This coming weekend is going to present an interesting challenge. A family friend's wedding, as well as my sisters 21st birthday party, the bills game vs the jets, as well as just a general vacation day with the family. With that there will be much eating out at restaurants, drinking beer and eating lots of stuff, and general celebrations.

I feel like it is somewhat easy to avoid falling into the food trap. I'll just moderate myself and keep a log, and just eat less and over-estimate that calories. The real problem though that I will have is estimating calories from drinks. More specifically, alcohol.

Alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine and liquor all obviously contain calories. The problem though is most people can't associate their fluid intake with the calories that come with it. How much Malibu coconut rum to coke is in this mixed drink? What the heck is in this martini? How the hell do you calculate out what you just consumed? You really can't. And honestly, you shouldn't worry about it overly much, or it'll ruin your good time. This is where running HAS to come into the picture.

An average beer is around 150 calories, give or take 20. If you get heavier, darker beer this can go up pretty quickly. For instance, a Sam Adam's Triple Bock is around 350. A lighter beer can be around the 120s. It varies, so you have to be careful. An average wine is around 120-140 calories, and is approximately right around the same for liquor. It is important though to keep in mind that ONE SHOT of liquor is equivalent to 5 oz of wine which is equivalent to 12 oz of beer. These are all around the same calorie values. So effectively you can get more liquid for fewer calories using beer.

The real killer though is mixed drinks. Think about an average party, with those 8oz cups. You pour a couple oz of rum, and then fill the rest up with soda. That cup is like, 300-400 calories right there. Yowza, most of my low-calorie dinners are less than that.

If you are like me, and get tipsy pretty easily, three drinks usually is enough. Three drinks, estimating the average 140 per drink, is still 420 calories. That, on top of whatever else you eat adds up really quick.

I guess my point is this, just be smart and run your butt off before things like this, and try your best to counteract whatever you are going to drink. If you know you want to drink a lot and party, run further! I am not a fan at all of getting drunk, or drinking excessively at all, but worrying how many calories you are consuming in your drink is no fun. Just get out, get a good run under your belt, and then have fun! Oh, and dancing probably helps too!