Episode 458: Volume Eating Secrets: How to Eat Massive Portions Without Gaining Weight

Summary

Podcast Summary: Habits and Hustle
Episode 458: Volume Eating Secrets: How to Eat Massive Portions Without Gaining Weight
Release Date: June 13, 2025

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Introduction to Volume Eating

In Episode 458 of Habits and Hustle, host Jen Cohen and co-host Leron delve into the concept of volume eating—a strategy that allows individuals to consume large portions of food without the fear of weight gain. This approach is particularly beneficial for those who have a hearty appetite or struggle with portion control.

Understanding Volume Eating

Jen Cohen introduces herself as a self-proclaimed volume eater, explaining her love for large portions and how it influences her eating habits. She shares her personal challenges with managing food intake, emphasizing the importance of being mindful about what and how much she eats to maintain her physique.

“I love to eat. I love food. I think about food all the time... I have to be very cognizant of what I eat.”
—Jen Cohen [02:14]

Strategies for Managing Large Portions

Jen and Leron discuss several effective strategies Jen employs to enjoy large quantities of food without overindulging in calories:

1. Massive Salads:
   Jen mentions eating substantial salads loaded with lettuce to “trick your brain into feeling like you're eating a lot of food,” allowing her to feel satiated without consuming excessive calories.

   “Massive salads... tons of lettuce... tricks your brain to feeling like you're eating a lot of food.”
   —Jen Cohen [02:14]

2. Bone Broth and Steady Consumption:
   Drinking bone broth or chicken broth helps slow down the eating process, preventing rapid consumption that can lead to overeating.

   “A hot beverage takes longer to drink than a cold beverage... it will take me at least 30 minutes or so.”
   —Jen Cohen [04:21]

3. Choosing Well-Done Foods:
   Preferring well-done proteins like steak makes the meal take longer to eat, providing more time for the body to register fullness.

   “I love to have food that's very well done because it takes longer to eat.”
   —Jen Cohen [05:16]

4. Consistent Breakfast Routine:
   Preparing a consistent, protein-rich breakfast helps regulate appetite throughout the day.

   “I have the same breakfast every morning... eggs into a pancake with cheese.”
   —Jen Cohen [05:36]

Mindset and Discipline Over Motivation

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the mental approach to eating and fitness. Leron challenges traditional fitness philosophies, advocating for a mindset that emphasizes discipline over mere motivation.

“The idea that we are programmed... Our wiring is perfect... We do crave the foods that are healthy.”
—Leron [07:11]

However, Jen Cohen offers a counterpoint, emphasizing that while some philosophies work for many, personal determination and discipline are crucial for sustained success.

“I force myself to do all these hard things that I don't really necessarily want to do, but it's now trained me to have the discipline...”
—Jen Cohen [09:16]

Nutrient Cravings and Satiety

The conversation shifts to the importance of nutrients in managing hunger and preventing overeating. Leron and Jen agree that ensuring adequate nutrient intake is fundamental to feeling satisfied and maintaining a healthy weight.

“Our bodies crave nutrients. And until we get those specific nutrients, our bodies will crave and ask for more and more...”
—Leron [11:37]

Jen shares practical tips, such as opting for whole foods over low-fat alternatives to ensure satiety and reduce unnecessary sugar intake.

“Don't try to short circuit or hack it by saying, I really want ice cream. So I'm gonna have this fat-free frozen yogurt... never feel the same satisfaction.”
—Jen Cohen [12:18]

Mindset Shifts for Fitness Success

A pivotal moment in the episode is the emphasis on mindset shifts necessary for adopting volume eating without gaining weight. Jen highlights the importance of focusing on the post-exercise feeling rather than the discomfort before working out.

“I always focus on how I feel after. That is like the number one mentality shift.”
—Leron [14:35]

Jen echoes this sentiment, stressing that shifting focus to the benefits realized after healthy activities can significantly enhance adherence and success.

