Personal Trainer Freak-Out

Trainers can be expensive, but if you can afford it- go for it. I have never seen a trainer yell at a client in any gym I've ever been to. Maybe they encourage you to push harder, but usually that is done with encouragement. Do a little research and find someone whose approach lines up with your goals. Good luck. Full disclosure : I've never had a trainer, but it seems impossible that people would pay to be belittled.

Yelling trainers make for good TV drama. You could simply scout a few trainers and specifically ask them about their approach, then when you find someone you like just explain to them your goals, what motivates you, what you expect, your level of fitness..etc.

You mentioned you are counting calories. Have you entered your weight goal, activity level etc. into MFP and are you weighing your food and logging everything you eat? If you do that and are in a calorie deficit, and you stick to it, I don't see uow you could be going up and down so much.

Exercise can burn off calories, but it's bonus in terms if losing weight. The real work comes in what you eat and keeping track of it.

That said, exercising for better strength and fitness is a great idea.

Giod luck!

A trainer is just like a sport coach. They can give you the tools to succeed, but you have to put forth the effort. I have a trainer, and I have had great success, but I put in the work. If you are truly eating healthy, and can't seem to loose weight, you need to see the Dr.

Are you weighing your food? How often do you cheat (eat food without logging it). Odds are you are just doing a poor job tracking calories and lying to yourself. I know plenty of people personally who do just that and then wonder why they can't lose weight. A trainer may call you out for not accurately tracking intake, but trainers aren't particularly known for really understanding weight loss and are likely to give you bad advise.

Getting checked by a doctor isn't a horrible idea (thyroid issues can make losing weight tough), but odds are you are perfectly fine and the problem isn't medical, but consistency/compliance.

Lesely2603 wrote: »

Ive been working with a PT for seven months. He has never yelled at me, (I may have called him a name or two though). He has always been encouraging and pushed me to do more than I thought I could. I can hear him in my sleep now, go lower, pin back your shoulders etc but the look on his face when I have achieved something I have been struggling with made my day. Not to mention I have lost nearly 3 stone. He has seen me at my worse and has got inside my head to the extent that if he asks me to do something I believe I can do it. No training session has ever been the same so no boredom. I hope you can find a trainer as good as mine.

Haha! So true. I had to learn to refrain from giving my trainer dirty looks every time he'd increase the weight on me in between sets. I also learned that that's how I was making progress.

The trainer issue has already been addressed by everyone else so I'd say OP you really need to focus on your diet. Do you accurately weigh, measure, and log your food? Struggling to lose weight for this long denotes some sort of calorie intake or calculation problem.

I never regretted the money I spent on a personal trainer. I was getting nowhere motivating myself to eat right, or exercise regularly. I bot 2 sessions a week, even tho they try to get you to commit to 3. the best thing I ever done. he had me do a lot of body weight exercises. I pushed harder than I ever had. after a couple of months, I started watching my calories on MFP. I knew how to eat right, since you have been to ww, you know what it takes, it's just sticking to it. then I added the cardio he recommended, did the couch to 5k 3 times a week. this was 8 years ago. I still run regularly. I still lift. I still MFP. whenever I lose motivation, I hire a PT again.

I had the same problems as you. Nothing seemed to work. I was eating well (turns out I sooo was not, but thought I was) and going to the gym (but not actually working very hard) Spent 20 years very overweight and unhealthy. Feb 2015 a wake up call came in the form of my moms emergency quad-bypass. I started googling all sorts of weight loss things..... finally something caught my eye and I've never been happier! Google it and see what you think. It might just be the thing for you too (or maybe not....but figured I'd help a fellow human out!) fighter diet Feel free to pm me questions [and no I don't get any kickbacks for ppl that sign up...I wish, I'd be a friggin millionaire for all my friends that have asked me "how I am doing it"

A good PT won't yell at you BUT he/she will absolutely push you, probably past a point you might normally give up at. This is part of their job, to say "yes you can!" when you think "no I can't!" Of course, a good trainer will also listen to you and make sure you aren't doing something that you physically can't do (as in- it would result in injury), but you can't be too concerned with the person seeing you "at your worst." You are paying this person to help you reach your best, and to strive to be your best is admirable no matter where your starting point is. Staying in your comfort zone will not result in the changes you want. But trust me, if you force yourself to break out of that comfort zone and start focusing on yourself and your goals, it'll get easier to continue to do so. I went swimming for the first time in years yesterday. I was the only large person in the pool, and there was a swim team practicing in the lanes next to me. The old me would have been too embarrassed to even go through with swimming, but yesterday I decided- I don't care about them and I doubt they care about me...so I had my swim- a slow 30 minutes of laps, taking a breather often. It was nothing compared to what everyone else in the pool was doing, but for me it was a lot and I left feeling great!

Whether you get a personal trainer or not, you need to be honest with yourself and be willing to get sweaty and gross. Things that helped me do those things are finding MFP friends who accomplished the goals I am aiming for (to learn from them), browsing the Success forum (to remind myself it IS possible), and just forcing myself to be honest because NOT being honest with myself is what got me here in the first place. Too much tough love can be detrimental- it can hurt your confidence and make the whole process miserable. BUT being pushed, and being honest with yourself is the type of tough love that maybe everyone needs a little bit of. PTs, WW, Curves, MFP- none of these things are THE solution- they are simply tools and guidelines to help you along the way but they will not help if you aren't willing to push out of that comfort zone.

You CAN do this! Seriously, check out the Success forums and talk to people who have lost a significant amount of weight. You'd be surprised how many started off feeling the same way, and how changing the way they think was the key to success

I hardly ever post but I wanted to let you know that I was EXACTLY where you were 18 months ago. I did get a PT and it was one of the best decisions I ever made….definitely get one! Try several out before committing to an extended agreement with any particular one. If your gym offers classes, sign up for a few to try out the different trainers' styles. You will need to find one that you click with. There will be so many days when you doubt yourself and want to give up. If you can find a trainer who truly believes in you so much that you actually believe in you too, it will really help you keep your motivation during those rough days and weeks of plateaus - we all have them.

As far as being asked to do exercises you aren’t comfortable doing – yes they will ask you to do some pretty awkward feeling moves. You can pretty much modify just about any exercise to do in a way that you feel comfortable with to start out and progress from there. We all have our limitations physical and mental and a good trainer won’t judge you and will help you challenge yourself safely and consistently. There is nothing like a PT for accountability. I had a lot of success when I had a personal trainer -I hope you choose to do it and find it beneficial too!

Ws2016 wrote: »

You mentioned you are counting calories. Have you entered your weight goal, activity level etc. into MFP and are you weighing your food and logging everything you eat? If you do that and are in a calorie deficit, and you stick to it, I don't see uow you could be going up and down so much.

Exercise can burn off calories, but it's bonus in terms if losing weight. The real work comes in what you eat and keeping track of it.

That said, exercising for better strength and fitness is a great idea.

Giod luck!

I came in to say just this. Try weighing all the foods (solids and semi solids) that you eat and only use measuring spoons for actual liquids...oh, and choose food database entries that reflect the information on the packaging of your food, too.. Weight loss is all about calories.

Maybe don't form you're opinions about other people based on what you see on TV

I don't think you have to worry about a drill Sargent type pt. However for weight loss you're going to need to have the calorie piece in place otherwise it's kind of a waste of money IMO. maybe aim for being consistent , no "cheat days", and logging everthing for 30-90 days and once that habit is in place it may make sense to take the next step and work with a trainer.

Only Jillian from Biggest Loser really yells at her clients. I've had several and none of them have ever yelled at me. I'm sure they wanted to continue getting a pay check. They win if you win, remember?