Being on a diet is not fun. Fact. But as many of us start the new year with a renewed sense of determination to take on fewer calories following a festive season of indulgence - or at least, to be able to get back into our favourite pre-Christmas trousers again - plenty of us are vowing to replace the mince pies for breakfast with muesli and skipping the nightly eggnog.

The good news? You can still enjoy cocktail hour with a little help from these (relatively) low-calorie, tasty tipples!

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Salty Dog

Calories: 191 cal

45ml gin
85ml pink grapefruit juice
salt for the rim of the glass

Add the gin and juice to a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Rim a coupe glass with salt and add an ice cube. Pour contents of shaker into a salt-rimmed glass - enjoy!

2. Cosmo Highball

Calories: 175

20ml London dry gin
15ml Cointreau
10ml lime juice
125ml chilled Pomelo & Pink Pepper Tonic water*
Rose petals, to garnish

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour over the gin, Cointreau, lime juice and tonic. Garnish and serve.

*As featured in our April 2019 Gin of the Month box.

Low-calorie Elderflower Spritz cocktail recipe

3. Elderflower Fizz

Calories: 84

Plenty of ice
4-5 mint leaves
25ml elderflower cordial
25ml gin
50ml apple juice
Top up with Prosecco (approx. 1/3 of a glass)
3 slices of cucumber (1 for garnish)

Add the ice cubes to a large jug or pitcher, followed by the gin, elderflower cordial and apple juice. Pour in the Prosecco, then top up apple juice. Stir and serve in a tall glass over some ice. Garnish with mint leaves and cucumber.

4. Red Snapper

Calories: 122

50ml gin
100ml Tomato Juice Cocktail
Hot sauce, to taste
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
A generous grind each of salt and pepper
Celery and lemon slices, to garnish

Fill a tall glass with ice and combine your gin and tomato juice cocktail. Drop-in hot sauce and Worchester Sauce to taste, then grind in salt and pepper. Stir with a celery stalk, squeeze in the juice of a lemon wedge (if desired) and serve.

5. Astora

Calories: 158

30ml gin
60ml vermouth
2 dash Orange (or Aromatic) Bitters
Lemon Twist

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.

Low calorie Gin Gimlet cocktail with lime in a coupe glass

6. Gimlet

Calories: 178

75ml gin
15ml Rose's lime cordial
Lime wedge or slice, to garnish

Add cordial and gin to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously. Pour into a chilled Coupe glass and serve with a slice of lime.

7. Martini

Calories: 176

50ml gin
15ml dry vermouth
Zest of Lemon

Pour gin and dry vermouth into a cocktail shaker with ice. Stir well, then strain into a chilled Martini glass. Zest the lemon peel and garnish by twisting it in a perfect spiral.

Low-calorie Gin and tonic with a wedge of lime

8. Gin & Tonic

Calories: 148 , Slimline: 97

50ml gin
Premium Tonic water
Lemon twist or wedge of lime to garnish

Pack a copa glass with ice. Pour in the gin followed by the tonic and gently stir. Add the twist of lemon or lime to garnish.

9. Tom Collins

Calories: 122

60ml gin
30ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
15ml simple syrup
Soda water
Maraschino cherry, to garnish
Lemon slice, to garnish

To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup. Shake vigorously until well chilled. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice and top with soda water. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a single maraschino cherry to serve.

10. French 75

Calories: 140

55ml London dry gin
20ml fresh lemon juice
20ml simple syrup
55ml Champagne
Lemon twist to serve

Combine gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Fill a shaker with ice, cover, and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds. Strain cocktail into a large flute. Top with Champagne and garnish with a lemon twist.