“I never focus on how I feel before. I always focus how I feel after. That is like the number one... mentality shift.”
—Jen Cohen [14:59]

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, Jen and Leron reinforce the key takeaways: volume eating is manageable with the right strategies, discipline is essential, and understanding nutrient needs plays a critical role in maintaining a healthy weight without sacrificing the joy of eating.

Jen also emphasizes the importance of exercise as a keystone habit that supports her disciplined approach to eating, ultimately leading to a reprogrammed mindset towards food and fitness.

“Exercise has been my savior, because that was the keystone habit that changed and reconfigured how I think.”
—Jen Cohen [07:50]

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Key Takeaways:

• Volume Eating: Embrace large portions of low-calorie, high-volume foods like salads to manage hunger.
• Mindful Eating: Incorporate strategies such as consuming bone broth and well-done proteins to slow down eating.
• Discipline Over Motivation: Cultivate discipline through consistent habits and mindset shifts for long-term success.
• Nutrient Intake: Ensure adequate nutrient consumption to satisfy the body's cravings and prevent overeating.
• Post-Exercise Focus: Shift attention to the positive feelings after exercising to maintain motivation and adherence.

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This episode offers valuable insights for anyone looking to enjoy hearty meals without the associated weight gain, blending practical strategies with essential mindset shifts to support a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle.

Transcript

[Tony Robbins]

Hi, guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

[Jen Cohen]

Hey, friends. You're listening to Fitness Friday on the Habits and Hustle podcast, where myself and my friends share quick and very actionable advice for you becoming your healthiest self. So stay tuned and let me know how you leveled up. Before we dive into today's episod episode, I want to thank our sponsor, Momentous. When your goal is healthspan living better and longer, there are very few non negotiables. One of them quality. And when it comes to supplements designed for high performers, nobody does it better than Momentous. Momentous goes all in on NSF certification, which means every single batch is tested for heavy metals or harmful additives and label accuracy. And that's why they're trusted by all 32 NFL teams and top collegiate sports dietitians across the country. Here's the thing. They don't sell every supplement under the sun because they believe in nailing the basics with rock solid consistency. And those basics are protein and creatine. Momentous sources. Creapure, the purest form of creatine monohydrate available and an absolute must for both men and women who want peak physical and cognitive performance. So if you're serious about leveling up, go to livemomentous.com and use code Jen for 20% off. Just act now. Start today. Jen for 20% off livemomentous.com all right, welcome to Fitness Friday with Leron as my partner in crime. Again, thank you for being here.

[Leron]

Thank you.

[Jen Cohen]

Okay, you know what? Let's just talk. I want to talk about just overall, like, food and fitness and all the things. Okay. I'm a volume eater. Do you know what that means?

[Leron]

Yeah.

[Jen Cohen]

Oh, you do? Okay.

[Leron]

I mean, I can. I can suss it out.

[Jen Cohen]

Okay, well, I'm gonna say what it is for people who don't know. I love to eat. I love food. I love. I think about food all the time. I, like, talk about food all the time. And because of that, I, like, have to, like, eat big. Like, I love big portions. And so I have to be very cognizant of what I eat. So I eat, like, massive salads, like, out of a horse trough. Right. And love let, like, tons of lettuce. I used to do that because, you know, it tricks your brain to feeling and to thinking that, like, you're eating a lot of food and, like, it lets your brain kind of catch up with your stomach in a way. Right. I'm not great with just eating like steamed vegetables and a piece of chicken. Because I'll gobble it up in like four seconds. And then it's gone. And I'm like, even though I know maybe I, maybe I am full, my body, my brain doesn't tell my stomach I'm full, so I'll want to have seven more chicken breasts. And at the end of the day, it's calories in, calories out. Yes. Not a hundred percent that in terms of like, but it pretty much.

[Leron]

Well, I mean, that's true. There's just more, More to the story than that.

[Jen Cohen]

Yeah, there's more to the story of that. But you can overeat healthy food is my.

[Leron]

They could.

