The 4-Hour Body

Hmm.....
Rule 1--- What's wrong with cauliflower?
Rule 2--- How boring would life be eating the same few meals over and over again....
Rule 3--- So you can't have milk, real veggie juices...basically water is all they can drink?
Rule 4--- Fruits have vitamins and natural sweeteners that are great for snacks or substitutions in baking (like bananas and applesauce)...what happen to "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"?
Rule 5--- go nuts?...how nuts?....

*sigh*




technically water has carbahydrates, so no drink at all ?
plus if you want a healthy snack what the f are you meant to eat instead of fruit? i think fruit is the best snack you can have when on a diet or not!

silly rules!
 
um..what the hell type of water are you drinking that has carbs in it? it sure isn't regular water, maybe sports drinks.

And also fruit actually is NOT the best snack you can have if you are losing weight cause fruit = calories. There are actually lower calorie items or even equal calorie items better than fruit (but not by much). You are better off eating an equal calorie amount of nuts than an apple
 
Hmm tastes good to me!!

Wash cut in small pisces, put in a little Ziploc baggie, add salt to taste (very good healthy snack), and ready to take on the go. Cauliflower salad is very tasty and yummy too! Steam cauliflower just a little until you can stick a fork in it. Don't forget the butter and salt or nosalt.

HAHAHAHAHA, dude, at first...I thought you said all of that in response to the diarrhea joke I made out of CP's post.
 
no way he expects us to just eat tablets to get nutrients. i suppose why eat food at all?
just drink protein shake and take multivitamins.

i looked it up apparently vegetables, spinach, beans and fish have some calcium, which is all included in the diet.

also, i would never think calcium goes in any debated room or whatever that means. its def needed for good bones.
 
Only answer this question if 1) You've read the book. And 2) You can answer intelligently like an adult without taking shots at anyone. I've been on the 4-hour body diet for one week. I weigh about 310lbs and I hasn't lost any weight neither have I recorded any lose in inches. The only change that I have noticed is that on my cheat day, I didn't want as much junk as I would have normally ate. I did only work out once missing my other two days. Besides missing work outs, is there anything else that I may need to look at as far as why I haven't lost anything?
 
Your total calories was not less than calories burned. If you lose nothing then there was no deficit. That is the problem with this plan.

Also, understand this is a public form. Anyone is allowed to respond.
 
I weigh about 310lbs and I hasn't lost any weight neither have I recorded any lose in inches. The only change that I have noticed is that on my cheat day, I didn't want as much junk as I would have normally ate. I did only work out once missing my other two days. Besides missing work outs, is there anything else that I may need to look at as far as why I haven't lost anything?

Hi everyone, just signed up to this forum :) And just started on the Bodyhack.
Wanted to chime in...

Perfect, have you been drinking enough (no carb -HAHA) water? I would think "besides missing workouts" is key? Step it up, give it your all.

And holy crap Leon, good job!! I have 50lbs to lose - (or so my Wii fit tells me) My GOAL however is --30lbs. Keep it up, you're inspiring.

~L
 
Ok

I am in the middle of week 2 on the 4HB. I have lost 4 lbs, and a small loss in my hips and waist measurements. I also understand that most of the weight loss is water related.

I have read all 4 pages of this post, and I typically reread 4HB 1-2 times per week at work to stay focused. By no means do you have to do this but, the actual dieting chapters are rather small. That being said, ALL of the questions and counter points that have been made against the book are addressed in the book. I am just getting familiar with terminology of the body and how certain things affect others glucose, HFCS, carbs, etc... If nothing else the book is good for that. I would say that nay-sayers should go out and read the book or if you don’t want to spend the money, read chapter 2-4 at the store. The "meat and potatoes" of the diet is only 6 pages long, and there is a slightly longer chapter that answers FAQs and such after that.

It’s very easy to sit and regurgitate something that you read off of another forum or in a book (insert irony), but Ferriss' information comes from information which he and his colleagues gathered from their experiments.
There is even a break down of %s in the back of the book of the experiment i.e. how many people lost X lbs, how many lost 0 lbs, what they ate, etc. I’m happy so far, never hungry, and feeling better then I was before (seem to have more energy). As far as the cheat day, all week I knew I wanted Cici's pizza...so my day came, I had a good meal, then the other meals I stuck to the diet (I think the same thing Leon did, congrats btw)...and since having my one craving for the week, I don’t walk through the stores craving anything like a madman, if I want it that bad, I make a little note, and I save it for cheat day....sweet sweet cheat day/(meal).

One further reason why I think this diet will work out good for me, is I am a single active and busy; and so is Ferriss, MEANING, I usually make small meals for 1, or buy for 1, and a majority of my meals are at or from restaurants...I live in AZ, there is a mexi place on EVERY corner, he says that it is perfectly fine for this diet, guac. is ok in moderation and ditch the rice and tortillas and you are good to go...like I said so far so good...I’m sure I didn’t answer any technical questions but try me I might be able to cite the book!

Good luck and I am very glad I found this site, there seems to be a lot of knowledge on here!
:party:
 
just answer me this honestly:

Does not this whole 'diet' come down to eat less calories than you burn each day?
 
In the book he emphasizes that you do not count calories. One trend i did notice, is he will give a broad idea, like go nuts on cheat day, and he sticks by it, but then later on he will say well if you do go nuts, try taking this suppliment or try and make your first meal still a protien dense meal within the first 30 mins., or doing this before you eat, or XXX after you eat to help with BMR i think was the reason given... but he goes very far to say that he doesnt want people counting calories on this diet.
 
I didn't say that. I'm saying by doing those 'steps' do you not..in fact..simply cut your calories by making different food choices? I saw the steps and that is honestly what it does become.

