The holiday season is a time for shopping, gift giving and eating. Lots of eating. If you are on a diet, this can be the toughest time of year to stick to it. No matter how much willpower you have, you will always find yourself by a plate of tempting cookies or a Christmas cake.

This can be a tough time for those of us struggling with out weight. There are so many opportunities to gorge yourself with sweet sugary food, that it can be devastating to the best laid diet plans. Here I’ll give you a couple of strategies to avoid the guilt that comes with overeating.

Willpower. This is where you avoid eating anything extra at all costs. You don’t eat any cookies at work, and you only drink diet soda at the office Christmas party. The plus side is that you won’t gain any weight during the holidays. The negative side is that you won’t have much fun.

Next is pre planning and avoidance strategies. This means to fill your stomach up with water and low calorie fillers. That way those cookies, that cake, those jugs of eggnog won’t seem so tempting. Of course, this requires planning, and a strong defense mentality. While less difficult than pure willpower, this isn’t much fun either.

Last is by far the most popular strategy. Eat everything in sight, and worry about the consequences later. There’s a reason the gyms are usually packed after new years, and this is it. This is, of course, the most fun, but you are merely transferring any unpleasantness to the future.

The best strategy could be a combination of these three. Allow yourself a couple of times this season to really let loose, but only if you promise to make up for it rather quickly. Eat seventeen cookies, but do an extra seventeen sit ups tomorrow morning. Whatever you do, there’s always time to fix it later. Have fun.

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