Weight gain can creep up on you. Holiday splurges, overeating and a lack of exercise can add inches to your waistline. Here is some advice to help avoid piling on the pounds, writes CLAIRE O'CONNELL

IF YOU eat roughly the same number of calories that your body uses, your weight should remain stable. Tip that balance either way and you’ll see a difference.

If you find that the scale readings have been creeping up over the years, find out the calories in your habitual foods and activities.

Small changes such as switching to low-fat dairy, ditching sugary drinks and expending a little more physical energy each day can help redress the balance.

REDUCE THE SIZE OF YOUR PLATE

It can be easy to habitually overeat, and that encourages weight gain. But there are ways to change the environment subtly that encourage more waistline-friendly portion sizes and eating behaviours.

Cornell University researcher Dr Brian Wansink (foodpsychology.cornell.edu) has carried out numerous studies into how small changes can make a big difference to the amount we consume.

To make portion distortion work in your favour, try using smaller plates and bowls when serving food, and pour drinks into tall, narrow glasses rather than short, wide ones.

EAT UNPROCESSED FOODS

Fresh, unprocessed fare may help stave off long-term weight gain, according to an analysis of over 120,000 people in the US.

"Some foods – vegetables, nuts, fruits, and whole grains – were associated with less weight gain when consumption was actually increased," wrote the authors in the New England Journal of Medicinelast year.

“Higher fibre content and slower digestion of these foods would augment satiety, and their increased consumption would also displace other, more highly processed foods in the diet, providing plausible biologic mechanisms whereby persons who eat more fruits, nuts, vegetables, and whole grains would gain less weight over time.”

GET ENOUGH SLEEP

Sleeping doesn’t sound like the kind of activity that helps you manage your weight, but not getting enough shuteye is linked with eating too much.

There are some pretty intuitive reasons: you can’t eat when you are asleep, and staying up late can set the scene for high-calorie midnight snacking.

But there could be subtler forces at play too: a lack of sleep can push up levels of the hormone ghrelin, which increases appetite.

KEEP ON MOVING

Keeping physically active is a good idea, particularly if you have lost weight and you want to increase your chances of keeping it off.

As well as dedicated time for exercise, you can work movement into your day by taking the stairs and walking or cycling whenever possible.

“The important thing is to stay active,” says dietitian Paula Mee. “Being active and a few pounds overweight is better health wise, than being lean and inactive.”

OPT FOR HEALTHY FATS

Fats and oils might be calorie-laden, but they are not all villains.

“It’s popular to talk of lowering fat intake as the main route to lowering calories, given that fats have twice the calories per gram as carbohydrates,” says Prof Mike Gibney, who directs the Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin.

“However, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Fats from fish are very healthy, and fats that are from vegetable sources have some advantages over fats from animal sources.”

DON’T GIVE IN TO WEIGHTY GENES

Some people are genetically more primed than others to gain weight in the face of a feast.

“The data linking genes to obesity is rock solid, even if it is not popular among the public health nutritionists,” says Prof Mike Gibney.

You can’t change your genes, but your behaviour may help to dial down their influence on your weight. “Just because you have a genetic predisposition to obesity doesn’t mean that you have to give in to it,” he says.

BE AWARE OF THE STRESS CONNECTION

Studies suggest a link between a chronically stressful environment and excess weight. The roles of hormones in this relationship is complex, but it’s thought that stress-related changes in glucocorticoid hormones can increase appetite, affect how we use and deposit fat stores and encourage the body to accumulate belly fat, which is linked to higher risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

USE YOUR EYES

An experiment offered free chicken wings to 52 graduate students watching the Super Bowl in a sports bar.

Those who sat at tables that were frequently “bussed” or cleared of the leftovers ate more than those who didn’t get to see the mounting evidence of what they had already eaten, according to the study in Perceptual and Motor Skills in 2007.

The moral of the story? Watch what you eat.

KEEP TABS ON YOUR WEIGHT

Weight gain can happen gradually. Keeping an eye on the situation will help you spot if you are putting on the pounds and dietitian Paula Mee has a some tips.

“If you really have to use a bathroom scales, use it once a week or a fortnight,” she says.

“If your shirt or skirt size is no longer fitting you, that’s a significant signal. Just be aware of your shape and where that extra weight is carried – fat around the middle or visceral fat needs to be tackled, whereas an extra pound or two elsewhere may not be significant in terms of your overall health.”