Alcohol Calorie Calculator

What alcohol actually costs you

Three separate costs, and the calories are usually the smallest of them.

• Calories. 7 kcal per gram of pure alcohol, plus mixers and residual sugar. Four pints is around 565 kcal before anything you ate.
• Sleep. Alcohol shortens the time it takes to fall asleep and then fragments the second half of the night, which is why you wake unrefreshed. Given what sleep loss costs performance, this is often the larger effect.
• Disinhibited eating. Frequently the biggest total cost, and the one people account for least.

The training effect, with the dose stated

The most cited study had trained men complete resistance exercise then consume either 25 g of whey, or alcohol at 1.5 g per kg of body mass (about twelve standard drinks) with whey, or the same alcohol with carbohydrate.

Myofibrillar protein synthesis was 37% lower with alcohol and carbohydrate than with protein alone, and still 24% lower when whey was consumed alongside the alcohol. So "just have a protein shake with it" helps and does not rescue it.

Read the dose carefully, though: twelve drinks is a genuine binge. Effects at one or two drinks are much smaller and far less well studied. Occasional moderate drinking will not stop you building muscle; regular heavy drinking will substantially limit it.

Harm reduction that actually works: put distance between drinking and hard sessions, eat a proper meal with protein first, cap the dose, hydrate alongside, and schedule the next day light.