The 4-Hour Body: More Like 4-Hour Baloney

Full disclosure: this review of Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman isn’t going to be 100% ethical, in that I didn’t bother to complete the book. I got 111 pages into before I had to stop for two reasons. First, I had to go take a shower to wash off the stink of bull poop. Second, what I did read was filled with faulty research, lies, and half-truths. If he isn’t going to give his readers the respect of completely researching what he’s talking about, why should I?

For example, on page 27, there’s a sidebar stating, “Remember those 107 calories you burned during that kick-ass hour-long Stairmaster session?” He then goes on to state it was a wasted hour, given you burn 100 calories in an hour of watching TV so, technically, you only burned 7 extra calories exercising.

Huh? Where on earth did you get those numbers? A 165-pound person burns upward of 500 calories in an hour on a Stairmaster. You’d need to weigh about 35 pounds to burn 107 calories. I could understand if you were a couple hundred calories off – but you’re either stupid or a liar to come up with that number.

And then there’s his argument to avoid carbs (including fruit) based in part on the 1956 Kekwick and Pawan study, in which test groups were fed 1000 calories of protein, 1000 calories of fat, and 1000 calories of carbs. As it turns out, the fat and protein people lost weight, but the carb people gained weight. What Ferriss fails to mention is that this study is severely dated. Even the study’s authors admit that those odd fluctuations in weight had to do with fluid retention, not fat loss or gain.

And then there’s the part where he groups whole grains and brown rice in as “white” carbs. And the part where he justifies binge eating via conclusions that show no knowledge of physiology or, for that matter, physics.

While I didn't make it to the exercise part, Steve Edwards did, and he found it to be utterly ridiculous. I also didn't make it to the sex part (which, if you know me, says a lot), but I showed it to my friend Amy Jo Goddard, who's a sexuality educator. Normally, I'd find the string of obscenities she used to review the book titillating coming from a woman like Amy Jo. But in this circumstance, I was a little terrified. It was a lot less x-rated and a lot more Exorcist.

So if you haven't figured out, I was pretty disappointed by this book, which is too bad because I like Tim Ferris. He's an interesting guy and has some cool ideas. But no one knows everything, Tim. He’s stretched himself so thin across these 567 pages that anything useful is lost in a jumble of hogwash. This book is a missed opportunity.