Coping with Christmas - The Slimmer's Survival Guide

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Go easy on the alcohol

Limit yourself to one or two glasses of wine or beer throughout the day. Drinking less alcohol will make it easier to keep up your resolve. If you indulge in too much alcohol, it will be harder to say no to fatty foods. Plus, as your body turns its attention to metabolising the alcohol – which your body sees as a toxin that it needs to get rid of quickly – any calories you consume while drinking alcohol will be more likely to be stored as fat.

Space your drinks by having a diet soft drink or water between each alcoholic drink. To make your low-calorie drinks seem more festive, have sparkling mineral water with a twist of lemon or lime in a champagne glass, or try fruit juice in a wine glass with a sprig of mint.

White wine spritzers - a mixture of white wine and soda water - are also a delicious way to indulge with half the calories and alcohol.

It's okay to say "no"

Sometimes well-meaning friends and relatives can put a lot of pressure on you to eat an extra helping of food or to try high-fat treats. If you don't want any, just be polite and tell them "No thank you." If they continue to pressure you, you could try something like "That was delicious, but I'm full right now. I'd love a cup of coffee though."

If you know that pressure to eat is inevitable, it can be helpful to visualise yourself successfully saying "no" beforehand. This can make it easier when Aunt Alice is hovering over you with her plate of Christmas cake.

Enjoy a treat

Don't spend the whole of Christmas day depriving yourself. Special occasions are for enjoying, and if you want to indulge in a few treats at Christmas then go ahead! Choose your favourite goodies and really enjoy them.

While one day won't cause weight gain, a month's worth of over-indulging will! If your lead-up to Christmas is packed with parties, catch-ups and barbecues, make sure you keep track of what you're eating and drinking and plan for treats along the way. Constantly overdoing it won't help your waistline, but with a little planning you can balance your eating, exercise and treats.