Stay in the Green

Skinny Wino Zone Chart

The first few symptoms of a wine buzz are quite pleasurable for most people. You feel relaxed and happy, and with another drink or two you become talkative, enthusiastic, increased self confidence and many times the life of the party.

As wine consumption continues there are different stages of behavioral changes and various symptoms of a wine buzz. There are three different zones for the stages of drinking (chart below). The goal is to operate in the green zone. Functioning in the yellow zone means slow your wine consumption down. The red zone is an indication that you need to STOP drinking wine and possibly leave your social setting to avoid the wino morning regrets.

The benefits of staying in the green zone are also calorie minimization. You are consuming wine at a good rate and staying away from the zones that may otherwise result in a day of recovery from too much wine.

The Skinny Wino Drinking Zones

Green Means Go

The wheels are on the bus and it is a good day.

Yellow Means Slow Down

Wheels are on the bus, but starting to loosen. It is important to slow down. Keeping the wine drinking pace at the same speed will result in the wheels falling off the bus and entering into the red zone. Tips when in the yellow zone include: dilute your wine with water, add ice, rotate water into the mix or switch to a low alcohol seltzer. Poor the seltzer into a wine glass and keep sipping without skipping a beat. Eat a meal, which has been shown to decrease the rate your body absorbs alcohol.

Red Means STOP

Wheels are OFF the bus. If you are exhibiting any of the red zone behaviors below then you must STOP drinking. My husband once told me that if he ever said Albuquerque in a social setting while drinking it meant to stop drinking immediately. He made the code word so there would be no embarrassing statement in front of friends. If you are with a friend who is exhibiting these symptoms, just say Albuquerque.

ZONE CALORIES

GREEN ZONE - MILD EUPHORIA

Minimal Calories

Consider the green zone the wine sipping stage. Every good pour of wine has approximately 120 calories. Staying in this zone means you are drinking a little over a glass of wine an hour. At this pace you can enjoy wine for a few hours at the expense of approximately 360 calories.

YELLOW ZONE - EUPHORIA STAGE

Moderate Calories

You have left the sipping zone. On average you must be consuming over 250 calories an hour. This amount of calories is much harder to offset with a couple of healthy meals. In addition, once you start to enter this zone, your morning maybe rough depending on whether you proactively attempt to prevent a wine dragging day.

STAGE #3 - RED -ALBUQUERQUE STAGE

Way too many Calories

To get to this stage you have consumed way to many calories. At this point, you are on damage control. If you do not actively work to counteract the wine hangover, then the calories will surely keep adding up the next day while you recover from indulging in some wine. Make sure to follow the skinny wino hangover prevention tips.

Hangover Prevention