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With well over 100 hours of live football on TV, you could be excused for spending a fair chunk of World Cup month on your couch. But watching other people running around won’t do much for your fitness levels – particularly if you like to have a few drinks and snacks while watching the game.

A typical midfielder runs around seven miles over 90 minutes, often breaking into sprints, changing direction and jumping for headers. That’s enough exercise to use up around 1,600 calories.

In the same period, you could take in a similar number of calories by drinking three pints of lager, eating a pizza and polishing off a packet of crisps. And you won’t be burning many calories off  jumping up to shout at the referee or leaping behind the sofa for the penalty shoot-out.

Belly up

A pint of strong lager contains around 250 calories – about the same as an extra-large 50g bag of crisps, but with even less nutritional value. So if you’re drinking more than usual and not taking exercise, you could soon find yourself putting on weight.

Any exercise you take after drinking is less effective because of the way we process alcohol. Your body needs to get the alcohol out of its system before it can start working on your reserves of carbohydrate and fat.

If you feel like the balance between alcohol and exercise is veering too much towards the former, then it’s a good idea to consider cutting down. You can still enjoy a drink and maintain a healthy lifestyle, the key is sticking within the recommended guidelines that advise that men should not regularly exceed 3-4 units daily. Women should not exceed 2-3 units. For reference a pint of 5% lager, or a large glass of wine, is around three units.

Drinking within the guidelines also means you’re actively protecting your general health and reducing your risk of developing heart disease, cancer or liver disease in the future as well.

Play more

Don’t let the football turn you into a couch potato. Make sure you get out and take plenty of exercise while the World Cup is on.

Why not get into the World Cup mood by getting your mates together for a kickabout in the local park? Even if you don’t cover quite the same ground as Stevie G or Cesc Fabregas, playing football is still a great way to keep fit and stay healthy.

Regular exercise also improves your metabolism, which means your body burns more calories. Slouching on the sofa does exactly the opposite - even more the reason to get your mates out for a kickabout.

Curious about how much you're drinking over the World Cup? Count up your units and calories with our unit calculator and drink diary

 

Drinkaware advises men not to regularly drink more than 3–4 units of alcohol a day.