Christmas parties tonight - hit me with your tips!

I have one tonight, too. I had my sister's birthday party yesterday and my own the day before. So I feel you. I have been trying to eat a protein-filled snack prior to the event (almonds and string cheese) plus drink lots of fluid. I stay away from the alcohol because, first, it's full of empty calories, but, more importantly, as soon as I get tipsy, my self-control goes out the window. I am also trying to tell myself that an occasional treat is OK. I didn't have any sweets at Thanksgiving or even any birthday cake at my own party, but my sister had this AMAZING cake from Momofuku Milk Bar and I thought it was worth the splurge--even at like 700 calories for a TINY slice. Just got up and focused on getting back on track today. You can do it!!

#1 Don't not enjoy partying because you're looking after your health generally
2# drink one glass of water to every one alcohol
3# aim to store up 50-100 calories for a week before/after - your body doesn't care if you've ended your diary for the day - it's just averages over time. So take advantage of it.
4#champagne all the way. Low calorie and has bubbles!
5# kiss someone with lots of tongue at midnight

Drinks: Have a glass of water between alcoholic drinks. Pick lower calorie drinks.

Snacks: Try to stick just to the ones you like best, and have a serving or handful.

Dinner: Load up on veggies if possible, and protein. Again, stick only with the sides you like best and have a serving of each.

Dessert: Again, only the ones you absolutely love, have a serving.

For drinks, snacks and desserts, I try to limit myself to two of each. And I try not to go back for seconds at dinner. It still ends up being a lot of calories, but it's better than eating the whole buffet.

Our office is laden with cookies and chocolate and other treats from well meaning clients.. and it's all sitting there 15 feet away, every day. I allowed myself one chocolate and a cookie and a toffee today and after dinner tonight I had a small square my daughter made. I allow myself tastes not servings. Our Christmas lunch is on Friday and I will allow myself a bit more flexibility then. Tracking calories and exercise really helps me to stay on track. That, and watching overweight coworkers belly up to the dessert table again and again. And if I go way over one day I simply reset and start again. But it doesn't happen often thankfully. And it's so nice not experiencing the bloat and inevitable sugar crash.

I was not able to find a decent holiday outfit to suit my stupid body, so I am not going to the party at all. That's how I solved the problem for this year.

Remember, just because you are seeking a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean you have to totally skip social events. A lot of the other commenters are suggesting it, which is their decision of course, but from my perspective a healthy lifestyle is a LIFESTYLE, which means that you shouldn't have to compromise things that you enjoy because there's more to health than what you eat.

What I've been doing to stay on track:
1. Make sure I'm getting to the gym every day, even when the weather is bad and I'm tired, cold, and cranky.
2. Keeping my indulgence to the evenings--if there are sugary treats at work, I drink tea and try my best to ignore it. But in the evenings, if I'm going to a party, I allow myself an indulgence because I didn't allow myself earlier and it's a lot easier to ignore a plate of brownies in the break room than a buffet in front of your face.
3. Realizing that it didn't take me a week to put on on this weight, and it won't take me a week to undo my progress. It's actually very freeing knowing that I can enjoy this week and then go back to hitting it hard right after.

You've got this! Enjoy the holiday!

It makes me really sad when I read that people are avoiding going to social occasions because of their "diet". That is NOT a healthy mindset. Life happens, sometimes we over indulge and sometimes we are right on track. It was my husband's work party last Friday, it was fab, I had roast lamb, roast pork (with crackling), beef curry, goat curry, roast potatoes, coleslaw and broccoli and cauliflower cheese. For dessert I had umpteen mini mince pies. I also drank, ahem, quite a bit of red wine.

Fantastic night and I do not regret one single mouthful as it was all delicious. I also ate out Saturday lunchtime, had pizza Saturday night and ate out again Sunday lunchtime with the biggest three course meal.... The rest of the week I ate fairly normally. I only lost 200g this week and you know what. Who cares? Certainly NOT me!! 'Tis the season and I shall enjoy it. Over Christmas I will no doubt put on a couple of kilos and I shall not care about those either, because life is for enjoying. Come New Year I shall knuckle down, think fondly of Christmas and look forward to my husbands birthday...

Just my humble...

Holidays are hard to not over-indulge... and even harder to deprive myself.
At social outings, I eat because it is just there! Bad I know, but I can't stop myself.
At home I just get back on track. I don't eat like that every day and won't beat myself up for over doing it here or there - as long as it doesn't become my lifestyle again.

I too used to avoid social outing because of my diet... not anymore as it just isn't fair to myself.
Also, as Baydogger said... allow tastes not servings! I am trying to adopt that! (sadly my *go big or go home* theory is contradicting it) but I'm working on it *wink*

Enjoy and good luck all!
~V~