Don't deprive yourself: You have to eat to lose weight

The key to losing weight isn't to deprive yourself until you hallucinate about pastries. Your best bet is to add certain foods to your diet. Turns out, eating high-protein meals and snacks could help you lose weight, according to a review published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Our stay-slim solution: Load up on more protein, obviously. We recommend eating 4 servings of 25 grams of protein per day (twice the amount recommended by the USDA!). So for breakfast, lunch and dinner, makes sure there's a source of protein — such as a 3.5-ounce can of tuna, 6 egg whites, or a cup of nonfat cottage cheese — on your plate. Plus, try this craving-crushing and appetite-suppressing trick: Eat 25 grams of protein a few hours before dinner.

The next time your stomach rumbles and dinner is hours in the future, reach for any of the six protein-packed snack combos from Women's Health magazine:

• A 6-ounce container plain nonfat Greek yogurt: 18 grams protein

• 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts: 3 grams protein

• ¼ cup Bear Naked granola: 4 grams protein

• 2 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter: 9 grams protein

• 1 whole grain English muffin: 7 grams protein

• 1 part-skim string cheese: 7 grams protein

• ½ cup 1 percent cottage cheese: 14 grams protein

• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds: 5 grams protein

• ½ cup Kashi Go Lean cereal: 6 grams protein

• 1 cup shelled edamame: 16 grams protein

• ½ Japanese salmon summer roll: 8 grams protein

• 2 hard-boiled eggs: 14 grams protein

• ½ cup 1 percent cottage cheese: 14 grams protein

• Lettuce wraps with 2 laughing cow light cheese wedges: 5 grams protein

• 3 ounces of sliced turkey: 20 grams protein