So you’re doing well on your new diet/exercise regimine but that big party is on the horizon. Being the social drinker that you are, you’d really like to enjoy a drink or two at the shindig. After hours of hard work, careful consideration of food choices, and flat out willpower you don’t want to take a step back.

What’s a newfound health enthusiast to do?

The secret my friends is moderation (and making some smart choices). So What are the drinks of choice for the dieting public? let’s take a look:

LIGHT BEER

If you think it’ll make you less of a man to switch from bud to bud light, you’re correct. On average a light beer contains 38 less calories than it’s full flavored counterpart per 12oz serving. With the light beers clocking in at about 108 calories per serving, you’ll be looking like less of a man in no time. Be careful tho, each serving of light beer still comes with a side dish, 6g of carbs.

WINE

If you’re drinking a Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio, you’re getting about 4 fewer carbs than your light beer selection. A 5oz glass of wine will get you on your way to buzzville at about 100 calories per glass, as well as that “helping reduce the risk of heart disease thing” it does.

DIET MIXERS

If you’re going to be drinking  liquor, make sure you’re going with the calorie-free mixers like diet soda or diet tonic water. One shot glass or mixed drink will contain about 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. One excellent option is Bacardi and Diet Coke. One Bacardi and Diet Coke has 66 calories, less than the beer or wine.

If you’d like additional information SparkPeople.com has an excellent resource for fiding the caloric and carb content of a lot of popular alcohols.

Oh, and one more option.

DON’T DRINK

Not to sound like a old-fogie but you don’t really need to drink to have fun. Just saying…