Dieters consume up to a quarter of their weekly calorie intake in booze alone - and it ALL starts with that after-work tipple

It might feel like that glass of wine after work is the perfect way to unwind after a long working week.

But it's been revealed today that dieters are consuming up to a QUARTER of their weekly calorie intake in booze alone.

That glass of wine or pint of beer after work to unwind destroys willpower and wrecks diet plans, with regular boozing leaving us hungrier and far more likely to have a fattening takeaway.

A staggering 81 per cent of slimmers reckon alcohol is the catalyst for diet and weight loss regimes going down the pan, with more than half blaming the booze for making them hungry.

Four out of 10 of us let ourselves go at least once a week, consuming a whopping 1,000 calories in alcohol alone on a night out with friends.

But it seems around 34 per cent of us have a few tipples at least THREE times a week, with those after-work drinks a key fixture in the calendars.

The most popular tipple for women is a large glass of wine white wine (185 calories per 250ml glass) and a pint of lager for men (230 calories), with most of us consuming two glasses of wine or two pints of beer on a typical week day night.

Unsurprisingly, drinking increases at weekends, with 38 per cent drinking excessively once a week - and most commonly on a Friday or Saturday.

More than a quarter get drunk twice a week and 15 per cent do three times a week.

For men, this means consuming around 1,150 calories in one session (five pints) - roughly half their daily calorie intake of 2,500 calories.

Women typically at drink three glass of wine (555 calories) plus a cocktail (260 calories) and a shot of spirits and mixer (120 calories for a vodka and coke) - 935 calories or just less than half their daily calorie intake of 2,000 calories.

Three-quarters of us have takeaway after a night out - typically a burger (490 calories) , pizza (675 calories), two pieces of fried chicken (400 calories) or a bag of chips (312 calories).

Lee Smith, managing director of Forza Supplements, said there was a scientific explanation for why we eat more when we drink excessively.

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He said: "Studies show that alcohol increases your appetite by suppressing leptin, the hormone which normally tells your brain to stop eating and negatively effects many other brain chemicals that are involved in appetite suppression.

"It also rather famously makes us lose our inhibitions, making the decision to grab a slice of pizza or order those chicken wings all the more easy."

He continued: "The other really damaging thing is that as few as two standard alcoholic drinks can slow down your body's fat-burning process by a whopping 73 per cent.

"Your liver recognises the by-products of alcohol as toxins, so your body stops processing nutrients from food you've eaten while it takes care of the 'bad guys' first.

"As a result, your body burns empty alcohol calories (those low in nutrients) for energy while the digestion of nutrient-rich food is put on the back burner."By the time your body gets around to burning food calories, it might not need the energy and ends up storing the extra calories you've eaten as fat cells.

"So the key to successful dieting is cutting out the booze. But that is far easier said than done."