Wrestling season is tough. Oh sure – Ferris will tell you how hard it was on him, all that training and discipline... but its been no picnic for us either. And by 'no picnic' I am referring specifically to food.
At the beginning of the season Ferris decided to wrestle 125. Which is all well and good… except he weighed 140 at the time.
So in true Ferris style – once he puts his mind to something, its done.
15 pounds – gone.
Now all he needed to do was keep it off ...or keep taking it off for his twice weekly weigh ins.
This is a huge struggle for a growing young man. Not only is his normal appetite enormous, but he is still growing. Growing even ½ an inch can put you right out of your weight class.
And so he spent every waking moment staying at 125 pounds. Actually – he spent many a sleeping moment doing the same. It seems wrestlers sleep off weight. I am not completely sure how this works but I can tell you this method is not successful for middle aged women – believe me…I tried.
Around the house we changed the kinds of food that were available and completely changed our regular cooking habits.
For two months, my ‘very-fond-of-cooking-for-her-kids’ Italian wife has been waiting patiently. She stopped cooking her famous and amazingly aromatic dishes so that he would not be tempted. No risotto, no pasta with pesto, no crunchy garlic bread, no pumpkin muffins, no warm cookies. Instead she spent her time cutting up small bits of fruit or making little tiny dishes of chicken or shrimp, sometimes wrapping turkey slices in lettuce and spearing them with toothpicks to make them look like fancy appetizers. She bought him vitamin water because she worried about his nutrition. She bought him bags and bags of almonds in the shell so that he would get some calcium (the shelled ones slowed him down enough where he wouldn’t eat too many).
For my part – I handled laundry and disinfections. Evidently certain skin afflictions are a standard part of any high school wrestling program...who knew... and our team was laden with them this year. Wrestler practices every day – and so every day I would wash the towels and many layers of shirts, sweats and socks that he would wear to sweat down. Then I would spray down his bag, his shoes and his headgear with Lysol.
Every day.
Same thing.
No food, lots of lysol, and lots of laundry.
He had a good season. And the season is over now.
Oh, and the day after his last match – he weighed in at 137… and my ‘very-fond-of-cooking-for-her-kids’ Italian wife has opened the kitchen for business again.
Next up is golf season. Which we all find so much more relaxing.
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