You have the sitter. You are ready for the ugly Christmas sweater/ugly tie contest. You have directions to the venue. The annual company Christmas party is tonight.

How are you going to handle the food and stay on track with your weight goal for December? Maybe you already know that the refreshments will be hot hors D’0euerves,  finger foods and a cash bar. This is very manageable and I want you to feel confident that you can have a good time while still enjoying the food.

Ordinarily I do not have my clients weigh themselves except in my office. But for just this month I am breaking this rule. Get on your scale. Every morning. It is far easier to repair a slight gain if you know that it happened.Ten pounds should be a shock but never a surprise.

Today, make sure that you have a healthy breakfast AND a healthy lunch. Then at your usual dinner time have a large salad or bowl of broth-based soup. Don’t arrive at the party famished or the strategy that I am about to share with you will not work.

Look over all of the offerings before you put anything on your plate. Then allow yourself just 3 bites of anything that you want.

1. The first bite is to tell you what exactly you are eating. I want to know if I am eating peanut butter or liver pate. Don’t you?
2. The second bite is to let you know how good it is so that when you leave you can assure the host/hostess “the food was wonderful and I enjoyed every bite”.
3. The third bite is to remind you that the rest of that platter is going to taste the same and now you can move on to 3 bites of something else.

This has been tried, tested and proven by my clients over the years and can be useful in numerous social settings.

Now, what is in your glass? A cash bar means beer, wine and spirits which all mean CALORIES. Would you rather chew your calories or drink them? Fortunately there will be calorie-free mixers available so you won’t need to limit yourself to bottled water unless you want to. You could dilute your wine with club soda. Or just have a glass of club soda with a twist of lime and no one knows that you are watching your waistline. Saboteurs abound during the holidays.

Go out and enjoy your evening! Leave the “shop talk” at the office. Good luck with that sweater. Next week we hit the mall!