Alcohol and dieting, advice?

Have you checked out the brand skinny girl? they make a variety of low calorie alcoholic beverages for those of us who are still interested in drinking but don't want all those calories. There are also some other brands and mixers that are low cal that you can google.

Also, if you do a Gin and diet tonic it only is 60 calories vs a beer which has anywhere from 120 to 300. Any liquor and a diet soda will be around 60 calories. Also, someone mentioned before, drinking water in between will help.

If you cut out some of your calories during the day it will also take less to get the desired effect... just saying

I enjoy cocktails, so I reward myself with them (not daily) by banking some exercise calories and then using them for my cocktail consumption. Being a 21 year old I think you should enjoy yourself this is a very short period in your life so have fun with it.

just put a drop of alcohol in ur *kitten* and u get drunk.. thats wut i do.

This is a ridiculous topic. If you want to get a buzz off something smoke weed, drinking is so much worse for you.

I hear you kitten. I'm Irish, and for me, the stereotype is true. With weather like this, you have to drink I haven't had anything this month and I've really enjoyed it actually. But there are a lot of birthdays etc coming up. It starts with a 40th tomorrow night. Awwww ohhhhh I'm prepared to get slated, I'll be ignoring everyone who has something negative to say to me, so please, save yourself the energy

You already know you shouldn't consume alcohol. You also know you are going to anyway. You are young and you want to party. It's as black and white as that. So, since you will anyway, maybe not three nights a week, every week, but let's say one night every fortnight (in theory, heh heh). So, you'll have to be smart about it.

Exercise, as much as you can.
Cut out beer (it still saddens me)
Do NOT drink sweet things like alco pops - those pre mixed vodka drinks that are full of sugar

The next two are the main ones....

Mix your drink a LOT - this has been a life saver for me, ordering it is tricky sometimes, but do it Get one measure of a spirit; my favourite is dark rum, but you can go vodka etc; get the ONE measure in a pint glass with a little low calorie diluting juice and top the rest up with water, ice and a lemon wedge. This is delicious with rum! If the bar only has a sugary diluting juice, get a vodka with water and wedges of lemon and lime. It takes awhile to drink and it hasn't near as many calories. You can always get a rum and diet coke too, but that's expensive. And because it's a spirit, you don't need very many of them White wine with sugar free lemonade isn't a bad choice anyway and you certainly won't need to drink many of those.

And finally, next day when you are hungover, don't eat sloppy. Make soup

In my opinion, you need to have fun and let loose sometimes. All work and no play, you know Have fun

So I'm looking for some advice here, I'm 21 years old first off, and I'm finding myself in the same dilemma every weekend..whether I should workout more or eat less just so I can go out and drink..I know that the healthiest choice would be to just cut alcohol all together but I don't see that as being an attainable goal for me at this time..so I'm looking for advice/suggestions from anyone that may be in a similar situation..how much is an ok amount to drink, what would be the best thing to drink, and should I be eating less to save calories for my drinks or is that even less healthy? Anyone who has any input on how to balance dieting and my current social life would be greatly appreciated!!

Seriously, if you are trying to choose between nutrition and alcohol, you just might have a problem with alcohol...

Oh come on, she's 21! Give the girl a break! People with an alcohol problem don't generally put it on a forum either

I would not tell anyone to cut anything out of their diet that they enjoy--soda, fried food, ice cream or alcohol. For me, I make sure that I meet 90% of my macros with food before I add in alcohol. I often use my exercise calories for alcohol--WIll Kickbox for Wine.

hahahaha love this!!!!

I am an exercise science graduate working on my graduate degree right now and I am not sure if anyone has said this but alcohol actually causes muscle to slow down in recovery. By drinking more than one alcoholic drink a day your causing your body to recover slower. It will take twice as long for a certain muscle group to recover if you consume alcohol. Normal recovery for one muscle group is two days...while drinking its four.