Anyone pre-order Tim Ferriss' new book "The 4-Hour Body"?

I already ordered mine.. I’m a big fan of Tim’s previous work, the 4 Hour Workweek. Read a few of his blog posts on lifehacking and fitness.

Just wondering if anyone else pre-ordered his book. I’m can’t wait for it to be shipped to my house!

I haven’t ordered it, but I have heard a lot about it. My husband is a big fan of his as well. I’ll be interested to read it and to hear what you have to say about it. Some of the tidbits I’ve heard seem a bit off the wall.
Pamela

www.ThrivePersonalFitness.com

OMG this book is amazing! Haven’t read it all yet but it has really useful info in it. And the good thing is that you are not supposed to read it all in one sit, you choose the relevant chapters and digg in. In fact I am right now here because he suggested that keeping a photo food journal really helps controlling what you eat and the DailyBurn app is very good!

@ viaravis heh.. I read that chapter too – I use Foodspotting.com for that :)

Does the DailyBurn app allow you to take photos?

I’m turning my Breakfast upside down and going straight for lunch-like breakfast.. beans, veggies and protein (egg whites)

@galvanize I haven’t read the chapter for the diet yet, I feel so overwhelmed with the info with just the 1st 2 chapters. I am trying now eat.ly for the photo food journal but it seems to me that it loads very slowly! Of course it really depends where you are. I will definitely check out foodspotting, thanks for the info:)
The DailyBurn app doenst allow you to take photos but it has intergrated photos already so it is still like a ohiti food journal… although the point “if you want to eat it take a picture of it” is a bit forgotten.

Yep, I did order it and got FREE one year of PRO membership here as bonus.

@Agnessa haha, same here … AppSumo? I upgraded straight to Elite :)

@PamelaH Everything popular is wrong ;) in any case, I’m journalling about my experiences with the slow carb diet and cheat days.. this should be an interesting month-long experiment.

I don’t care who you are,,,,“How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise” makes this guy a scam artist. That is physically impossible to do. Even if your situation were rare and allowed for it, it would cause serious health problems.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06…

If the source were unknown, everybody would agree that you should not listen to what this person has to say. He’s selling an unrealistic, ridiculous and dangerous goal therefore he is a liar and a scam artist.

I would be very wary of this guy if I were you. This person is not honorable or trustworthy.

Love to hear how it goes. I too am very skeptical of anything that promises such quick loss in a short period of time without exercise. I don’t think he’s a scam artist, but I do think he’s a great marketer and knows how to get people interested. Quick results with little work is what most people are looking for. My concern is it doesn’t pan out long term. I plan on picking up the book myself soon.
Pamela

www.ThrivePersonalFitness.com

Hi Gwen – just curious.. how did you go about making that conclusion? Dangerous? Changing up something as simple as an element of your diet like cutting out white carbs, not having fruits, milk and “drinking calories”.

I have no idea of how it will work, but I"m willing to give it a shot before I make blanket statements. What do you mean exactly by “serious health problems” could you be more specific and concrete?

Have you read his book (Four Hour Workweek or Four Hour Body) or tried any of the principles underlying those books?

I’m not flaming you, rather I"m trying to understand where you’re coming from.

Cheers,

Will

Hi Pamela,

Im pretty darn skeptical too.. but I’m really curious of what the results would be like, that’s why I’m giving it a shot as a fun little experiment. So I’ll be eating BEANS (or legumes more specifically) and not eating toast or cereals..

Yes, he IS a good marketer. I’m in it for the long term too, but I’m willing to challenge convention and see what happens. If it doesn’t involve any injections or popping pills, I’m down for it ;)

- Will

Good luck! I’m all for more beans!!!
Pamela

www.ThrivePersonalFitness.com

I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go with gwen on this just losing 20 lbs period in 30 days (especially without exercise) is a ridiculous claim, I can’t think of anything but unhealthy dangerous ways to accomplish that. A ton of people eat healthy by not eating ‘white’/refined carbs or avoiding fruit juices etc- that’s no special secret- it’s just a healthier way to eat. Regardless of what you’re eating, weight loss is a fairly simple equation, right- it’s just about calorie deficit (although what you eat will obviously be more or less healthy for you, but that’s a separate topic).

