Hands can be tough to get good, and low on the polygon count. But, believe it or not - you can get down to a bit over 100 polygons (tris) and still keep all 5 fingers in a way which they can be animated. I will be trying to get some writing time in tonight and tomarrow on a few tutorials including hands.

For your body you are on track quite well - though I notice you tesselated your mesh (you can wait to do that later - generally easier the fewer lines you have to look at).