Drinking alcohol makes your body burn more calories during digestion — almost as much as eating protein — even though alcohol isn’t a nutrient your body needs.

Eating a meal high in alcohol makes your body burn more calories right after eating than eating the same number of calories from carbs or fat, and protein does it a little less.

Your body uses a lot more energy to digest protein than it does to digest carbs or fat — up to 30% of the calories from protein are used just for digestion, while fat barely uses any.

When you eat food, your body burns extra calories just to digest it — this extra burn is about 5% to 15% of your total daily calorie use, and it’s higher when you eat more protein or alcohol, and lower when you eat more fat.

Eating a meal with more protein makes your body burn more calories right after eating — but only if you’re not overweight; if you are, this calorie-burning boost doesn’t happen.