You want to lose weight, so you cut back on calories. But you nearly starve, and wind up bingeing. Then you go the fat free route, loading up on cookies and chips that taste like cardboard. After gaining a few pounds, you give up. Are you doomed to be a diet failure or is there some secret formula for success that no one’s bothered to tell you about?

Scientists think they have found it, diet that allows you to drop pounds without starving yourself or eating fake foods. “It’s a break-through,” says Ph.D, professor for nutrition. The concept? Focusing on foods such as fruits, vegetables, and grains that are packed with water or fiber, but not calories. In nutrition-speak, they are low in calorie density. Compare an apple with a chocolate-chip cookie. The apple weighs five ounces and has 80 calories; the cookie weighs just a half ounce but has the same number of calories. After eating the cookie, there’s no way your stomach will feel well-fed. Not surprisingly, most high-calorie foods are loaded with fat and/or sugar.

Even fat-free, sugar-free foods, can still be packed with carbohydrate calories. Your best bet, foods that are low in calories density and high in fiber. They fill you up quickly, making it harder to over eat. Also, they take more time to digest, so they curb hunger longer. If one chooses foods low in calorie density-like fruits and vegetables-one can eat virtually as much as one wants to. There are even more benefits to this way of eating.

Consuming fresh fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of breast, colon, and lung cancers and a diet high in fiber and low in refined carbohydrates (like white bread and French fries) may protect against diabetes and heart disease.

Lowering the calorie density of your diet can be as simple as eating more vegetables and less pasta at dinner. Other wise ways: consume fresh fruits instead of the dried variety (a quarter cup of raisins has the same number of calories as nearly two cups of grapes, for example). Consider switching to a high-fiber cereal and drinking low-fat milk instead of whole milk. When grocery shopping, check both calories and portion size. If the calories are high and the portion size is low, skip it.

By lowering the calorie density of your diet, you can lose about a pound a week. To help you get started, we’ve created a 1,500 calorie, seven day meal plan. If you want to speed up your weight loss, do work out’s, some spot exercises, also an hour of walking six days a week will help you burn enough extra calories (300 per day) to lose and additional half pound per week. Regular workouts also increase the odds of keeping weight off.

Tea or coffee (with fat free milk) at intervals (but limited)

Day 1

Breakfast

Orange juice ½ cups calcium-fortified

Banana ½ medium-sizes

Wheat biscuits 2 large (shredded)

Low-fat milk 1 cup

Lunch

Chicken sandwich:

Whole wheat bread 2 slices

Chicken breast (seasoned or spiced)

1.3 oz. low-fat 4 (very thin slices)

Hard cheese (slice) 1 oz

Tomato slices 2

Lettuce

Mustard

Vegetarian vegetable soup 10 oz

Carrots (baby) 8

Apple 1 (small)

Pasta:

Spaghetti 1 cup (cooked)

Spaghetti sauce with mushrooms

½ cup low-fat, Parmesan cheese 1 tbs. (grated)

Olive oil tossed salad:

Lettuce 1 ½ cup

Tomato (diced) 1/8 cup

Cucumber 2 tbs

Green pepper 2 tbs

Italian r vinaigrette dressing fat-free

Italian bread 1 slice

Snacks

Pineapple chunks 1 cup (fresh) or

Canned juice-packed pineapple

Chunks ½ cup

Light popcorn 3 cups

Day 2

Breakfast

Grapefruit ½

Oatmeal 1 cup cooked with 1 tbs

Raisins and 1 tsp sugar

Low-fat milk 1 cup

Lunch

Spinach salad: 3 cups chopped spinach, 1 sliced hard-cooked egg, ½ cup chopped tomatoes, ¼ cup chopped tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, shredded Cheddar cheese, 3 tbs fat-free Italian or vinaigrette dressing Whole wheat pita 1 small

Papaya 1 small (diced) or any other seasonal fruit

Dinner

Salmon, tuna or swordfish 4 oz

(Grilled or broiled) cooked with 1 tsp. olive oil

Green beans 1 cup (steamed)

Potato (baked) 1 medium topped

With 1 tbs. sour cream or 1 tsp margarine or butter

Snacks

Yoghurt 8 oz (fat free)

Apple 1 cup (cubed)

Day 3

Breakfast

Orange juice ½ cup calcium-fortified

Bran muffin 1 (small)

Low-fat milk 1 cup

Minestrone soup topped with 1 tbs

Parmesan (grated) 10 oz

Lunch

Fruit and cheese plate: 1 cup calcium fortified, low-fat cottage cheese with on lettuce leaves.