[Jen Cohen]

You can overeat healthy food. Like people like, oh, you can't get, you can't gain weight from just eating, you know, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, you can. Like, I know because like I said, I'm a volume eater and I eat really fast, really fast. I can, I can like slam down three pounds of grapes in three minutes and people like, yeah, yeah, sure you can. Blah, blah, blah.

[Leron]

Sounds great.

[Jen Cohen]

I can, yeah, yeah. I can eat a watermelon in like four minutes. And that's a ton of sugar, right? So yeah, it's not as same as eating a Mars bar, but it's the same concept. Right? So I, I try to like, kind of like I have all these like, strategies and like tricks to, for my brain of like what I can eat because I like so much food in terms of like that, that issue.

[Leron]

What if there was a better way?

[Jen Cohen]

What's your better way? Tell me. I'll tell you some of my tricks. Okay, what I do.

[Leron]

Okay, tell me a trick.

[Jen Cohen]

I sip on like bone broth or chicken broth.

[Leron]

Oh, oh, can I just intersect it?

[Jen Cohen]

No, let me. You asked me for my Srirana.

[Leron]

No, no, no, I know, but this is. On your point.

[Jen Cohen]

I see it right now. I'm looking at it. I see your little bone broth in the corner. I do that because a, a hot beverage takes longer to drink than a cold beverage, which is why I don't love having smoothies.

[Leron]

It's clever.

[Jen Cohen]

I don't love having smoothies because you can. I can drink a smoothie in four and a half seconds and be starving. So that does not work for my archetype. Does not work. But if I had like a hot bone broth, it will take me at least 30 minutes or so. So that's one strategy. Big volume salads. That's why I have these horse trough salads. Big, big, big Tons of lettuce. Another trick. I do love to have food that's very well done because it takes longer to eat.

[Leron]

So you get your steaks well done.

[Jen Cohen]

Steak well done for sure. Yeah, but like I said, even I love steak, but I need to have. I have to have it on a bed of lettuce, even with my vegetables on the side, because I will gobble it up. Like, that's why I said if I just have steamed vegetables and just a piece of meat, it's not going to satiate me.

[Leron]

Well, clearly something you're doing is working because you're in great shape.

[Jen Cohen]

Yeah, I have all these tricks. I make my breakfast in the morning. I also think it's really important when you have. When you're a volume eater and you have big appetites, you gotta plan ahead a little bit or else you'll get yourself into a bad situation. I have the same breakfast every morning. I make these eggs, but I make it into a pancake with cheese. And I make it really well done. So I'm like. It's like a whole. I'm eating it like as, like as part of. What do you call it? It's like. What's the word?

[Leron]

You're trying to slow down your eating?

[Jen Cohen]

Well, no, I know that, but there's a word like if I'm cutting my food and it's taking me more time.

[Leron]

Mindful.

[Jen Cohen]

Being more mindful. Okay, fine. Because I eat big portions. I. I have to be careful of what I eat and how I eat it. Okay, what are you gonna say? What's it. What if you had a better way? What's your better way there, buddy? I've been like this my whole life. You're gonna tell me. Okay, tell me, Black.

[Leron]

What you're doing is working to a point. Like, you're in good shape and therefore.

[Jen Cohen]

You'Re going to be.

[Leron]

Yeah. So you're going to be a little bit less motivated than someone who is completely. It's not working at all. You know, someone's 100 pounds overweight, they're going to be more motivated to find a different way. In your position, you are better. You know, you. You are in good shape. But my philosophy is very, very different than the traditional fitness philosophy. I think that way of seeing food, which is really. You have. I'm talking about the fundamental philosophy of it. The idea that we are programmed, and this is nothing special about Jen Cohen, because everyone, everyone has this same issue.

[Jen Cohen]

Y.

[Leron]

That we are programmed to be fat slobs. That our genetics.

[Jen Cohen]

I'm programmed to Be a fat slob. Oh, no. By the way, that's like, I say that all the time. Like if. Just give me one good reason and any moment I, I would.

[Leron]

There's people out there very upset.

