Flying in the face of our quick-fix culture, the New York Times bestselling Younger Next Year and its sequel, Younger Next Year for Women, crossed the 1,000,000-copy milestone by essentially telling readers to work out six days a week. Forever. This same honest, no shortcuts approach is woven into the DNA of Thinner This Year.

Chris Crowley, the memorable patient and coauthor of Younger Next Year, partners with Jen Sacheck, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist from Tufts University, and in lively, alternating chapters they spell out a weight-loss plan that will have readers lose up to 25 pounds in the first six months-and keep it off for life. The message is straightforward and based on the most up-to-date nutritional science: Avoid "dead," i.e., nutrient-poor, foods, particularly the SOFAS (solid fats, added sugars) choices that comprise more than a third of our diet. Design your plate to be 50% vegetables and fruits, 25% whole grains, and 25% lean proteins. Skip the supplements. Never drink your calories. And exercise.

Exercise, the authors emphasize, is the great flywheel of weight loss. And whereas Younger Next Year told you why to exercise six days a week-Thinner This Year tells you how to eat and how to exercise, from the best aerobic workouts to a lifetime supply of 25 whole-body strength exercises-the "Sacred 25"-that will build muscle, protect joints, and add mobility. Exercise will do more than anything else to put off 70% of "normal" aging until the very end and eliminate 50% of serious illness and injury.