Ice Bath Weight Loss The 4-Hour Body Review - The 2.5% That Really Matters.
Tim Ferris in his new book, The 4-Hour Body, claims that you can understand 95% of Spanish conversations if you know just 2,500 high-frequency words. That works out to about 2.5% of the estimated 100,000 words in the Spanish language. He points this out to explain that he is seeking to deliver the 2.5% that delivers 95% of the results in rapid body design.
In Tim's spirit, I thought it might be useful to summarize what he says in the book in a lot less than 2.5%. If I tried to follow the rule completely, I would need to write a 13 page essay just to summarize his 560 plus pages. I won't make you wade through 13 pages, I just get to the top 10 points I remember from my quick read.
1) When is a calorie, not a calorie. I had always heard the axiom that if you burn more calories than you consume you lose weight. Makes sense as that is based on basic physics and the law of thermodynamics. But Tim, makes a good point when he says a calorie isn't always a calorie. He says it's not what you put in your mouth, it is what makes it to your blood stream that counts. Yep, he's right about that. If it doesn't get absorbed by the body it just passes through, like when you take too many vitamins and your body just moves them right on through without absorbing them.
He also points out that different sources of calories trigger different hormonal responses. He points to studies that show extreme diets of fat or protein lead to weight loss and extreme diets based on carbohydrates lead to weight gain. I guess we do a better job absorbing the calories in carbohydrates and turning them into fat.
2) Body weight isn't what important, body fat is. That's right too. We can be thinner and heavier at the same time if we lower our body fat and increase lean muscle mass. Instead of weight, focus on measuring body fat and measuring key body dimensions - waist, hips, thighs etc.
3) Don't eat white carbohydrates 6 days a week. White foods and foods that used to be white are rapidly digested and absorbed into the body. By eating slow carbs you will lose weight.
4) Eat the same few meals over and over again. The point is to make it simple and easy to follow. By being repetitive you can make it simple and doable.
5) Don't drink your calories - fruit juice, sodas and alcohol will make you fat.
6) Don't eat fruit - like high calorie drinks fruit gets converted by our bodies really quick and that means high absorption of calories.
7) Take one day off and ignore all the rules - we all need a break and by taking one day off it makes the other 6 bearable and doable. Binging on the 7th day won't derail you.
8) Embrace the cold - Heating up the body burns a LOT of calories. If your body thinks it's cold the internal furnace fires up and starts to burn calories. Tim suggests cold showers or ice baths. Sounds very painful, but if you really need to burn calories it might be worth it.
9) Do the least amount of exercise - Tim shows that a small amount of exercise can yield enormous benefits, but that over exercising may not really help you realize your goals
10) There's a lot more in the book - While this article covers the concepts used to lose body fat, this book shows how to gain muscle if that's what you want, tips to six pack abs, how to improve your sex life and sleep, and all kinds of other interesting bits of wisdom.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but not as much as his last book The 4-Hour Work Week. His previous book was pretty focused, while this one seems more like a collection of ideas focused on different topics, but if you're interested in one of the topics Tim has some very interesting insights. There is even and where you can listen to a sample.
Ice Bath Weight Loss.