Alcohol contains a lot of sugar which affects your energy levels and may cause problems with weight management.
Drinking alcohol means consuming calories. See below for just how many calories in your favourite drinks.
These measurements are based on single unit drinks. Compare these figures with the calories in the size of drinks you consume.
White Wine: 116 calories per unit
Beer: 94 calories per unit
Red Wine: 119 calories per unit
Gin & tonic: 120 calories per unit
Alcopops: 160-190 calories per bottle
Cider: 97 calories per unit
Jack Daniels: 64 calories per unit
So, if you consume 14 units per week, you’ll be knocking back around 1900 calories just in alcohol. That’s basically an extra day’s food each week. Carry on like that and over the course of a year you risk packing on well over two stones in extra body fat.
On the other hand, reducing your alcohol intake by just one unit a day could see you losing 13 pounds of fat over the course of a single year.
Bear in mind the following when you drink:
If you drink in the evening, you may suffer from interrupted sleep as your energy levels plummet in the night and you become dehydrated. Make sure you drink water before you retire to bed
Drinking alcohol with food encourages more of the fat in the food to be stored around the body. It’s best to eat first, then have a drink
Moderate, regular drinking is better for you than ‘saving’ your weekly allowance for a blow out at the weekend
How much you drink is entirely a personal decision but make your decision on how alcohol makes you feel over the course of a week and not just on how alcohol makes you feel for a couple of hours
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