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php

500 calorie deficit a day = about 1lb a week loss, 1000 calorie deficit = 2lbs. As the article states, the 2lb a week number is a ‘generally’ accepted maximum for safe, healthy weight loss. According to what this guy advertises- you’d have to be getting what, a 2500 calorie deficit per day?! depending on your BMR that would be like eating nothing (if none of the deficit is coming from exercise as he suggests). And even then- this is talking about pounds of WEIGHT loss, not fat loss… some of that is lean muscle etc… so you’d need even more of a deficit to be losing 20lbs of /fat/ in 30 days… call me crazy but I think it’s pretty clear that this guy is selling a lie, which absolutely would make him a scam artist. Being good at marketing only makes him an effective one : /

oh- on a separate note- the dailyburn app (at least for iPhone) does let you add your own pictures. I do it all the time when I can’t find a food and have to upload it myself.

Yes, Ferris is excellent at making buzz…. besides, he is an empty shell.

Note that while he “loses fat without exercise”, he eats a pizza after his “work-out”. He doesn’t even try to hide the strings. But so many idiots want to be told gross lies, so he sells lots of books.

I lost 20lbs. in thirty days once. But, it was with tons of exercise, and no sleep. Half of it was water weight and muscle loss. You can lose 20lbs. in thirty days. But, no way in hell you can lose 20lbs. of fat in thirty days.

Ok, maybe if you’re 380lbs. at 20% body fat you can lose 20lbs. of fat in 30 days….but not most normal humans.

The entire point of the book is to shatter fitness “beliefs” That are now taken as fact.
tyreegiles : In his book he debates the “calorie” as being the most efficient way to track nutrient intake. the “Calorie” was invented in the 1800’s by burning food under a flame and measuring the heat. Is that how are bodies actually use food?
cccc : The Pizza is on his once per week “Refeed day”, to keep his metabolism from slowing down.
If you don’t like his methods, don’t do them. The whole point is don’t believe the dogma you are fed in gym/ magazines/ Internet. Much of it is not based on any science.

well, i mean… it’s not like some random person came by, put forth the idea of calories, and then nobody ever questioned it. It’s not a religious belief, or something you just pick up in the gym- it’s something that’s been scientifically proven. Whether or not it’s the “best” way to track nutrient intake or weight loss may be debatable, but whether or not your body actually functions according to those principles is a matter of fact. It’s ridiculous to think this is all based on a guy burning food with fire and then nobody ever looked any deeper into it than that, haha. There’s a huge difference between dogma and scientifically proven fact. I think I’ll go with the latter over some guy with outrageous claims trying to sell a book…but that’s just me.

I’m not deciding whether or not to follow his methods, so you don’t really need to tell me what to do. I was just following up on the original poster’s questioning of where gwen529 came up with her conclusion. I think what she said made sense, that’s all. Anyone here who ends up losing 20lbs of fat in 30 days without exercising though- I’ll be the first one in line to congratulate you. I just don’t see it happening.

Anyone who thinks outside the box is bound to get a lot of attention and the risk of his head being cut off. I’m absolutely positive that this guy is selling his product, but what is wrong with that. Millions of people gaze at shows like “the biggest loser” and are disappointed when the contestants did not lose 15 pounds or so in just one week.

I don’t know how the commercials are in the States(lol) but overhere in Europe we get bombarded with commercials on all kind of wonders that keep you young. Ask any female over 40 and she probably has all kind of day and night cremes that will keep her skin young forever (yeah right). Or a lot of people buy gymstuff that give you a superlean body in just 3 easy minutes a day (yeah right). Or if you eat Special K for breakfast you will get super lean (yeah right if you eat 2 grams of it).
Personally I intend to read the book during the holidays. Not to lose 20 pounds of fat but just to see I he has nice tweaks that I can apply in daily life.

