Booze Control While Watching Sports Game

Whether you are a fan of the Yankees (yea!), Angels or Phillies, chances are that the booze will be flowing freely in the next few weeks as we head towards the World Series.  Part of the fun of watching the game is to hang out with your buddies in the local sports bar or in front of your giant flat screen tv. And of course, who watches a game without a few beers?  As the excitement of the game builds, it’s easy to lose track of how many beers you’ve swigged down. Of course, calories don’t count during game time – right? Not quite …

You can easily consume over 1500 calories while watching the game.  A typical beer contains 150 calories. 5 beers add up t0 750 calories. And this doesn’t include the calories you get from munching on nachos, wings, potato skins, fries, etc. The more you drink, the hungrier you get … the less you seem to care about watching what you eat. The more salty bar food you eat, the thirstier you get … the more beer you drink. Got the picture?

So here is the payback for your night of indulgence of 5 beers:
90 minutes of basketball or 60 minutes of stair climbing or 55 minutes of jumping rope.  Your payback exercise time will need to be doubled or tripled depending on how much greasy bar food you ate!

Booze control tips while watching the game:
1. Get a good workout in sometime before the game. This will help you to feel more in control.

2. Make sure you are hydrated before starting the liquid festivities. Being dehydrated can cause you to drink more alcohol. Thirsty = more swigging beer. Swigging more beer = bigger belly and worse hangover  (these men obviously enjoy their beer!)

3. Drink a glass of water in between each glass of beer. This can help to slow down your rate of drinking  as some people just seem to like the act of drinking. If anyone comments on your intake of water, you can always say you had a HUGE workout earlier in the day and feel especially thirsty.

4. Eat and drink slow. May sound silly but it works. No one really cares how fast you eat or drink. People will be paying attention to the game – not you. On the contrary, here is how a typical guy thinks:  the less that other guy eats or drinks, the more will be left for me!

5. If possible, choose a light beer. You can really save on calories.

6. If you do end up drinking too many beers, here are some tips to deal with your hangover

Here are the calories of some common alcoholic beverages.
Keep in mind that drink sizes will vary depending upon where you go. This will obviously affect the calories. Most restaurants and bars use anywhere from 1-2 shots of alcohol for most drinks (plus the mixer). The calculations are estimations.

Stay tuned for more tips on controlling your intake of high calorie snacking during the game!