Can I trust my Personal Trainer?

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  • littlebee26
    littlebee26 Posts: 116
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    Save your money. You already know what you need to know. MFP, Scooby, new lifting rules. Why would you pay for stuff you already know? If you need someone to shout "Cmon two more" at you then call your mother. Or, I am available for shouting at very reasonable rates.

    Definitely not hiring him to shout at me haha! I hired him because if there is one thing I lack when it comes to working out it is consistency. And that is largely due to not getting the results I a want. Having a personal trainer will mean that I am answerable to someone if I have a bad week. It will also mean that if I am not getting the results I want I will have someone there who is an expert and therefore likely to be able to help me make the necessary changes to progress. I'm not saying that having a personal trainer will guarantee better results, but its worth a try.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    I have a PT, and now I only have about 10lbs to lose, and he suggests 1600 calories a day. In my sessions with him we do mainly weights and perhaps 10 mins of cardio. He has me doing free weights, dead lifts, squats, lunges, planks, kettlebells, etc. I also do a mix of cardio and weights when I do solo gym sessions, plus I do a lot of classes.

    I'm not sure what nutrition training he has, so I'll try out things he suggests, but I don't take it as gospel. He recommended a cheat meal, so long as I ate perfectly all week, so not even a single biscuit, and I tried that for about 2 months but didn't notice a significant difference so now I just eat healthily with the occasional treat.

    Some people seem to think their personal trainer is god and they should do everything they say. What works for one person may not work for everyone....
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
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    Not meaning to get too personal, but are you breastfeeding (with a 4mo. old)? because you really do not need to be on such a large calorie deficit, and doing so while breastfeeding could be a problem.

    Even without that, I believe that 1200 is too low. Even if it's only to lose a stone. You are roughly 10lbs lighter than I am, at the same height, and I eat around 1700 per day. I lose weight just fine. Any exercise I do makes up an even greater calorie deficit.

    You can find caloric equations online to work out what your intake should be and then reduce that number by about 10-20% of itself to find a sensible calorie deficit to start working from. If you aren't losing a steady 1lb or so per week after a fortnight or so, then lower a little more.

    Just using an arbitrary number is counterproductive, it gives you no real understanding of how your body will best utilize the calories you're giving it.
  • littlebee26
    littlebee26 Posts: 116
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    Not meaning to get too personal, but are you breastfeeding (with a 4mo. old)? because you really do not need to be on such a large calorie deficit, and doing so while breastfeeding could be a problem.

    Even without that, I believe that 1200 is too low. Even if it's only to lose a stone. You are roughly 10lbs lighter than I am, at the same height, and I eat around 1700 per day. I lose weight just fine. Any exercise I do makes up an even greater calorie deficit.

    You can find caloric equations online to work out what your intake should be and then reduce that number by about 10-20% of itself to find a sensible calorie deficit to start working from. If you aren't losing a steady 1lb or so per week after a fortnight or so, then lower a little more.

    Just using an arbitrary number is counterproductive, it gives you no real understanding of how your body will best utilize the calories you're giving it.

    I'm not breastfeeding at the moment (I breastfed for the first month) but I will definitely take your advice on board in relation to looking at possibly upping my calorie intake.
  • leebesstoad
    leebesstoad Posts: 1,186 Member
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    I listen to my PT and would trust him on diet and nutrition, but we've been together 3 years, he's become one of my best friends. I'm going to his wedding in the fall, and he's a Type 1 diabetic so he's sort of had to learn a lot about nutrition his entire life. We have an agreement. I tell him what I want to work on and then we do what he thinks we need to do. :)

    1200 calories to lose 14 pounds in 10 weeks? What's the rush? Let's do some math, shall we. Let's assume you burn only 200 calories in each of the 3 workouts each week with your trainer for 10 weeks. That means he is guessing you're TDEE (absent the training) is about 1815 calories to lose the 14 pounds in 10 weeks. So why not stretch it out to 20 weeks, then you could be on 1500 calories a day and get there without the stress. Remember, weight loss is nothing more than simple math: burn more calories than you take in. It's doing it that is the hard part.

    Another question: is he selling you the protein shake? If the answer is yes, I would be very, VERY suspicious.

    To me, the number seems too low for you, too aggressive for someone trying to lose such a small amount of weight, someone with a newborn which can be tiring in and of itself (which I bet keeps your TDEE up to begin with). But this is something you need to consider yourself and not necessarily the opinion of anonymous voices on the internet too. Our opinions aren't necessarily any better than the trainer's is. But just a different point of view for you to consider.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    TL;DR

    If you're paying him you better trust him. If you don't trust him, better not pay him. Save the money for another trainer. Simple.
  • redhead1910
    redhead1910 Posts: 304 Member
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    Personal trainers are not nutritionists. I only use my trainer to make sure I keep proper form when I am lifting and to teach me new routines. See a dietician or a nutritionist for food advice.
  • littlebee26
    littlebee26 Posts: 116
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    I'm a personal trainer with qualifications in nutrition for weight management and in sports nutrition.

    Yours appears to be an idiot.

    Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ????????

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