[Jen Cohen]

No, I am. No, they shouldn't be upset. Because if I can do it, anybody can do it. Because I love food. I love, like, my favorite thing in the world is pizza, chicken fingers, french fries, watching Netflix. Like, if I could be a big fat slob, trust me, I. Any excuse, I would do it. Okay, so let me train my brain.

[Leron]

Let me get around to the point.

[Jen Cohen]

But if this was. I want to say this, I've trained my brain to know that that's not going to get me to where I want to be. So I have all of these methodologies in place to prevent me from going down that road. And that's why exercise has been my savior, because that was the keystone habit that, that changed and reconfigured how I think and my. And basically reprogrammed my brain. Now you can say what you're going to say.

[Leron]

You sure?

[Jen Cohen]

Go ahead.

[Leron]

Are you ready?

[Jen Cohen]

Yes.

[Leron]

So this idea that. That you are wired wrong. Okay. That you, your brain, your body, your taste buds are all wrong, that you want to eat the foods that are fattening, that only delicious foods are fattening and all fattening foods are delicious, and so on and so forth, and that every, like dieting in particular and being in shape has to be a struggle. I used to think that way. I used to be that way. And I looked not that different from. I look how I look now, but in the past few years, my whole kind of. It was a big paradigm shift. That's not the way we're wired, actually. Our. What our wiring is perfect. We do crave the foods that are healthy. We do crave the foods that are good for us. We can be in optimal shape, meaning your best body, and eat the foods that you like and enjoy your foods, and you really don't need discipline. Now that's a 180 on how the fitness industry sees things.

[Jen Cohen]

Let me tell you something. I don't agree with a lot of that. I think that, I mean, that's not true. I can agree with that to some extent, but I do think that not. It's not like this is not like one size fits all. I think everybody's brain is wired differently, and it will come down to what your goals are for you and how determined you are to achieve those goals. And I think you have to rely on not Motivation, but discipline. And because of that, you gotta build your discipline. So I think that, for me, I think the thing is, because I force myself to do all these hard things that I don't really necessarily want to do, but it's now trained me to have the discipline enough so I can keep on going day in, day out, even when I don't want to, because the outcome is much better than what it would be otherwise.

[Leron]

No, I get. I do get that. I do get that. I'm just saying that is going to be successful up until a point. But there is something beyond that, and I agree.

[Jen Cohen]

And I've tried these things. Like, I've tried what you said. Like, they had this thing, you know, the big thing was like, you have one day where you eat whatever you want. And that doesn't work for everybody. If I had that one day where I can eat whatever I want. And when I do, I become like a. A massive pig. And once that. Once that. That train has left the building, good luck. It's really hard to kind of wheel me in. So I feel it's better to. Yeah, I do. I. Of course I do that. Don't get me wrong. I do it all the time, but I have yet to. I'm just being. I'm talking real talk here. I find it really hard to have that over. That mentality that you're saying that. Oh, yeah, you know, like, if we are tra. We should just be like. Like, oh, yeah. Like, if we don't deprive ourselves, then we won't want it as much. And I. I get all that. This is like, I do this on my podcast every. People say it all the time, but I don't think psychologically that actually.

[Leron]

Some of those people are bullshit, right? Some of that is bullshit. Some of that is this kind of hippie, sort of progressive, you know, like, oh, we're just. We have to feed our inner child. And it's this, like, really overly emotional, like, bollocks. And that's not what I'm talking about.

[Jen Cohen]

Okay, what are you talking.

[Leron]

Fundamentally, what I'm talking about is, like, chemically, our bodies are craving nutrients. And until we get those specific nutrients, our. Our bodies will crave and ask for more and more and more. And you can eat.

[Jen Cohen]

Oh, that I agree with.

[Leron]

You can eat till your gut is split open.

[Jen Cohen]

You're right about that.

[Leron]

And unless you're getting these key nutrients, you're not gonna be sated. That's true. So going with your satiety and finding ways to satiate yourself Right. Is the best way to stay lean.

