PITTSBURGH -- Recent figures show 61 percent of Americans are overweight. If you're having trouble losing weight because of your sweet tooth, there's a new diet for you.

Wouldn't it be nice to eat ice cream every night and still lose weight? According to the editors of Prevention magazine, you can.

Scoop, after scoop, Americans can't seem to get enough ice cream. As a nation, we consume 8 billion pounds of the frozen delight every year.

Now, there's actually an ice cream diet. It's based on research that shows ice cream can actually help melt away fat if it's part of a healthy, balanced diet.

The premise is simple. Women need to limit their calories to 1,500 a day; that includes the ice cream, 2,000 a day for men. Experts say if you stick to that formula, you should be able to lose weight.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center nutritionist Leslie Bonci said the idea isn't that far-fetched.

"Literally, if somebody was willing to cut back on their portions of food and have ice cream as one of their choices for the day, they would probably lose weight. We're not talking about a gallon of ice cream. We're talking about a scoop of ice cream," Bonci said.

It's not just the calories researchers say there's another reason why the ice cream diet seems to work.

A recent study showed people who ate between 1,200 and 1,300 milligrams of calcium from dairy products daily lost 70 percent more weight than people eating less dairy.

Ice cream's fat-burning ability seems to have a direct connection to its calcium content.

Bonci said, "There are a lot of studies that have looked at the benefit of calcium for weight loss. Not all of these mechanisms have yet been identified, but there are certain substances in foods that contain calcium that may help the body to lose weight."

If you decide the ice cream diet is right for you, forego the temptation to eat right out of the container.

Women should limit themselves to two ½ cup servings a day; and three ½ cup servings for men.