It's time to welcome back the holiday season with all its over-indulgent creamy, sugary, alcoholic awesomeness. This season encourages us to be liberal with our caloric coated crinkle cookies, and flaky mini pastries that we drown with rich, boozy eggnog. They are screaming our names, just begging us to devour them in a euphoric drug-like trip of the year. Still, your brain is screaming, “No!” You know your mind is right but how do you protect your hard-earned weight-loss and fit-gains when this entire season is full of decadent food, elegant alcoholic beverages, fabulous parties, and friends or family members who would rather see you eat their fantastic pumpkin pie than encourage you to stick to your healthy lifestyle.

I won’t lie. It’s not easy to stick to your guns during the holidays. I’ve used everything from WeightWatchers to fitness magazines articles, and information from health and fitness blogs to help me, but in the last six years I’ve done everything from maintaining my weight to gaining less than five pounds. Here are six of my most successful hacks to beat the Battle of the Holiday Bulge.

Make a food game plan before you go to the party or dinner

If you can get an idea of what is on the menu at the party or dinner, you can effortlessly create a game plan. When I was on WeightWatchers, I would look up items and select what I would eat based on points. (Typically, I saved my extra points for holiday meals and parties.) Now that I don’t do WeightWatchers anymore I merely plan on how much and what I’m willing to eat.

One company I worked for did a baked potato bar. I just chose what I thought was the healthiest toppings and ate a half-serving of what I would typically eat. What I wound up with was a half-of-a-potato, a third scoop of chili and a tablespoon of cheese, and I had the steamed broccoli as my side dish. I was full, and I enjoyed the party instead of avoiding it.

Potlucks are a bit trickier. When you can’t plan what specific food you are going to eat before the party, consider what type of food and how much you will eat. Your plan could be a couple of pieces of protein, two cookies, three slices of cheese and a half plate of fruits and veggies, heavy on the vegetables with no dip. It’s still a plan, and you know you will survive.

Spread out the eating

It’s tempting to eat everything at once, but eating all at once will set you up for catastrophic failure. Instead, eat your food like you’ve been taught to consume alcohol, spread out across the span of the party. If you eat it all at once not only will you be tempted to go back for more, you run the risk of getting hungry again during the dinner or party. Eat a little here and there using a small snack plate instead of a large dinner sized plate.

Do something distracting to break-up the food consumption.

The reason for spreading out your eating is to take your mind off food. You do this by socializing. Being an introvert, I know how difficult this can be, but you don’t have to walk around like a social butterfly (if you can, do it), but you can find one or two people who you feel comfortable with and talk to them. Not in the mood for talking do some dancing. Seriously, get on the floor and work-it no matter how silly you feel. The extra exercise is a total bonus.

Choose your alcohol wisely.

No one wants to party with a glass of water. That’s the least fun drink there is, and your mind knows it. Vodka is excellent for maintaining your healthy body plan, but you don’t want to add a super sugary mixer like cranberry or orange juice to it. Instead, add seltzer or diet soda to it. Even better, make a vodka martini but realize. A regular martini is not as good a choice as the previously mentioned drinks, but it’s way better than a Cape Codder (cranberry and vodka) or a trendy holiday martini.

Don’t like vodka? Try a rum and diet coke, scotch on the rocks, or a gin martini. If you’re only going to have one drink, try a Moscow Mule. Whatever it is you decide to drink, choose how much and what it is you are going to drink before you get to the party.

Once you have your drink sip it slowly, so you can enjoy it throughout the party. This strategy ensures you always have a drink in your hand and you don’t have to worry about others getting you a refill. It also ensures you won’t be the sloppy drunk everyone talks about until the next holiday party.

Stomp down the toxic people

We all know those people who try to put more food on our plate, bring us more sugary drinks, alcohol, and make it their business to destroy our fit plans for holiday survival. Those people are toxic to you and your diet. Let’s face it when we start to lose weight others do get jealous and try to ruin our fit gains. Learn to say no to these people. Yes, you can start by being polite but when they persist or worse start putting food on your plate, hand you more drinks after you already said no, or try stuffing food in your face. Say no again and follow it up with how rude and hurtful their behavior is. Don’t let them get away with it. Let them have it.

I know, I know. You think that’s harsh and borders on rudeness, but while we’re trying to be polite marshmallows these people are walking all over us. They’re not behaving this way to be a good friend or family member. They’re doing it to destroy our hard work because they’re jealous that we have more willpower to achieve what they cannot. Maybe they’re just afraid that when you’ve lost your weight, you’ll look better than them. It’s not you who is rude. It’s them.

Indulge a little

You are not a machine. You are a living, breathing, eating, feeling being that has weaknesses and strengths. We wouldn’t be struggling with a healthy lifestyle if we were machines. So, allow yourself a little indulgence over the holidays. It’s ok, to have your favorite dessert, side dish, or even your aunt’s famous lasagna. Just remember moderation is your friend. Control your portions and only have one or two of your favorite indulgent items over the course of the holiday season.

The holidays are to enjoy celebrating life with your loved ones. Don’t let food take that away from you. Part of becoming a fit and healthy person is learning how to deal with the real-life situations. Trying to hide from them is not going to help you. Avoidance will eventually destroy your forward momentum since it is not a realistic tool for dealing with food and healthy living. So, go to that party, have some excellent food, enjoy your loved ones, dance, and have a boozy drink while wearing that sexy black dress you’ve been working on fitting into all year long. Let the holiday season closeout the year by showing off your hard earned fit plan success.