Shriveling Down to Nothing - My Downward Weight Spiral

I still feel strong - always have. That statue above looks like me coming home from a bar late at night with a "new acquaintance"....back when I was 22 or so.

Anabolic steroids have nothing on 14 Yuengling Lagers plus hormonal adrenaline...

However...

In 7.5 months of London-living....I've now lost 17 lbs.

Early this morning I weighed in a new all-time(?) low - 159 pounds!

This summer, after my Sicily trip, I gave up carbs and sugar which took me to new weight depths.

But then I experimented with Tim Ferriss' "cheat day". That's one day (Saturday) where I could eat whatever I wanted, and however much of it I wanted.

But that didn't stop me from losing weight.

Then I went back to eating sugar. First a little here and there, and more recently almost back to my usual 1.5 candy bars per night.

Still no weight gain. In fact, I kept losing a little!

Even after adding bread a few times per week....nothing.

Then I stopped working out (down to 2 days per week) AND I stopped my morning protein shakes because the price, ON AMAZON, is $55 per cannister - it's only $22 at supermarkets in NY!

I'm in a downward weight spiral and nothing seems to be able to stop it.

Interesting...

I'm starting to look and feel "runty" and I don't necessarily like that.

Anyone else ever have this problem?

Sitting Is Death!

Look, I've been saying that - *sitting is death* - for a while now....but since nobody listens to me, perhaps they'll listen to Tim Ferriss?

He's got a blog post up (laced with very high-priced affiliate links!) that pretty much corroborates my own independent assertion.

The opening line is a haymaker:

If you’re a white-collar worker, hacking your body isn’t limited to the gym. In fact, what you do outside of the gym might be more important that what you do inside the gym.

Recent research suggests that those who sit from 9-5 (more than 6 hours daily) and exercise regularly are more likely to have heart disease than those who sit less than 3 hours per day and don’t "exercise" at all.

Did you catch that???

Sitting all day MORE THAN OFFSETS exercise. Yeah, it's that bad.

And it explains why those European women can eat so much food and still stay thin...

THEY DON'T WORK - at least not at desks all day.

It's just too easy to sit, to drive, or ride the subway/train. None of our daily needs demand any exercise to be fulfilled.

You sort of have to manufacture situations of physical hardship. For example, nowadays I always walk and carry my own bag when golfing - as intentional exercise.

And yesterday when we got off the train at Penn Station I made my kids walk 2.9 miles through Manhattan to get to their art fair - not to save a subway/cab fare, but rather because they don't get near enough exercise naturally in my estimation.

Moronic Respiration

A few times on this site I've discussed my congenital mouth-breathing problems. For the most recent reference - click here.

Well last week Tim Ferris ran an interesting post on the importance of nasal breathing.  See - The Painless Path To Endurance.

A few years ago I read how Goethe would only breath through his nose. Apparently the guy never caught a cold.

And now you've got Tim Ferriss' super-athletes also asserting the health benefits of nasal breathing...

Unfortunately I've been unable to really improve the quality of my breathing.

I just keep forgetting to breathe! Seriously.

The only time I actually remember to breath properly (through both mouth and nose) is when I'm working out.

I probably need to post sticky-note reminders at my desk, on the bathroom mirrors, on my steering wheel...

Tim Ferriss - Launching Again

I just pre-ordered The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life for my wife (a *Winter Festival of Trees* present).

While I obsess over exercise, posture, and whatnot...

She's Italian so she's genetically wired to obsess over food!

Seriously. Recently I asked her, rhetorically, what her favorite part of the government school penitentiary day was.

While the answer is supposed to be RECESS, she threw me off by saying *lunch*.

Though personally I'm not too excited about this subject, Tim's books have proven to deliver an enormous ROI. But there's simply no way this one will be as good as his others. So read them first:

4-Hour Workweek

4-Hour Body

Hucksters Of Yore

I just read another one of Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Workweek book recommendations:

"This business has legs": How I Used Infomercial Marketing to Create the $100,000,000 ThighMaster Craze

It was a fast-moving and overall decent business/marketing book, I would say.  And it was definitely of interest to me as I continue to develop and market HomeschoolDad.com.

