The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman

by Timothy Ferriss

Proteins *Egg whites with 1–2 whole eggs for flavor (or, if organic, 2–5 whole eggs, including yolks) *Chicken breast or thigh *Beef (preferably grass-fed) *Fish Pork Legumes *Lentils (also called “dal” or “daal”) *Black beans Pinto beans Red beans Soybeans Vegetables *Spinach *Mixed vegetables (including broccoli, cauliflower, or any other cruciferous vegetables) *Sauerkraut, kimchee (full explanation of these later in “Damage Control”) Asparagus Peas Broccoli Green beans Eat as much as you like of the above food items, but keep it simple.

Almost all restaurants can give you a salad or vegetables in place of french fries, potatoes, or rice. Surprisingly, I have found Mexican food (after swapping out rice for vegetables) to be one of the cuisines most conducive to the Slow-Carb Diet. If you have to pay an extra $1–3 to substitute at a restaurant, consider it your six-pack tax, the nominal fee you pay to be lean.

Adjust your meals to fit your schedule, but make sure to have your first meal within an hour of waking. Meals are approximately four hours apart. 10:00 A.M.—Breakfast 2:00 P.M.—Lunch 6:30 P.M.—Smaller second lunch 8:00–9:00 P.M.—Recreation or sports training, if scheduled. 10:00 P.M.—Dinner 12:00 A.M.—Glass of red wine and Discovery Channel before bed

RULE #3: DON’T DRINK CALORIES.

Drink massive quantities of water and as much unsweetened tea, coffee (with no more than two tablespoons of cream; I suggest using cinnamon instead), or other no-calorie/low-calorie beverages as you like. Do not drink milk (including soy milk), normal soft drinks, or fruit juice. Limit diet soft drinks to no more than 16 ounces per day if you can, as the aspartame can stimulate weight gain. I’m a wine fanatic and have one to two glasses of red wine almost every evening. It doesn’t appear to have any negative impact on my rate of fat-loss. Red wine is by no means required for this diet to work, but it’s 100% allowed (unlike white wines and beer, both of which should be avoided). Up to two glasses of red per night, no more.

RULE #4: DON’T EAT FRUIT. Humans don’t need fruit six days a week, and they certainly don’t need it year-round. If your ancestors were from Europe, for example, how much fruit did they eat in the winter 500 years ago? Think they had Florida oranges in December? Not a chance. But you’re still here, so the lineage somehow survived. The only exceptions to the no-fruit rule are tomatoes and avocadoes, and the latter should be eaten in moderation (no more than one cup or one meal per day). Otherwise, just say no to fruit and its principal sugar, fructose, which is converted to glycerol phosphate more efficiently than almost all other carbohydrates. Glycerol ...

But what’s this “six days a week” business? It’s the seventh day that allows you, if you so desire, to eat peach crepes and ba...

RULE #5: TAKE ONE DAY OFF PER WEEK. I recommend Saturdays as your Dieters Gone Wild (DGW) day. I am allowed to eat whatever I want on Saturdays, and I go out of my way to eat ice cream, Snickers, Take 5, and all of my other vices in excess. If I drank beer, I’d have a few pints of Paulaner Hefe-Weizen.1 I make myself a little sick each Saturday and don’t want to look at any junk for the rest of the week. Paradoxically, dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat-loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate (thyroid function and conversi...

When you feel mired in details or confused by the latest-and-greatest contradictory advice, return to this short chapter. All you need to remember is: Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates (or anything that can be white). Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again. Rule #3: Don’t drink calories. Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit. Rule #5: Take one day off per week and go nuts.

The moral of the story? Don’t drink fruit juice, and absolutely avoid a high-fructose diet. It doesn’t do the body good.

