If dieting were easy, we would be a nation of supermodels. Instead, 60 percent of American adults are currently overweight, and half of those are clinically obese. And this is in spite of how often we hear about the very serious health risks of obesity: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, and infertility.

Most of the fad diets out there are calorie restrictive. They don’t tell you that because they want you to believe they know some special secret. There’s no miracle ingredient in their shakes or patented weight-loss ingredient in their prepared foods. By telling you certain foods are “bad” for you, they’re just forcing you to eat less by limiting your choices. Besides, is it realistic never to eat a potato, a piece of watermelon, a bunch of grapes, or a carrot stick again? Last time I checked, Bugs Bunny was very skinny. Are we that gullible as a society?

While many fad diets recommend consuming a high amount of fiber, they leave it up to the dieter to figure out how to get it. It’s especially hard to get enough fiber on low-carb diets, as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are where most fiber comes from--fats and meat contain no fiber at all, and while a few dairy and soy products contain fiber, it’s in small amounts. In designing the Reality Diet, we made sure not only to talk the talk about fiber, but to walk the walk, providing a built-in mechanism to ensure adequate fiber intake.

Not only does fiber help control weight, it also prevents disease. A century ago, before our food supply was industrialized and processing became the norm, people ate an average of 28 grams of fiber per day and diabetes, heart disease, and obesity were far less common. Even today, in cultures that eat a traditional plant-based diet, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease are still rare. By contrast, the United States currently ranks lowest in fiber intake and highest in deaths from heart disease among twenty developed countries.

When talking with my patients about weight loss, the conversation inevitably turns to how much weight they want to lose. Most people have a fairly specific number of pounds in mind. When I ask them how they came up with that amount, their answers vary: “It’s how much I weighed in college,” “It’s what I read in a magazine someone my height is supposed to weigh,” “It’s what a friend of mine weighs and she looks fabulous.” Some might even get technical: “It’s what I need to lose to get my BMI below 25.” To my mind, all of these rationales are completely arbitrary. None of them has to do with you as an individual. Comparing yourself with other people, whether people you know or images in a magazine, is not a psychologically healthy way to live. We all need to learn to be happy in our own skins and figure out what our optimal weight is, on an individual basis.

As a cardiologist, I can assure you that it’s much more important to be healthy than skinny. I have model-thin patients with sky-high cholesterol and patients who are definitely not bikini-ready with gorgeous lipid profiles.

In spite of all the talk about how important it is to lift weights and build lean muscle mass that will miraculously boost your metabolism, if you want to lose fat, aerobic exercise beats anaerobic every time. Weightlifting simply doesn’t burn that many calories at the level most people do it. Doing light weights a couple of times a week is a good idea to maintain your muscle mass while you’re dieting, but after that your time is better spent moving your body and getting your heart rate up.

It’s far better to be fit and trim than fit and bulky. During the football season, tune in to a game and check out the offensive linemen. These guys lift tremendous weight and have lots of muscle, but look at their stomachs—when they bend over to hike the ball, their bellies are almost touching the ground. If that doesn’t convince you that weightlifting does not automatically bring on weight loss, nothing will.