Are Alcohol Calories Ruining Your Diet?

If you’re on a weight loss diet, but not shedding the pounds, it could be down to the booze. According to a new survey by finder.com, nearly half of British adults have no idea how many calories their alcoholic drinks contain.

Many Britons are seemingly oblivious to the calorie content in alcohol, with an estimated 2.7m thinking that a pint of lager has less than 40 calories!

So what other calorie misconceptions do Brits have with alcohol and which tipples are best for your waistline?
The survey of 2,000 British adults found that nearly half of those who drank alcohol had no idea how many calories their drinks contained, and only a third could guess the calorie content to within 50% of the correct value.

Millennials were more likely to underestimate the calorie content while the baby boomers had a better grasp on the true calorific value.

With the average Briton consuming around 1,815 calories a week from alcohol, this could lead to a weight gain of 27lb or 12.2kg a year.

It’s easy to think there aren’t many calories in alcohol as it’s a liquid and many people don’t realise that liquid calories count too. But when it comes to calories, each gram of alcohol is worth 7 calories (fat has 9 calories per gram, protein and carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram). So it all adds up.

So which alcoholic drinks are best and worst for your waistline?

Below is a sample of the lowest calorie alcoholic drinks and highest calorie alcoholic drinks.

Drink	Volume (ml)	Units	Calories
Spirits	25	1.0	61
Champagne	125	1,5	89
Beer	330	5.0	142
Wine	175	2.3	159
Alcopop	275	1.1	170
Cider	568	4.5	216

For more information on this survey, see finder.com.

© Diets and Calories