How many calories are in a Miller Lite?
A 12 fl oz can of Miller Lite — or any American light beer — carries 103 calories, and the beer itself runs 29 calories per 100 g. That is the lightest thing in most coolers apart from seltzer. The catch is the glass: a 16 oz pour pushes the same beer to 139.
You'd need to walk about 21 minutes to burn the 103 calories in one 12 fl oz can (354 g).
How long does it take to burn off Miller Lite?
One 12 fl oz can (354 g) is 103 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 103 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 21 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 13 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 15 min |
| Jogging | 12 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 23 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 (354 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Light beer quick facts
- US servings, from one can to a six-pack
- Regular, low-carb and higher-alcohol light beers
- Where the calories actually come from
- How does light beer compare?
- Most popular light beer brands
- FAQ
Light beer quick facts
There is no USDA record for the Miller Lite brand by name. Alcohol is labeled under the TTB rather than the FDA, so the USDA Branded database holds no beer rows at all, and a search for the brand returns nothing. The number people are looking for lives instead in SR Legacy 168749, "Alcoholic beverage, beer, light" — the lab analysis of generic American light lager, with its own household serving of 12 fl oz (354 g). That is the can in your hand.
A second record, FNDDS 2710617 ("Beer, light"), carries identical values; it is the dietary-survey version of the same analysis, not a second opinion. Where a brand does have its own analysis — Bud Light, Budweiser Select — those numbers appear further down instead of being blended into this table.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 can (354 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 29 | 103 | — |
| Total fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Saturated fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrate | 1.64 g | 5.8 g | 2% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0.09 g | 0.3 g | — |
| Protein | 0.24 g | 0.8 g | 2% |
| Sodium | 4 mg | 14 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 are missing on purpose. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this SR Legacy record, so neither appears here rather than being guessed at — fermentation eats most of the sugar anyway, and there is no fat to be trans. Cholesterol is 0 mg a can. Potassium is 74 mg, about 2% of the Daily Value, which is the only mineral in beer worth a sentence. The FDA's Daily Value reference sets the percentages used in the column above.
US servings, from one can to a six-pack
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 fl oz | 29.5 g | 9 kcal |
| 1 oz by weight | 28.35 g | 8 kcal |
| One can or bottle, 12 fl oz | 354 g | 103 kcal |
| One tall pour, 16 fl oz | 480 g | 139 kcal |
| Six-pack, 6 × 12 fl oz | 2124 g | 616 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 29 kcal |
Only the 12 fl oz can, the 1 fl oz line and the 100 g row are USDA servings. The 16 oz pour, the six-pack and the ounce-by-weight line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA household measures.
The 16 oz line is the one that catches people. A tall glass at a bar, a 16 oz tallboy from a gas station cooler, a red cup filled to the top — all of them hold a third more beer than the can the calorie number came from. Log two of those and you are at 278 calories, more than two and a half cans, while your notes still say "two beers." Note also that fluid ounces and ounces by weight are not the same thing here: 1 fl oz of beer weighs about 29.5 g, so counting in weight ounces quietly undercounts.
The six-pack figure is the honest one to sit with. At 616 calories it is roughly 31% of a 2,000-calorie day, delivered with 0 g of fat and 0 g of fiber. Nothing in it fills you up.
Regular, low-carb and higher-alcohol light beers
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light beer (the main record) | 29 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 103 kcal |
| Regular beer | 43 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 152 kcal |
| Light beer, low carb | 27 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 96 kcal |
| Light beer, higher alcohol | 46 kcal | 12 fl oz (356 g) | 164 kcal |
| Bud Light | 29 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 103 kcal |
| Budweiser Select | 28 kcal | 12 fl oz (355 g) | 99 kcal |
Bud Light matches generic light beer calorie for calorie at 103 a can, so the Miller-versus-Bud argument is not a calorie argument — the two records differ mainly in carbohydrate, 1.30 g per 100 g for Bud Light against 1.64 g. Budweiser Select is drier still at 0.87 g and lands at 99 calories.
The low-carb brews are the interesting near-miss. Dropping carbohydrate to 0.73 g per 100 g takes the can down to 96 calories — a saving of seven calories against a standard light beer. If you are tracking carbs, that is a real difference. If you are tracking calories, it is noise.
Higher-alcohol light beer runs the other way. At 46 calories per 100 g it beats regular beer, 164 a can, on less carbohydrate than the standard light lager. The word "light" on that label refers to the body and the carbs, not the energy.
