Wrestling and how I became interested in Nutrition

This year during wrestling season my weight class was 162 lbs - Meaning I had to weigh under 162 at the time of the weigh in, usually in the morning. This was difficult because I walked around at 170 lbs. To maintain 170 lbs I ate only until I was just full, and hardly ever had any food high in fat or sugar. The 8 pounds between 170 and 162 was where it got difficult, and to me in a way it was interesting, because it was like a strategy game - making decisions on what to eat, and when to do cardio. Most of the time, I would start the game 3 days out. In this time there was absolutely no junk food, the only liquid I would drink would be water, the amount of carbohydrates and fats I consumed would be limited while my protein would stay high, and on the last day I would cut out sodium, fiber, and weigh my food to match the last few lbs I needed to drop. The last night and into the morning usually were horrible because I would be hungry, thirsty, and thus very grumpy. However it was always worth it for some reason I couldn't really understand back then.

The funny part about all this was that I wasn't a very good wrestler. Not many at my level would put as much into their diet as I did. I really wanted to get some wins as a wrestler, but that wasn't where the bulk of my motivation to do all this came from. The motivation mostly just came out of my own interest. These tricks I could pull could change my body to how I wanted it to be, it was new, and really cool for me. From there, I just kept learning, reading articles online, talking to my nutritionist mom, and watching video after video on YouTube. 

One night I found myself watching videos on nutrition, instead of doing homework due the next day. I realized something very simple, yet still difficult to realize: I liked learning about nutrition, I did not like learning about chi squared tests. I don't know why I like one, and not the other, but for some reason I do. There will always be things I don't want to do that I must do, but as my crossroads approaches, I've got a chance to decide on what I do and don't like. In this first experience with nutrition, its not just nutrition I've learned about, but also understanding passions.