worst for me is on a table in front of me, its irresistible. So I have to move, I MUST move, wow is it ever hard too.
I have a high school reunion gala coming up, planning to dance the night away and drink LOTs of water.....

I went to a shower on friday and what I did was stay and mingle in the room that didnt have food or drinks.

If that is something you can do, it might make it alot easier.

Seperate yourself from the temptation.

I gained 25 lbs in two years from happy hours. I know what you mean!

Here's a few things that work for me:
- Bring your own food, like carrots and hummus. People love hummus at parties.
- Try to skip the dinners and eat very light. Actually, we used to have these potlucks/drunk fests when I was in college and they started at 8 pm. I would be too hungry to wait that long to eat, end up eating my own dinner and was too full to have anything at the party. It was partly a shame, people brought such good food, but also I just wasn't hungry so it spared me from overeating there.
- Figure out the booze with the least calorie-to-drunkenness ratio and stick to that. Sometimes 2 mixed drinks are all it takes and you don't need to drink the rest of the night. If you feel like you'll need to be drinking all night, stick to light low-carb beer. Some of that only has 50-70 calories a bottle
- Just don't always go. That was my hardest thing in the US. I went to happy hour MANY times a week. Now I go out once a week or less. Also, going out later when I'm less hungry works for me. I'm not inclined to eat a lot late at night and can easily bypass a huge table of food. It's that dinner time/happy hour thing that gets me... I can eat AND drink a lot at that time.

Oh God, tell me about it. I'm maintaining and I'm *such* a social eater, particularly when my friends (who have better alcohol tolerance than me) get me drunk on cocktails. Hard Rock Cafe does this amazing peachy thing for three pound on Friday nights, let me tell you, one of those and I'm off my head.
Anyway, to get back to the point, if it's a really special occasion I throw caution to the wind (and diet like mad for the next week probably). Otherwise
- make sure you're not starving when you go.
- bring own veggie nibbles
- check out restaurant menu/nutritional info online if possible
- drink diet coke like it's going out of fashion. Normally I don't drink artificial fizzy drinks but I figure if there's ever a time when they're needed, parties are it.
- sometimes you just got to say no to the junk food and if people get offended, that's their problem. Easier said than done but your real friends will understand.
- When you're able again, work out the next day, and hopefully what went on fast will come off fast.

That's what I do! x