Where the calories actually come from
Read the Daily Value column again and something odd stands out: a 103-calorie drink that contributes 2% of your carbohydrate, 2% of your protein, 1% of your sodium and 0% of everything else. The macros do not add up to the calories, and they are not supposed to. Alcohol carries energy that no macronutrient row on a label captures, which is why beer can be simultaneously nutritionally empty and calorically expensive.
That is the practical takeaway for anyone counting. A 103-calorie snack normally brings fiber, protein or at least some satiety with it; this one brings none, and it tends to arrive in multiples. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans chapter on alcoholic beverages treats those calories as additional to, not part of, a day's nutrient needs, and the CDC's standard drink definitions put a 12 fl oz beer at one drink — usefully, the same 12 fl oz the USDA serving uses, so drinks and calories can be counted with the same tally marks.
If sodium is what you watch, beer is a non-issue: 14 mg a can is well under 1% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, roughly a rounding error next to a teaspoon of table salt.
How does light beer compare?
| Drink | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light beer | 29 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 103 kcal |
| Beer, regular | 43 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 152 kcal |
| Hard seltzer | 24 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 85 kcal |
| Hard cider | 56 kcal | 12 fl oz (354 g) | 198 kcal |
Our take: of the four drinks here, only hard seltzer comes in under light beer, and it does so by 18 calories a can — real, but not the difference between a good week and a bad one. Switching from regular beer to light is the move that pays: 49 calories saved per can, 294 across a six-pack, for a drink most people cannot pick out of a lineup at a cookout. Cider is the one to watch, at nearly double the light beer for the same-looking bottle. And whatever is in the glass, the glass size beats the brand every time — three 16 oz pours cost more than four cans.
Most popular light beer brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Bud Light | 29 cal |
| Budweiser Select | 28 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Miller Lite FAQs
How many calories are in a Miller Lite?
103 calories for a 12 fl oz can or bottle, which works out to 29 calories per 100 g. USDA does not publish a row for the Miller Lite brand itself, so the figure here is the SR Legacy analysis of generic American light beer — carrying the same 12 fl oz serving printed on the can.
How many carbs are in a light beer?
5.8 g of carbohydrate in a 12 fl oz can, 2% of the Daily Value, scaled from 1.64 g per 100 g. A low-carb light beer drops to 0.73 g per 100 g, about 2.6 g a can by our arithmetic. Bud Light sits between them at 1.30 g per 100 g.
How many calories in a 16 oz light beer?
139 calories in a 16 fl oz pour, 36 more than the 12 fl oz can for the same beer. That 480 g weight is our own scaling of the USDA 100 g figure rather than a USDA household serving. Two tall pours come to 278 calories, more than two and a half cans.
How many calories in a six-pack of light beer?
616 calories in a six-pack of 12 fl oz light beers, about 31% of a 2,000-calorie day. The total is our arithmetic: six times the 103-calorie can, not a USDA serving. Carbohydrate for the six adds up to 34.8 g, while fat and fiber both stay at zero.
Is light beer better than regular beer for weight loss?
On calories, yes: 103 a can against 152 for regular beer, a saving of 49 calories per 12 fl oz, or 294 across a six-pack. Light beer is still not free, though. Three cans come to 309 calories with no fiber and no protein to show for them.
Does light beer have sugar?
0.3 g of total sugars in a 12 fl oz can, from 0.09 g per 100 g — effectively none. Fermentation converts most of the malt sugar to alcohol before the beer is canned. USDA does not publish added sugars for this record, so no added-sugar number appears anywhere on this page.
Light beer or hard seltzer: which is lower in calories?
Hard seltzer is lower, at 85 calories per 12 fl oz against 103 for light beer, a gap of 18. Seltzer also carries less carbohydrate, 0.55 g per 100 g against 1.64 g. The difference is small enough that how many you drink matters far more than which one you pick.
How much protein is in a beer?
0.8 g of protein in a 12 fl oz light beer, 2% of the Daily Value, from 0.24 g per 100 g. Regular beer is slightly higher at 0.46 g per 100 g, roughly 1.6 g a can. Neither is a protein source at any serving size anyone actually drinks.
Similar foods
- Beer — 155 cal for 12 fl oz can
- Cider — 202 cal per can or bottle (12 fl oz)
- Prosecco — 135 cal per glass
- Cosmopolitan — 224 cal per cocktail
- Martini — 241 cal per drink
- Shot Of Tequila — 97 cal per shot (1.5 fl oz)
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the can and BodyPal counts it for you, pour size and all.
