Calling all alcohol lovers!

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believeandtry
believeandtry Posts: 64 Member
I have been "dieting" since i was 15 so I never really drank because drinking would cause me to use excess calories. Now that I am eating more, i feel like i definitely have room in my calories budget to include a few drinks! What drink recommendations do you have for a first time drinker? Beer, wine, mixed drinks, anything you like :)

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  • PLUMSGRL
    PLUMSGRL Posts: 1,134 Member
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    wine coolers or mixed drinks (rum, vodka, or brandy and diet coke, vodka with cranberry, oj, or grapefruit, rum and pineapple, pina colada, strawberry daquiri) ask any bartender!:drinker:
  • booyainyoface
    booyainyoface Posts: 409 Member
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    alcohol can add up quick, especially with any sugary mixers...

    i usually drink a few times a week (i only get crazy once every few weeks...) but try to stick to a few glasses of wine, a few light beers or one good strong IPA, or if im drinking to get a buzz on flavored vodka with soda water (or diet coke if you need a no-cal sweet mixer)

    careful though that you don't drink too much cause then you will eat hangover food :)
  • KarinFit4Life
    KarinFit4Life Posts: 424 Member
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    Red Wine.

    ....other than that you'd be okay with Vodka, Gin, Whiskey, Brandy - mixed with Soda water/ zero cal soft drinks. Light beer is okay too I think.
    DONT drink any cocktails!!! LOADED with sugar!!! Were talking 1000 cals and up here in ONE drink!

    Avoid all sugar added alcoholic drinks.

    I second booyainyoface - be careful of drinking too much at one time (especially since you are new to drinking and dont know your body's limits yet). If you drink too much one tends to stuff your face with all kinds of unhealthy goodies...
  • Noor13
    Noor13 Posts: 964 Member
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    Alcohol in general tends to make on feel more hungry
  • MariaMariaM
    MariaMariaM Posts: 1,322 Member
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    Mixing good alcohol with diet mixers is a waste in my opinion because the taste is not really good. If u are having Rum mix it with regular cola no diet. Big difference in flavor. Vodka and cranberry juice is good too and of course wine.
  • Lenny0714
    Lenny0714 Posts: 6 Member
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    My favorite go to drink right now is Whipped Vodka by Pinnacle with diet cream soda or diet Sunkist. A serving size of vodka is 1.5 oz at about 150 cals,so it does add up quick if your not watching or someone else is making it. I usually budget myself about 6 oz if I know I'm gonna hang with friends. I don't like to taste the alcohol so this drink taste either like just cream soda or kinda like a orange creamsicle( spelling) I love also Mike hard lemonade in black cherry too,but I think each bottle has about 180 cals. Have fun trying new stuff :)
  • TripleJ3
    TripleJ3 Posts: 945 Member
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    I am big into dirty martinis and wine, especially sangria! Many sangrias come in around 100-150cals per drink. I used to be big into Jack and diet or Jack and water but I just haven't been able to get the taste for it anymore.

    I am trying to get back into beer. I don't drink much anymore but when we do go out, some of the type of bars we go to it just feels too fussy to order martinis so I have been having great luck with the baby beers such as Bud Select 55. I can get a hangover after only 3 drinks, I get them very easily and my next day will be shot! So far I have had good luck with all the low carb beers, at the most the next day I am tired since alcohol doesn't let me sleep in nor do my 3 kids:sad:

    But I am usually good at limiting myself to 3 drinks for the night, maybe 4.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    vodka and diet soda, I like absolute and diet coke/pepsi.. its a low cal 0 carb drink.. or you can always go whiskey on the rocks (or with water) or scotch and water.. I enjoy beers but not the low cal ones, so my beers add up pretty quick.. I avoid mixing alcohol with any juices as that is adding sugar and extra calories.. its hard to measure stuff you can have a bartender that gives you 1 shot a drink, or one that does a 90/10 mix.. so its guess work.
  • patty43ck
    patty43ck Posts: 248 Member
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    I do Michelob Ultra Light if I am doing beer. I love Firefly Sweet tea vodka (sugar free) mixed with sugar free lemonade! Taste like southern style sweet tea - Yummy!! Other favorites are the Skinny Girl cocktail series, flavored vodkas mixed with the flavored seltzer waters and last but not least Zing Zang Bloody Marys. The mix has just enought spice in it! I also enjoy and good glass of red wine on occasion but not a huge wine drinker because it give me horrible hangovers. I am pretty much a vodka girl.
  • rebekahgo
    rebekahgo Posts: 235 Member
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    this doesn't help you at all, but there is a restaurant in my town that makes the most amazing key lime martinis that are around 100 cals. holy crap, they are good!!

