Surviving a birthday buffet

With my birthday this week, and my partners last week his parents took us out to a delicious dinner buffet last night and it made me realise that even with the best intentions it is hard to say no to the extras! As I wanted to enjoy it without feeling stuffed to the brim when leaving I used the following strategies to help me moderate my intake:

1. Go for the salads first - fill up your plate with plenty of colourful salads (I went for the lettuce, shaved carrot, tomatoes, greek salad, couscous and pasta salad and 1/2 a hard boiled egg). With plenty of colour it is then easy to go easy on the roast potatoes and extras!
2. Luckily we were seated the furthest you could get from the buffet - this means that you think twice before getting up from the table to get a second helping.
3. Go for the lower fat desserts to have less calories - I went for the mini pavlovas with fruit, fruit salad (although I couldn't resist a little creme caramel and tiny spon of trifle!)
4. Go easy on the alcohol - I had just one glass of wine - alcohol is high in kilojoules and can lower your self control when you are trying to watch what you eat
5. Watch your intake before you go out - I made sure that I had a perfect breakfast and lunch, with a small afternoon tea so that any extras at dinner wouldn't have so much of an effect. Having a small afternoon tea made sure that I wasnt starving by the time we sat down and I didnt need so much dinner.