Potassium (4,700 mg per day recommended for an average, healthy 25-year-old male) 1. Lima beans, cooked, 4.9 cups (1 cup = 969 mg) 2. Chard, cooked, 4.9 cups (1 cup = 961 mg) 3. Halibut, cooked, 2.6 fillets (half a fillet = 916 mg) 4. Spinach, cooked, 5.6 cups (1 cup = 839 mg) 5. Pinto beans, cooked, 6.3 cups (1 cup = 746 mg) 6. Lentils, cooked, 6.4 cups (1 cup = 731 mg) 7. Salmon, cooked, 3.4 fillets (half a fillet = 683 mg) 8. Black beans, cooked, 7.7 cups (1 cup = 611 mg) 9. Sardines, 7.9 cups (1 cup = 592 mg) 10. Mushrooms, cooked, 8.5 cups (1 cup = 555 mg)

Calcium (1,000 mg per day recommended for an average, healthy 25-year-old male) 1. Salmon with bones, 1.1 cups (1 cup = 919 mg) (great-tasting if you’re a cat) 2. Sardines with bones, 1.8 cups (1 cup = 569 mg) 3. Mackerel, canned, 2.2 cups (1 cup = 458 mg) 4. Tofu, firm, 3.6 cups (1 cup = 280 mg) 5. Collards, cooked, 3.8 cups (1 cup = 266 mg) 6. Spinach, cooked, 4.1 cups (1 cup = 245 mg) 7. Black-eyed peas, cooked, 4.7 cups (1 cup = 211 mg) 8. Turnip greens, cooked, 5.1 cups (1 cup = 197 mg) 9. Tempeh, 5.4 cups (1 cup = 184 mg) 10. Agar, dried, 5.7 cups (1 oz = 175 mg)

Magnesium (400 mg per day recommended for an average, healthy 25-year-old male) 1. Pumpkin seeds (pepitas), 2.6 oz (2 oz = 300 mg) 2. Watermelon seeds, dried, 2.8 oz (2 oz = 288 mg) 3. Peanuts, 1.6 cups (1 cup = 245 mg) 4. Halibut, cooked, 1.2 fillets (half a fillet = 170 mg) 5. Almonds, 5 oz (2 oz = 160 mg) 6. Spinach, 2.5 cups (1 cup = 157 mg) 7. Soybeans, cooked, 2.7 cups (1 cup = 148 mg) 8. Cashews...

Macadamia oil is the new and improved olive oil. Since several high-level bodybuilding coaches introduced me to this new kid on the block, I’ve been hooked. Consider the following: • It tastes almost like butter. Extra-virgin olive oil is fine alone or on salad, but let’s face it—it makes scrambled eggs taste like cat vomit. • Unlike olive oil, it has a high smoking point (234°C) and is ideal for sautéeing and all manner of cooking. I now use butter from grass-fed cows, ghee, and macadamia oil exclusively for all stove-top action.

The fat in macadamia oil is 80% monounsaturated, the highest percentage among cooking oils.

There should be no need, or real physical urge, to eat snacks. If you are hungry, you’re not eating enough protein and legumes at each meal. This is an uber-common novice screwup. I’ve been there too. Eat more.

If you’re eating enough and still feel the urge to snack, it’s a psychological addiction, one that most often goes hand in hand with procrastination. Some of us go to the bathroom, others go to the water cooler, and others eat. I’ve done all three, so I know the drill.

If all else fails and you must have a snack, go for carrots, but a bag of carrots will hit you like a donkey kick in the stomach, so don’t binge. If I snack, I’ll most often make a small snack—200–300 calories—out of restaurant leftovers like Thai chicken basil with no rice. If you...

Likewise, if you have trouble sleeping due to hunger, you’re not eating enough. In these cases, consume a bit of protein prior to bed, which can be as simple as 1–2 tablespoons of almond butter (ideal) or peanut butter with no additives (the only ingredients should be peanuts and perhaps salt). Note to the ladies, for whom peanut butter seems to be like crack: the tablespoon scoop should be no more than a small mound, not half the jar balanced on a spoon.

The Rutgers University researchers responsible for the principal study emphasize, almost as a deterrent, that one would need to eat 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of spinach per day to mimic the administration used. In testing, I’ve found that it’s not hard at all to see a visible effect with smaller amounts. I routinely eat two to three cups of spinach per day, which is less than you think, and each cup is 81 grams. Two cups, at 162 grams, is about 16% of 1 kilogram. Three cups is almost 25% of 1 kilogram. If the results of the study are dose-dependent, one might expect an increase in muscle fiber synthesis of 3% from 2 cups and 5% from 3 cups, not to mention the effect of increased carbohydrate metabolism. Compounded over time, this is significant. If the effect is not dose-dependent but rather triggered at a dose less than 1 kilogram per day, it is possible that the 20% increase could be achieved with far less than 1 kilogram. I also believe that spinach increases cAMP, but that’s for the geeks to explore.

