Alcohol Guide
When discussing macronutrients and flexible dieting we almost exclusively talk about fat, carbohydrate, and protein. When someone says “What are your macros” I bet you don’t give them an alcohol target :) You may not even know that alcohol is a macronutrient as well. Per gram, it is the second most dense macronutrient.
Fat - 9 calories per gram
Alcohol - 7 calories per gram
Carbohydrate - 4 calories per gram
Protein - 4 calories per gram
This is a positive in that alcohol isn’t a special substance that prevents us from losing weight. As long as it’s accounted for within total daily calories it won’t slow us down.
The bad news is that it’s fairly dense at 7 calories per gram. This density means calories can add up quickly. The same thing can be said for foods like peanut butter, chips, or ice cream. They are not inherently bad, but they do need to be monitored more closely than fruits, vegetables, meat, and whole grains.
Overview
In this guide, we’ll include the best and worst options in the following categories:
Hard seltzers
Mixed drinks/cocktails
Wine
Beer
It’s imperative to note that even the “worst” alcoholic drinks can be still consumed within the context of a well-balanced diet. The frequency of drinking and portion size matters much more than choosing the right beer at a cookout. If you’re someone that drinks a handful of times per year, this guide is overkill. But if you’re someone that drinks weekly, developing good habits around alcohol can make or break your results.
Hard Seltzer
Best
White Claw: 100 calories
High Noon: 100 calories
Truly: 100 calories
Vizzy: 100 calories
Wild Basin: 100 calories
Topo Chico: 100 calories
Juneshine Hard Kombucha: 150 calories
Spindrift Spiked: 90 calories
Worst - None
Notes: Most hard seltzers will be 80-120 calories, therefore there really aren’t bad options in this category. Don’t overthink the details here. These are designed to be low-calorie, so pick whichever is your favorite taste. As you’ll see throughout each category, the number of drinks you consume will almost always matter more than what you drink.
Mixed Drink/Cocktail
Best
Ranch Water: 100 calories
Cosmopolitan: 150 calories
French 75: 150 calories
Old Fashion: 150 calories
Mojito: 160 calories
Tom Collins: 160 calories
Bees Knees: 170 calories
Moscow Mule: 180 calories
Manhattan: 190 calories
Dark and Stormy: 195 calories
Worst
Espresso Martini: 250 calories
Long Island Iced Tea: 780 calories
Margarita: 740 calories
Pina Colada: 644 calories
Notes: You’ll see a trend with the “worst” mixed drinks in that they’ll contain higher alcohol by volume (ABV) or include other ingredients like sugar, syrups, and milk. For the options in the “best” don’t interpret the list as an old fashion at 150 calories is significantly better than a Moscow mule at 180 calories. Your bartender isn’t exactly a chemist weighing things to the gram, so these calorie yields will be estimates. If you’re consuming anything in the “best” category that is a win.
As a rule of thumb; if you can keep the mixed drink under 200 calories per serving that should easily be fit into your daily calorie goals.
Beer
Best
Guinness Draught: 125 calories
Miller Lite: 100 calories (4.2% ABV)
Bud Light: 110 calories
Heineken: 150 calories
Blue Moon: 165 calories (5.4% ABV)
Harpoon IPA: 170 calories (5.9% ABV)
Worst
Goose Island Oktoberfest: 217 calories (6.4%)
New Belgium Trippel Belgian Style Ale: 221 calories (7.8% ABV)
Samuel Adams Double Bock: 323 calories (9.5% ABV)
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum: 314 calories (10.4% ABV)
Notes: I included the ABV on a handful of options here to illustrate the difference between the low and high-calorie beers. You’ll see a trend that once the ABV gets above roughly 8% it’s difficult to find beers that are under 200 calories. Remember, from earlier in the article that alcohol itself does contain calories at 7 calories per gram, so it makes sense as beers become denser with alcohol the calories rise. Beer will also include some calories from carbohydrates, but that number is fairly constant across all beers.
The good news is that most popular beers are comfortably under 200 calories, so in a similar vein to our notes on mixed drinks, the number of beers will determine how problematic the calories become.
