Volumetrics Diet Plan for Weight Loss

Volumetrics is a plan for losing weight created by Barbara J. Rolls, PhD, a renowned nutrition researcher who has been studying hunger and obesity for more than 20 years. The diet was tied with the WW (formerly Weight Watchers) Diet for No. 5 on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Diets Overall list in 2022. (1)

In her first book, Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories, Dr. Rolls, who is director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania, described ways to avoid high energy-density (high-calorie) foods, learn to spot “calorie traps” (foods that seem healthy but contain hidden calories), and discover foods that will make you feel satisfied with fewer calories. In that book, she notes that reducing calorie intake by between 500 and 1,000 calories per day may lead to 1 to 2 pounds (lbs) of weight loss per week.

Rolls’ second book, The Volumetrics Eating Plan, is a lifestyle guide and cookbook. It follows the original principles — losing weight by eating satisfying portions of flavorful, healthy choices rather than high-density foods — plus it offers more recipes, menu planners, and lists of healthy food options to give readers concrete, real-life instructions for every meal. Most recently, Rolls released The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet, which offers updated research, more recipes, and additional tips and tools for people interested in the diet.

Volumetrics places the emphasis on eating rather than deprivation. “The focus is 100 percent about fullness,” says Chicago-based Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet and The Superfood Swap. “This diet is trying to get you full because, when given a choice, people will choose to eat more.”

According to Volumetrics, foods that contain more water, such as fruits and vegetables, are healthier because they have lower energy density, or number of calories in a specific amount of food, than other options that have comparable satiety. Foods that have high energy density include sugary and fatty foods, such as potato chips and cookies. “[Rolls] is saying that you can naturally turn off your desire for these foods,” says Blatner.

Essentially, the claim that advocates of Volumetrics make is you can lose weight by eating fewer calories yet still feel full.

“Volumetrics is one of my favorite diets because it’s more about eating than dieting,” says Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD, a nutrition communications consultant based in Hermosa Beach, California. “People like to eat, and research has shown that when you eat high-water-content foods, such as a green salad with a lot of vegetables or soup, you eat less [calories].”

Best of all, Rolls argues in Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories that you won’t have to give up foods you love while on the diet: “You won’t have to cut out all the fat from your diet, live on rabbit food, subsist on foods on a ‘free’ list, or avoid any food,” she writes in the book. Instead, the diet helps you understand how to enjoy certain foods — whether it’s raisins, pretzels, chocolate, cheese, or the like — without overeating, Rolls explains in the book.

Volumetrics also gives tools to calculate the energy density of foods, and recommends using a food journal and getting enough physical activity. “Research shows that keeping a food journal is one of the tactics that work for successful weight loss,” says Giancoli.

A number of studies have examined how energy density of food — or the ratio between how much energy (calories) a food provides and how much it weighs — can affect weight loss and weight maintenance. For example, a carrot, which contains a lot of water, would have a low energy density, since it does not contain a lot of calories for how much it weighs.

One study found that eating a diet with a lower energy density, including more vegetables and whole grains, could help people maintain their weight loss. (2) A 2016 review looked at 13 studies and found evidence that suggested that paying attention to the energy density of food could help people with obesity manage their weight. (3)

The Volumetrics diet plan is not about telling you what you can and can’t eat, but rather aims to teach you how to eat and stay satisfied.

That said, the program does recommend certain foods that have high water content (low energy density), high fiber, and high nutrient density, to help promote satiety. These foods include:

• Fresh fruits (rather than dried fruit or juice, for example)
• Fresh or frozen vegetables (try swapping some in for half a portion of pasta in a pasta dish, for example)
• Beans and legumes
• Whole grains
• Fiber-rich breakfast cereals
• Low-fat fish
• Poultry without skin
• Lean meats
• Minimal added sugars
• Water (rather than sugary drinks)

This sample meal shows that there is a high volume of good food on this diet:

Breakfast

• Oatmeal topped with apple slices, cinnamon, and a sprinkle of brown sugar
• Nonfat milk
• ½ grapefruit
• Coffee

Lunch

• Grilled chicken salad with chopped romaine lettuce, red bell pepper, 1 teaspoon crumbled blue cheese, and chopped walnuts with light dressing
• Whole-wheat pita bread
• Strawberries

Snack

• Cheerios with skim milk and fresh blueberries

Dinner

• Steak fajita with grilled green peppers and onions, salsa, shredded romaine lettuce, diced fresh tomato, corn kernels, and nonfat sour cream on a tortilla
• Cantaloupe

So should you consider trying the Volumetrics diet to help curb your appetite and improve your health? Certainly, Volumetrics has some distinct advantages:

• Solid Science “Volumetrics is sound advice that is backed by research,” says Giancoli. “The diet comes with science behind it.”
• Good Foods A big advantage of Volumetrics is the emphasis on learning how to eat water-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, which tend to be healthier foods. “It’s one of the best concepts out there because it teaches you how to eat right,” says Blatner. “It promotes all the healthy foods we know.”
• No Crash Dieting Rolls’ books on Volumetrics promote a safe and slow loss of 1 to 2 lbs a week, aiming for sustainable rather than rapid weight loss.
• No Rigid Rules When you start this diet, you won’t have to tell yourself that you’re never having chocolate or cheese again — instead, you’ll learn how to work it into your diet in the most healthful way possible.

