HOLIDAY CHEER DOESN'T HAVE TO END UP ON YOUR WAISTLINE

During the holidays, it doesn't take long for visions of sugarplums to turn into a dieter's worst nightmare.

It's not easy to lose weight, or even maintain it, when so much food is available in so many places. But all that holiday cheer adds up fast when it's time to step on the scale.

"For a lot of people, the time from October to January is just a wipe-out," said Barbara Harper, a weight loss counselor for Weight Watchers. "The average American gains 10 to 15 pounds between October and January. It's awful. A lot of people resolve to lose weight in November, but they don't start till January, so they gain about 10 pounds waiting to lose weight. That hurts a lot. Then Jan. 1 hits and we've done all this damage."

Holiday tables laden with cakes, cookies, chips and dips -- and fat, calories and cholesterol -- are enough to turn health experts into Grinches.

"What makes me cringe the most, I think, would be the high fat content," said Linda Lawrence, a cardiac rehab nurse at St. Francis Medical Center.

Food items are considered high in fat if more than 30 percent of their calories come from fat, Lawrence said. If you're trying to stick to a low-fat diet, look out for holiday buffets.

Four medium green olives have 15 calories, all of them from fat. Half of the 342 calories in an eight-ounce serving of eggnog are from fat. Incidentally, that cup contains 19 grams of fat.

An ounce of peanuts -- about 35 -- have 161 calories, 126 of which are from fat, making a serving 78 percent fat.

Everyone knows that too much fat is bad for waistlines and health in general. But when slices of Aunt Gladys's special holiday fruitcake are being passed around, it's hard to remember that all those goodies aren't all that good for you.

Sometimes people just make up their minds that they can't stick to their diets, Harper said.

"A lot of it is mind-set," Harper said. "A lot of times, especially this time of year, people resolve themselves that they can't watch their weight, they can't lose weight."

The celebratory mood of the holidays makes it hard to resist overeating. "We sit down and eat or we're with other people and we feel like we should eat, and then we overeat," Lawrence said.

And during the holidays, food, like Santa Claus, is everywhere.

"There's a lot of extra food that we don't normally see at the other times of the year," Harper said.

People make special cakes and cookies for guests and stores set out displays of all kinds of goodies. With all that temptation, it's easy to overdose on fat pills.

"Their resistance, they feel, is low," Harper said. "The other thing is, we're out shopping and there's a lot of food presentation. Beautiful cookies and fabulous-looking candies and beautiful cakes. They go to shop, but they go to eat, too. You see them at the mall and they have the big cookies and the pretzels. It's out there, and the stores are overloaded, and, of course, the food manufacturers are always coming out with something new."

Celebrating in December doesn't have to mean buying clothes in larger sizes in January, Lawrence said. Simple strategies can keep holiday pounds off.

"One thing is, don't take seconds," she said. "Another good little trick is to make sure you can see your plate between the food. Don't pile the food up so high."

Lawrence also recommends eating low-fat snacks, like fresh vegetables and fruit, before going out. "That way you're not absolutely starving when you get there," she said. "At a party, people can bring along their own low-fat snacks." Crackers, dips, cookies and other munchies are all available in low-fat or no-fat versions, and fruits and vegetables are always good choices.

Liquid calories also add up, Lawrence pointed out. Mixed drinks are notoriously high in calories, and non-diet sodas are high in calories too.

"If you're really trying to watch your weight, or watch your diet, you can get a lot of calories from what you're drinking," she said.

Some recipes can also be modified with skim milk, low-fat margarine instead of butter and sugar substitutes, Lawrence said. "You can still have the cake, but have it low-fat," she said.

It's important to remember, too, that fat-free doesn't mean calorie-free. "You can eat low-fat chips, but you can't eat half the bag and expect to lose weight," Lawrence said.

Another important aspect is to remember to keep exercising during the holidays. Not only does it help burn off all that holiday stress, it helps burn off all those Christmas cookies.

Deciding to lose weight at any time of the year, not just during the holidays, means changing behaviors and perspectives about food, Harper said.

"The thing that's kind of sad is, we can eat lots of those (holiday) foods," she said. "We just can't eat them all in the same day. There's nothing wrong with getting a box of chocolates for Christmas. We just can't sit down and eat them all at once."

People need to learn to incorporate goodies into their everyday diets, and that means planning. If you're going to a high-calorie holiday dinner, have a low-calorie breakfast and lunch, Harper said.

"It takes practice, and you're not going to learn it overnight. It's a behavior change. It's telling yourself no and really meaning it."