    i recently discovered cake vodka. no joke, it tastes like vanilla cake. good with diet soda or club soda.

    drinking totally sabotages my food logging most of the time, but i do enjoy the occasional indulgence.
  • rebekahgo
    rebekahgo Posts: 235 Member
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    I love Firefly Sweet tea vodka (sugar free) mixed with sugar free lemonade! Taste like southern style sweet tea - Yummy!!........

    I am pretty much a vodka girl.

    oh man, me too. that sounds really good. might have to pick some up for the vacation starting tomorrow.
  • gjriddle
    gjriddle Posts: 46 Member
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    For a starter, I'd steer clear of beer (whew, I'm a poet!). I found it took a long time to find what kind of beer I liked, which included drinking a LOT that I hated... which is just wasting calories! I'd say start out with maybe some semi-sweet wine? Any place that serves wine by the glass will let you have a taste before ordering a glass to make sure you like it, so that's a great way to start! Reisling is a very sweet white, pinot grigio is a semi-sweet (and my favorite!).

    Mixed drinks are good too, but like someone mentioned be careful of sweet mixers. Margaritas are delicious but PACKED with sugar and empty calories!! Some good ones are vodka and tonic, vodka and cranberry juice, rum and diet coke... simple ones.

    Good luck and happy exploring! :-)
  • believeandtry
    believeandtry Posts: 64 Member
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    Yumm! Thank you everyone! must go try some of these this weekend!!!
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
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    i'm not a big drinker...not the calories but because alcohol actually slows the fat burning process no matter what the calories (i dont know TOO much so i'd google haha)

    BUT when i do drink i have Malibu coconut rum.... i mix it with Crystal Light!! strawberry banana or something fruity... saves so many calories and i hate the taste of alcohol so this is a delicious girly drink!!
  • sugarplumj
    sugarplumj Posts: 107 Member
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    In the summer I am a fan of vanilla vodka soda with a wedge of lime, or the good old fashioned white wine spritzer. It's not as caloric as a full glass, definitely more refreshing, and I like to think that it is hydrating, as well.
  • Ange_
    Ange_ Posts: 324 Member
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    If alcohol is not part of your life now, then why start now?
    People talk about it being 'empty calories'. well it is actually worse than that. Alcohol gets prioritised by your body as it sees it as a poison. So it stops burning all the regular food while it gets to work at getting rid of it out of your system.
    So the calorie amount you might read for a particular drink isn't really representative of what it does to your body. This really is an instance of a calorie is not a calorie.

    I'm not anti alcohol though. I think is someone really loves the taste of something, then in high moderation then that is fine. Drinking to get drunk is crazy bad for you.

    When you talk of an 'alcohol lover' then an alcoholic comes to mind or at least a binge drinker. Someone who loves to drink something because it is alcoholic rather than because their really appreciate the taste of a particular drink like wine etc.

    They are now finding lots of evidence that even moderate amounts of alcohol can increase the likelihood of cancer, possibly as high as the increased chances of cancer from smoking!
    Really scary stuff!

    So if i were you i'd stay very far away from any drink that is just lolly water. They are made for people that don't actually like the taste of traditional alcoholic drinks but want to get drunk so they choose drinks that just taste like soft drink or cordial and have huge amounts of sugar (or fake sugar in some circumstances).

    Wine possibly has some health benefits (although probably nothing you can't get from a cup of tea) and certainly doesn't taste like anything else. So perhaps educate yourself with some wine tasting if you really feel the urge to drink. At least then you might fit in better in certain social circumstances. And remember occasional binge drinking (more than 4 STANDARD drinks for women) is far far worse for your body than having 1 standard drink a day, but even that does damage.

    But well done on resisting the social pressure to drink up to now in order to be more healthy.