It’s difficult not to gain weight over the holidays, with so many events centered around food during November and December. First, there’s Thanksgiving Dinner–a day when it’s become traditional to stuff yourself until you feel like you might explode–then there are all of the Christmas parties at friends’ houses, the office holiday party, and of course, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. All in all, there are at least 4 or 5 high calorie meals that can lead to a pound or two of weight gain on their own. Add in all of those yummy treats that you can’t resist at the local bakery or at the mall, and you can easily gain 10 or more pounds during the last two months of the year.

But you don’t have to stress out about holiday weight gain if you follow a few simple strategies when you attend holiday parties or have a big family meal. The first rule of thumb is to not go to an event absolutely starving. If you have a snack or a small meal first (depending on if there are going to be hors d’oeuvres served or a full meal), you won’t be tempted to eat as much while you’re there.

The second strategy is to control what you eat. If you’re bringing a dish, bring something healthy or low-fat, or make substitutions in the dish you are planning on bringing to make it healthier, such as substituting low-fat or fat-free sour cream for regular, light margarine for butter, fat-free half and half for heavy cream, and so on. These simple substitutions can save a lot of calories and fat grams per serving in any dish, and it’s likely that you won’t be able to taste the difference. Limit cheese where you can, and avoid dishes that contain heavy or creamy sauces.

The third rule of thumb is to be smart when you fill up your plate at the actual event. If you’re being served finger foods, fill up as much of your plate with fruits or veggies as possible, and only take small portions of foods that involve a lot of cheese, salt, or a high-fat meat such as sausage or pepperoni. If it’s a full dinner, picture your plate as being divided into four quadrants. Fill one quadrant with lean meat, such as turkey. A 3 oz serving is about the size of a deck of cards. Fill another with starches, like bread, potatoes, rice, or corn. The other two quadrants can be filled with as many vegetables as you can squeeze in. This is a great strategy for filling up a healthy plate that adds up to be around 500 calories. When you go back for dessert, choose a single-crust fruit pie or pumpkin pie, or a gelatin dessert. This will have far less calories than many other desserts, and won’t leave you feeling quite so guilty.