It all depends on the kid. Some kids like my son come in to the beginning of the season "chubby" thanks to tv and video games. Since the season started, he has gone from wrestling 95 and now he is down to 82. He has done it by being disciplined throughout the season and by exercise in the form of practice. We have caught alot of crap from the faculty at the school, because he brings his own lunch and doesn't eat that much of it. He was one of those kids that never ate breakfast. Since the season began, he eats a good breakfast and is not hungry at lunch. He used to skip breakfast and by the time lunch came, he was starving so he inhaled whatever he could get his hand on. I believe there is a huge difference in "cutting weight" and simply managing the diet. His big thing is pastas and bread. You would be surprised how much a kid can loose GRADUALLY by cutting the amount of carbohydrates the he or she consumes. I am all for doing it over a long period of time, however I am not for a young kid coming into practice on Wednesday four pounds over and starving himself to weigh in on Friday evening. My son is I guess vertically challenged to be politically correct. Did he do well where he was at? Yes, but he was a little chubby and looked so much smaller than some of the kids in his brackets. The kid can eat all the fish, chicken, broccoli, and veggies that he wants as long as it is not breaded and lose .25 to .5 pounds per day and still keep his energy and muscle mass which is so important in wrestling. The extreme cutting sacrifices these two very important ingredients to make a good wrestler. Bottom line. Parents who are correctly involved with their childs wrestling know what is a safe weight for their child. They know the excercise level of the child and the metabolism. The win at all costs parents sometimes overloook the safety of their child. After all are we not in it for the kids?
