Sitting at the bar with your friends having a cocktail or two and watching sports can make for a fun evening. The problem is that a few drinks can add up to 500 or 600 calories, and if you order food, you can reach the 1,500- to 2,000-calorie range in no time. The following should help you make better bar choices, or at least make you more aware of what you're eating.

Onion rings vs. french fries vs. cheese fries

They're all high in calories, but the onion rings and french fries are pretty close at approximately 500 calories for 6 ounces. Adding cheese to the fries makes matters worse by upping the calories to more than 700. And when you're sitting at a bar, you're likely to be served a basketful of fries or rings with as many as 1,500 calories.

Pretzels vs. bar nuts vs. arare vs. Goldfish

Pretzels are the lowest-calorie choice: 1 ounce (about a handful) of Rold Gold pretzels has 110 calories. The arare mix is slightly higher at 130 calories per ounce, and then there's the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers: 55 of them are 150 calories. Now an ounce of peanuts (again about a handful, or 30 to 35) has about 160 calories, but peanuts offer more nutrients than pretzels, including protein and healthy fat. Whatever your choice, try not to keep the bowl in front of you. Take a handful, put it on a napkin and move the bowl far away.

Olives vs. hard-boiled eggs

As far as calories, olives are the better deal. Four jumbo olives have about 30 calories, whereas one hard-boiled egg has 75. But both are good choices. Eggs have plenty of nutrition — one egg has 6 grams of protein, and olives are a good source of monounsaturated ("good") fats and vitamin E.

Personal pan pizza vs. garlic bread with cheese vs. wings

A slice of pizza is actually not bad, but at the bar you're typically served a 6-inch personal pizza, which has about 600 to 700 calories — not counting toppings. Nonetheless, pizza might be your best bet. One 2.5-ounce piece of garlic bread has 140 to 170 calories without cheese. Add another 75 to 100 calories for each ounce of cheese, and you're looking at about 240 calories for one piece — not a very good deal. Wings are deep-fried, and they're small. Four chicken wings with hot sauce (4 ounces) have at least 220 calories, but the real calorie buster is the blue-cheese dressing — 305 calories in 4 tablespoons.

Potato skins with cheese vs. fried breaded mushrooms

A 10-ounce potato is packed with nutrients (fiber, potassium and vitamin C) and has only 270 calories, but watch out for the extras — sour cream, butter, bacon and cheese — which add up to at least 500 or 600 calories. Potato skins are even worse. A typical 12-ounce serving with cheese and bacon comes in at more than 1,000 calories and 80 grams of fat (at least 40 grams saturated). And that's before you add sour cream. Fried mushrooms are not a great option, either. Five fried mushrooms have about 200 calories and 13 grams of fat. Your best bet is to order a regular baked potato plain and add salsa.

Fish sticks with tartar sauce vs. fried clams vs. oysters vs. poppers

Each 1-ounce fish stick has about 70 calories, and 1 tablespoon of tartar sauce has about 75 calories (it's the mayo). So an average serving of five fish sticks with tartar sauce can easily run you 700 to 800 calories. Fried clams (which are breaded), are a little better at 380 calories for 20 small ones. Two jalapeno poppers (about 2 ounces) with cream cheese have 140 calories. Raw oysters have about 40 calories each, so they're your best option.

Charles Stuart Platkin is a nutrition and public-health advocate, and author of the upcoming "The Diet Detective's Count Down" (Simon & Schuster, 2007).

Reach Charles Stuart Platkin at info@thedietdetective.com.