Which Alcohol has the Lowest & Highest Calories?

 Variety of Alcoholic DrinksWhen you are trying to lose weight there are many things that you will have to cut out of your diet. This doesn’t mean just food but drinks as well. In this article I am going to tackle the subject of alcohol and how it has an effect on your ability to lose weight effectively. Of course, you don’t have to cut out alcohol completely however, it would help, especially in the beginning. Cutting out alcohol when you have just started to try and lose weight will accelerate your initial weight loss. There might be situations whilst you are dieting that mean that it’s hard for you to stick to your regime. For instance, if you are invited out to dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday then you don’t want to be a stick in the mud and not join in with the part atmosphere.

Alcohol

A lot of people would just “throw their diet out of the window” for the evening but this can lead to you giving up on losing weight completely. There are some alcoholic drinks that you can consume when you are trying to lose weight and there are also ways in which you can make sure that your alcoholic drink is as low in calories as possible. If you have ever come across Weight Watchers, you will know that they base their diet programs on a points system. This is no different when it comes to alcohol. With the Weight Watchers diet you can enjoy a glass of wine when you are out to dinner but remember that the number of points is likely to be much higher than if you stick to soft drinks.

I have done a bit of research on the alcoholic drinks that will really not do you any favors when you are trying to lose weight and those that are not so bad. I’ve also come up with a few ideas on how you can make sure that the alcohol you do drink is not too high calories.

To start with, let’s look at the worst alcoholic drinks you can consume when you are trying to lose weight:

Alcohol with the Highest Calories

👉Long Island Iced Tea – This is a marvelous cocktail however, due to the composition it’s around 780 calories per glass! When you think about what the average daily intake is likely to be when you are on a diet, especially as a woman, this drink would probably take up about a third! Don’t think that you will be doing the right thing by asking for a diet coke with this drink, it simply won’t make any difference!

👉Margaritas – With a slightly lower calorie content than that of Long Island Iced Teas (600 calories), this drink still packs a punch not just on alcohol content but also on sugar. However, there are ways in which you can lighten up this drink (I personally love a margarita on a hot summers day). If I’m making a jug of it at home, I use lighter forms of lime cordial, these are just as tasty and don’t contain anywhere near the amount of sugar that you will find with mixers at your local pub.

👉Anything that contains pre-packed fruit concentrates or mixes and has been frozen is not going to help you out if you’re after re-gaining your trim waistline. These are packed full of calories; take a pina colada for instance, these contain at least 650 calories per drink and there are certain mixers that will contain at least 56 calories. When you think about the amount of different mixers that can go into cocktails it all soon adds up.

👉Beer is a bit of a no, no, simply because of the way that it’s processed. We don’t have the phrase “beer belly” for no reason; however, you will find that most beers come in at less than half the calories of most cocktails so the odd one here or there is probably not going to do you too much harm in terms of weight gain.

👉Liqueurs are another alcoholic drink that people enjoy, especially the ladies, however, you will find that the average pub double will contain at least 180 calories and if you like the creamy ones then these are even higher.

Alcohol with the Lowest Calories

Wine

👉Wine isn’t such a bad option (this is possibly why Weight Watchers advise that if you are going to drink alcohol then choose wine). A standard glass of wine can be anything from 80 to 185 calories. Rose comes in the lower end of the scale and fortified wines such as port come in at the higher end of the scale; again this is simply because of the way they are processed. One way in which you can make wine less calorific is too have just half a glass and top the rest up with water…don’t use lemonade or soda, these drinks are packed with sugar. The other thing you can do (however, it’s not much fun if you’re looking to get a bit of a buzz from your drink) is to switch to non-alcoholic wine. A glass of this will only cost you 37 calories.

👉Spirits are not something that generally carry a huge amount of calories, vodka comes in at the lowest; containing 120 calories for one pub double. Gin comes in slightly higher but by only 1 calorie, this might sound a bit picky but when you are watching the amount calories you are digesting each day, the extra one can make a difference when you add it up over a month. Whiskey is also around the same at 122 calories, this is all based on the same pub measure as previously mentioned. Beware though, when you look at mixers, these can contain anything from 35 to 40 calories so you will be up to around the 200 or more mark.

👉When using mixers try and make sure that you stick to a slim line tonic or a diet fizzy drink as these usually only contain about 1-2 calories.

So, there is some information on alcohol and the number of calories they contain. The message here is basically that you can drink alcohol when you are trying to lose weight however, beware that it will hold you up overall. What you should know is that alcohol stimulates your appetite and if you drink alcohol whilst you are trying to lose weight then you are more likely to feel hungry on occasions when its not meal time. It has in fact been reported that those of us that drink alcohol will consume at least 350 calories more than those that don’t drink alcohol.

How to Control your Alcohol Consumption whilst trying to Lose Weight

👉Give it up completely. Whether it is for a week, month or until you have managed to reach your ideal weight.

Weight Loss

👉Try not to drink alcohol during the week. This will help you lose more weight however, when it gets to Friday evening and you’re off out with your friends don’t go mad and down a whole bottle of wine or for you gentlemen out there 10 pints of beer! This will just put you back to square one and certainly will not help your head when you wake up the next morning.

In fact, binging on alcohol in this way can actually cause you to gain weight even if you have abstained during the week.

👉I don’t want you to be known as a “cheap skate” when it comes to getting the drinks in but try not getting into the “it’s my round” situation. This means that you are more than likely going to try and keep up with the one friend you have that can down a pint in less than 15 minutes. Plus, it will be much harder for you to keep an eye on how much you are drinking. Explain to your friends that you are on a diet and whilst you want to join in the fun; you do have to make sure that you don’t take in too many calories. Just pay for your own drinks for a while.

👉Get a friend or your partner involved in cutting down on alcohol, two heads are better than one and you can support each other when you decide to cave in and reach for a nice cold beer or glass of wine.

👉If you do want to drink during the week then make sure that you have at least 2-3 days in the week when you are alcohol free.

👉If you are out drinking, why not have an alcoholic drink and when that’s empty have a glass of water; this way you will be able to keep your alcohol consumption down.

👉Go for a smaller glass. Half a pint or a small glass of wine.

If you follow the information in this article you’ll lose weight and look after your liver in the process!