Canned foods are absolutely fine. No problem. Almost all of my vegetables are either frozen (80%) or canned (20%). I’m a huge fan of canned tuna in water mixed with lentils and chopped onions.

Refried beans work just fine, and more than 30 slow-carbers have lost up to one pound per day using them as a staple. Reader David C. lost 20 pounds in 30 days using almost exclusively canned refried beans. In his last update, he’d lost 42 pounds and his wife had lost 36 pounds.

Gout is usually blamed on purines and therefore protein, so those diagnosed with it, like my mother, will be put on low-protein, low-legume diets. I ascribe to Gary Taubes’s interpretation of the scientific literature, which indicates that fructose (and therefore sucrose, table sugar) and other factors are more likely to be causal agents of gout. Phosphoric acid in carbonated drinks is also to be avoided.

Life itself is the proper binge. —Julia Child

Ah, l’ amor … It is fickle and not fond of serial-killer-like behavior.

PRINCIPLE #1: MINIMIZE THE RELEASE OF INSULIN, A STORAGE HORMONE. Insulin release is minimized by blunting sharp jumps in blood sugar: 1. Ensure that your first meal of the day is not a binge meal. Make it high in protein (at least 30 grams) and insoluble fiber (legumes will handle this). The protein will decrease your appetite for the remainder of the binge and prevent total self-destruction. The fiber will be important later to prevent diarrhea. In total, this can be a smallish meal of 300–500 calories.

2. Consume a small quantity of fructose, fruit sugar, in grapefruit juice before the second meal, which is the first crap meal. Even small fructose dosing has an impressive near-flat-lining effect on blood glucose.7 I could consume this at the first meal, but I prefer to combine the naringin in grapefruit juice with coffee, as it extends the effects of caffeine.

Consume citric juices, whether lime juice squeezed into water, lemon juice on food, or a beverage like the citrus kombucha I had.

In China, I was taught a rhyming proverb: Fàn hòu bǎi bù zǒu, néng huó dào jiǔ shí jiǔ [ ]. If you take 100 steps after each meal, you can live to be 99 years old.

Lemon, however, showed its merits without fail. There are anecdotes and websites galore that claim lemon juice lowers glycemic index. Neither my researchers nor I could find any controlled studies showing evidence of a GI-lowering effect for lemon, lime, or citric acid. The closest was citrate, a salt or ester of citric acid in combination with other things like insoluble calcium. In my personal trials, three tablespoons of fresh-squeezed lemon juice just prior to eating (not store-bought with preservatives and artificial additives) appeared to lower blood sugar peaks by approximately 10%.

CINNAMON, EVEN IN SMALL DOSES, HAS A SUBSTANTIAL EFFECT ON GLUCOSE LEVELS. There is ample evidence that cinnamon can be used to reduce the glycemic index of a meal up to 29%. At four grams per meal or even six grams per day, it can lower not only blood glucose but also LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Cinnamon weighs in at 2.8 grams per teaspoon, so four grams of cinnamon is about one and a half teaspoons.

Don’t use too much. It’s easy to get overambitious with cinnamon, but there are active substances that can hurt you if consumed in excess. Coumarin, as just one example, is a potent blood-thinner and some cinnamon in Europe has a warning label for this reason. Use no more than four grams per day. I use a few dashes in coffee and limit myself to two to three cups of coffee throughout the day.

To reiterate, based on material bulk density reference charts, cinnamon weighs in at 0.56 grams per cubic centimeter, one cubic centimeter = 0.2 teaspoon, and so there are 2.8 grams of cinnamon per teaspoon. So four grams of cinnamon = 4 divided by 2.8, or just about one and a half teaspoons. Don’t consume more per day.

The easiest thing you can do to decrease glucose spikes is slow down. I had to methodically finish my plate in thirds and train myself to wait five minutes between thirds, usually with the help of iced tea and slices of lemon. It also helps to drink more water to dilute digestion (I’m fantastic at this), eat smaller portions (not so good at this), and chew more (Orca is terrible at this).

