When you go out for a night or are drinking at home, it can be very easy to forget about the excess calories you are consuming in alcohol.

Here is a reminder which I took from:  http://www.at-bristol.org.uk/Alcoholandyou/Facts/calories.html

Here is a summary of the main calorie contents of several common alcoholic drinks:

Beers, Lager and Cider/Calorie Content

Pint of Lager/200

Pint of Bitter/100

Sweet Cider/250

Dry Cider/200

Pale Ale/91

Stout,bottled/105

Lager (Regular Strength)/85

Wines (Small Glass, 125 ml)

Red wine/85 calories

Rose wine, medium/89

Sweet white wine/118

Dry white wine/83

Medium white wine/94

Champagne/80

Spirits (One Shot, 25ml)

Gin/50 calories

Vodka/50

Whiskey/50

Southern Comfort/70

Bailey’s/80

On top of these calories, you will probably feel hungry, one of the symptoms of drinking too much and so reach for the only food usually available late or night or what you can be bothered to make, which is junk food.

Junk Food/Calories

Packet of roasted nuts/300

Packet of salted nuts/250

Packet of crisps/130

Burger/400

Kebab/500

So you can hopefully now see how a free drinks and the accompanying snacks or late night food run can lead to heavy calorie consumption. Think about this next time you want to go out and drink – are there any ways you can plan in advance to cut this down?

This is especially true if you are training. There is no point in looking out at your calories and burning them off in exercise only to unconsciously overconsume when you are out drinking.

Click here to check out my tools and resources to help you take control of your drinking.