Wine
Best
Champagne = 19 calories/oz
Rose Wine = 20 calories/oz
Dry White Wine = 24 calories/oz (Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay)
Red Wine = 25 calories/oz (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir)
Sweet White Wine = 28 calories/oz
Worst
Port Wines = 46 calories/oz (Graham's Six Grapes Reserve Port
Notes: The simplest way to categorize wines is by their type, rather than the name. In a similar fashion to our mixed drink category, almost all wines are low-calorie if kept to 1-2 servings.
It’s often said that red wine is healthier than a sweet white wine, yet on a standard 5 oz serving red wine touts 125 calories and sweet white wine comes in at 140, not a significant difference. You likely see the trend, serving size is the most critical factor to get right. Put another way, 6 oz of red wine has more calories than 5 oz of sweet white wine. A visual difference almost indistinguishable to the eye.
If you’ve seen our old video on the “health food halo” effect it’s common for people to consume more of an item if they deem it healthy. This also occurs when people eat more calories on average at Subway vs McDonald’s. I’ve known many people who deem red wine as “good” for them and therefore justify consuming a larger quantity. They typically do not do the same with a sweet white wine because they deem it “bad” and therefore want to control the quantity.
The take-home point here is that no alcohol is health-promoting, nor is that the reason why you’re consuming it (bars serve sparking water too lol) so above all else control the quantity and pick the drinks you enjoy.
The Big Picture
Now that you’re equipped with the knowledge of the lowest and highest calorie options, how should you think about alcohol consumption in the big picture?
Well, I like to keep things simple so I recommend categorizing alcohol into the junk food category. Alcohol is similar to chips, french fries, cookies, cake, ice cream, etc. These are foods that have limited micronutrients and don’t provide much satiety. They don’t need to be eliminated entirely, but our rule of thumb is to restrict total junk food to roughly 20% of total calories.
I don’t think you need to bust out a calculator at your next backyard cookout to do the exact math, so think of it more as a heuristic to keep the junk under control.
I know many people will ask “What if I don’t eat any junk for several days, can I then have a lot on the weekend.” On paper, yes that is totally acceptable (ignoring other potential downsides to alcohol intake.) In reality, I don’t see many people that consistently drink 3+ alcoholic drinks serval days a week and see great results. That behavior is also heavily correlated with eating out, missing workouts, etc. so it’s hard to tease out the exact effect. But my most successful clients have learned to limit themselves to 1-2 drinks at a time, outside of some major events like weddings and holidays.
One Vice Rule
Another useful alcohol heuristic is to limit yourself to one junk food item at each meal. This simple plan can prevent calories from adding up quickly. 10-20 chips and some queso by itself may only be 200 calories. But chips, queso, a burger, and 1-2 beers can easily be 1,000+ calories. In my experience, this leads to the subjective experience that one “only” had 1-2 beers or “only” had a small burger, but doesn’t account for the total calorie yield. Yes, all of those things individually are not problematic but the compounded effect is.
While in theory one can reduce the portions of each item to limit calories, in practice I’ve found individuals have a much easier time with limiting options. You tell me what scenario seems more likely to happen at a cookout.
Scenario A
Cut back 20 chips & queso to 10 chips and less queso
Split a burger with your significant other
Cut back 2 beers into 1 beer
Scenario B
Skip out on appetizers
Eat a burger
Cut 2 beers into 1 beer
Both methods can work, but in practice, I’ve found clients are much more successful when they take an approach like scenario B. Here are other mindset examples I’ve seen work.
“I love this dip Christy makes. I’m going to indulge in that and not drink today”
“It’s super hot today and a beer sounds great. I’m going to have 2-3, but no appetizers, and I’m going to remove the bun from my burger.”
This also incorporates our old advice used around the holidays, which is “eat what you love, leave what you like.”
“Eat what you love, leave what you like”
Take Home Points
One’s need to consume low-calorie alcoholic beverages is largely dependent on how often one drinks.
Categorize alcohol in the 20% of junk food allowed each day.
On days alcohol is consumed, minimize other high-calorie junk food to minimize calories compounding quickly.
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