Office parties can be lots of fun, but if you're not careful, they can definitely curtail your weight-loss efforts.

I don't know about your office, but here at amNewYork, we do a lot of eating. Today, for example, the amNewYork staff had pizza to celebrate Ted Phillips, a colleague who is moving on to a new position. Ted was one of the main writers of the Affordable Housing series.

Eight pizza boxes decorated the conference table, giving off all kinds of delicious smells. I was oh, so tempted, but I managed to just eat the cheese off two slices.

Most times, though, we dieters aren't so disciplined. I have often had days of weight-loss effort go down the tubes for sandwiches and chips.

I recently came across an article on avoiding diet traps in the office. Lifescript.com suggests when it comes to group eating, you just take a taste of food and back away from the table. And limit yourself to one trip. The site also identifies avoiding snacking, eating breakfast and keeping up your exercise program to stay on track.

One additional suggestion: Be mindful of what you are eating so you don't get empty calories. It's far to easy to eat and gab.

Happy partying and good luck!

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com