Justine Kerwin (senior-crime, law and justice) said she feels guilty after indulging during a big holiday meal.

"My solution is to work out," she said. "I feel like I have to try every dessert at dinners and parties over the holidays, so I go running afterwards to justify eating a lot."

Erin Malkiewicz (junior-crime, law and justice) said she also feels like she eats too much over the holidays but makes it up by working overtime at the gym.

"Usually, I'll eat with both my family and my boyfriend's family, and I don't want to offend people by not eating their food," Malkiewicz said.

During the Thanksgiving and winter breaks, many students break their normal eating routines and feel the subsequent guilt after realizing how much food they consumed.

Dorothy Blair, assistant professor of nutrition, said the best way to maintain one's weight is to exercise regularly.

"People should exercise more when they're planning on eating more because it will increase their metabolism," Blair said. "Go on a family outing before dinner, or go for a walk, even if it's cold outside."

She said she thinks too much emphasis is placed on how much people eat and not on what they do.

Melissa Martilotta, director of the University Health Services nutrition clinic, said that instead of lying on the sofa watching football after the meal, people should get up and walk around.

Blair said students shouldn't feel discouraged after overeating at one big meal because it is important to celebrate the holidays.

"If you restrict your diet too much on the holiday, that could lead to depressions and feelings of being deprived," she said. "Sometimes you can eat more [one day] and make up for it later, but you have to be rigorous about it."

Martilotta said people need to get back to a regular routine after the holidays rather than looking at this time of year as a break from eating well.

John Petrilli (junior-engineering science) said his family puts so much work into making food during the holidays that he feels he has to eat a lot. However, he said he thinks it is easy to get back into his routine.

"I get sick of holiday food and that stuffed feeling," he said.

However, Martilotta said students should not punish themselves by skipping meals the next day.

"When people deprive themselves, they set themselves up for failure, because they'll end up trying to reward themselves with food," Martilotta said.

It is inevitable that people will eat differently over the holidays, but they need to maintain a sense of control at the dinner table, Martilotta said.

"People need to ask themselves, 'Is this really what I want to eat right now?' " she said. "Those couple seconds of thinking could help make them sure they're not passing the point of fullness."

Martilotta stressed the importance of not skipping breakfast the day of a big meal.

"Eat something small for breakfast and a light lunch, like a half-sandwich," Martilotta said. "It will help keep your blood sugars stable so they won't drop too low and trigger hunger."

She added that starving oneself makes the body more efficient at storing calories, thus gaining weight, because it decreases metabolism.

"The reason people feel tired after a big meal is because they didn't eat all day and then overate during the holiday meal," Martilotta said.

Martilotta said the best thing to do on the holidays is to get a variety of foods, rather than gorging on turkey.

"Think of your dinner plate as a clock and imagine where the numbers would be," she said. "Start at 12 o'clock with some turkey, and move around the clock until the plate is full. You'll get a variety of flavors and foods, and you can still go back for more if you want to."

While many foods traditionally associated with the holidays are full of fat and calories, there are plenty that are nutritious, Blair said.

"Turkey is a very healthy source of meat, which is high in protein and low in fat," she said. "Ham is also low-fat but has high sodium."

She added that people should avoid the skin on the turkey, which contains the most fat.

Other foods that are healthy are plain sweet potatoes and vegetables that are served without a lot of butter.

"Mashed potatoes don't have to be high in calories," Blair said. "Make them with skim milk" and let others add butter themselves.

Blair said she suggests eating a large salad before a big meal, because it tends to reduce calorie consumption for the rest of the meal. However, diners should be careful about the dressings they add to the salad, because they can contain a high amount of calories and fat.

Many people indulge in alcoholic beverages during the holidays, but Blair said people should drink in moderation.

"When you're drinking a lot of alcohol, it's much more difficult to try to restrict what you eat," she said. "People should drink water with their meal."

Blair said people tend to drink their calories by consuming a lot of soda and fruit drinks with high fructose corn syrup, as well as alcohol -- often because they do not realize the drinks' high calorie contents and because they are not filling.

"A 12-ounce can of regular soda has more calories than a typical [three-ounce] serving of turkey," Blair said.

For those who managed to resist the urge to overindulge at a holiday meal, there may still be leftovers to tempt them for days to come.

Martilotta said that if there are enough leftovers for another meal, people should package plates of food, with a little bit of everything, ahead of time so they are already prepared.

"This prevents people from eating too much of one food," Martilotta said.

She said people could put some of the food, especially the pies, directly into the freezer so it is not available to them.

"A lot of people leave a bowl of candy or a plate of cookies out on the counter," she said. "Keeping food out of sight is important."

Some students say they eat more during the holidays just because they miss having home-cooked meals.

"The food is a lot better, and I'm too cheap to buy a lot of food when I'm at school," Michael Norden (junior-finance) said. "The food at home is free."

Students who don't celebrate Christmas may have an easier time avoiding the temptation to overeat.

"I celebrate Hanukkah, and it's not really a big eating holiday," Elana Shapiro (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said.