i met with my trainer today

AprilChampion

and it went rather well....He said, that based on what i want to do, (loosing weight and toning up) that i should ONLY be eating about 1270 calories a day. (he worked it out mathematically) Which is NOT that far off from what i had originally had myself at. i originally had myself at 1200. He said that i should keep my meals around 211 calories and eat 6 small meals. he tried to explain the carbs/protein/fat percentages with me but i just couldnt understand what he was trying to say. he told me "dont worry about that then, just stay under 1270, keep your meals small @ around 211 cals and eat 6 of them."

He also said that the scale wasn't moving in either direction ( and neither was the tape measure) because i was doing the same exercises over and over, my muscles got used to them. He had me get on the treadmill and alternate walking and running in one minute increments and thats it. I did that for 25 minutes. i only burned about 150 calories but, my legs were definitely feeling it. Im meeting with him again tomorrow to do the "30 minute express workout". Hopefully by alternating my exercising, the weight will come off and ill be able to learn what exercises to do to KEEP it off.

I have the option to meet with him personally for $30 an hour or doing it on my own. its really up to me what i want to do but i think im going to want to work with him at LEAST once a week. $30 an hour is NOT bad at all. When he brought it up, i swore he was gonna say $100 an hour. Im really happy right now.

I asked him about this site and about the supposed "exercise calories" and he told me no way. That's really a body builders type of calories and there should be NO WAY IN HELL that i should eat them based on what i want to do with my body. So, i am going to ignore the exercise calories on here and just do what my trainer says to do.

So, heres to starting over, starting fresh and staying away from the scale!!!!

pawprint061

Sounds like it went pretty good. I have heard that about the muscles getting used to the same thing.

About the whole exercise calorie thing, I never ever eat mine. I tried that I gained like crazy. I stopped and now I'm losing.

cullensbrunette

Good for you! The whole exercise calorie thing doesnt work for me either. I have been eating almost all of mine and still not losing anything. I've stopped eating most of them and already lost 1.5 pounds in 3 days. It just doesnt work for everyone.

AprilChampion

yea...i was a little leary of it when i first joined this site but EVERYONE was telling me "YOU HAVE TO EAT THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and "1200 cals arent enough!! you need to eat more!!!!!!!" but, it turns out, no, i really REALLY dont. i only have to eat 70 calories more then i had myself at.

i love my trainer and im so glad that i have him to work with through this. even though ive only SERIOUSLY been at this for a week, since i wasnt seeing any progress i figured i would meet with him NOW before i got three four five, 10 months into this and was having the same issues. better to do it in the beginning to know what youre doing wrong then to find out 10 months later.

Chiny

That's awesome! Glad you found what works for YOU! Sometimes we just need one on one individual attention to our specific needs. I've heard so many different things when it comes to nutrition and exercise.

Murdog

Congratulations about the trainer, and your decision to work through this issue. It's really hard to find good help in this area without paying through the wazoo for it! I'm right there with you. I have to change things up every now and then, too.
About the calorie thing... I got to admit that I was a little leary of it. But, I noticed that if I eat those cals, the page will tell me that if I continued to eat those calories, that I would be at 'this much' weight. So, I like to use this as a guage to see just how much calories my workout actually burned off.
I just pretend I didn't workout at all and those cals don't exist. It's the best way for me to stay honest with myself.
There are some very cool tools featured on this site, and through them, I'm finding some more things about my body that I need to know.

KatWood

Having a trainer can be a great source of knowledge and motivation. That being said, I don't know how many calories you will be burning in a workout but if it is a lot you will have to increase your calories.

My two trainers had me working out 3 times a week, an hour each time and eating 1500 calories. And they were worried that might not be enough. However I was also well over 200lbs at the time.

My point is simply, follow your trainers advice as long as you continue to lose weight and you feel healthy and strong. If your weightloss slows down or you start feeling hungry or tired you may need to increase your calories.

I would also ensure your trainer has adequate education.

Also, $30 is a great deal! I paid $50. Well worth the investment though. I have learned a lot.

badbradclark

Exercise calories are used to fuel the engine. If you are doing low intensity work, then you need less fuel, so you probably can get by with not including exercise calories. But if you are doing high-intensity exercises - (for me, that would be 600+ calories per hour), you will end up starving yourself if you don't replenish. Likewise, if you include weight lifting as a part of your workouts, then you need protein to help your muscles recover.

Listen to your trainer, because he is working directly with you, your situation, your excesses goals, etc. But don't discount everything you hear on this site (or others for that matter) because much of what people say is based upon what they have personally experienced. Then again, what said could be simple myth, regurgitating what they themselves heard, etc.

For me, I find myself uncontrollably hungry where I know my body needs fuel if I don't eat back a minimum of 50% of my exercise calories. That would be my recommendation, because it works for me. But my exercises are also very high intense. (90 minutes of riding a road bike at 18mph burns a ton of calories)

Weight loss is a long-term goal that may require you to change your habits many times not only to find what works for you, but like your trainer mentioned, to keep your body from settling into a routine.

aippolito1

I'm glad you found what's going to work for you. I view the exercise calories as something that works for some and doesn't for others. I don't aim to eat ALL my calories. If I'm hungry, I'll eat, if I'm not, I won't. I had extra last night and I figured it was fine because I wasn't hungry.