[Jen Cohen]

No, I agree. That's 100% true.

[Leron]

You need nutrients.

[Jen Cohen]

So I'll even say things like, I used to do this, like have fat free frozen yogurt instead of having ice cream. That doesn't work.

[Leron]

It'll work.

[Jen Cohen]

Have the real thing all the time. You will eat less. That's another strategy of mine. Like, don't try to, like don't try to short circuit or hack it by saying, I really want ice cream. So I'm gonna have this fat free frozen yogurt. Because you'll never feel the same satisfaction and you'll still be craving what you're craving. Also, our bodies crave fat. Right? And if you take the fat out, they're replacing that fat with sugar, which is actually does your body worse harm.

[Leron]

You will not be able to keep up. A zero fat, zero sugar, zero sulfur.

[Jen Cohen]

Oh, I agree. That to me is that. By the way, that's not one of my strategies. I think I eat like full butter. I eat. I'm now actually going back. The pendulum now is swung where I was drinking almond milk all the time thinking that was the right thing. I'm now going back to whole milk because to me it's much more satiating.

[Leron]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Jen Cohen]

And it was that.

[Leron]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

[Jen Cohen]

Yeah. No, I. The real thing, I agree that, that to me is like, that is 100% true. We were kind of saying different things. I just got, I just was on my little ivory box there talking, yelling at you. Okay, but that's true.

[Leron]

But it's a key thing for people to understand, like, fundamentally, like starting, you know, your starting point is going to dictate your finishing point. Like if you start with this idea that you're not a fat, sloppy piece of shit and that you're. You don't have to fight your body constantly and you don't have to suppress yourself. You need to understand that's not enough. Right? That isn't enough. You need to understand the details. And so there's much more to learn about nutrition and fitness and health and so on and so forth.

[Jen Cohen]

Of course there's a lot to learn. This, this episode wasn't about the science behind it. It's more about the fact of, like, human nature and sometimes how we're just, we.

[Sam]

We're wired.

[Jen Cohen]

And I think it's like, even people, like, people look at me and they're like, oh, you're so fit. Oh, you're like this like you love to work out. You. You work out all the time. Okay, I, I do work out a lot because I, I love the feeling afterwards. Not the feel. I don't love the feeling before.

[Leron]

That's so important.

[Jen Cohen]

I love the feeling afterwards. And I've.

[Leron]

Tr.

[Jen Cohen]

I've. Now for the delayed gratification biggest mindset.

[Leron]

Shift that people who are struggling to get into fitness and get working out need to have that mindset shift that you just said where instead of thinking about how you feel when you go to the gym, you think about how you feel when you leave the gym. And if that's your focus, you'll never have a problem.

[Jen Cohen]

No, it's always, I never focus on how I feel before. I always focus how I feel after. That is like the number one.

[Leron]

Number one mentality shift.

[Jen Cohen]

Mentality shift. And it works every time.

[Leron]

Every time.

[Sam]

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[Jen Cohen]

Okay, guys, we gotta wrap this, so.

[Leron]

All right, real quick. Oh, yeah, you asked me, you asked me a couple times about my bone broth.

[Jen Cohen]

Oh, you're so cute. Thanks. You brought this for me?

[Leron]

It's homemade. Yeah.

[Jen Cohen]

Wow. And this. What a great.

[Leron]

All the bits and the chunks in there.

[Jen Cohen]

And we just talked about bone broth. Totally.

[Leron]

Like, it was meant to be.

[Jen Cohen]

It's like destiny, like, spontaneously.

[Leron]

Well, I hope you like it.

[Jen Cohen]

Thank you so much.

[Leron]

You're very welcome.

[Jen Cohen]

You guys have to follow [e-mail] well, Beyond Fitness LA. Beyond Fitness LA. He's a real treat. He's a great guy. He's a fitness person. He's got two kids, and he's my friend who I love to banter with on this show. So thank you for being here.

[Leron]

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[Tony Robbins]

Sam.