Boozin’

A lot of you Spring Shaper-Uppers (you’re like fix-‘er-uppers, but way hotter) have asked me how you can booze and lose weight.

To be honest, from last February – last August, I didn’t drink very much. I can count the number of times I felt hungover the next day one one hand. Fitting into skinny jeans, or even less fat jeans, was just way more important to me than that extra drink. The amount of fun I was having losing weight and going to the gym at that point was so much more fun than a vodka soda. I also had a good time, for a little while, being the stone-cold sober one.

Now, I haven’t jumped both feet first back on the party hard wagon (I think both my liver and my mother are happy to hear this), but my desire to lose weight (since I’m basically there), and my desire to have a few cocktails and have fun are kinda at equal proportions right now.

So, my advice would be:

• to want it (losing weight, getting in shape, whatever your goal is) SO BAD YOU CAN TASTE IT. By taste it, I mean taste the water you’re going to drink at the bar. Even switching it up drink/water/drink/water will help.
• to schedule something the next day that will keep you from boozin’. For me, I scheduled sessions with my trainer or I signed up for races. Feeling hungover (or even just a little off your game) and trying to work out hard? You’ll want to kill yourself. Making this mistake once was enough for me to never want to do it again.

But if you really want to drink…

• Get a drink that tastes terrible to you. Me? I wasn’t so into chardonnay, so I started drinking that because I would drink it slowly. I also wasn’t in to vodka sodas – I preferred vodka tonics – so I switched to vodka sodas. Now, both taste okay to me, so I need another not-as-tasty beverage choice.
• Know that for each gram of alcohol, there are 7 calories. For each gram of protein or carbs, there are 4 calories. Each gram of fat is 9 calories. So each gram of alcohol packs that extra caloric punch. Each non-light beer has about 13-15 grams of carbs. I’m a writer, not a math person, but that’s a lot of calories. Light beer has 4.5 grams of carbs. Way less calories. Wine has 1-2 grams of carbs, and vodka/gin/rum/whiskey all have no carbs.
• So, calorically, go for the liquor with a no-calorie mixer like seltzer or soda (or even water/on the rocks, if you’re into that!)
• Stay away from the sugary drinks. I love margaritas. LOVE LOVE LOVE. But a margarita easily has 250 calories. I’ll have one every once in a while. ONE. Then, I usually switch to vodka or light beer.
• Look at www.getdrunknotfat.com. It shows you how you can get as much booze per ounce with as few calories as possible.

But the top things I would advise are to not drink/drink in moderation or to drink something that’s not as tasty to you so you drink slowly.