I'm sure y'all, or y'all's parents, have a Thighmaster collecting dust somewhere in the house....it may even still be in the box!

Cheap Protein Power

Recall Tim Ferriss got me into early morning protein intake - *30 grams within 30 minutes of waking*...

So I started out with piles of eggs and beans (black or refried). But then I was happy to discover the Lean Shake.

They are a little bit expensive at over $2 per drink....

Yeah, THAT IS EXPENSIVE. I don't need to be spending over $700 a year on breakfast. Cereal and milk is probably a 50-60 cent per day meal.

I go into GNC (the store) and tell the guy, "I want the CHEAPEST protein shake mix you've got."

He steered me to the $70 jar pictured above and asserted that the shakes would be cheaper ($1 each) and better (less sugar). SOLD!

They didn't mix as well as the more expensive brand; they didn't nearly taste as good; but I rationalized these concerns away on account of the price.

Now the dude at the store told me that I needed to drink *multiple shakes* per day if I wanted to benefit. Note there wasn't a muscle on this scrawny Indian kid.

Multiple shakes?

Whatever. I may as well have been pitched by a financial adviser to make monthly mutual fund(!) investments....or an exterminator, "If I don't coming for monthly sprayings....the bugs/rodents will return." What kills me is how they lie so self-unconsciously. I guess they have to believe their own BS to get dressed each morning.

Anyways I was ramping up my shake-intake a little, perhaps to 1.5 a day.

But by Saturday of that first week I was, well, let's just say *on fire*. I would have stopped the shakes sooner but I didn't realize it was in fact these chemo-protein drinks that had me percolating something fierce.

The worst part is a strange lack of dissemination. You rip them without relief because they linger on your person like a cloud. There's just no getting away from your own stench a la Pig Pen!

My wife, not surprisingly(!), told me to trash the rest of the mix and just take the loss.

But I'm too stubborn and too cheap. I went back in last night and BANG, I lit up instantly again only minutes after one little shake.

So it's going to be a long month - in the spare bedroom, with the windows open.

Heck I should have known. If you read the jar it says "EXPLOSIVE amino acid blend" in what I now presume to actually be a legal disclaimer rather than a helpful description.

Only 58 shakes left...

Never Check...

Those of you wise enough to have heeded my incessant advice and have ACTUALLY READ Tim Ferriss...

Y'all will surely appreciate this one:

There's actually some crazy young lady out there, an author, who claims that Tim Ferriss STOLE her idea to steer clear of email in the morning.

But c'mon. You can't patent commonsense. A good-to-mediocre lawyer would surely argue *inevitable discovery* or something.

Recall the *scoopable nacho chip* was actually MY IDEA years ago and I didn't start whining when Tostitos stole it. Whatever.

Although Cosmo Kramer wasn't so charitable either...

It would have been really funny if The Office had done an entire show on The 4-Hour Workweek. God knows there's plenty of rich material in there to work with.

Thanks to LeagueIslander for this one.

Indian Obamacare

After reading about Tim Ferriss' harrowing experience as a patient in Indian hospitals....I'm tempted to *short* him a la that Crocodile Hunter guy (already dead) and Bear Grylls (soon to be dead).

Clearly Tim knows a bit about self-defense and about matters of bodily health...

It's just that it seems like this thrill-seeker ventures into some real wild places and takes vain risks - almost like a Kennedy flying no-instrument aircraft back and forth between The Vineyard and The Hamptons.

Do click the link above and read his story.

Tim Ferriss Ripples

So last August I lent Tim Ferriss' epic book - The 4-Hour Workweek - to a northern friend.

Nearly a year later he delivered the book back along with the exciting announcement that he had conjured up a Ferriss-esque business plan and was just about to launch it.

He's designing and selling his own line of high end silk women's scarves - primarily via the web of course and underpinned by many Tim Ferriss principles.

Good luck to him - I hope he gets fat and rich off this venture!

Our lawyers are still ironing out what my share of the profits should be...

Saving Up For WHAT Exactly?

Here's a great parable from The 4-Hour Workweek.

An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor’s orders. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.


"How long did it take you to catch them?" the American asked.