For old guys, like me, many of these ideas aren’t new:
1) Restricted carbs/ calories with a re-feed day. (Vince Gironda ’50’s)
2) Short, intense workouts. (Arthur Jones/ Mike Mentzer/ Ellington Darden. 60’s to present)
3) Exercise just prior or shortly after meals. (Big in 1800’s)
Ferris has just shown their results with scientific studies and bundled them together into a easy to follow package.
Wedzir has the Bruce Lee mindset. “Take what you can use, discard the rest.” That is EXACTLY why I bought the book.

To be clear, I never said there was anything wrong with trying to advertise and sell a product or with advertising in general, I was only responding to the claim of losing 20lbs of fat in 30 days without exercise, and whether or not it would be possible/healthy. A claim like that is not thinking out of the box or being innovative, it’s just flat out lying (or being misleading since, as chaddukes pointed out, if you were like 400+ lbs and your BMR was extremely high, it might be possible by just not eating… still- not a ‘healthy’ way to achieve that claim though.

Trulllund- I agree wtih you, and I don’t think you even have to be an old guy to realize that those ideas are not new in the slightest. As I said above- tons of people have already incorporated these ideas- just as part of generally healthy living. That only gives more creedence to the idea that applying those ideas wouldn’t result in any ‘shattering’ of long held beliefs and expectations of losing weight, or produce out of the ordinary results.
But like I said- I was only responding to that one claim. For anyone out there who is not familiar with some of those ideas on how to eat more healthy etc- if this book is what brings them to those ideas, that’s great. If he has some other, more obscure ideas that could be effective and people pick that up- also great. For me personally, I’d be farily skeptical of the more obscure stuff from a guy who has already been shown to make misleading claims- but for those that find things that work for them, I have no complaint there.

@Trollund : I DO his methods. Not those he sells you, those he applies. Good marketing. For the content… it’s so expected.

What I find crazy is not what he writes, but the fanatism of some of his readers…

I am not talking about the pizza, but that he eats it AFTER TRAINING. He tells to you and other kids he has a diet that works WITHOUT EXERCISE.
But Mr Ferriss spends hours in the gym with his personal trainer. He doesn’t do what he tells his fans to do. Same level as the starlet that sells the gym method to get more voluminous breasts… while she sports a pair silicone softballs. They will be on the same shelf in bookstores here.. Maybe they should meet… LOL

“don’t believe the dogma you are fed in gym/ magazines/ Internet”

And Ferriss is not publishing a compilation of the most fashionable “dogma” by any chance ?

I’ve read his first book. I don’t find he is thinking outside the box at all, exactly the contrary, it’s the hip guy that says he is doing all the fad stuff.
That was like reading a year worth of the average magazine “fun business trend” column, including the product placement. The only (little) originality is his bragging style. Good for his fans.

I bet his second book is exactly the same. A compilation of what we read everyday. I defy you to find one page of his book that was not in the average “fit mag” this year.. He adds an icing of “I’m going to reveal a secret the NASA hides you”, “that made me lose pounds of fat overnight”, “become superman”.

If some fans of Tim succeed in becoming superman, well, you can land on my balcony whenever you want, and you’ll tell me your story. I always have beans in my freezer, no worries, you’ll get enough gas to go back.

Okay, I am pulling out of this! I got the book for some good tips that might help out. My entire point was to “try first, then judge”. This is obviously a polarized subject.

@Trolllund yeah… a lot of cynics and it’s understandable. I’m just excited to get the info in a digestable and entertaining format. I whipped through about 1/3 of the book since last week.

I’m totally in line with the “Bruce Lee Mindset” – “Take what you can use, discard the rest.”

Enjoy the holidays everyone!! Keep fit and have fun :) —> totally stole that from those BodyBreak commercials lol