I am a 75-year-old, covid-haired woman who has been carrying around 25 pounds (35 if I were being honest) of extra baggage most of my adult life. Today is the day I change … with the help from one of the most unlikely sources, prompted by a horrific year that we just tossed into the dustbin, and a complete turnaround on the way I have looked at many things.
My guide: Tim Ferriss came into my awareness shortly after his mega-hit The 4-hour Workweek stormed the best-seller lists. I dismissed it as a gimmick and refused to open it even as it stayed on the best-seller list for four years.
I’ve always thought of myself as open minded; I may need to challenge that belief
The prompt: A pandemic that turned the world upside down and sparked a personal commitment to sucking all the juice from life while I could. Result: a shift to a different life-style, closer to nature, with more time for walking, reading, and contemplating. Enter podcasts … many podcasts … with a favorite turning out to be Tim Ferriss’s.
The turnaround: I tiptoed into Ferriss’s podcast, determined not to like his macho self, writing him off as just another egotistical, materialistic marketing wonder, all fluff, no substance. One podcast led to another … and they are LONG, sometimes close to 2-hours … and, gradually, I came to respect Tim’s meticulous research, his ability to draw out amazing stories and practices from fascinating people. Soon, I became a devoted fan … of the podcast, but not his books.
When the new year tiptoed in, I wondered what I would make of it. Before I even had a chance to mull over the possibilities, I was startled to find myself on my Kindle, downloading Tim Ferriss’s The 4-hour Body book. The ground had been plowed as I listened to a podcast on my way home the second day of the new year. Podcaster Guy Raz was interviewing Tim Ferriss and it was the first time I had heard his story and my predispositions began to shift.
Listen here:
How I Built This — Key Lessons, Critical Decisions,
and Reinvention for Fun and Profit (#489)
I was only going to read the free sample of The 4-hour Body, but wound up accidentally ordering the book (something I have never done before). Thinking I’d reach the end of the sample and then make a decision about whether I was going to do this thing that I had failed at so repeatedly over the past several decades, I just kept reading.
I was 95% committed before I realized I had made an ordering error. I could have told amazon that I had ordered it accidentally. But, I didn’t. I was in. I wanted to know if I could follow his process and succeed in a part of my life that was littered with failure.
So here I am. I'm not about to share one of those revealing, “before" pictures although I did take a couple. Vomit. I am going to use this space as my accountability partner.
Tim’s process (we’re now on a first-name basis in my mind) starts here:
“For a long time, I’ve known
that the key to getting started
down the path of being remarkable in anything
is to simply act with the intention
of being remarkable.”
— Tim Ferriss
5 Slow-Carb Recomp Rules
(Tim calls it a diet, the worst four-letter word I know.
He also introduced me to the word "recompositioning" ...
meaning losing fat and gaining muscle.)
RULE #1: AVOID “WHITE” CARBOHYDRATES.
RULE #2: EAT THE SAME FEW MEALS OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
RULE #4: DON’T DRINK CALORIES.
RULE #4: DON’T EAT FRUIT.
RULE #5: TAKE ONE DAY OFF PER WEEK.
Details:
Eat protein, legumes and vegetables with every meal. Eat enough not to be hungry, approximately four hours apart. Meals will be repetitive and effective … but not fun. Make a list of all of your cravings and eat them on the DAY OFF**.
Eat 30 grams of protein within an hour of waking up. Take photos of everything you eat ... before you eat it.
** For those of us who have traveled the long road of weight loss, this "day off" sounds absolutely absurd! (But totally fun.)
My commitment:
- Follow Tim’s plan for four weeks. Then re-assess.
- Take photos of food before eating for at least one week.
- Blog update every Sunday.
Caveat: Make your own decision
Before posting this, I read all the 1-Star reviews on amazon. 3 said the program didn't work, 2 said chapters were missing, some didn't like Tim, and some thought it was a waste of money.
I also read many of the 5-Star reviews (there were over 3K). It's obvious his target market is young males.
I'm intrigued enough to make a four-week commitment and will give you my feedback along the way.
Thanks for the reminder, Joyce, about this book, which I also own on my Kindle. Reading what our buddy Tim actually does on his cheat days -- exercising in between eating pastries, sometimes in restaurant bathrooms-- may put you off your meals for a while. He also shares TMI in the data on his study of food in and food out.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I think it's a darned good book. The idea of exercising just enough to get the benefit is an awesome one. Also, the commandment of "Don't eat white food" is quite clear.
What will do you with the pix of your food?
You make me laugh ... for all of that commitment, I forgot all day to take pics of food! Now that I'm coming out of that particular coma, I remember that I found an app called ATE that looked interesting so I'm going to try it. I think you were the first person to tell me about Ferriss. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWeek 1 was a great reminder of how little I like meat. Working on a more vegetarian approach.
ReplyDelete