We all know that drinking alcohol is sometimes known as empty calories, but what you mightn’t realise is that the food you munch on post night-out could be the reason for a bulge in your belly. While you might think a stop off at the chipper on the way home could be saving the onset of a hangover, the chances are your eating habits are helping you pile on some pounds. Yes, it might be your one cheat meal, but trainer Mishal Dasani​ told Cosmopolitan that your one sneaky snack could derail all that hard work in the gym as your body struggles to process the toxins in food properly when you're drunk as it's too busy processing the alcohol. Dasani explains that the body’s main fat burning organ is the liver – which is busy working on overdrive for each glass of wine you sip at during the night. The liver also works to remove all waste materials and toxins from the body, with alcohol topping the list for substances to be removed from your system. So that fat burning function shuts down while your body recovers from each drink. With an average glass of wine taking three hours to metabolise, Dasani points out that your chips, crips or rounds of buttery toast turn to stored energy and fat instead of being burned off. So there’s one more reason to sip some water between drinks and if you’re opting for a meal after a night out, choose for some scrambled eggs on toast over that 3-in-1 in the chipper.