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The football game is over. The score is in the record books. The bets are paid off.

Interesting fact: over $6 billion is bet on the Super Bowl worldwide. Most of that is illegal betting; the kind that happens in the office pool, the corner bar, or even between fantasy league players.

I can make a bet too, and have pretty good odds.
I bet whatever resolution you set on January 1 is in the books, too. You’ve quit.

Over 50% of Americans make some kind of resolution and for many, the promise made is to lose weight, and for most, it’s a failed attempt before Super Bowl Sunday hits in early February.

Here are three of the biggest reasons people quit a diet:

Hunger: Most people, when starting a diet, will go for the gusto. They think the more they cut calories the faster they will lose. If it’s all about calories in/calories out that might be true, but it’s not. It’s about what you put in your mouth and how your body decides to process it. In the old days, I used to cut calories big time. I’d go down to about 700 calories a day. The bad thing is my body just adapted to the new low. I had no energy but I could live on next to nothing. I’d have half a banana for breakfast. Maybe SlimFast for lunch and then a frozen, diet macaroni meal for dinner. Do you know how unhealthy that is? Here’s a list of the ingredients in SlimFast.

INGREDIENTS: Fat-Free Milk, Sugar, Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Canola Oil, Fructose, Calcium Caseinate, Gum Arabic, Cellulose Gel, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Mono and Diglycerides, Potassium Phosphate, Soybean Lecithin, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan, Isolated Soy Protein, Artificial Flavor, Maltodextrin, Sucralose and…

You tell me. Who’s kidding who? Sugar is the second ingredient, fructose is another sugar, and even Sucralose is added. That’s an artificial sweetener. No wonder I was hungry 15 minutes after I drank that stuff.

Now I know the two things to eat to curb hunger are protein and fat. Those things stick with you. So if you’re dieting cut the fat, but don’t cut the protein. Eat plenty of veggies along with your protein and you’ll stay full longer.

Cravings: Cravings are hard-wired into our brains. You quit sugar, artificial sweeteners, and artificial flavorings and start eating real, unprocessed foods and your body will eventually be happier and your energy will soar. But not right away. First, you have to get through the cravings.

What do cravings look like? Well, it’s not just “look at a food and want it.” Folks go through all kinds of detoxing. Most get some level of a headache, some get achy, others get increased anxiety or the jitters. Pretty much everyone gets crabby. The physical ramifications can be debilitating. Some get brain fog and can’t think straight. It’s a nightmare.

So if you can’t lock yourself in a padded room until the symptoms pass, you’re going to need help. Thankfully, Plan Z comes with the ZR50 Crave Control spray I invented. These folks are lucky because all of those symptoms are tamped down and all but eliminated, so they can diet comfortably.

Without that, there really isn’t a lot you can do. For those not on Plan Z, here’s what I recommend. These are some of the things I used to do before I started Plan Z.

First of all, I’d start a diet on a weekend. That way I could go curl up in bed and nap my way through some of the side effects. I didn’t have to eat on a schedule so I could come out of my room have a few bites and go back to bed.

You can also try reading, watching a movie (without the popcorn), volunteer in your community (it always makes you feel better to help others), and just plain keep your hands busy. Go ice skating if you enjoy that. Make a list of things you like to do besides eat junk food, and keep that list handy. I know these aren’t all the greatest ideas, but I don’t know any psychologist or MD who has better ideas.

Detoxing should be all but relieved by somewhere between day 7 and 10. The physical part should be over. Now comes the mental part.

Pressure from Friends and Family: No getting around it. Sometimes they are well-meaning, sometimes they are just mean. They tell you they are tired of you being crabby while you’re on that diet so why not just quit. They say you can have a “little piece” of whatever and you’ll be fine.

No, you won’t. You’ll start the sugar hangover all over again.

So cut the social calendar back for a while if you can. You can’t get rid of the relatives who live with you, but you can avoid tempting situations to an extent; at least until you get yourself under control. If your diet is working you’ll be continually motivated by seeing the number go down on the scale. If it’s a slow slog, it’s going to be harder.

For social situations, I suggest you arrive early and leave early, or arrive late and stay a short time. Whichever you choose, grab a beverage fast. Take a big rocks glass and fill it with ice and sparkling water or club soda. Put a lime in it and fool everyone into thinking you’re having a cocktail when you’re not. If you want to be more public about it, volunteer to be the designated driver. Your friends and family will think you’re the hero for that and won’t bug you because you’re not drinking alcohol.

If this list seems a bit on the futile side, you’ll see why most people quit a diet before the Super Bowl. If they made it from January 1 until then, they’ve made it about a month. 4 weeks. Maybe 5 tops. If you’re on one of the standard, popular American diets you’ve lost maybe 5 – 8 pounds by then. Most people can gain that back the week after they quit.

Bummer.

So if you’re looking for a new plan, you’re looking for Plan Z.
Here are my top 7 reasons you want Plan Z instead of any other diet.

1. The ZR50 Crave Control Spray.

That’s exclusive to Plan Z. You don’t have to suffer while you detox and diet. I can help with that. ZR50 Crave Control Spray is patented. It’s all natural. No chemicals. No hormones and it works.

2. Plan Z is guaranteed to work.

Cut your risk. Go with Plan Z. We have TWO guarantees. You can review the diet and even take it to your doctor. If you decide it’s not for you, pack it all up and send it back to get 100% of your money back. Or with guarantee number two you actually get to try the diet for 9 days with little risk. We call it the Skeptic’s Guarantee. Ask for that and we’ll work closely with you to make sure you get on solid ground as you get started. You can prove to yourself this diet is the best one you’ve ever done.

3. No exercise.

Most dieters are thrilled to hear they don’t need to exercise while they are on Plan Z. When you get to the maintenance mode of Plan Z you can exercise all you want and tighten up so you feel great in your new clothes.

4. You lose a lot and you lose it FAST.

The average Plan Z dieter loses 31 pounds in just under 50 days. That’s FAST.

5. The food.

You eat REAL food with Plan Z. No magic shakes. No frozen boxes showing up on your doorstep. There are over 900 recipes to choose from. You decide what you’re hungry for and you make a quick meal. Your family can eat the same things as you do. I am a food writer. I promise this to be the best-tasting diet on the planet. Hands down.

6. The Education.

There’s a big problem in the dieting industry. They don’t educate you about how you really got fat in the first place. It’s got nothing to do with calories in/calories out. It has everything to do with what you eat and how your body decides to process it. And they don’t teach you anything about how to keep it off. We do. We go to great effort to get you the information vital to your thinner future.

7. Dessert twice a day!

Need I say more? Come on over to Plan Z.

It’s an easy decision.