ADVERTISEMENT

We Asked A Dietician How To Drink When You're Trying To Lose Weight

Like with men, a betch can’t live with or without her alcohol. How are we expected to function as a human during the work week if we can’t drink our feelings all weekend long? There’s no world where being skinny is better than being drunk, sorry Kate Moss. So we have to learn to like, balance. We brought in Carolyn Brown, a registered dietitian at Foodtrainers, to chat with us on our Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast about finding the balance between living a healthy life and having a social life.

Choose Your Drink Number

Before you go out, it’s helpful to make a plan about how f*cked up you’re going to get. Choose your occasions to get blackout carefully, because cutting down on the drinks can make a huge impact. Brown suggests keeping it to about 10 drinks per week. If you want to use all 10 of those on one night, I’m not here to judge. But the point is to hold yourself accountable like a real adult, even if it means keeping a tally of drinks on your wrist like a college freshman. Another helpful tip while you’re out is to counteract every drink you have with one water or seltzer. Nobody actually gives a sh*t what’s in your cup, so take a break from pounding back shots of tequila and take a sip of water.

Choose Your Two Of Four

This is a helpful trick that Brown suggests to all of her clients. When going out with friends, choose between the four vices: the bread basket, booze, dinner carbs, and dessert. You can’t have it everything you want all the time and still expect to lose weight. Brown says, “choose the two that are most important to you.” Obviously, that’s going to cause some serious panic, because how TF do you choose?? But an easy tip is to look at the menu beforehand. Brown notes that by picking out what you’re going to eat in advance, you can better plan which two of the four you would most want. This gives you flexibility and empowerment because you’re making healthy choices and like, not giving up your chocolate cake and champagne.

Choose Your Drink

Bottomless pitchers are all fun and games until you realize that there’s more than just alcohol in that sh*t. Mixed drinks can add a lot of unnecessary calories to your night out. You might gag at the thought of taking a shot of pure vodka, but it’s like, healthier. Brown reminds her clients to drink higher quality and clearer alcohol. The second you start adding agave to your drink, everything goes downhill (not to mention, your hangover will be way worse). So get a vodka soda and chill TF out.

Choose Your Drunk Eats

While you might want to dive into all-you-can-eat mozzarella sticks after a night out, that’s probably a bad idea. Sorry. A trick that can help you from literally bulldozing through the entire McDonald’s menu is planning out what you’re going to eat beforehand. Then, you compensate earlier in the day depending on your plan. For example: If you can’t live without eating an entire pizza after clubbing, eat vegetables and sh*t during the day. On the flip side, if you eat literal crap the entire day, leave yourself out a healthier snack to have when you get home. Brown suggests crackers, carrots and hummus, or even popcorn. So long as you set a limit (and maybe lock your fridge) you should be good.

Choose Your Hangover Eats

Nothing goes together quite as well as hungover Sundays and Seamless. But if you already enjoyed a solid amount of alcohol last night, you need to like, have some self-control. Brown is a huge advocate for making your own hangover brunch. It’s healthier and saves money. One of the best foods for breaking down alcohol is eggs with the yolk. Brown says that making yourself some eggs with avocado, spinach, or even some *gasp* bacon can be a lot healthier than diving into Russ and Daughter’s babka French toast.

For more tips on how to enjoy your life while still being healthy enough to live, listen to our episode of Diet Starts Tomorrow below and check out Carolyn Brown’s Instagram and website.

Images: Giphy (2); Unsplash/Justin Aikin