How to Drink Holiday Cocktails Without Increasing Your Waistline

Can you believe it has taken me three blog posts to wrap up my Thanksgiving weekend adventures? What a fun weekend! My last recap is about a bridal cocktail party that turned semi-wild before all was said and done. How can you not be intrigued?

But first–just in case you’re here for the fitness part–let me explain what your next conditioning workout is:

Complete 10 Rounds of the following for time:

• 5 Push-ups
• 10 Sit-ups
• 15 squats

This is a great body weight conditioning workout–nothing more is needed than YOU and I promise that you’ll get a GREAT little burn from this one. 😉

Back to the party.

To conclude my trilogy of a holiday weekend, Saturday evening I attended a cocktail party for Vicky, Erik’s brother’s fiancee. The venue was to die for cute. A wine bar, Kybecca, in a downtown hub, all you can drink wine, superb appetizers for noshing, and a fantastic atmosphere! So cool.

Drinking and Eating: The Good, Bad, and Ugly.

I told you already that my weekend was full of amazing wines, great foods, and even unusual splurges like pizza and cake. I don’t regret any of my choices…except maybe the extra pieces of cake I really did not need–haha. But a lot of fitness enthusiasts like myself always have an opinion on these food and beverage choices. Some refuse the drinking and/or splurges completely. Some workout to eat out. Some believe in moderation. I think I’m in that happy place where I believe I’m fit and healthy and know how to have a good time if I want to have one! Life is FUN!

But drinking and eating–especially with upcoming holiday parties almost every weekend–can be a little depressing on our waistlines if we aren’t careful.

The Ugly:

Alcohol tends to make people hungry. And let’s face it, how many of us make healthy food choices when drinking? Not this girl and I am the queen of healthy food choices. When I drink, all bets are off. I ate cake at midnight–with ice cream–because I had one, or maybe three, too many glasses of wine on Satruday. This is UGLY! 

The Bad:

After making pretty bad food choices, I don’t know about you, but I tend to feel a little guilty. Not to mention that I typically wake up dehydrated and feeling stiff, sore, and broken down from all the inflammation in my body from the sugar overload. I HATE hangovers and haven’t had a bad one in over four years (?) because I just absolutely despise that feeling. And not many people can recover from a hangover without binge eating something even worse–a burger, milkshake, cheese-fries–whatever does the trick, right? This is just so BAD for you!

The Good:

Alcohol isn’t what makes you fat. Sort of. It’s what you’re pairing with the alcohol. Check out this article from T-Nation, A Lifter’s Guide to Alcohol. This is a great post that breaks down exactly what happens when you drink, how much you can get away with drinking, how to eat with drinking, and the most appropriate time to drink. The piece even highlights the better alcohol choices. It’s GREAT for people like us who love to feel fit and still celebrate the GOOD times.

How do you get away with celebrating the holidays and not ruining your body?

• Stay hydrated. Drink 8 ounces of water for every 4 ounces of alcohol
• Eat protein before you drink, and if you’re hungry while drinking, eat more protein. As stated in the article above, protein is about the only macronutrient in which your body won’t convert to fat while processing the alcohol.
• Eat small frequent meals throughout the day so that you aren’t ravenous and so that the alcohol doesn’t have an even worse affect on you.
• One thing that really helped me was drinking Drip Drop.  I drank a packet before I went out, before I went to bed each night, and then on the following morning. Drip Drop is like an IV in powder form (which happens to taste amazing) and helped me combat my damage with proper vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes lost when drinking.
• Just be smart! I know that I will drink wine a little slower than a margarita. I know that if I’m celebrating a birthday all night, I’ll drink a lighter beer with less calories that won’t make me feel like I got hit by a truck the next day. If I’m only having one drink somewhere, I’ll order a fun, heavier craft beer. I think we’re all old enough to really know our bodies by this point, so just be smart with yourself in the situation that you’re in.
• And if you screw up? I hope you had a hell of a time doing it.

Like I said, I don’t have all the answers–I just know what works for me and maybe some of you are like me in those ways.  Hopefully this may help those of you looking to have fun and yet survive the holidays without any damage or regrets. I truly believe life is about balance, enjoying yourself, appreciating those you love, and having a great time celebrating all the important moments–big or small. So enjoy your holiday season no matter how you choose to approach it!