IT'S a tough enough job maintaining your shape the rest of the year but when the champagne and eggnog starts to flow and friends ply you with chocolates and Christmas cookies, what can you do? Some sail unscathed through the weeks of excess. Others don't. What are their secrets? PETER GRAHAM, barrister, at Christmas puts himself on a strict regimen ''recommended by Georgie Fame''. It prohibits protein being eaten with starch. ''It's called the Hay Diet and it causes me to spend a lot of time at drinks parties pulling canapes apart. People stare, but I don't mind.'' ANNABEL ZIMMERN, food consultant and co-owner of Celebration, a newly opened cafe in Quarry Bay, says: ''Just open a new restaurant three weeks before Christmas. It's very slimming indeed, because you'll have no time to eat, drink or go out.'' DAVID DAVIES, chairman Pacific Davies, went on a diet eight weeks ago living on prison-like fare of ''soup, vegetables and not one drop of booze''. After two months of suffering, he intends to throw all caution to the wind, drink to his heart's content, and really enjoy Christmas.
MARGARET TANCOCK, owner of The Body Shop walks in the early morning, meditates twice a day and drinks lots of water.
JOHN HUNG, executive director of Wheelock suggests taking the family to Bali, or a cross-country run with the children on New Year's Day thereby forcing you to avoid fattening foods, reduce alcohol consumption and get to sleep early.'' ALF BUTLER, husband of Diane, remedies the after-effects with a spartan 1,200 calories-a-day diet for six weeks following the holiday, gives the Stairmaster a rigorous 15 minute-a-day pounding and alternates the strong stuff with a stiff glass of Perrier.
TERESA NORTON, singer and columnist, says her strategy revolves around an ideal holiday wardrobe. ''It's all basic black with elastic waists. Then I cunningly accessorise my outfits with ruby red or cut glass slippers thus drawing attention to my feet andaway from my body.'' ALAN CHAN, lean and mean graphic designer, looks forward to Christmas because he's been asking Santa for the same thing since he was a teenager. ''Maybe this time he will grant my wish and give me a present of a couple of kilos.'' CASSAM GOOLJARRY, wine trader and gourmet, maintains his figure ''by drinking less and eating less, but only the very best in each case, of course''.
DAVID TANG, cigar promoter, enjoys a life of blatant indulgence 12 months a year. He agrees with soul-mate Oscar Wilde who advocated yielding to one's temptations, and went on to say that he would ''not even attempt to watch my figure'' but relaxes and lets himself be ''seduced by all the foods and drinks and cigars that come my way over Christmas and New Year''.
ANGELA HO, art gallery owner, says the real secret is to find a man who will love you through thick and thin.