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Weight loss is always daunting. Can you muster the self-discipline and endure the deprivation needed to slim down? Nutritionist Dr. Rovenia M. Brock, better known as Dr. Ro, has the answer. Her book, Lose Your Final 15, offers a clear plan for shedding unwanted weight in manageable stages. It’s a new way to tackle the challenge of weight loss on step at a time — without regaining what you lose.
Dr. Ro served as nutrition coach on The View, helping Sherri Shepherd lose more than 40 pounds, and has helped more than a half-million Dr. Oz show viewers lose a collective 5 million pounds. Dr. Ro founded her own approach to weight loss as a result of her own experience: having escaped her family’s legacy of obesity, diabetes and disabilities — the fallout from a traditional Southern diet — she went on to become a leading nutrition coach who incorporates science into a novel approach.
People have more success when they lose weight in small increments, and hence Dr. Ro created a Final 15 Plan that focuses on 15 pounds at a time. Everything in this plan is based on the number 15. There are three eating phases of 15 days each, dieters eat 15 servings a day of nutritious and satisfying foods, and many meals can be made in under 15 minutes.
Beyond just a diet, Dr. Ro incorporates 15-minute stints of belly-banishing exercise, and 15 minutes a day of stress-relieving meditation or mindful breathing. After completing the three phases and losing their first 15 pounds, dieters embrace new eating habits, gain new energy and acquire new confidence to repeat the Final 15 Plan again until they arrive at their weight-loss goal. The beauty of this method is that it’s done in workable increments.
Dr. Ro’s plan liberates dieters from the common and complicated tedium of such tasks as calorie-counting and tallying grams of fat. Instead, the focus is on serving sizes — and the author demystifies those as well, showing what appropriate amounts actually look like. A serving of cheese is the size of a domino. A serving of meat is the size of a deck of cards. Dr. Ro guides readers through how to select the best proteins and produce, pick the most nutrient-rich foods, and determine whether buying organic is necessary or not.
Dieting isn’t just about shopping and cooking, clearly — and Dr. Ro provides effective strategies for addressing emotional eating. She points out that three-quarters of our food choices are driven by cravings, and these cravings are attached to an emotional hunger triggered by stress, frustration, boredom, loneliness, and so on. There’s a 5-step mental process in the book that is designed to make the cravings subside, and a roadmap to finding out what’s causing those craving in the first place.
We’ve all heard the sobering statistics on how hard it is to keep extra weight off once you’ve lost it. Researchers found that 95 percent of dieters gain their weight back within five years, as Dr. Ro points out. But her Final 15 Plan includes guidance on how to take control whenever a few pounds creep back on. By circling back to the Phase 1 or 2 eating plan, you can regain control without regaining the weight.
It’s refreshing to find an attainable and sustainable plan that gives you the control you need to achieve an ideal weight, and teaches you healthy habits for lifelong wellness too. It’s all made possible by incorporating those magic “15s” as a way of life.
Learn more at EverythingRo.com.
