Chubby Trainers & Nutrionists

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  • katgirl985
    katgirl985 Posts: 212 Member
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    Fit-looking people can give wrong information and unfit-looking people can give correct information.

    However, there is a lot of conflicting information out there, most people are going to trust a person that looked the part.

    Fair point!
  • TheCaren
    TheCaren Posts: 894 Member
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    I had a "health" instructor in college and the guy weighed 400 pounds and was a smoker. Now that certainly doesn't make him unable to teach me to eat right and avoid smoking. However, it did lessen his credibility, in my eyes...
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
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    My first experience with a gym was Curves. The woman running the place during the day, taking my measurements and showing how to use the equipment, was enormous. I thought "what a joke, you work out here regularly, why should I think this place will work for me if it hasn't for you?" Well, then I saw a bulletin board of her progress and was astounded. She was HALF the size she used to be. Just goes to show, you can never tell by looking at someone where they came from. She also had health issues and injuries that made it difficult for her.
  • karenwill2
    karenwill2 Posts: 604 Member
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    I am going to graduate and seek a job in physical therapy in May. Heck yeah, image is everything. To be honest, that is what put my butt into high gear. We have have to preach about exercise and if I have to tell somebody to do an exercise, I have to get down and do it with them. I will not be at goal by the time I graduate but I can do every exercise I preach and I do them with my patients. Someone that is preaching nutrition should most definitely look the part. And trainers....come on!

    I totally see where you are coming from on this topic.
  • morticiamom
    morticiamom Posts: 221 Member
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    I agree with you. That's why, as a nurse, I really felt it incumbent on me to start making healthier choices. The problem with many in the 'helping' professions however, is that they tend to feel guilty about taking any time for their own needs -- like exercise, packing a nutritious lunch -- but like on an airplane, you have to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others with their's.
  • masimonsc
    masimonsc Posts: 3 Member
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    In total agreement. I said something similar the other day. They don't have to have a perfect body. However, I feel they should look pretty good. "If you take my class, you could look like me."
    I took a class and the instructor had more rolls than me. I gave the benefit of the doubt, thinking maybe she could bust out a good workout. After 30 minutes, I felt I was wasting my time and left to do other cardio.
  • GorillaEsq
    GorillaEsq Posts: 2,198 Member
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    My first experience with a gym was Curves. The woman running the place during the day, taking my measurements and showing how to use the equipment, was enormous....
    To be fair, it is called "Curves," not "Bunch-O-Lil-Skinny-B!tches" ...(hahaha... sorry, I couldn't pass that one up)
  • tikafly
    tikafly Posts: 184 Member
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    Most people are well aware of their hypocrisy, and this type of hypocrisy can be seen across the board regardless of profession.
  • hkry3250
    hkry3250 Posts: 140
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    Lol, I'm one of those "chubby" trainers you speak of. For me, however, I didn't start out chubby. I was working in a furniture warehouse, loading trucks, going to the factory gym every break doing cardio, and after work either hitting weights, or going to karate. I was in great shape, 6'1" 220 6% bodyfat. Well, since I kept getting questions about how to saty in shape, diet, etc. I started at ISSA to become a trainer. The economy fell through, I lost my job then my girl and finally my truck. Needless to say, I fell into a deep depression, I was everything but homeless. Well, no way to get to the gym, or basically anywhere for that matter, I had nothing to do, I was eating my feelings and began smoking. I actually forgot I even started classes to become a trainer for about 6 months. Well, I finally finished my classes, (graduated with a 98), found a friend who I train for free just to get a ride to the gym, so I can actually work out. Anyway, I quit smoking, and I eat right, and am working on getting back into shape. Not too many people I know my size has a resting pulse of only 52, and a bp of 110/65, that only comes from a well conditioned heart. Well, anyway, I may not look like I know anything about fitness, but I do.
  • journalistjen
    journalistjen Posts: 265 Member
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    I was talking to my friends yesterday about how unhealthy our police officers seem where I live. I can't think of but maybe three officers out of two dozen where I live who are actually fit. All the others look at least 250 pounds or more. This is not very reassuring.
  • tikafly
    tikafly Posts: 184 Member
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    My first experience with a gym was Curves. The woman running the place during the day, taking my measurements and showing how to use the equipment, was enormous....
    To be fair, it is called "Curves," not "Bunch-O-Lil-Skinny-B!tches" ...(hahaha... sorry, I couldn't pass that one up)
    :laugh: valid point
  • martintanz
    martintanz Posts: 280
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    I guess, for me, it boils down to something along the lines of in a field where the end game is based on visual aesthetics, it would be important that they practice what they preach if they want my business.

    Is that what hiring a personal trainer or dietician is all about, or is looking better just icing on the cake, so to speak?

