How many calories are in a Four Loko?
One 12 fl oz can of sweetened alcoholic malt beverage carries 245 calories, and the liquid itself runs 68 calories per 100 g. About 36 of those grams are carbohydrate, nearly all of it sugar. The 23.5 fl oz tall can, the size most people actually pick up, nearly doubles that to 479.
You'd need to walk about 49 minutes to burn the 245 calories in one 12 fl oz can (360 g).
How long does it take to burn off Four Loko?
One 12 fl oz can (360 g) is 245 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 245 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 49 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 31 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 35 min |
| Jogging | 29 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 54 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (360 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Four Loko quick facts
- US servings from 1 fl oz to the tall can
- Tall cans and lighter malt drinks
- Where the calories actually come from
- How does Four Loko compare?
- Four Loko FAQs
Four Loko quick facts
Four Loko has no record of its own in the USDA database, so the row that fits it is FNDDS 2710619, "Alcoholic malt beverage, sweetened". That description is exactly what the drink is: a malt base, sweetened, sold in a can. It is also the only malt row that comes with household portions written as "1 can or bottle," which is how anyone drinking it would measure.
The two neighboring rows are different drinks. The unsweetened malt beverage has almost no carbohydrate, and the non-alcoholic malta sold in grocery aisles has no alcohol at all, which changes the energy completely. Neither one belongs in the main table.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per one 12 fl oz can (360 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 68 | 245 | — |
| Total fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Saturated fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrate | 10.07 g | 36.3 g | 13% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 9.77 g | 35.2 g | — |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Sodium | 5 mg | 18 mg | 1% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would expect on a real can are missing here: added sugars and trans fat. USDA does not publish either value for malt beverages in this edition, so there is no honest way to print them. Cholesterol is 0 mg. Potassium comes to 97 mg per can, which is 2% of the Daily Value and nothing worth planning around. The Daily Values used in the last column are the FDA figures for a 2,000-calorie diet.
US servings from 1 fl oz to the tall can
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 fl oz | 30 g | 20 kcal |
| 1 oz by weight | 28.4 g | 19 kcal |
| One 12 fl oz can | 360 g | 245 kcal |
| One 16 fl oz can | 480 g | 326 kcal |
| One 23.5 fl oz tall can | 705 g | 479 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 68 kcal |
The 1 fl oz, 12 fl oz and 16 fl oz lines are USDA household measures attached to the record. The 23.5 fl oz tall can and the 1 oz weight line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, because the database stops at 16 fl oz while the store shelf does not.
Fluid ounces and weight ounces are not the same thing here, and that trips up a lot of logging. A fluid ounce of this drink weighs about 30 g; an ounce on a kitchen scale is 28.4 g. The gap is small per ounce and meaningless in one can, but if you log "23.5 oz" as weight instead of volume you will undercount by roughly 25 calories.
Tall cans and lighter malt drinks
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 fl oz can | 68 kcal | 360 g | 245 kcal |
| 16 fl oz can | 68 kcal | 480 g | 326 kcal |
| 23.5 fl oz tall can | 68 kcal | 705 g | 479 kcal |
| Half a 23.5 fl oz tall can | 68 kcal | 352.5 g | 240 kcal |
| Unsweetened malt beverage | 58 kcal | 360 g | 209 kcal |
| Non-alcoholic malt beverage | 37 kcal | 237 g | 88 kcal |
Every sweetened row above is the same liquid at 68 calories per 100 g. Only the container changes, and the container is doing all the work. Going from the 12 oz can to the 23.5 oz tall can adds 234 calories without a single change to the recipe, and the tall can is the format most stores stock.
Half a tall can lands at 240, which is within five calories of a whole 12 oz can. That is the single most useful line in the table if you drink the tall size: stopping at the halfway mark costs you the same as one regular can and nothing more.
The last two rows are different products, not Four Loko. The unsweetened malt beverage (FNDDS 2710620) runs 58 per 100 g with 0.27 g of carbohydrate, so the entire gap between it and the sweetened version is sugar. The non-alcoholic malta sodas that fill the international aisle sit at 37 per 100 g. USDA carries 101 branded rows under "malt beverage" and all of them are that non-alcoholic malta, which is why no store brand appears on this page.
Where the calories actually come from
This is the part the nutrition panel hides. A 12 oz can holds 36.3 g of carbohydrate, and at 4 calories per gram that accounts for roughly 145 calories. Protein is zero and fat is zero. So about 100 calories in the can are not represented on any macro row at all. That is the alcohol, and it is our own arithmetic from the USDA figures rather than a published USDA number.
