Ferriss was criticized for dispensing medical advice while not being a certified doctor or dietician. As part of the press for the book, Ferriss appeared as a guest on "The Dr. Oz Show" and ABC's "The View". Ferris describes a detailed marketing plan for promoting the book, including trailers, aggressively seeking out fitness and exercise bloggers and influencers, and prizes for readers who bought The 4-Hour Body package deals  "The 4-Hour Body" debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and spent 3 weeks in the top 3. It peaked at #4 on both the "Wall Street Journal" and "USA Today"'s lists, and was one of Amazon.com's top 5 bestselling books for December 2010 and January 2011.