What Is Volumetrics?

Developed by Barbara Rolls, Ph.D. and Robert Barnett, the Volumetrics Weight-Control plan calls itself a lower-calorie, more satisfying diet. You can eat more food and still lose weight. This scientifically proven approach is based on Dr. Rolls’s 20 years of research into hunger, satiety and obesity. In her book, The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan, Rolls explains that this is a positive lifestyle approach, not a diet, and offers tools to make healthy changes, manage hunger and lose weight.

Principles

Unlike other plans that encourage restriction of one or more major nutrients such as fat, carbohydrate or protein, Volumetrics is built on well-rounded, nutritional principles. The principles include reducing energy intake by 500 to 1000 calories depending on weight loss goal, and limiting fat consumption to 20 to 30 percent of total calories, carbohydrates to 55 percent and protein to 15 percent. These principles mirror the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are based on recommendations made by a committee of scientific experts.

Energy Density

Volumetrics strives to reduce normal dieting hunger and deprivation by altering the types of foods you eat, not the amount. Rolls published a study in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in 1998 indicating food volume determines satiety more than actual calories. Determining food choices requires looking at the energy density in foods. Lower energy density means you can eat more volume. Rolls considers foods highest in water and lowest in fat, like fruits and vegetables, “very low-energy-dense.”

Satiety Lifestyle

Volumetrics works to implement environmental and psychological changes by helping you recognize biological hunger, emotional eating, satiety signals and eating triggers. Lifestyle factors such as social situations, boredom, cravings and accessibility of foods are addressed. Rolls states that to effectively manage weight, you need to not only feel full and satisfied, but to stop eating at that point.

Foods

Rolls makes food choices easier with four categories ranging from “very low-energy-dense to “high-energy-dense” foods. She encourages consuming more foods from category 1, very low-energy-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, skim milk and broth type soups. While no foods are truly forbidden, higher energy density foods like bacon, cookies and potato chips should be consumed less often. One of Rolls’s tricks is a low-fat soup appetizer, modeled after her study published in "Appetite," November 2007, finding that this approach reduces energy intake.

Reviews

Volumetrics rates high in most diet reviews due to its creator's credentials, scientific evidence and nutritional quality. Consumersearch.com rates it among its top diets, while Consumerreports.org gives Volumetrics the number one spot over many popular diets.