In the 23.5 fl oz tall can the same split gets louder: 71.0 g of carbohydrate is 26% of the Daily Value and about 284 calories, leaving roughly 195 calories with no macro attached. If you track macros and your daily total keeps coming up short of your calorie total on drinking nights, this is why.
Sugar is the other headline. One 12 oz can carries 35.2 g of total sugars, and the tall can carries 68.9 g. There is no % Daily Value on those cells because total sugars have no DV, and USDA does not publish an added-sugars figure for this record, so the comparison most people want simply cannot be made from this data.
Sodium is a non-issue: 18 mg in a can, 1% of the Daily Value, less than a tenth of a teaspoon of table salt would supply. For context on the drink itself rather than the calories, the CDC's guidance on moderate alcohol use counts two drinks a day or fewer for men and one or fewer for women, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans treat a standard drink as 14 g of pure alcohol, which one 23.5 oz tall can comfortably exceeds.
How does Four Loko compare?
| Drink | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweetened malt beverage (Four Loko style) | 68 kcal | one 12 fl oz can, 360 g | 245 kcal |
| Unsweetened malt beverage | 58 kcal | one 12 fl oz can, 360 g | 209 kcal |
| Hard lemonade | 68 kcal | 11.2 fl oz, 335 g | 228 kcal |
| Non-alcoholic malt beverage | 37 kcal | one cup, 237 g | 88 kcal |
Our take: per 100 g, only two drinks in this table are lighter than Four Loko, and one of them has no alcohol in it. Hard lemonade matches it exactly at 68 per 100 g, which makes sense once you see it is the donor record the FNDDS row was built from. The unsweetened malt beverage saves 36 calories over an identical 12 oz pour and drops the sugar to nothing, so if the sweetness is negotiable that is the swap with the best return. If it is not negotiable, buy the 12 oz can instead of the tall one. Size beats recipe here by more than six to one, and no ingredient change on this table comes close to the 234 calories you save by picking the smaller can.
Four Loko FAQs
How many calories are in a Four Loko?
A 12 fl oz can of sweetened alcoholic malt beverage holds 245 calories, based on the USDA figure of 68 calories per 100 g. The 16 oz can comes to 326 and the 23.5 oz tall can to 479. The liquid is identical in all three; only the can size changes the number.
How many calories in a 23.5 oz Four Loko?
About 479 calories. The 23.5 fl oz tall can weighs roughly 705 g, and at 68 calories per 100 g that works out to 479. USDA stops at a 16 fl oz household measure, so this figure is our own arithmetic scaled from the 100 g value rather than a published USDA serving.
How much sugar is in a Four Loko?
One 12 fl oz can carries 35.2 g of total sugars, and the 23.5 oz tall can carries 68.9 g. Total sugars have no % Daily Value, and USDA does not publish an added-sugars figure for malt beverages in this edition, so there is no way to split naturally occurring from added sugar here.
How many carbs are in a Four Loko?
36.3 g of carbohydrate in a 12 fl oz can, which is 13% of the Daily Value. The 23.5 oz tall can holds 71.0 g, or 26%. Fiber is zero across every size, so all of that carbohydrate counts as net carbs, and nearly all of it is sugar rather than starch.
Does Four Loko have protein?
No, protein is 0 g per 100 g and 0 g in a full can. Fat is also 0 g. That leaves carbohydrate and alcohol as the only sources of energy in the drink, which is unusual for a 245-calorie item and the reason it does nothing at all for satiety.
Is Four Loko more fattening than beer?
Per equal volume, yes by a modest margin: 245 calories for a 12 oz sweetened can against 209 for the same 12 oz of unsweetened malt beverage, a gap of 36 that comes entirely from sugar. The real difference is format. Beer is usually 12 oz; Four Loko is often 23.5 oz, or 479 calories.
How many calories come from the alcohol in a Four Loko?
Roughly 100 of the 245 in a 12 oz can. Carbohydrate accounts for about 145 calories at 4 per gram, protein and fat are zero, and the remainder is alcohol. In the 23.5 oz tall can it is about 195 of 479. Both splits are our arithmetic from USDA values, not USDA figures.
Is there sodium in Four Loko?
Only 18 mg per 12 fl oz can, which is 1% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value and less than a tenth of a teaspoon of table salt would provide. Even the 23.5 oz tall can lands near 35 mg. Sodium is the one row on this drink that no one needs to think about.
Similar foods
- Ceviche — 158 cal per cup
- Pomegranate — 72 cal for 1/2 cup arils
- Clementine — 35 cal per clementine
- Clam Chowder — 237 cal per cup
- Chinese Chicken and Broccoli — 206 cal per cup
- Tom yum soup — 191 cal per bowl
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the can and BodyPal counts it for you, tall size included.
