5 Of Your Favorite Cocktails—And How Many Calories They May Be Hiding

Drinking can be fun especially when you’re on a night out with friends. But when you’re on a diet, how can you party when you can’t even order anything from the drink list since alcohol supposedly affects weight?

Here’s the truth: it isn’t just the alcohol that’s a barrier to weight loss. It’s also the sugar found in cocktail mixers that makes life harder when you’re trying to shed some pounds or maintain a healthy physique.

 

 

A post shared by Cocktails (21+ to follow) (@cocktails) on Jul 19, 2018 at 12:03pm PDT

 

We’re here to tell you that your social life doesn’t have to suffer just because you’ve decided to eat and drink healthy. The ultimate trick is just to be aware of what goes into your drink. Avoid drinks mixed with a lot of sugary juices, syrups, or extracts. And choose your liquor wisely. Here’s a quick rundown of the sugar content of the following alcoholic drinks, calculated by the glass, from lowest to highest:

Vermouth, 7.5 grams sugar

Vodka, 8.9 grams

Gin 14 grams

Tequila, 19.2 grams

Wine, 23.75 grams

Campari, 56 grams

Whisky, 75 grams

 

 

Watermelon Mules = lit summer BBQ. . . . . @delish

A post shared by Cocktails (21+ to follow) (@cocktails) on Jul 5, 2018 at 11:53am PDT

 

To help you out the next time you’re at the bar partying with friends, here’s the calorie count of 5 of popular classic cocktails:

 

Gin and Tonic

Photo by Sgroene on Pixabay

This trendy drink of the moment offers only 90 calories in one glass. This cocktail is an easy mix of two ounces gin and 4 ounces tonic water over ice, garnished with a wedged lime. G&Ts can sometimes be blended with fruits and herbs, which thankfully don’t add much more calories.

 

Martini

Photo by LJB2 on Pixabay

Whether you like it shaken or stirred, the Martini is one of the most iconic of cocktails. A standard Martini clocks in at a respectable 130 calories in one Martini glass, usually made with 2 1/2 ounces dry gin, 3/4 ounce dry vermouth, and garnished with an olive or two. You can bring down the calorie count even more by replacing the gin with vodka, which contains even less sugar.

 

Negroni

Photo by Lehtta1 on Pixabay

This classic Italian cocktail involves 1 1/2 ounces dry gin, an ounce of sweet vermouth, and one ounce of Campari, garnished with an orange twist to punch up the color. One glass gives you 190 calories, thanks in large part to the high sugar content of the Campari.

 

Margarita

Photo from Pixabay

Often a name, sometimes a cocktail. This drink is a mixture of 2 ounces tequila, 3/4 ounce Cointreau, an ounce of lime juice, a drop of agave nectar, and finished with a lime wedge. Whether blended with ice or shaken in a shaker, this popular party drink gives you a whopping 245 calories! The culprit? It’s the tequila that gives this drink its high calorie count.

 

Rum and Coke

Photo by Social Butterfly on Pixabay

Also called a Cuba Libre, this cocktail is usually made with rum, Coke, and sometimes lime juice for that refreshing edge. The cola is the sweet agent that dulls the bite of the rum in every sip. When you mix rum and Coke in one glass, you get a calorie-busting 280 calories, and for those carbs-watchers 1.6 grams of carbohydrates. It’s the soda, of course, that spikes the calorie count for this drink. 

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the occasional cocktail or two. Just know what you’re drinking and how many calories you’re consuming with every sip. Cheers!

 

Banner photo by Jennifer Pallian on Unsplash. Thumbnail photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash. Calorie count courtesy of Cecille Esperanza