Summer is here. Get-togethers with friends abound, pool visits and cookouts are all on the mind right now. One of your favorite parts of the summer may be relaxing with a drink in hand. If you’ve been focusing on your health you may be concerned that enjoying an alcoholic drink with your friends may derail your progress, but don’t worry, you can still enjoy the occasional drink without having to give up your new healthy lifestyle altogether.

What Happens to Your Body When You Consume Alcohol

Alcohol is full of calories, and since there is no fiber in what you are drinking, they are empty calories. Since there is no fiber, your body quickly will turn these calories into sugar. If you don't burn off these calories, it turns to fat. Since only one drink can pack a couple hundred calories, you can see how this can turn into a problem for your fat loss goals, especially when you have more than one. This is why alcoholic drinks can hinder your goals if you are working on losing fat.

Why Low-Calorie Alcoholic Drinks

Finding a way to substitute out some of the calories in your drink will allow them to have lower calorie count. While there will still be calories present it will be less, so you can enjoy your drink without all of the calories. If you are working on turning your body into a fat burning machine, alcoholic drinks won't be the best choice. *Don’t forget to grab our Fat Burning Guide Here!* But having the occasional drink isn’t something you will have to worry about. In Burn Fat and Feast, we are all about progress over perfection and we all need to have a treat now and then. With that said, we’ve put together these tips to make low-calorie summer cocktails so you can still kick back with your friends without feeling guilty.

How to Make Low-Calorie Cocktails to Enjoy This Summer

Add Ice

Adding ice to your cocktail is an easy way to take up some space in the glass. This means there won't be as much room left for the other ingredients. Since it’s summer having ice in the glass will be a great way to keep cool as well. Simply add ice to your favorite drinks, or make a frozen treat for your cocktails. Use crushed ice to make frozen daiquiris or margaritas for a refreshing summer treat. Check out these recipes for frozen margaritas.

Use distilled spirits as the base

Distilled spirits don’t have carbs. The alcohol itself is where the calories come from. So these drinks will be less in calories than those that are mixed with drinks that contain carbs. There are many drinks you can make using distilled spirits, especially when using the other tips such as adding ice or fresh fruit to sweeten it up. Drink choices include a vodka soda, your choice of alcohol on the rocks, gin, and tonic, and many more.

Use diet soda/fruit juice

While diet soda or fruit juice is never really a healthy option, it does usually have far less (or no) sugar than it’s regular counterparts. Using these options in your drinks allows you to cut the calories from sugar right away. Replacing the regular choices with their sugarless counterpart allows you to have a low- calorie drink. You can also sub some of the liquor that is used to add flavor with sugarless juice options instead. Make your favorite drinks like a screwdriver with light orange juice, or rum and diet coke and skip those sugar calories.

Add seltzer water

Seltzer water allows you to have the bubbly goodness that you without the calories. It allows is a great way to stretch a drink. Sometimes when you make a drink you just want that extra pop and this will add that to your drink plus no extra drinks. You can easily drink your favorite wine with seltzer water to make a wine spritzer. You get to enjoy your wine, but adding in the seltzer water means you will be drinking less, but you won't notice.

Use real fruit/ or extract as a sweetener

A great way to get fruit flavor is from the actual fruit itself. While it will have some carbs, you won't have all the other junk that comes in the fruit syrups usually used in drinks. Fresh fruit is an easy and flavorful way to dress up your drink. Another great way is fruit extract. These are quite potent so you will only need a drop or two to great added flavor without calories. Here are four recipes for a low-calorie mojitos you can enjoy with your friends.

Summer Drinks for Summer Fun

Just because you are working on your health, does not mean you have to sacrifice this summer. There are plenty of ways to make your favorite drinks with a couple substitutions to keep there carbs and calories down. Add ice or seltzer water to add volume to your drink. Find some low carb options to sweeten up your drink such as fresh fruit, fruit extract, or diet versions. Start with distilled spirits as your base and add from there. Keep in mind that these tips will help lower the calories in the drinks, but there will still be calories that your body will turn into sugar and then store as fat if they aren’t used. Make sure to grab the fat-burning guide below to keep you on track with your health goals this summer! [button link="https://burnfatandfeast.com/fat-burning-guide/"] Download Fat-Burning Guide[/button]

What is your favorite way to make low-calorie drinks?