The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [21]
“Practical Pessimism: Stoicism as Productivity System,” Google Ignite (www.fourhourbody.com/stoicism) This is a five-minute presentation I gave in 2009 on my personal Harajuku Moment. This video will show you how to inoculate your fears while leveraging them to accomplish what you want.
Clive Thompson, “Are Your Friends Making You Fat?” New York Times, September 10, 2009 (www.fourhourbody.com/friends) Reaching your physical goals is a product, in part, of sheer proximity to people who exhibit what you’re targeting. This article explains the importance, and implications, of choosing your peer group.
End of Chapter Notes
1. Tim: This type of low-hanging fruit is also commonly found by would-be weight gainers when they record protein intake for the first time. Many are only consuming 40–50 grams of protein per day.
ELUSIVE BODYFAT
Where Are You Really?
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
—Richard P. Feynman, Nobel Prize–winning physicist
γνωθι σεαUτόυ [“Know Thyself”]
—Inscription at Temple of Apollo at Adelphi
Think fat is just under the skin? Think again. The above MRI of a 250-pound woman, compared to a 120-pound woman, shows the large fat deposits around internal organs. The undigested food is a reader-gagging bonus.
Update E-Mail from Subject X, Male:
12/27/08
Beginning weight 245 lbs.
1/30/09
End of month #1 228 lbs.
3/1/09
End of month #2 222 1/2 lbs.
[Too little protein in the morning for the past 4 weeks; added 30 grams within 30 minutes of waking to restart fat-loss]
4/2/09
End of month #3 203 3/4 lbs.
[90 day weight loss = 41 1/4 lbs.]
5/1/09
End of month #4 200 lbs.
6/1/09
End of month #5 193 lbs.
7/1/09
End of month #6 186 3/4 lbs.
7/31/09
End of month #7 ——————185 lbs.
It’s somewhat demoralizing to only lose eight pounds in the last two months.
As far as my lifting exercises are concerned, there are five basic lifts.2 The two weights I am giving you are the poundage when I started and my present poundage.
1. Shoulder Press—10 slow reps3
Starting weight—15 lbs. Present weight—75 lbs.
2. Pulldown—8 slow reps
Starting weight—50 lbs. Present weight—135 lbs.
3. Bench Press—8 slow reps
Starting weight—30 lbs. Present weight—90 lbs.
4. Row—8 slow reps
Starting weight—50 lbs. Present weight—120 lbs.
5. Curl—12 slow reps
Starting weight—15 lbs. Present weight—50 lbs.
Subject X, aged 65, was depressed by his slowing rate of weight loss. The real question was: should he have been?
The Deceptive Scale
Looking at his exercise logs, he showed massive strength gains in the three months where he showed the least weight loss.
I didn’t think this was a coincidence. He had almost tripled his strength in all movements, and to estimate 10 pounds of lean muscle gain over those three months would be conservative. This would make his actual fat-loss closer to 18 pounds, not the scale’s 8.
His muscle gains slowed after this update e-mail, and the fat-loss once again began to show on the scale. He dropped from 185 to 173. Total weight lost: 72 pounds.
But total fat lost? It’s impossible to tell. In a rush to get started, I hadn’t insisted on getting his bodyfat percentage measured.
Not that I cared much. For the first time in my life, I saw my father weighing less than me. During his annual checkup four months later, his doctor remarked: “You realize you’re younger now than you were a year ago. You may just live forever.” It was a stark contrast to his 245 pounds at 56 just a year earlier. My dad had gone from risk of sudden heart attack to looking and feeling 10 years younger in 12 months.
Regardless, he had become depressed about his results precisely when he should have been giving people high-fives. It takes just one such incident to ruin an entire program and months of progress.
How can you prevent unnecessary moments of doubt?
It just takes a few simple numbers to steer the ship—to know, without fail, when something is working and when it is not.
Until you finish this chapter, do not