Worried about personal trainer philosophy

You can't rush the weight loss. Losing 2 lbs a week is hard to do and not easy on your body either. He is going for the slow and steady lifestyle change. You don't have to only workout with him either. If you feel the need to do some cardio then do it.

You don't need to restrict foods to lose weight, and a female at your age....1600 doesn't sound like a lot/too much...at all.

Calories in vs Calories out.

Without knowing your current height and weight, 1lb a week could be perfectly fine and anything over that could be pretty aggressive.

Not sure why the trainer would only have you working out 2 days a week though.

Hello everyone,

I recently bought a few sessions with a personal trainer, but I am not entirely sure they are worth it. The amount of weight he wants me to lose per week is only one pound, and all he has me do is the 2 sessions per week I do with him. He has not told me I should do cardio or other workouts outside of what I do with him. This is concerning to me. He also is having me eat 1600+ calories a day! with no restrictions on what type of food I eat. It has been a little over two weeks and I am not seeing any results. I want to lose a significant amount of weight (40 lbs) by May and I am worried I will be so far from that weight by May if I keep training with him. I am not sure it is worth the money to continue when I am so frustrated so far. I feel like he is making me lose at such a slow rate so that I have to keep going to him longer. I'm not sure what to do.

If you drop 500 calories from your current diet, you could loose upto 1lbs a week.
IF you workout / burn 500 calories in addition to your diet you could loose upto 2lbs a week.

How many clients has your PT have.
How many have them been successfull?
How long has he been a PT?

Hallelujah that there are still personal trainers out there that know the correct way to lose weight is slowly, and that starving your body isn't the answer.
I'd suggest, just from the info in this post, stick with this guy. When you get tired of paying him, do what he has said to do without him there. (Also, did you ASK about additional workouts? Most trainers want you to do cardio on your own time).
If you want to lose 5 lbs a week and then gain it all right back again, starve yourself, don't build muscle, and you'll be right there.

A pound a week in fine.
Especially since you only have 40 pounds to lose. (which isn't a significant amount of weight really)

Why are you setting a date on your weight loss?
Typically a recipe for failure.

And to lose weight, you shouldn't have restrictions on the food you eat anyway.
If you do, it's another recipe for failure.

The pace he has you training at isn't really a concern. Sounds like he is also trying to get some accountability and discipline instilled in you by only doing 2 sessions per week, but asking you to do the rest on your own.

The part that concerns me is the diet (or lack of) guidance. I have been working with a GREAT trainer for a year now, and the VERY first thing he told me is that nutrition is 70% of the battle. If I didn't take care of that on my own, I wouldn't see any results from working with him. 2 pounds per week shouldn't be difficult, but it is going to happen because of your diet (not just calories, but the quality of those calories), not just because of your exercise regimen.

I was frustrated with my trainer for the first few weeks because what I envisioned was lifting a bunch of weights (I'm a guy) straight off. As it turned out, we did 4 solid weeks of core and balance. Not what I was expecting. When I complained about it, he took me over the the Smith machine, set it up for standing military press and told me to go for it. The very first thing that happened when I went to lift the weight was my core completely engaged. Historically, I would have been all arched back and awful posture. The core / balance work was critical for doing anything else.

I'd challenge him on the diet stuff, and anything else you feel isn't working out. It's his job to explain what's going on (education), hold you to the program (accountability), and keep you on track (encouragement). If you are just blindly lifting weights with no guidance or education, it doesn't sound like you have a very good trainer.

Hope this helps,
Tim

I entered this thread to see what sort of nonsense this trainer put forth.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the plan he has you on seems pretty sound. Obviously, I don't know the exact details of your workout, but since everything else seems reasonable, I'm going to assume your overall workout plan is fine.

I'm surprised he doesn't want you doing more than your sessions with him, though. I have four thoughts on this matter. A) He doesn't want you to think you can do this without him, so you keep paying him; You're so new to exercise and so uncoordinated that maybe he feels you need someone to make sure you don't hurt yourself; C) You're new to exercise, so he's trying to break you in slowly, so that you don't overdo it and become discouraged; D) You've misunderstood - only 2x/week of "hard" exercise, with whatever low-stress exercise (such as walking) the rest of the week.

In any case, ask him exactly why he doesn't want you doing more than your 2x/week exercise. And follow his plan, I'd say.

C) You're new to exercise, so he's trying to break you in slowly, so that you don't overdo it and become discouraged.

this was my assumption. building up over time is the smart way to go about it.

It is about fitness, not just dieting. If you are out of shape and lack muscle tone then you need to start there, and you can't build tone by starving yourself. It is really about lifestyle change and it takes time and dedication.