The Potential Cons of the Volumetrics Diet Plan

Still, the Volumetrics diet is not without its difficulties. The challenges of Volumetrics include:

• A Need to Cook Volumetrics is about cooking at home, so this approach may not work for everyone. “This plan is based on making your own meals,” says Blatner. “If you eat out for business or pleasure, this plan is not ideal.”
• Only Short-Term Satiety Eating lots of low-calorie foods under the Volumetrics plan will help you feel full, but the effect may not last. “When you eat high-water foods, you feel full at the time, but may feel hungry a short time later,” says Giancoli. Try having protein and healthy fats with your meals to help the feeling of satiety last longer.
• No Rigid Rules This pro can also be a con. Some dieters may find comfort in a set of rules and rigid measurements that let them know that, if they follow those rules exactly, they’ll lose weight. By contrast, the Volumetrics diet offers guidelines and suggestions on how to eat for satiety — but doesn’t restrict certain foods or provide specific calorie limits. The plan also encourages you to up your exercise and stay active, but again, provides no definitive guidelines. If you need those rules to help keep you disciplined, this may not be the diet for you.

If you’re starting the Volumetrics diet, you’ll want to first check out Rolls’ three main books about the diet:

• Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories
• The Volumetrics Eating Plan
• The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet 

Beyond these titles, you can also check out some of the following online resources for more info about the plan:

• Pinterest boards, like Lisa Rothschild’s Volumetrics Recipes, containing easily searchable snack ideas and links to recipes that fit the Volumetrics plan
• The Facebook page for The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet, where you can stay updated on news, tips, and tricks about the diet

In the short term, you won’t feel deprived with the Volumetrics plan, says Giancoli. At the same time, you’re not likely to see rapid weight loss. “Volumetrics does not promise a quick fix,” says Blatner.

But in the long term, people who follow the Volumetrics plan are more likely to build lasting healthy habits. “They will develop a healthier lifestyle and maintain weight loss,” says Giancoli. “You’ll be getting a more plant-based diet and eating whole grains. You’ll be healthier.”

The Volumetrics diet plan is not a commercial plan, like SlimFast, Jenny Craig, or Nutrisystem, which require you to buy packaged products to follow them. Rather, Volumetrics calls for eating whole, fresh foods based on their density.

A 2013 review suggested that healthier diets do cost a bit more than those high in processed foods — about $1.50 per day on average — but if you can afford to change your diet, it may be worth it for weight loss and overall better health. (4)

If you typically eat lots of processed food and don’t enjoy fruits and veggies, adopting a Volumetrics diet plan may be challenging. Because the diet is high in water content, it is low in calories, so this lower amount may take some getting used to as well.

But you may enjoy how straightforward the approach is. “It focuses on what you can eat instead of just taking things out of your diet,” Blatner says. “You’ll eat lots of healthy, real food, and it’s more of a lifestyle approach.” If you’re someone who likes strict rules or wants a quick fix, on the other hand, Volumetrics may be a difficult approach for you, she adds.

She offers the following tips to set yourself up for success:

Get comfortable grocery shopping. “Aim to keep lots of fresh food, like vegetables and fruit, on hand,” Blatner says. Always having these water-dense foods on hand will make you more likely to eat them.

Have fun with your food. Avoid resorting to eating salads for every meal. Instead, get creative with healthy foods that fit in the Volumetrics plan. Blatner suggests cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, carrot fries, and banana “nice” cream.

Keep an “in-a-pinch” meal plan handy. Blatner recommends learning how to whip up two go-to meals to make when you’re short on time, and doing some research on healthy takeout options for when you don’t feel like cooking. A little prep can go a long way in helping you stay on track.

As mentioned, U.S. News & World Report rated Volumetrics No. 5 in Best Diets Overall in 2022. The website also ranked the diet No. 2 in Best Weight Loss Diets, following the flexitarian diet. (1)

Blatner says she recommends the diet because, compared with similar diets, it focuses on what you can eat to feel satisfied instead of deprived. “Most other diet plans focus on eating less, [following] strict rules, and cutting food groups, which is not sustainable long term,” she says.

The Volumetrics diet is really more of a lifestyle shift than a quick-fix diet. If you follow this plan, you may find yourself reaching for more fiber and more nutrients — never a bad thing.

But if you’re looking for quick and convenient, or are daunted by the lack of rules, this diet may not be for you. Just make sure to check with your doctor before starting any diet, especially if you have any pre-existing health condition.

Additional reporting by Stephanie Bucklin and Melinda Carstensen.