    Count me among those who say, "it depends on how chubby." Honestly, there are a few personal trainers, both female and male, that look like they could be professional bodybuilders. While I respect the dedication of a person who pushes his or her physique (and who is blessed with good genetics), I don't necessarily believe that such a physique automatically means they know what they are talking about when it comes to nutrition or personal training. And, just looking young and fit also doesn't mean all that much. So is being a bit chubby disqualifying? Not necessarily.

    I am not a personal trainer, or nutritionist. But having been through this whole weight loss thing a number of times, I might know more than a person who "looks the part" but is, in fact, just blessed with good genetics, and youth. Over the years, I have been in shape, and I have been out of shape. I have spent years eating healthy, and years eating less healthy. The thing is, even when I am in shape, BMI suggests I am still "overweight". True story. Back in the early 90s, I was visiting a old friend and his brother, who was just out of high school. I was fit, but still chubby, probably weighing around 220 or 225. Anyhow, I played tennis with my friend and his brother and to his brother's surprise, ran him ragged on the court. Later, feeling embarrased, the brother challenged me to a push up contest since he didn't believe that I lifted weights 4 to 6 days a week. (He was kind of young, I know) So I said sure. Though he was younger and leaner, I still doubled the number of pushups he did. So though he looked the part, I was actually much fitter.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
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    When I pay professionals, I am paying them to help me. To give me the knowledge in their heads so that I can put it to use. I don't care whether they do that themselves or not. It's not my business, and it's not my problem. If I needed to lose weight and an overweight doctor told me to lose weight, how is it helping my health to wait to take her advice until she does first? When I go to a doctor, I expect them to tell me what I need to know about my body and my health. If I'm overweight, the doctor's job is to tell me that, regardless of how the doctor looks. The doctor's weight is irrelevant to my weight and health. Having the knowledge does not always equate to being able to put it to use 100% of the time. I don't expect perfection from anyone else in my life.

    I'm ok with my professionals having lives and problems outside of the job.
  • dalehall64
    dalehall64 Posts: 290 Member
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    My first experience with a gym was Curves. The woman running the place during the day, taking my measurements and showing how to use the equipment, was enormous....
    To be fair, it is called "Curves," not "Bunch-O-Lil-Skinny-B!tches" ...(hahaha... sorry, I couldn't pass that one up)

    LOL!!
    My own personal feelings: I was asked to become a coach, but because I have not completed my own fitness journey, I didn't feel I would be sending the correct message if I took a coaching spot at this point and time. Image is everything and when I'm "preaching" to people about fitness, I want them to look at me and believe me because of how I look, not because of how I talk about it. I don't agree with the "do as I say, not as I do" mentality. And that's how I feel those people would think of me. Just my humble opinion.
  • VanessaGS
    VanessaGS Posts: 514 Member
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    Maybe some of them are on the same path as all of us to dropping weight?
  • 76tech
    76tech Posts: 1,455 Member
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    What do chubby personal trainers and male gynecologists have in common?

    If someone knows their stuff, I'd work with them. Regardless of their fitness level.
  • GorillaEsq
    GorillaEsq Posts: 2,198 Member
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    Maybe some of them are on the same path as all of us to dropping weight?
    Do you really believe that all of us are here to "drop weight?" ;)
  • GorillaEsq
    GorillaEsq Posts: 2,198 Member
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    What do chubby personal trainers and male gynecologists have in common?

    If someone knows their stuff, I'd work with them. Regardless of their fitness level.
    I personally would never work with a male gynecologist. Nor a female gynecologist for that matter. But, to each their own.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
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    At least at first glance, I would agree. Really it extends to a lot of areas... However, in this particular area it is even more important.

    Nutritionist... I have to wonder about the dedication to and excitement about what you are proposing ... Eating balanced and healthy foods... Obviously you agree that these foods are less appetizing than those I eat or you would be making the choice to eat healthy yourself. What caused you to choose this field? One has to question that.

    Trainer... to me even more important. How do I know you know what you are talking about if you don't look the part? How do I know you are telling me the right exercises? There is a lot of contradictory pseudo-science out there... How do I know that you really know how to create the body I am looking to achieve. If you cannot properly demonstrate the exercises you are telling me to engage in...well how am I supposed to know how to do it with proper form...

    As some have said, I don't know the journey. There is a guy (not chubby) at our gym that obviously has a background in fitness but he had a rather nasty bicycle accident a while back and has been unable to continue doing some of the things he would recommend that I do; that is another story. Is somebody on the same journey as I? That is well and good ... I guess it boils down to, who would you take financial advice from the most?

    1. A rich man
    2. A poor man that read something about being wealthy
    3. A rich man that was once a poor man...

    I would listeh to #3 first then #1... Not much #2 can tell me since I am that man myself... then again, I offer no financial advice.
  • TMcSter
    TMcSter Posts: 69 Member
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    I agree with the original poster. I feel weird working out at my local gym when the gal that owns it and works there all day every day has every excuse as to why she can't work out on an ongoing basis.

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