Drink This, Not That: Cocktails That Won’t Ruin Your Summer Body

When summer finally arrives, it’s all about being outside, crashing cookouts, having great food, and refreshing drinks. However, that doesn't mean you should give up on your summer body goals. One of the quickest ways to fall off track of your health and fitness goals is by indulging in sugary alcoholic beverages on a daily basis.

As is the case with all good things, too much of your favorite summer drinks like margaritas, mojitos, and beer can wreak havoc on your diet and your body. But don’t swear off your favorite drinks just yet, there are ways to make or order healthier cocktails that will help you keep that summer body well into the next season.

Keep it on the Rocks

Frozen cocktails may cool you off temporarily on a hot summer day, but you should definitely skip these sips if you want to stick to your body goals this summer.

Most frozen drinks, like margaritas, Frosé, and pretty much any frozen concoction you can imagine, are packed with high amounts of sugar to make sure your drink is tasty even as it melts down.

A 32-ounce frozen margarita can come with 600 calories, and over 120 grams of sugar! And since no one can have just one frozen drink, the easy fix is to avoid these whenever you can.

And if you have to have the margarita, you can order your cocktail on the rocks instead for the same taste without nearly as much sugar as the frozen versions.

Keep it Simple

The summer months seem to spark bartenders’ creativity. Once the temps go up, you’ll see menus with fancy drinks each with a list of 5-10 ingredients, including liqueurs and simple syrups and other tasty sweeteners.

While these are fun to sample every once in a while, the drinks with the most ingredients often come with the most calories.

If you’re intrigued by a certain drink, just talk to the bartender and ask them to make a simplified version of the drink. If the drink calls for an orange liqueur, for instance, ask them to use orange zest instead. The simpler your drink, the less likely it will cause you to put on weight before your next pool party.

Hold the Juice

Summer is the perfect time for long brunches with friends and bottomless drink options. But brunch is also the most difficult time to stick to your diet, especially when you choose to indulge in mimosas for hours on end. When you’re face to face with a carafe of OJ and bottles of champagne, choose to skip out on the juice and just do the champagne on its own.

Champagne is not the healthiest alcoholic beverage, but you can do much worse by drowning it in more sugar with OJ.

Beyond brunch, even your simpler drinks like cranberry and vodka and pineapple and rum pack a big sugary punch.

Unless you’re getting freshly squeezed juice from the fruit itself, typically the juices used in your go-to drinks are juice cocktails, which are a mix of some fruit juice along with other sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup.

Your best bet, other than to bring your own fresh-squeezed juice along with you to the bar, is to drink your liquor straight, or with a splash of the juice of your choice. You’ll save a ton of calories in the long run, not to mention you’ll be consuming far less sugar than if you downed several servings of juice in one sitting.

Everything in Moderation

You can have your summer drinks and eat at the cookout too. Just remember to do everything in moderation.

Balance out your drinks with ample water and use some of the tips from this article to help you survive your next summer kick-back without ruining all your hard work in the gym and in the kitchen. Bring it on summer!

Sharita Jennings is a fitness and travel enthusiast and creator of Get Fit Like That, LLC. She is a health policy attorney and ACE certified group fitness instructor and fitness nutrition specialist. She provides online fitness plans and leads group fitness classes in Washington DC. Check out her fitness tips and workouts at GetFitLikeThat.com.