Should I continue with my personal trainer?

Jill147

OP, how did they estimate your body fat percentage? I am really surprised that you went down by such a large amount without losing inches or weight. The difference between 28% and 23% is pretty noticeable--your clothes should fit differently. I suspect it's more likely that they made an error in estimating your bf% and are just giving you a lower number to justify continued employment of the trainer.

The handheld device is how he estimated my body fat percent. I better add...my hubby says he can tell a difference in my looks and that i am slimmer than when i started, but just not to the extent he expected after 4 months of training. As far as weight, I did lose 5 pds the first couple months, but since we started lifting and not a lot of cardio like before (we did boxing every week at one point because he knew i liked it so much) I have gained it back and am at my same starting weight.

It has been two weeks now of strictly weight training when we used to do a lot more cardio that burned 600/700 calories in an hour. Now we use leg press, free weights, do squats, lunges, bosu ball, etc. in comparison to throwing the tire or running sprints etc like before. I think this is partly because I explained to him a couple weeks ago that I don't want to be "soft" and that I would like actual definition in my body where you can see the muscles. (I don't think he understood this as a lot of his female clients prefer not to look muscular but just slim down)

If he was just doing cardio like before, I think I would be able to do it on my own. The actual weight machines, free weights, etc. that we just really started getting to are what I am nervous about. Not sure I would push myself to do certain amounts of weight etc because frankly, i don't like to lift haha. I do not leave feeling high in energy like cardio.

He has asked me to drop my cardio down to one class a week (high intensity kickboxing hr class) and then walk 6/7 times a week for an hour along with 4 days a week of strength training. I told him i don't like this because I LOVE cardio, but he is afraid that it defeats the purpose to try to build muscle if I am just going to go crazy on cardio. Do you guys agree?

Jill147

Your diary isn't open, so my best guess here is that you probably aren't logging accurately. If you aren't noticing a change in both how you look and how your clothes fit, even with all the exercise, I'm guessing your caloric intake is pretty close to maintenance rather than in a reasonable deficit....IMHO.

I usually use a fitbit along with a polar hrm and I normally log my foods. (Havent for a week or two but started to again yesterday) My trainer tells me I don't eat enough, because I am usually around 1400/1600 cals a day and he wants it closer to 1800. I eat a lot of protein and don't drink anything besides water and 2 sparks (advocare) a day.. I do get extremely hungry at night though and give in to a think thin protein bar nightly around 8/9 which is one of my downfalls since its a processed food. I need to open my diary back up. Thanks for reminding me!

LBNOakland

OP, how did they estimate your body fat percentage? I am really surprised that you went down by such a large amount without losing inches or weight. The difference between 28% and 23% is pretty noticeable--your clothes should fit differently. I suspect it's more likely that they made an error in estimating your bf% and are just giving you a lower number to justify continued employment of the trainer.

The handheld device is how he estimated my body fat percent. I better add...my hubby says he can tell a difference in my looks and that i am slimmer than when i started, but just not to the extent he expected after 4 months of training. As far as weight, I did lose 5 pds the first couple months, but since we started lifting and not a lot of cardio like before (we did boxing every week at one point because he knew i liked it so much) I have gained it back and am at my same starting weight.

It has been two weeks now of strictly weight training when we used to do a lot more cardio that burned 600/700 calories in an hour. Now we use leg press, free weights, do squats, lunges, bosu ball, etc. in comparison to throwing the tire or running sprints etc like before. I think this is partly because I explained to him a couple weeks ago that I don't want to be "soft" and that I would like actual definition in my body where you can see the muscles. (I don't think he understood this as a lot of his female clients prefer not to look muscular but just slim down)

If he was just doing cardio like before, I think I would be able to do it on my own. The actual weight machines, free weights, etc. that we just really started getting to are what I am nervous about. Not sure I would push myself to do certain amounts of weight etc because frankly, i don't like to lift haha. I do not leave feeling high in energy like cardio.

He has asked me to drop my cardio down to one class a week (high intensity kickboxing hr class) and then walk 6/7 times a week for an hour along with 4 days a week of strength training. I told him i don't like this because I LOVE cardio, but he is afraid that it defeats the purpose to try to build muscle if I am just going to go crazy on cardio. Do you guys agree?

Yes but I don't love cardio so.... I lift 3x a week. I walk 3 miles 5x a week but not fast or anything. I try to fit in cardio 2 x but it is HIIT and never over 30 minutes. I love lifting! I leave the gym with seat dripping and heart rate elevated as if I had done cardio.

If you aren't eating as many cals as he wants and you are burining cals doing cardio, that's prob why he wants you to step away from the cardio. Try it and see what effect it has. If you want definition, lifting is the only way to get it. Cardio won't

Mamoonie

I don't understand this: you've been working out with a trainer for 4 months, 3 times a week, and you don't notice your clothes fitting better?
I wonder what kind of training that is!?!

When I started working out with my trainer, I noticed changes on my body rather quickly and early. My weight loss slowed down, but my "inch loss" speeded up. ... and I only had one session every other week. Between 2 sessions he gave me programs to do on my own, a mix between cardio and strength, while the sessions with him are no cardio at all.

You might consider to reduce the number of sessions with your trainer and do some workouts on your own.
Financially for me it is: a session with my trainer: 60€, a program he writes for me doing it on my own: 12€50.
So I pay around 120€ for 2 weeks of guided training, which is a lot less than your trainer costs you.

bumblebums

OP, how did they estimate your body fat percentage? I am really surprised that you went down by such a large amount without losing inches or weight. The difference between 28% and 23% is pretty noticeable--your clothes should fit differently. I suspect it's more likely that they made an error in estimating your bf% and are just giving you a lower number to justify continued employment of the trainer.

The handheld device is how he estimated my body fat percent. I better add...my hubby says he can tell a difference in my looks and that i am slimmer than when i started, but just not to the extent he expected after 4 months of training. As far as weight, I did lose 5 pds the first couple months, but since we started lifting and not a lot of cardio like before (we did boxing every week at one point because he knew i liked it so much) I have gained it back and am at my same starting weight.

It has been two weeks now of strictly weight training when we used to do a lot more cardio that burned 600/700 calories in an hour. Now we use leg press, free weights, do squats, lunges, bosu ball, etc. in comparison to throwing the tire or running sprints etc like before. I think this is partly because I explained to him a couple weeks ago that I don't want to be "soft" and that I would like actual definition in my body where you can see the muscles. (I don't think he understood this as a lot of his female clients prefer not to look muscular but just slim down)

If he was just doing cardio like before, I think I would be able to do it on my own. The actual weight machines, free weights, etc. that we just really started getting to are what I am nervous about. Not sure I would push myself to do certain amounts of weight etc because frankly, i don't like to lift haha. I do not leave feeling high in energy like cardio.

He has asked me to drop my cardio down to one class a week (high intensity kickboxing hr class) and then walk 6/7 times a week for an hour along with 4 days a week of strength training. I told him i don't like this because I LOVE cardio, but he is afraid that it defeats the purpose to try to build muscle if I am just going to go crazy on cardio. Do you guys agree?

The body fat percentage estimate still sounds like an error to me. If I were you, I would start taking simple measurements of your waist, hips, arm, and thigh, to keep track of something other than weight.

Re: cardio and weights and fat loss, your trainer might be right. Have a look at these:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-ltdfle.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html