Argentine women are famous for being gorgeous and eating crap. In total, I’ve spent about two years in Buenos Aires, and the female Argie diet appears to consist of little more than cappuccino, cookies and biscuits, a super-sweet caramel called dulce de leche, ice cream, and—for dinner—meat and salad with a side of pasta. Is it just fantastic genetics? I don’t think so. Several male friends have traveled with petite Argentine girlfriends, who, once in the United States or Europe, immediately put on 10–20 pounds. The reason? The girls themselves admitted it: increased portion size and increased speed of eating. The beautiful people of Buenos Aires might eat a wide spectrum of garbage calories, but they tend to do it in small bites and over a long period of time.

“What’s the biggest mistake that drug-free ‘natural’ bodybuilders make?” “Natural bodybuilders?” John Romano laughed. “The biggest mistake ‘natural’ bodybuilders make is thinking they’re natural. Eating 20 chicken breasts a day isn’t natural. The best I’ll give them is ‘over-the-counter.’ ”

Here is a small sample of well-documented side effects, provided by the National Institutes of Health: • Swelling of the eyes, face, lips, tongue, or throat • Wheezing or difficulty breathing • Fast heartbeat • Fast breathing • Cold, clammy skin • Ringing in the ears • Loss of hearing • Bloody vomit • Bright red blood in stools This list should scare you. It should scare you because these aren’t side effects of anabolic steroids. These are common side effects of aspirin.

Some drugs are safer than others, but almost anything will kill you at a high enough dose. It’s the dose that makes the poison. Never forget this, and don’t confuse the effects of moderate use with those of outright abuse.

Backs are to lifters what biceps are to bodybuilders. —Randall J. Strossen PhD, editor of MILO magazine

Three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), she performed a simple sequence of three exercises prior to breakfast, all of which are illustrated in the next few pages: One set: 20 two-legged glute activation raises from the floor One set: 15 flying dogs, one set each side One set: 50 kettlebell swings (For you: start with a weight that allows you to do 20 perfect repetitions but no more than 30. In other words, start with a weight, no less than 20 pounds, that you can “grow into.”) That’s it. Total prescribed exercise: about 5 minutes per session × 3 sessions = 15 minutes per week. One hour over the course of a month.

The 75 minutes of exercise had a number of important effects on Fleur’s physique that went beyond fat-loss and ass building. Most important, it fixed her kyphosis (from the Greek kyphos, meaning “hump”), a postural problem common to millions of computer users. From desk work and muscular imbalance, she had a shoulders-forward, concave-chest slouch before beginning the program. Five weeks later, she stood and walked with shoulders back, which created the perception of both a smaller rib cage and larger breasts. Good posture is hot.

What do Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, and Elle Macpherson have in common? The number 0.7 and the letters WHR. If you measured the waist and hip circumference of these three women, you’d find that their waists are 7/10 the size of their hips. This makes their waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) 0.7, and this ratio in females appears to be hardwired into the male brain as a sign of fertility and therefore attractiveness. The wider your waist is, the higher this ratio goes toward the apple-shaped 1.0, which correlates in scientific studies with decreased estrogen levels, increased disease risk, increased birth complications, and lower fertility rates.

If you want additional abdominal exercises as a woman, stick with timed planks instead, which also strengthen the gluteus medius on the hip. Just as The Kiwi in the last chapter prescribed, start with 30 seconds on the front, then 30 seconds on each side, working up to 90 seconds maximum per set. One set per angle per workout is all that’s needed.

Last but not least, to avoid the small potbelly look so common among women, even fitness competitors, fix your pelvic tilt with hip flexor stretches. The following can be performed once a day for 30 seconds on each side. Before kettlebells is perfect, as it will also help with hip extension.

It is vain to do with more what can be done with less. —William of Occam (c. 1288–1348), “Occam’s Razor”

The goal of this chapter is to reduce everything to the absolute minimum. Before we get started, we need to discuss the “bike-shed” effect, originally described by C. Northcote Parkinson. To illustrate this phenomenon, let’s compare a conversation about building a nuclear power plant with building a bike shed. Most people rightly assume that they know nothing about something as complex as a nuclear power plant and so won’t voice an opinion. Most people wrongly assume, however, that they know something about building a bike shed and will argue until the cows come home about every detail down to paint color.

Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be. —Peter Gibbons, Office Space

If you scratch your cornea, for instance, it’s generally going to be healed in 8–12 hours.

All in all—when you separate all the emotion and positive feedback that people derive from the training experience—solid biological data indicate that the optimal training frequency for the vast majority of the population is no more than once a week.

Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking. —Clifton Fadiman, former chief editor, Simon & Schuster