"Only a little while," the Mexican replied in surprisingly good English.


"Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?" the American then asked.


"I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends," the Mexican said as he unloaded them into a basket.


"But...What do you do with the rest of your time?"


The Mexican looked up and smiled. "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor."


The American laughed and stood tall. "Sir, I’m a Harvard M.B.A. and can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats."


He continued, "Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village, of course, and move to Mexico City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you could run your expanding enterprise with proper management."


The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, señor, how long will all this take?"


To which the American replied, "15-20 years. 25 tops."


"But what then, señor?"


The American laughed and said, "That’s the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."


"Millions, señor? Then what?"


"Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…"

The Next Strata Of Craziness

My left hand is killing me right now. I thought I felt a slight pain in it this afternoon but went to hit range balls anyway. I was having a bad session so I may have hit an extra hundred or so in a fit of frustration.

I've been playing golf and working hard on my game for over 20 years now. But if I develop say a chronic wrist or hand problem or perhaps suffer a gruesome injury there obviously I'll be done with golf and all that work and progress will in many ways be for naught.

These are sobering thoughts that beg the question - am I in fact using my time on this doomed planet wisely?

I met a guy yesterday who just moved to Queens from essentially fly-over country. He and his beautiful wife came to start a church here in New York. They have no money really, no other work lined up, they've two of their own and two adopted foster kids whom they homeschool,...

I asked and he said sincerely, "God will provide..."

Say what you will about this guy but he's got real balls and there are plenty of other brave souls out there doing what to the vast majority of us seems unfathomable. In fact I'm on my third reading in the past year(!) of The 4-Hour Workweek and I'm paying particular attention to the heroic stories of Morons who quit the grind and followed their passions.

Meanwhile I spend my scant free time smacking around meaningless little white balls - albeit further and straighter these days.

The more I ruminate upon it, the more I'm tempted to quit golf green-light my wife's desire to quit her lucrative yet dehumanizing Wall Street job.

It's probably time to man-up and see what we're made of. After all she and the kids (me too!) would be better off with her home than with a little more rapidly depreciating dollars in the bank.

Would such an overt act of financial self-destruction be crazy? Most certainly....but no more outlandish than say homeschooling my kids!

Again, check out that book if you haven't already. I'll say it again - I'M ON MY THIRD RE-READ IN A YEAR! It would be too weak to call it, among many other labels, a self-help book. More accurately it's a treatise on modern day *self-propulsion*.

This guy, Bill Rockwell, advanced very far in the 1997 World Putting Championship - beating numerous tour pros!

Tim Ferriss' Offspring

Read the book - The 4-Hour Workweek. And if you've read it, re-read and re-apply!

Tim Ferriss, Interesting And Helpful

I told myself I'd only watch a few minutes of this thing....but ended up watching the entire 40 minutes.

The guy is just brimming with good ideas and cutting-edge suggestions, no?

4 Hour Body Chronicles - Shrinkage?

I stepped on the scale today and it read an eye-popping 162.5 lbs.

Now my weight has been tightly range-bound for almost 20 years between 166 and 171 (I'm 5'10.5). I mean it's NEVER been outside of that except for a few weeks of post-surgery muscle atrophy.

Recall I recently read and implemented many of the principles from Tim Ferriss' juggernaut - The 4-Hour Body.

Of course I've incorporated kettlebells into my workout regimen.

But I've also tried some of his dietary lunacy which for shorthand he refers to as *Slow Carb* and *Paleo* or something.

I actually gave up white-flour products for three painful weeks without really noticing or feeling any better. Thank God! Try living in New York without pizza...

And I did cut down a little on my sugar intake.

But all along I've been eating eggs (3) and beans or spinach for breakfast. Ferriss asserts that eating 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking really catalyzes your metabolism.

So after going back to sugar and bread/pasta/bagels/pizza(!) and seeing my weight continue to drop I have to assume that there really are legs to the early morning protein strategy. In fact my body shrinkage has even convinced my first wife to try it out. She'd doing the protein shakes instead though.

Believe me, I know it doesn't sound like a lot but I'm a thin guy so this 5 lb loss is a big deal.

