test)....NO fun and certainly don't want to go there again.

So...sounds like Atkins OWL or Protein Power (whatever the equivalent is) is where I should head next, I think. I just got home from Borders where I found the PP book. I have DANDR down in the basement somewhere in a pile of old books. If it's not the old original 1996 or 97 version, I will re-read it and get the basics back in my head.

My DH told me this evening he wants to do this with me, so I'll be cooking and thinking lo-carb for two!

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No way! That would never happen on this board.

That is so great! It's so much easier to do this when you have a partner! DH and I did it together the first time back in 2001. (Of course he lost, like, 45 pounds in about half a second! Men! ) But, it sure was easier doing it together.

So glad you found your way to this board!

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Mada
221.6/193.8 <--- ONEderland! /sz 8

Not much flaming or ragging on this board.

Our aim is to support people seeking a low carb way of eating. Support, evidence, cautions and positive feedback are pretty much our stock in trade.

Steph, Mada's right. It is much easier if everyone in the household is "on the same page."

We're here for you and your DH.

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What the heck is Kimkins anyway? I went on their site out of curiousity and it looks like you need to join before you can even get any information. Which stinks.
Then when I googled it, all I saw was a whole bunch of controversial stuff.
Just natural curiousity about it, so if you would not be in major trouble for sharing the premise and the Kimkins guards would not come and take you away, I would be interested to know.
Thanks!

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Mab, you can get basic info on Kimkins from another forum, Low Carb Friends. There is a section devoted to her plan. It's pretty much a variation on the old Stillman diet. You limit your carbs to just carbs, not net carbs, and cut back on fat. There is also some extreme version where you eat just meat & eggs.

As with any plan, scrutinize it closely. And don't do extreme anything. Make sure you are getting enough nutrients. And in this case, I wouldn't take everything she says as gospel. She's not trained in nutrition or medicine, the way Dr. Atkins was, or the Drs. Eades are.

What helped me was just cutting back on the carbs a bit, and cutting way, way back on the fat. Never, ever cut fat out completely. We need it to function, but just be aware that you don't need tons of cream in your coffee or a half stick of butter on your green beans.

We just need to experiment and find what works best for us. It's all just one big experiment, and we have to tweak constantly, don't we?

Hope this helps.

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Nita

Yeah, It perked my curiosity too. Did some reading on it and like Nita pointed out, seems to be an even more restrictive version of the original Atkins (Stillman). Which for me is intruiging. I seemed to have had my best luck back in the day of being very very strick and reducing my fats too. South Beach to me was a commercial attempt at pulling Atkins followers away by adding in Low-Fat options. As we know from our label reading Low-Fat many times equals additional carbs AND calories. There is a reason that there are hundreds of diets out there... There are millions of us on them. And with our different body chemistries what works for you may NOT work for me. And Vise-versa.

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To think is to create!
So What? Now What?
Tom
Restart LC 7/05/08

About Kimkins, they are basically right. It's low carb (less than 20 per day), moderate protein (70-90 ish depending on version), low fat (20-30 recommended).

You'll find out all you want to know on Low Carb Friends.

It does take the weight off initially, but I'm seeing too many people there going into what seems to be "starvation mode" after about 3 weeks or so and they stop losing. The more I found out about it (and experienced), the more I became concerned it might have long-term metabolic effects I wasn't wanting. My metabolism is super slow as it is...don't need to make it worse.

That said, I see a lot of good info here and plenty of support. I'm following mostly Protein Power at the moment.

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Steph, this is absolutely the best place for support.

I love the Protein Power books, because their explanation of how low carb works is so well-researched and makes so much sense.

I'm all for any plan that helps people get the weight off, keep it off, and gets them healthy.

I have a slow metabolism, too. I spent several years counting my losses is ounces, not lbs. ,and have found that cutting back on fat has really helped get the weight coming off again.

As far as which plan to use, we need to use a measure of common sense when we choose any plan, and not go to extremes. And even if we find a formula that works, after a while we'll probably need to tweak it some, anyway, as our metabolism gets used to our way of eating. I think that's what happened to me. I just didn't lose anything for a year, just sort of wavered up & down within the same 5 lbs. Sometimes I'd lose 6 or 7, then they'd return, without changing my eating at all. Just cutting back a little on the carbs, cutting out cheese (mostly), and eating less fat (never, ever would I cut it out completely, we NEED fat!), has helped me to finally start losing again. It feels good, too. And I feel good. Oh, and I get in a lot more protein than I did when I wasn't losing, and I'm sure it's helped, too.

I sure wish you success. We snails have to stick together!

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Nita

HI Nita, yes, we need moral support when things aren't going like we hoped, don't we?

I'm in the middle now of reading "Eat Fat to Lose Fat". Talk about breaking away from a paradigm of thinking--WOW. I've semi-believed the stuff about coconut oil for a while, but wasn't sure it was a good thing for me personally. Mary Enig is all for it. I figure, since her name comes up so often about research on dietary fats, I would give her a read.

I first found her by googling on cholesterol. I've been treated for about 11 yrs for really high cholesterol, and finally was having many bad side effects from the statins. I've decided I believe what she, Eades, Bowden, and so many others say about the cholesterol hype + Big Pharma. No more statins for me.

I'm enjoying learning so much about nutrition and the truth of low carb type diets. I never had any idea what was happening to me...now I know. I keep seeing the same few points that all these authors and doctors make that are BINGO - *right on the money* with my health issues.

Well, hope you all have a great weekend. Talk to you soon, I'm sure.

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Thanks for the info on Kimkins. I looked it up to get further information and it sounds like a diet not a way of life. No can do for me.
I like what Nita said about tweaking. I bet I could get better results if I really looked at all of the extras I have let creep into my WOE. I think there may be a lot!

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Mab, it really is a diet. You couldn't eat like that forever.

Now, they say they are working on a maintenance plan, and I think some of the Admins there who are at goal have what you could call maintenance eating that could be found in their Fitdays.

At any rate, I did ok to start but quickly stalled out on it. Then I got some bad pains in my belly. I may have gallstones. I went to see my GI doctor today. I have to get a bunch of lab work done and an ultrasound on Monday. He doubled my Nexium, too. I hope that gets rid of the stomach pains which I say feel like hunger pains but sometimes know *can't be*.

I tried adding more fat back in and kept carbs under 30 a day--but gained back 4 lbs. I just don't know what kind of eating plan is going to work for me.

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I would NEVER suggest anyone moving from Kimkins to OWL - especially if you were being very retrictive in carbs AND calories. I have seen way too many times in the past - from friends and family who discovered Kimkins via the internet or word of mouth or magazines, etc. - that they have pretty much kept their calories at below 600 to lose weight - and then when they went off of it and decided to move into OWL (On Atkins) only to see the pounds they lost reappear. And then they get frustrated and wonder why they put the pounds back on.

Because you are sitting at almost 0 carbs on Kimkins-it is not wise to jump from 0 carbs to 25 carbs. I would suggest maybe taking a week and adding 5 g in on a DAILY basis - maybe add one salad the first day, another salad the next day, etc. until you are back at 20 g and then follow Induction for two weeks and THEN move into OWL. This was the proven method that worked for my cousin who came off Kimkins. She was able to maintain her lost weight by doing that. She is anti-Kimkins now. And I can see why.

I was just reading along, and I saw that NITA said this:
"just be aware that you don't need tons of cream in your coffee or a half stick of butter on your green beans."

I beg your pardon! I'm relatively certain that I NEED a half stick of butt on green beans!!!

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Heather
182-2/27/08