"Whammy 1: I'm loaded with calories—199 per fluid ounce. That's more than ten times as many as you'll find in whole milk and nearly 16 times as many as in carbonated soft drinks.
"True, your drink contains other things besides me.
But I'm powerful even when diluted. Take a look at
these figures from Diet Power's food dictionary:
| Drink | Calories | Weekly gain from one a day* |
| 4-oz martini | 252 | 0.5 pounds |
| 4-oz daiquiri | 224 | 0.4 pounds |
| 6-oz pina colada | 462 | 0.9 pounds |
| 6-oz bloody mary | 138 | 0.3 pounds |
| 6-oz wine | 122 | 0.2 pounds |
| 12-oz beer | 146 | 0.3 pounds |
| 12-oz light beer | 99 | 0.2 pounds |
*Assuming you don't burn the calories through additional exercise
"Whammy 2: I'm an unusually efficient fat-maker. I'm the only nutrient (besides water) that your body doesn't have to digest in order to use. All of my calories are delivered directly to your cells. And if you don't burn them off, they go right into storage as fat.
"Whammy 3: I make you hungry and reduce your will power. One drink of me can entice you to eat a lot more than you intended."
Diet Power suggestion: If you must drink alcoholic beverages during your diet, choose beer—or better yet, light beer. It fills you up, is relatively low in alcohol, and contains a lot of water. (Most people don't drink enough water anyway. The correct amount is 10 to 12 glasses per day—or, to be more precise, 0.035 to 0.53 fluid ounces for each calorie your body expends. If you have Diet Power on your computer, you can use the WaterMinder™ to make sure you get enough.)