However I must admit that I'm purely guessing that it's the protein that's thinning me out.

I've also done a few other things like drastically ameliorating my posture thanks to Esther Gokhale - and erectness definitely engages the core!

Or it could be the kettlebells that are really burning the fat away. I'm up to doing 3 sets of 30 with the 88 pounder every 2.5 days or so. I could definitely do more but between beating a million range balls and the kettlebells my hands keep blistering up horribly.

Anyone trying to do ANYTHING with their body ought to have a copy of that book!

1 Of Your 4 Body Hours...

I did just watch the entire hour-long clip AND I almost never watch any of these YouTube videos if they're longer than 5-6 minutes.

Again, the book is awesome. I keep re-consulting it as it contains an almost endless supply of resources and actionable.

Kettlebell Chronicles - Pavel

Alright I read that book - Enter The Kettlebell - last week. Thankfully my library network had it, saving me some $$$$.

It's written by some Russian dude, Pavel, who's kind of credited with popularizing kettlebells outside of the former Soviet Union.

He preaches that *strength is a skill* not a genetic gift; that the key to building muscle lies in proper form and technique. Are you buying that?

Well I might be. I'm at least open to the hypothesis for the time being. To that end I've been reading up on lifting kettlebells with proper form and technique.

I've never felt so strong in my entire life as I do now - almost like I'm on steroids or something. And that's only from do a wee bit of kettlebell lifting.

Personally I don't think the exercises are that complicated. I don't think you really need to work with a certified kettlebell (RKC) instructor. Just borrow a book and pay attention to the YouTube clips. Heck you can watch someone on YouTube and learn from the critics in the comment thread!

While Tim Ferriss introduced me to them, there's a good amount of instruction out there on the web especially on YouTube. There are websites specializing in the subject; Pavel's site is Dragon Door. And there books like the one above.

Kettlebells are heavy (no $hit!) so you're better off NOT ORDERING them online. Your local Big Box sporting goods store will have them. Craigslist is probably fresh out these days but check anyway because you may get lucky. However the best bet may be to do in-store pickup at Walmart. You order from Walmart.com and they will deliver it for free to your local store or Fedex/Kinkos. That's what I did for my little one (30 lbs) - my first wife's Valentine's Day present.

Women should start at 15-25 lbs. Men should start at 25-45 lbs. Once you move up you can use the original one for one-handed exercises.

While Tim Ferris essentially just recommends *the two-handed swing*, there's also *the clean*, *the clean and press*, *the Turkish get-up*, and *the snatch*. Today was a pretty light day but I managed to do them all as it takes NEGLIGIBLE TIME to do so.

Here's a few clips for visual consumption:

I know most people want to go to yoga, join a fancy gym, hire a personal trainer, try a trendy diet, run, and just stick with the workouts they've done in the past.

It's just that none of that stuff really works - nothing targets the all-important midriff like dangling a heavy kettlebell between your legs does.

Furthermore, the kettlebell swing REALLY helps your posture. See my prior post for more on that. Essentially, perfect posture (i.e. standing TALL, not straight), perfect kinesthetic bending, sleeping, sitting, and walking will actually tone your stomach and hind-quarters. Ever notice that all the beautiful people have terrific posture? Consider that maybe beauty is a *function* proper spine stacking.

And it turns out that *pulling* exercises like the swing really, really help in that endeavor. That's not just my own hypothesis/intuition - Pavel discusses it in his book as well.

Tiger Woods - A Tim Ferriss Retort?

Story:

For the first time, Woods and trainer Keith Kleven offer detail and insight into a fitness regimen that has enabled the world's No. 1 player to add nearly 30 pounds of muscle since he left Stanford in 1996 after his sophomore year.

"Pound for pound, I put him with any athlete in the world," Kleven told the magazine.

The routine is built around stretching up to 40 minutes before each session, core exercises, endurance runs of 7 miles and speed runs of 3 miles, along with weight training. But while Woods is competitive on the golf course, he said he doesn't have an ego in the weight room.

