Dinner party or dinner pig-out?

The facts don’t lie and recent research shows that in general people scoffed about 35 percent more food when eating with another person and up to 96 percent more when eating with a group of at least seven. Yikes!

Why: you linger at the table longer when dining with others, which encourages you to eat more, according to Dr Brian Wansink, author of Slim by Design.

Here, his three top strategies to help you curtail extra kilojoules:

1/ Be the first to order

You’re less likely to be swayed by others’ choices.

2/ Start eating last

If you finish while others are still busy, you may be inclined to help yourself to seconds.

3/ Pace yourself

Eat in time with the slowest at the table. Taking it easy gives your brain time to get the “hey, I’m full!” signal from your belly.

Looking for more dinner party tips? Here’s five tricks that’ll help you survive the party season (and stick to your goals), plus eating strategies that’ll help you navigate the spread.