As you may know, alcohol is neither a protein, fat or a carb, but it does have calories.. Most Alcohol entries will list calories, but because it isn't in fact a protein, fat or carb, won't always account for anything else.. This leaves you with an entry that has calories but no macros, which will throw off your totals.
The preferred way to account for these calories is to track them as carbohydrates. There’s a simple calculation you can do here.
**You can also find a calculator in My Fitness Pal if this is the tracking app that you use. (Use this in place of logging any specific drinks for the most accuracy.) Search for "Nutrition by Relentless Alcohol". To use this simply input the total number of calories your drink contains as the serving size and it will accurately calculate the carbs for you!
Liquor/Wine:
Step 1: You’ll only need to know the total calories of your drink.
If you do not have a label handy, you can typically find this in MyFitnessPal (or your preferred tracking app). For instance, if you have 4oz or red wine you’ll find that listed as 100 calories.
Step 2: You’ll now divide the total calories by 4 (because carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram).
100 calories divided by 4 = 25
This means you’ll account for 100 calories AND 25g of carbohydrates
Step 3: Log it!
If you’re able to do a “Quick Add” of macros in MyFitnessPal (or your preferred tracking app), you’ll enter the above 2 totals and you’re all done! (You’d need to have premium to do this in MyFitnessPal)
If you are not able to do this, you’ll find a preset entry in MyFitnessPal that will calculate and log this all for you. Simply search "Nutrition by Relentless Alcohol" and you’ll find it. For this you will only need to enter the total calories of your drink (from Step 1) and it will do the rest for you!
If you do not use MyFitnessPal or would rather create your own entry, you can do this too. Just make sure to set the "total servings" to 100 (for 100 calories) and enter in 25g of carbs. This will auto calculate to 100 calories. To use this entry, manipulate the servings for the total amount of calories in your drink.
Mixed Drinks:
Accounting for pure liquor is pretty simple, when it comes to mixed drinks, there are a few more steps you’ll need to take to account for your drink as best as you are able to.
In addition to the steps listed above, you’ll need to account for the mix or the other liquids added into the drink and it’s best to do this first. If you’re making it yourself, you’ll just want to measure each separately (the mix and the alcohol). You can use the nutritional information listed on the bottle of the mix as there should be no alcohol added into it yet.
Beer and Hard Seltzer:
For beer or hard seltzer type drinks like White Claw, you’ll track these the same as just alcohol. Divide the calories per can/bottle by 4. This will give you a total that you’ll log as carbohydrates along with the calorie total.
Save this infographic for a quick reminder anytime you need it!
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