"I've never, ever hurt myself lifting," Woods said. "I hear people say, 'I hurt this' or 'I hurt that.' I don't even know what that feels like. I've been sore, but I've always been able to function and do whatever I wanted to. ... Some people let their ego get in the way. You have to listen to your inner self. Your body knows when it can be pushed and when you just need to back off a little bit."

Woods opts for high repetitions and smaller weights, although Kleven said he is "off the charts" with how much he can lift.

Did you catch that? High reps and low weights...

Tim Ferriss preaches the opposite - higher weights with lower, intense rep counts.

I understand that so-called experts will say that Tiger is looking to build muscle and stamina whereas Ferriss is intent on increasing pure strength.

But I'm inclined to think one of them is wrong working out sub-optimally. And I'm guessing it's Tiger. Three hours lifting weights in the gym at a time? Ferriss only works 4 hours per week!

Of course it's easy to take shots at Tiger now with him in such a prolonged slump. For all the stretching, core work, and Pilates he does his swing certainly looks too stiff, too mechanical, almost like he lifted too many weights!

His hands are way too close to his body...

From his website, and I think I may have linked to this before, here's Tiger's insane, anti-Ferriss daily regimen:

6:30 a.m. - One hour of cardio. Choice between endurance runs, sprints or biking.

7:30 a.m. - One hour of lower weight training. 60-70 percent of normal lifting weight, high reps and multiple sets.

8:30 a.m. - High protein/low-fat breakfast. Typically includes egg-white omelet with vegetables.

9:00 a.m. - Two hours on the golf course. Hit on the range and work on swing.

11:00 a.m. - Practice putting for 30 minutes to an hour.

Noon - Play nine holes.

1:30 p.m. - High protein/low-fat lunch. Typically includes grilled chicken or fish, salad and vegetables.

2:00 p.m. - Three-to-four hours on the golf course. Work on swing, short game and occasionally play another nine holes.

6:30 p.m. - 30 minutes of upper weight training. High reps.

7:00 p.m. - Dinner and rest.

So with such a rigorous schedule, how exactly did he find time to destroy his marriage?

Must have been it at *Noon*...

Even More Tim Ferriss!

The best selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body was profiled the other day in the *fashion & style* section of The New York Times.

Check it out. It was well-written and surprisingly informative.

See also:

Book Summary - 4-Hour Body

Book Review - The 4-Hour Workweek

Tim Ferriss - First, Hype Thyself

It's a quiet Friday night here. Spring sprung the past two days here and I've been hitting range balls, doing yardwork, and spending time outside with the kids. It's going to get even quieter tomorrow when my first wife boards a flight for South America - another work trip. She'll be gone for 11 days.

Read this terrific blog post from Tim Ferriss' blog - 12 Lessons Learned While Marketing "The 4-Hour Body". True to the title, it gives terrific insight into the *Tim Ferriss Hype Machine*.

Furthermore, in true Ferrissonian fashion, he outsourced it!

See also:

Tim Ferriss - Hyping

Book Rec - The Art Of Non-Conformity

Alright, I just finished yet another renegade *personal development* book - The Art of Non-Conformity.

While a notch below the work of Tim Ferriss, it was still a very good read.

Author Chris Guillebeau became famous for checking out on the corporate grind, moving to West Africa where he and his wife volunteered for 4 years, and for attempting to travel to every country in the world all the while broadcasting his adventures on the web.

Chris is a whole lot crunchier than the others in this *lifestyle design* space. He's a vegan, a do-gooder, and admirably far less obsessed with wealth than his peers.

While a lot of his message is unoriginal (ripped from Ferriss and Stephen Covey?)....Chris at least personally had the guts to do what everyone else wishes they could do. So The Art of Non-Conformity is not only an interesting story, it's a very inspirational work. No matter what sized your personal goals are, reading this book will most definitely get you closer to them.

Chris, along with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tim Ferriss, and a host of exalted others, most certainly belongs in the category of *Self-Unconscious Homeschooling Advocates*. I continually laugh at these fools, the personal development types especially, who are all about life-planning at age 30. They have NO CLUE that homeschooling/unschooling children from the get-go would all but obliterate the demand for their books!

I have to thank Laura Grace for this one. She inadvertently recommended it to me.