Tim Ferris in his new book, the 4-hour body, claiming that you can understand the 95% of Spanish conversations if you know only 2,500 HF-words. It works to around 2,5% of the estimated 100,000 words in Spanish. He pointed out this to explain that he is attempting to deliver of 2.5% that delivers 95% of the results in the rapid body design.
In the spirit of Tims, I thought it would be useful to summarize what he says in the book in much less than 2.5%. If I tried to follow the rule entirely, I would have to write a 13 page essay just to summarize his 560 plus pages. I won't make you wade through 13 pages, I get only the top 10 points that I remember from my quick reading.
1) When is a calorie, not a calorie. I had always heard axiom that if you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight. Makes a feeling that that is based on fundamental physics and thermodynamics law. But Tim, makes a good point when he says a calorie isn't always a calorie. He says that is not what you put in your mouth, that is what makes your blood stream that counts. Yes, he's right about this. If it does not get absorbed by the body, it just passes, such as when you take too many vitamins and your body just moved right through without absorbing them.
He also points out that various sources of calories trigger different hormonal response. He points to studies that show extreme Diets of fat or protein leads to weight loss and extreme Diets based on carbohydrates leads to weight gain. I suppose we do a better job dust absorbing calories in carbohydrates, turning them into fat.
2) Body weight is not as important, body fat is. Is it 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 the measurement of body fat and measure important 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 is fast resolution and absorbed in the body. By eating slow carbs, you 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 easy and feasible.
5) don't drink your calories -fruit juice, sodas and alcohol makes you fat.
6) not eat fruit -high calorie drinks fruit are converted by our bodies as really fast, which means high absorption of calories.
7) take a day off and ignore all rules -we all need a break and by taking a day off to do the other 6 bearable and feasible. Binging on the seventh day thwart not you.
8) Embrace the cold -warming up the body burns very calories. If your body thinks it is cool inside oven fires up and begins to burn calories. Tim proposes cold showers or ice bath. Sounds very painful, but if you really want to burn calories as it may be worth.
9) Do the minimum amount of exercise -H shows that a small amount of exercise can provide enormous benefits, but that the exercise may not really help you achieve 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 you how to gain muscle if that is what you want, tips for six pack abs, how to improve your sex life and sleep and all kinds of other interesting bits of wisdom.
Overall, I got the book, but not as much as his last book the 4-hour work week. His previous book was pretty focused, whereas this seems more like a collection of ideas focused on different topics, but if you are interested in one of the subjects Tim has some very interesting insights. There are also and audiobook online where you can listen to an example.
Zander Desales is body designer focuses on helping people sculpting the body of their dreams. He writes about health, diet, exercise, appetite control and other mechanisms to help you get the body you want and deserve. Zander writes on his blog get Lean body