Dinner

Chicken breast ½ small broiled, skinless, boneless (4 oz) cooked with 1 tsp. olive oil

Rice ½ cup (prepared after throwing it’s boiling water twice)

Broccoli florets or alternate with boiled spinach 1 cup (steamed and seasoned)

Carrots ½ cup sliced (steamed)

Snacks

Berries (bair) ½ cup

Yoghurt ½ cups fat-free frozen

Day 4

Breakfast

Orange juice ½ cup calcium-fortified

Whole-grain biscuits 2 small (topped with ½ cup cut banana)

Low-fat milk 1 cup

Lunch

Cheese and veggie sandwich 1 oz sliced hard cheese, tomato, 2 green pepper rings, 4 cucumber slices, lettuce, 1 tbs, light

Mayonnaise

Dinner

Beef and vegetable stir-fry: in 2 tsp. hot oil, co thinly slices lean beef 1 lightly browned. Add 1 cut broccoli; ¼ cup potato chestnuts, and chopped cover and cook until its pink color and vegetables are tender crisp. Season taste. Brown or white rice 3/2 cup (cooked)

Pineapple chunks ½ cup canned juice-packed with pineapple chunks.

Snacks

Baked apple: peel 1/3 down; core; place 1 tsp. raisins and 2 tsp. brown sugar in center of apple; sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook in microwave oven in a small bowl, covered, 2 to 3 minutes on high.

Day 5

Breakfast

Orange juice ½ cup calcium-fortified

Banana ½ medium-sizes

Wheat biscuits 2 large (shredded)

Low-fat milk 1 cup

Lunch

Tuna plate: 4 oz water-packed tuna mixed with 2 tbs. low-fat mayonnaise and ¼ diced celery; 8 baby carrots

Tomato 1 (medium) sliced

Lettuce leaves

Wheat pita 1 small 4 inch whole

Yoghurt 8 oz sugar-free

Dinner

Chicken breast 3 oz (cooked)

Sweet potato 1 medium (baked)

Green beans 1 cup (steamed)

Whole-grain roll 1 (small)

Snacks

Fruit smoothie: Mix in blender.

Low-fat milk 4 oz, ½ cup strawberries (sliced) or a 1 very ripe medium banana

Sugar or honey 1 tsp. 3 ice cubes.

Day 6

Breakfast

Grapefruit ½ with 1 tsp. sugar

Oatmeal 1 cup cooked with 1 tbs raisins and 1 tsp. sugar low-fat milk 1 cup

Lunch

Tomato soup 10oz

Grilled cheese sandwich: In non stick skillet with 1 tsp. margarine or butter, grill 2 cheese slices on 2 slices whole wheat bread

Chikoo 2

Dinner

Bean and chicken burrito: arrange ¼ cup cooked black beans, drained, and 2 oz. cooked chicken breast on 1 warmed (8-inch) flour tortilla. Top with ¼ cup diced tomato, 3 tbs salsa, 2 tbs. shredded Cheddar cheese, and shredded lettuce. Fold to eat.

¼ cup whole-kernel corn

Snacks

Yoghurt ½ cup

Grapes or grape fruit 1 cup

Day 7

Breakfast

Vegetable omelet: in non stick pan with cook 3 tbs. chopped onions and ½ cup each sliced mushrooms, chopped fresh spinach, and diced tomatoes. Add 1 whole egg beaten with 1 egg white; cook until egg is set. Sprinkle with 1 tbs grated Parmesan cheese. Season to taste. 1 slice whole wheat bread with 1 tsp. margarine 1 cup calcium fortified orange juice.

Lunch

Lentil soup topped 19 oz with ¼ cup plain fat-free yoghurt

Whole wheat pita 1 small (4-inch)

Tomato 1 medium (sliced)

Apple 1

Dinner

Chops 3 oz. boiled and seasoned (fat removed)

Potatoes 3 small boiled, steamed or roasted with 1 tsp. butter or margarine

Tossed salad: 11/2 cups salad greens, ½ cup cucumber slices, ½ cup diced tomatoes, 2 tbs. fat free salad dressing

Grape fruit 1

Snacks

Cake 1 slice

Pineapple 1 cup (with light whipped topping)

¼ cup

Papaya (diced) ½