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A pint of lager contains around 250 calories – about half the number you’d get in a typical individual meat pie at a football match. So even if it wasn’t you who ate all the pies, it could soon look that way if you drink to excess this summer.

Keeping score

Even people who regularly count the calories in their food are often unaware of just how fattening alcoholic drinks can be.

For example:

1 gin and tonic = 2 onion bhajis (130 kcal)

½ bottle red wine = ½ pizza (260 kcal)

1 pint strong Lager = 1 x 50g ‘grab bag’ of crisps (250 kcal)

An average active man needs around 2,500 calories a day, and a couple of pints with the football takes a big chunk out of your daily allowance, without giving you any nutritional value. If you’re snacking on crisps or nuts (or pies) at the same time, the calories can really stack up.

Fat reserves

It’s not just those extra calories you need to watch out for. When you have alcohol in your system, your body doesn’t burn off calories or fat like it normally does.

That’s because it’s busy breaking the alcohol down into a substance called acetate, which it uses as an alternative source of energy. So you won’t work off any food you eat while you’re drinking –  it will go straight to the beer belly instead.

Get in training

A month of sitting on the sofa watching the footie, drinking alcohol and eating snacks could leave you badly out of shape. As well as watching your alcohol and junk food intake during the World Cup, it’s important to get out and take some exercise.

A 12 stone man can burn off about 500 calories playing 40 minutes of football. So why not get in the World Cup spirit and beat the beer belly by joining your friends for a kickabout before the match?

Just remember that you’ll have undone your good work if you follow it up with a couple of pints.

The best way to ensure you maintain a healthy balance is to stick within the recommended guidelines for alcohol, which advises men to not regularly exceed 3-4 units daily. Women should not exceed 2-3 units. For reference a pint of strong lager, or a glass of wine, is around three units.

Curious about how much you're drinking this summer? 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.