Why do they trust her?

"They" being the current members of kimkins.com and "her" being the fraud who runs it, Heidi K. Diaz.

I was pondering this last night. Why do they trust her? The truth is out. Even if they're not completely aware of the extent of her lies and fraud, they're certainly aware that the owner/founder of this starvation diet is herself morbidly obese. Her picture and her stats are right there, on the front page of kimkins.com. They know she's lost just fifty-three pounds in about four months -- not bad, but nothing that couldn't be achieved on Atkins or similar plans which don't make you starve yourself. And Heidi's losses to date are very far from the stunning, rapid weight loss she claimed anyone following Kimkins could achieve. I've been told that one big appeal of that site is all the allegedly wonderful support members receive, but the stories posted on Kimkins Survivors tell a different story; a tale of a forum in which dissenters are attacked and summarily banned.

So what are the members of kimkins.com getting for their $59.95-$69.95 lifetime memberships? Leadership by a woman with no medical or scientific credentials whatsoever, a woman who admitted she lied about her alleged weight loss on this plan, a woman who is being sued for this fraud, a woman who is having less than stellar success on her own plan, and the ability to participate in a message board which has all the usual personality quirks, cliques, and internecine warfare available for free in a bunch of other diet support sites. At least if you get banned from one of them you're not out any money.

WTH, Kimkinites?

Look at it this way. Suppose I joined a house-building forum back in 2000, 2001. Suppose I told everyone there that I built myself a mansion for $1,000. Using cardboard and scotch tape. Some people thought I was full of it, but others thought it was possible. Oh, sure, not everyone can have that kind of success, but some people could and hey ... I had pictures of my mansion to prove it! And the way I talk about my success makes it clear that the idea of using traditional methods like boards and nails are just old-fashioned concepts, easily disproved. According to me, anyone could build a cardboard and scotch tape mansion, and those who had problems doing so were just weak. And lazy. And couldn't follow my directions. I gathered a following, and eventually left that house-building forum and started my own site which charged a lifetime membership of $69.95 to teach you the secrets of building your very own cardboard mansion for $1,000.

Now suppose it was revealed that I lied about the whole thing. Not only were the pictures of my alleged mansion fake, it is revealed that in fact, I have never even owned any kind of house and am currently living in a refrigerator box down by the river. Oh, I may know a thing or two about building houses -- who doesn't? But I've never actually built one. I am finally forced to admit my fraud, and mount an "Elle's back on track!" challenge in which I vow to build a cardboard mansion for $1,000, and put up progress pictures on the site which demonstrate ... that all I've managed to do in months of trying is buy a roll of scotch tape.

Maybe one or two people who follow my advice manage to build a cardboard mansion for $1,000, because they already have the land and everything they needed to build the place, save for $1,000 worth of cardboard and scotch tape. But the vast majority of people will have exactly the same success I did -- that is, none at all. And even those who do manage to build something mansion-esque soon discover that this house has the distressing habit of falling apart in the first rainstorm.

Given all that ... why on earth would anyone with half a brain in their head still believe me? And continue to pay me money for it? I can't even do what I'm claiming anyone can do, something common sense would suggest is well-nigh impossible for anyone save those in a very few, very specific circumstances. Like, people who are building their cardboard mansions in atmosphere-controlled bio-domes or something like that. Why?

Just curious.

Elle