I'm with ya! I usually have margarita's, but not the best calorie wise. I like cosmo's too, again, not too keen on the low cal thing. I think diet coke/pepsi and rum or something is the best. Anytime you can mix some kind of alcohol with something that has no cals is probably the best.

I think though that as long as you've had a good cal day, and worked out you can have a few drinks of choice and not worry too much (as long as you don't over do it).

(and opposite of popular belief hard alcohol does have calories, 7 per gram in fact - carbs are 4 per g, so are protien, and fat is 9! I just found that interesting. They don't have to put it on the label because it has no nutritional value. Just wanted to put that out there.)

I agree with Stephanie about mixing no calories with your alcohol. That's usually a good alternative to straight alcohol.

And yes, the 7 cal/gm for alcohol is correct! A lot of people don't think that alcohol has calories, but it does.

I like to mix vanilla vodka with diet soda. Minimal alcohol/calories but tastes great. There are other flavors too so you could experiment. I bet the fruit ones would be good too.

Try a bit of gin in grapefruit juice

I know alky is calorie laden so on that occations that I go out like to a bar that happens to be a long way from my house and Ill have to take a nite bus home and then walk for like 30mins Ill have a couple of drinks then drink water that I have bottled in my bag, If I go out closer to where Im staying the nite and traveling home with people I know Ill drink more but to combat the bad cals etc Ill have a better caloried day, making sure my stomach has food in before I start drinking of course.

I thought beer was HIGH in carbs? Actully has a higher GI rating than glucose itself.

Alky is empty calories, so it gives you nothing but fat. I've cut down on my drinking. I asked my weight loss consultant if throwing it up means you don't keep the calories, but sadly that's not the case

But there are a lot of reduced-carb and reduced-calorie beers now

I stopped drinking after college--I was getting out of control and knew that with my personality, I would likely become out of control, so I gave it up cold turkey. When I did drink, I certainly wasn't worried about the calories in the drinks themselves--it's the munchies that come along with the drinking and socializing We would order pizzas, eat chips, buy subs, munch candy...I would think your best bet (and I know you're doing South Beach) is to avoid anything with regular (sugary) juice added, so I think the diet coke and rum is a good idea (or if you're like me, just do some straight hard shots ).

If I drink, I stick to the light, low-carb beers. I think they're tasty. I'm always hesitant about what else I could drink that isn't loaded with sugar. So, since I'm never sure, I just stick to light beer. (I'm not a fan of rum, so the rum and diet soda is out for me.)

I like the idea of vanilla vodka and diet coke. I'll have to give that a try!

Real rum and Coke's are one thing I have definitely missed since starting to watch my calories. I still get in an occasional glass or wine or bottle of beer, but I have had to cut back a good bit from what I used to drink.

You might want to check out this Bacardi site: http://www.islandbreeze.com/

They have a line of rums that has less calories and the site has a bunch of recipies for lower calorie cocktails. I haven't tried them myself, but I have seen them in a local liquor store.

I love foofy "girly" drinks but they are so high in calories I just can't drink them without guilt (except for pina coladas on my birthday). Now I stick to wine, rum and diet coke, gin and diet sprite, or vodka and light cranberry juice. I don't really care for beer that much, light or otherwise. Did ya'll know there is a corona light? I don't know if it's new or I just lived in ignorance for a long time.

You can make your own fruit dacquiris so you can control the sugar and know exactly what you're consuming. I use unsweetend, frozen strawberries, rasberries, or other fruits, mix w/ ice, rum, and some calorie-free sweetener and blend in blender. Viola! Yummy, much less sugar than what you'd buy at a bar, and you get some servings of fruit in.

I have tried carb-free, almost calorie free (i think 5 cals/glass) mixers (mai tai and margarita, i think) called Baja Bob's and they were absolutely AWFUL. They are NOT worth the price!

The Becks premier light are the lowest cal I have found--63 cals/beer I think? I think they taste all right. Also sometimes if I am drinking wine with the boyfriend at home I will add selter water to mine so it's just as full but only half the cals and more bubbly.