I think people assume that weight loss has to be complex and hard. 'There must be some tricks because I can't lose weight.' The fact remains that for pure weight loss (not talking health and nutrients, we are talking pure numbers) it is Calories in vs Calories out. Everything on top of that is icing. This is why there is a huge diet industry. Instead of learning what to eat, how much you should be eating, and gaining knowledge..people look for crap like this. Sorry, that is my opinion on this rubbish.
 
Actually, no. Read this:
(forum rules..new members cannot post links)

Great job, BP_BOB; and Perfect23, I've got some ideas for you. I'm in the first week of the diet and I'm down a little over a pound and .3% body fat. I'll post tonight when I get some time.
 
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I think people assume that weight loss has to be complex and hard. 'There must be some tricks because I can't lose weight.' The fact remains that for pure weight loss (not talking health and nutrients, we are talking pure numbers) it is Calories in vs Calories out.


It's interesting to think about this, because it's true to an extent...it's something far more complex than I think we're giving it credit for however.

Take someone addicted to drugs for example...all you have to do is "stop doing drugs" right? But it's not that easy... there is something subconcious that turned those people to drugs in the first place many times, there is the addiction itself, there are psychological attachments to the drugs, etc. etc. It goes on forever. Sure, they can just stop, but unless they uncover what led to drugs to begin with, it will be hard to keep the drugs away..

Now, insert food as a proxy. For many people, it's a lifelong problem (being overweight)... this isn't something that can be over-simplified for many people... sure, for some of us, the calories in v. calories out is perfect, but for many, there needs to be many other components to the "healing" process from over-eating/ improper diet.

Now, I am not saying these dieticians are any type of psychologists, and many are complete hacks... but that being said, many are pinging on specific shortfalls with things in their books that happen to match up with what people are looking for. Many people need things specifically drawn out, in detail to be successful. I agree with many of your biases about the diet industry bilking people that are subconcious about how they look... but I also see why some of these diets are successful.

just my 2 cents.... :smash:
 
Let me put it this way about this guy:

Timothy Ferriss is an American author, entrepreneur, and public speaker.[1] In 2007, he published The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, which was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.


In other words..his goal is to make MONEY. He's not a doctor. He's not a medical expert. He knows how to get people to buy his book and make money.


BTW: These are my opinons.
 
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Every diet, no matter what it is, all boils down to caloric intake. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. End of story.

No tricks. No complications. No deeper knowledge than it has to be.

It doesn't matter what you eat. It doesn't matter when you eat it. It doesn't matter if you follow a low carb, high protein or not fat diet. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.

I don't understand why people think it has to be more complicated than this. :shrugs shoulders:
 
Truth is, I doubt Ferriss is an altruist - but having skimmed through the book at CostCo it's certainly not the worst diet book out there. It's clearly hyped - 4 hour body is selling the belief that with this program it will be easy to lose weight! Look at the full title... "An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman"

However, he is promoting several practices that we've seen on the forums here - not 'banning' food, getting plenty of protein, fewer processed foods (i.e. cut out the 'white' foods), high fiber foods that also have decent protein like beans & lentils... He also has all of the exercise stuff... that I admit didn't impress me much. It certainly did not seem to be 'Uncommon' in terms of diet books, although perhaps it's uncommon in practice.

Now, like many diets he goes for the no calorie counting - it's a big draw for many, and it also explains some of the other tenets of the diet that I don't necessarily agree with, but seem directly targeted at calorie reduction. The no fruit is one - no calorie counting, no limits, fruit could be an easy place to add calories. There's no reason that an apple is any worse than eating a sweet potato, but restricting food choices = restricting calories. Eating the same meals all the time also restricts calories - there have been numerous studies that show that we eat more when we have varied options. If you eat the same few meals over and over you'll eat less naturally.

From my brief glance, this did seem to demonize insulin a bit - which I don't think is really justified. Insulin is an easy scapegoat, even for people who aren't insulin resistant - but cut out 'white' foods and not only are you knocking out a large group of foods (calorie reduction) you're also knocking out a group of very calorically dense foods (leading to even more calorie reduction). For whatever reason it sounds much sexier - and more compelling - to say "Don't eat these foods because they cause insulin spikes which leads to fat retention" than to say "If you skip eating these foods, you'll end up with fewer calories in a day and eat less overall." The whole horror story about drinking orange juice before bed, and his cholesterol ratings spiking etc... not only is that the worst of anecdotal evidence, it's also using fruit juice as support for vilifying fruit and fructose entirely rather than say... drinking a really big glass of orange juice.

Please note - this is not me saying that if you're on the diet and seeing success you should drop it because it sucks donkey balls ;) I myself was on Atkins for 5 years, and feel it was a good decision - there might have been better decisions, but it was still a step up from where I was! I don't think the Four Hour Body is quite what it's hyped up to be, but aside from the 'same foods all the time' possibly having implications of vitamin deficiency, it seems a lot saner than many of the diets I've seen.
 
Every diet, no matter what it is, all boils down to caloric intake. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. End of story.

No tricks. No complications. No deeper knowledge than it has to be.

It doesn't matter what you eat. It doesn't matter when you eat it. It doesn't matter if you follow a low carb, high protein or not fat diet. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.

I don't understand why people think it has to be more complicated than this. :shrugs shoulders:

I think it's a combination of cognitive dissonance and being allergic to calorie counting. My husband despises counting calories. He'd rather be on a more restrictive plan where he doesn't have to count, than count on a less restrictive plan. It doesn't really make sense to me, but de gustibus non est disputandum. Plus the book was selling 'health' and not just weight loss, and food choices do matter more for total health than they do in just weight loss :D
 
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