Hi James, Can you please give my 15yr old nephew some advice? He's a wrestler and days before he has to get weighed, is when he's rushing to lose the extra pounds. By what I know he starves himself (days earlier) and will take diet pills. My sister took him to the Dr a few months ago. He didn't look well, they had to put him on IV. What kind of diet would you recommend for him? Or is there something he can take safely in place of the diet pills? Thank you in advance! :)

Losing weight rapidly in itself is not a safe thing to do.  Diet pills and dehydration just add to the dangers.  Diet pills generally contain strong stimulants, laxatives and sometimes diuretics.  Each of these by themselves pose dangers.  Diuretics, laxatives and dehydration can lead to electrolyte imbalances that will actually decrease athletic performance anyway, so he is being counterproductive anyway.  Same with stimulants in diet pills.  These crash the adrenals, which in turn can increase over secretion of cortisol.  This leads to weight gain by increasing blood sugar leading to increase insulin that increases fat deposits.  Cortisol also breaks down muscle tissue leading to a loss of strength and decreased burning of body fat.

Starving himself is not going to help either.  Not only does this slow the metabolism leading to lower energy production and thus decreased performance, it also promotes rebound weight gain.

If he really wants to keep the weight down then the best thing he can do is to train to maintain muscle mass.  In addition, make sure he drinks plenty of water throughout the day.  Not excessive amounts though though since this will also throw off the electrolytes, which is quite dangerous.  Water though will help flush out the excess sodium in his system that lead to weight gain by water retention.  Water also helps to facilitate the removal of toxins and the transport of nutrients improving performance.

If he is fit the muscle mass will burn fat even in a resting state so the consumption of calories in itself makes very little difference on weight.  For example, in my racing days I weighed 150 pounds and I am 6' 2".  I weighed myself daily to make sure I did not drop too low in  my weight, but always managed to stay between 150-153 pounds despite eating around 10,000 calories a day mainly in carbohydrates.  Everything I ate though was burned off by muscle.  What did put weight on me quickly though and dropped my energy like a rock was the consumption of meats. 

Meats are harder for the body to digest and so diverts energy away from muscle performance.  They also tend to be higher in sodium leading to more water retention as well.  There is a reason runners and cyclists carbo load before a race instead of loading up on meats.  Some athletes though such as weight lifters and wrestlers are often told that high meat consumption will increase muscle mass, which simply is not true.  The body can only utilize around 3 ounces of protein daily for the average person and about 3.5 ounces for serious athletes.  So it dies not take much to meet our protein requirements and anything beyond that is simply toxic waste that the body has to deal with.  Remember that protein is broken down in to amino acids, which are then broken down in to highly toxic ammonia.  Again, the body has to divert energy away from other processes to deal with the toxic ammonia.  And more water is required to make sure the uric acid formed by the ammonia is hydrolyzed for safe elimination through the kidneys.  This contributes to dehydration and thus lowered athletic performance.

He should also think about this. If he is starving himself days before being weighed then why does he need laxatives when he is not adding anything to the digestive tract?  A diet richer in plants not only provides sufficient protein, but also electrolytes and acts as a natural laxative passing through the system on its own relatively quick.  The only thing that takes a while to pass through the digestive system are meats.  And meats can become constipating as well.

I am not saying to become a strict vegetarian as this poses its own problems.  But he would likely find it is easier to maintain the weight he wants safely with less meat in the diet and more plant based foods higher in fiber and potassium.

And don't forget that he needs to stay hydrated.  Spring water is the best.  Sodas, sports drinks, etc. are not water.  The high sugar content of these alone can promote dehydration.