Four Cs of cutting calories during holiday parties

Watching your calories this holiday season? If you spent the better part of 11 months losing weight, dieting and exercising, you probably are. Still, holidays mean parties and gatherings -- and there's always those high-calorie foods to tempt you.

While you may succumb to many of them, cutting down on the four Cs of holiday calories means you can watch some calories and exert your sweet tooth on a few others just to be in the spirit of holiday eating.

The four Cs, of course, are Cocktails (liquid calories), Cookies (like sugar cookies), Candy (that old nemesis) and, of course, Chocolate. Watch these four closely and you'll be trimmer come the New Year. That is, unless you eat a few thousand calories extra per day when all that holiday food comes into view.