Although alcohol has no nutritional value and we recommend limiting its intake, we admit that there are occasions where a “cheers!” is in order.

Celebrations make up some of the best moments of our lives. WAG is all about giving you the tools and skills to enjoy those moments. If you want to partake in the occasional drink, here are the tools and tips to make it easy.

Tools for Tracking

Know Your Quantities
If you need help estimating how much liquid is in your glass, bookmark this page for the below ‘cheat sheet’. Save the graphic to your phone or print it off and keep it in your wallet for quick reference. Use the graphic to identify which type of standard glass your drink is and how many oz. or ml. it is!


WAG Alcohol Calculator
We built this really useful web tool to help you allocate alcohol in your macros. Simply plug in the details and adjust the sliding scale. This tutorial teaches you how to use the WAG Alcohol Calculator.

Learn more about how alcohol impacts your goals here!

Tips for Staying Within Your Macros

Allocate Alcohol Ahead
Plan and log the drinks you want to fit into your macros ahead of time. This encourages you to space them out and drink slower, savoring the drink rather than throwing it down quickly and moving on to the next glass. It also means no tracking during the party, giving you more time to be social!

If you’re going to a bar or restaurant, look up the drinks menu in advance. If they don’t have an online menu, plan for a common drink that you’ll likely find.

Resist Re-fills
When the waiter comes around to refill your glass, simply put your hand on top of it to signal that you do not want a refill.

Always have a drink in your hand, even if it’s just a glass of water or soda. This stops people from offering you beverages, allows you to shift your focus from not having a glass and, as an added bonus, keeps you extra hydrated.

Avoid Pressure
We encourage you to be proud of your controlled alcohol intake and even proclaim it to your friends, inspiring them as well. However, sometimes those around you don’t understand and may try to pressure you into having another drink. When politely declining doesn’t work, ask a bartender to make a non-alcoholic drink that looks like a cocktail.

Examples:

  • Sparkling water with lemon in a fancy glass looks like vodka lemon & lime
  • Sparkling water with orange juice makes a great faux mimosa
  • Coke/Coke Zero in a short glass passes as a bourbon and coke

No one will ever know!

How to Deconstruct a Cocktail
Accurately tracking a cocktail is difficult. Here are some guidelines to making the best possible estimation of a cocktail.

  1. Ask your server how many oz. or ml. of alcohol is in the cocktail.
  2. If the server or bartender is good, they will know the exact contents of every ingredient like the juices and syrups. If not, refer to the cocktail menu for the ingredients and flavors they describe.
  3. If you can, watch the bartender make it. Note how many shots of alcohol, syrup and juice they mix in.
  4. Identify any extra garnishes. Sugar around the rim, fruit in the glass, etc.
  5. From what you have learned about the contents of the cocktail, allocate ingredients to the cocktail until you have accounted for the total contents of the glass.

For example: I estimate my cocktail contains 5 oz. / 147 ml.

  1. The bartender added half a shot of each vodka and sugar syrup. This looks to be 20 ml. each. I know where to allocate 40 ml. of my cocktail.
  2. To allocate the remaining 107 ml., I saw that the rest of my glass was filled with pineapple juice, shaken and then served. I can safely estimate that the rest of my cocktails contents was pineapple juice.
  3. Now I identify any garnishes. The rim of the glass lined with sugar and a wedge of fruit on the side. I’m going to wipe off the sugar but eat the fruit, so I will account for the fruit.

Save your cocktail to MyFitnessPal so that if you return or visit another bar in the future, you have a go-to cocktail that you’ve already worked out in advance.