COPING WITH CALORIES DURING HOLIDAYS : MORE IDEAS ...

Byline: Barbara Gibbons Special to the Daily News

Christmas dinner should be fragrant and flavorful; that doesn't necessarily mean fattening. If you're trying to avoid a Santa Claus silhouette, today's collection of coping strategies will help you.

For the main course, choose only the leanest roast meat or poultry, trimmed of fat or skin before you eat it. Avoid gravies and sauces unless you make them the fat-free way. Limit your portion to 3 ounces, so you'll have calories available for the side dishes.

If possible, plan dinner early in the afternoon rather than later at night. Schedule the rest of the activities - gift opening - after dinner. With appetites satisfied, they'll be less nibbling on candy canes, Christmas cookies and other sugary stuff.

Don't underestimate the caloric contributions of drinks, especially alcoholic punches. Eggnog is the most calorie-laden beverage, rich in sugar, fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, whether it's alcoholic or not.

Tell your friends that your diet is ``doctor's orders'' so they won't show up with fattening food gifts. If they do, leave the package wrapped and shuttle it on to the next folks you visit. How do you think the eternal fruitcake began? Can't give them away? Freeze them. Stash all those unopened cookies, candies, fruitcake and other seasonal snacks in the freezer before you're tempted.

To dampen temptation, look up the calorie counts in a food guide and figure out the caloric costs of a tin of cookies or a box of candy before you open it. Once you realize that a token fruitcake contains 10,000 calories (enough to add 3 pounds of fat to your middle), you'll be less tempted to break the wrapper.

Do not volunteer to make Christmas cookies. If someone else in your household is making them, request - insist - that the cookies be packaged and removed from the premises before they cool ... before you get back from wherever you've gone. Go somewhere.

Avoid, by whatever means, playing holiday hostess. Anyway, isn't it your sister-in-law's turn to cook holiday dinner?

If you do get roped into preparing a mega-meal, get rid of the leftovers promptly. Wrap and freeze meal-size portions, or doggy-bag the extras for guests to take home for their own midnight snacks.

Change your seat or face the other way if co-workers set up a groaning board of nibbles around the office Christmas tree. If you have the clout to get things done, have it moved out of sight.

Don't attend after-work parties famished. You'll be too tempted to nibble on fattening dips, chips, nibbles and noshes. Have a light but filling snack before celebrating. If at all possible, eat a low-calorie dinner before attending a party so you won't mind skipping the snacks altogether.

Be a helpful guest ... volunteer to bring a tray of raw assorted vegetables and low-cal dip. Your host will be grateful for your thoughtfulness, and you'll be assured of at least one dish you can eat.

Reread your calorie guide before you attend a holiday bash. Refresh your memory on the devastating calorie counts of cheese, nuts, cocktail franks, eggnog and other likely party fare.

Don't eat anything standing up. Put everything you're going to eat on a single plate, then find a place to sit down and eat. And once you're finished, don't eat another thing.

Decide in advance what - and how much - you're going to drink. Consider nonalcoholic or light wine or light beer. Or well-watered drinks that are light on booze but long on ice. After drinking your limit, switch to club soda, seltzer, diet soda or ... water. Avoid sugar-laden punches and artery-clogging nogs.

Help yourself. Don't let anybody else mix your drinks or bring you food. And beware the calorie bully: the person who insists you have another. Memorize these phrases: ``No thanks, I've just had some,'' ``I'm allergic,'' ``There's somebody I'd like you to meet,'' ``Where's the bathroom?'' ``Sorry, I'm an alcoholic, diabetic, vegetarian, leper,'' anything but ``I'm on a diet,'' which calorie bullies regard as a challenge.

Dress for success: Put on your slimmest, trimmest, most glamorous gear. Look so sensational that you wouldn't dream of cluttering up your good looks with excess pounds.

If you do fall off the diet wagon, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. It's not a tightrope; a misstep isn't necessarily fatal.