It’s summer and I know as well as you do that summer brings parties, BBQ’s and get-togethers. With all the bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and post-baseball trips to the bar, indulging in alcoholic drinks is something most of us like to do.

So how do we avoid sabotaging the hard work we’ve been doing?

Besides avoiding binge drinking (the obvious), there are certain drinks that will keep you within the routine of your new lifestyle.

Here’s a list of drinks to help keep your damage in check:

1) Rum & Diet Coke - if you can stand the aspartame, this one is only 65 calories.

2) Vodka & Soda - also 65 calories. Try it with flavored vodka to make it taste better!

3) White wine spritzer - 4 oz of white wine topped with soda - 80 calories.

4) Bloody Mary (1 oz. vodka, 4 oz. tomato juice, dash of Tabasco and pepper) - 90 calories

5) Lite beer - my favorite is Corona Light with a wedge of lime. 100 calories.

As always, please drink responsibly. Just because you’re having something with less calories, don’t be fooled into thinking you can have more of them. You’ll only do worse damage with this kind of thinking. Also if you have too much to drink, your lack of inhibitions will have you gorging on snack food too!

Another good tip is to drink a glass of water between drinks to keep your hands busy.

Having just one or two of the wrong drink can pack in a lot of unwanted calories. To give you an idea of the worst drinks to have:

1) Margarita in a pint glass (2 oz. tequila, 2 oz. margarita/sour mix, 1 oz. triple sec, lime juice, 1 tsp. sugar) - 550 calories

2) Mudslide (1.5 oz. coffee liqueur, 1.5 oz. Irish cream, 1.5 oz. vodka) - 417 calories

3) Long Island Ice Tea (1 oz. vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec, 2 oz. sour mix, splash of cola) - 380 calories

4) White Russian (1.5 oz. vodka, 1.5 oz. coffee liqueur, 1.5 oz. cream) - 320 calories

5) Piña Colada (1.5 oz. rum, 1.5 oz. coconut cream, 3 oz. pineapple juice) - 293 calories

Obviously the more alcohol, the more calories. Those creamy drinks will do you no favors either.

Plus if you keep your drinking to a minimum, you’ll feel better in the morning!