Restricting Your Calories May Restrict Your Happiness

There are many different strategies for losing weight, but almost all of them, unfortunately, involve backing away from the buffet. You can’t eat as many calories as you want and still lose weight, unless you are a world-class athlete or spend so much time at the gym that FedEx delivers your packages there.

Legendary swimmer Michael Phelps, while training for the Olympics, woke up each day and consumed three fried egg sandwiches and three chocolate-chip pancakes. And that was just his appetizer!

After that, he wolfed down a five-egg omelette, three sugar-coated slices of French toast and a bowl of grits. Then he drank two cups of coffee, looked at his watch and said, “It’s almost time for lunch.”

His lunch and dinner included massive amounts of pasta and pizza, pushing his daily consumption above 10,000 calories. Phelps’ diet gave him lots of energy, helping him win 28 Olympic medals, but it also resulted in severe food shortages around the world.

Well, Phelps alone wasn’t responsible for those food shortages. It was all those aspiring Olympians trying to emulate him, consuming 10,000 calories, jumping into a pool and struggling to stay afloat. It’s tough to float when you’ve displaced all the water. (This is known as the Archimedes’ principle.)

Unlike elite athletes like Phelps, the average man should consume between 2,000 and 2,800 calories per day, while the average woman should consume 1,600 to 2,400 per day. The lower end of that range is for sedentary people; the higher end is for people who deliver food to sedentary people. (Delivering food usually involves taking lots of steps, unless you are dropping off three large pizzas at the drive-up window of the Phelps home.)

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

If you’re trying to lose weight, you should consume fewer calories than your body needs — and much fewer than your body wants. But be careful not to cut your calories too drastically. That could result in sadness — and not just for the workers at your favorite restaurant.

A new study has found that people on a CRD (calorie-restrictive diet), especially men and those who are overweight, are more likely to experience worsening symptoms of depression than those on an MPD (Michael Phelps diet).

The study, conducted by Dr. Venkat Bhat and other Canadian researchers, was published last week in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health.

“The findings suggest caution with overly restrictive or unbalanced diets, particularly for people already experiencing weight-related stress or challenges,” Bhat told CNN.

In other words, don’t go overboard with your diet. This is especially true if you’re already experiencing depression. Don’t cut so many calories that you feel utterly deprived. If you’re currently consuming a Phelps-like breakfast, just transition from a five-egg omelette to a four-egg omelette. You can also try cutting the chocolate chips from your pancakes. The same is true if you consume an Indian breakfast of idli or dosa. Go easy on the chocolate chips.

It isn’t easy to cut calories, especially since food is everywhere — not just in the grocery stores and restaurants, but also in the videos we watch. My wife loves watching the Village Cooking Channel on YouTube. It features a group of Tamil men cooking a variety of delectable dishes outdoors in huge pots. They sometimes cook in such massive quantities that they’re able to feed an entire village or if Michael Phelps happens to visit, provide him with a calorie-restrictive meal.