Success with Volumetrics
Some Background
I always thought that in order to achieve sufficient weight loss that I needed to work out like a rabid monkey. This myth led me to become depressed, because I really just didn’t want to get off the couch to jump around my living room. What was the point? So, for months I completely ignored the other end of the weight-loss equation. My diet. In other words, I was so preoccupied with the fact that I wouldn’t be able to lose weight without working out regularly that I didn’t even monitor what I put in my mouth. And, since I was less than motivated to work out, things stayed the same.
Then, just before Christmas, my husband started doing bicep curls like mad. I kept glaring at him sideways from my perch on the couch when he would grunt. Then I would just look at him with contempt, because why was he all of a sudden working out? Not only that, but he hadn’t worked out for so long that when he swung that 30 pound weight up and down so carelessly, it made me think he was going to throw out his back. And, to top it all off, he was only working out one of his arms! After weeks of this odd behavior, he started telling me that he was working on my Christmas gift. The gift of Christmas bicep.
I guess after a while, I began to see the humor in it all. I was also fed up with my ever-increasing pant sizes. I would stare longingly into that top shelf of the closet (that I couldn’t even reach) at the pants that I once fit into. In my skinny days. Then I remembered the grueling weight-loss program my younger, football-playing brother put me on a few years ago. That was another time I had gained weight from a desk job. Desk jobs are the worst for waistlines!
So, my brother became my personal trainer for a few months. He basically told me something I think I already knew but had either forgotten or ignored. The real secret to weight loss is simple. Basically, you need to take in fewer calories than you expend. He said, you can only eat 700 calories for however many days, work out for an hour (and his workouts were tough!), and you’ll lose this amount of weight in this amount of time. I soon felt like I was dying, but I think I lost about 20 pounds on his plan in just a few months. I don’t remember the exact time line. But I did become much better at running, which I formerly hated. I grew up doing ballet, so running had always seemed barbaric.
It was all fine and dandy for a while, but after getting married and all of the stress involved in that, coupled with the desk job and the laziness, I had gained a hefty 30 pounds! So, as I longed wistfully at those unreachable skinny pants, I decided that I really should just do something about it. But, not till after the holidays!
Over Christmas and New Year, I mulled over what I would need to do. Then I randomly got an email about some kind of Sonoma Diet or something. I read about it online while I was bored at my in-laws’ house in Utah. Somehow, that led me to a book on Amazon called The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan: Feel Full on Fewer Calories. I read the description and some of the reviews and thought maybe I should get this book to see just what it says. I was definitely lured in by the feeling full on less calories bit. Part of my problem is that I love eating and hate feeling hungry. And, from that grueling workout program my brother put me on, I knew whatever plan I started would have to include a low calorie intake and be dependent on how much I was willing to work out. So, I bought the book while we were still in Utah and read it during my “bored” time.
The book is written by Barbara J. Rolls, a nutrition professor at Penn State. It goes over the research she’s conducted in her food lab about satiety, feeling full, and details which foods will lead you to a full and happy stomach without the extra calories. You can virtually tailor your own diet using her principles even if you don’t follow her exact diet/eating plans. The thing that sold me was that, while she stresses the importance of exercise for health, it is not an overwhelming component to her weight-control plan. No more working out like a rabid monkey! The second thing that sold me was the fact that she doesn’t say you have to stop drinking alcohol to lose/control your weight. Since I loves me my wine and beer, this was very important. There was no way I would stick to any diet that told me I had to stop drinking for a certain amount of time. She basically handed me the tools to construct my own “plan” for losing weight. And that’s what I did.
The “Plan”
My “plan” consisted of the following:
- A weight-loss goal and time line so that I would know how much I wanted to lose and how long it would take. The book says that healthy weight loss is usually one to two pounds per week. So, I calculated what my daily caloric intake would need to be to lose 30 pounds by summer and stay within the one to two pound per week weight-loss range. I also wanted to lower my BMI, which when I started was nearly 28 (the overweight range), to under 25 (the healthy range).
- Starting a simple food journal to track what went in my mouth and what, if anything, I expended through exercise. This journal would also show whether or not I was on track with my weight loss. (It had to be simple, because I’ve become overwhelmed in the past with journals that had specific columns for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. So this one consisted of a normal notebook and one blank page for each day to scribble my notes.)
- Weekly weigh-ins so that I wasn’t disappointed if I didn’t lose weight from day to day. I forced myself not to step on the scale between weigh-ins so that I wouldn’t jinx myself. The weekly weigh-ins would have to be the same day every week (Tuesday) and at the same time (morning, before eating anything, of course) to be consistent.
- Calculations of the calories in the foods I consumed so that I would stay on track with my daily intake goal. This was probably the least lazy aspect of the diet, because I actually needed to do math, use my calculator, add stuff up, convert measurements, divide, figure out portion sizes, etc. to make sure that I knew the calories in foods I was making myself. (Prepared foods usually have the calorie breakdown on the box.) I should note that there are also some awesome online databases of calories in everyday foods, and most chain restaurants post their nutrition info online.
- Some working out so that I didn’t lose all muscle and no fat. I would try to keep this part simple, like walking at lunch or doing the Daily 27 (I’ll describe in another post).
When we got home from the in-laws’ I started the plan right away, two days later. But I’ve been consistent in my food journal and calculations, and so far I’ve lost 14 pounds! I’m not quite into my skinny jeans, I have a couple of months to go, but at least I’m seeing progress.
The best part about my lazy diet is that I’m not working out that much but am still seeing results! I realize that I should work out for health, blah blah blah, but hey, I’m happy with where I am now! I do have to admit that getting braces a week after I started boosted my results a little, because I had to eat soup for a few days. However, all in all, I would highly recommend Volumetrics to anyone who wants to learn how to eat the same amount of food with less calories so they can shed a few pounds.
