I made it back to 183 this morning. July's loss is officially 5lbs according to Fitday. Not too bad for my first full month back in the weight loss game. The Trainer:
Monday evening I had an appointment to meet with a trainer at the
gym I joined roughly 4 weeks ago. The training session runs for one hour and is designed to help people in their
fitness/weight-loss goals/nutrition. I was sort of excited to have someone else's input on what I've been doing and see if there were improvements I could make based on that. I'd just like to point out now that this training session comes free with the sign-up at the
gym, so I didn't pay for any of this (had a special deal that cuts out the sign-up costs).
The first thing the trainer had me do was fill out a little slip of paper that had a few dozen check boxes for possible ailments and injuries. After I finished marking every "no" box I could find, I handed it back and he looked over it. Then he looked at me and said, "So whats the deal?"
Whats the deal??? Am I supposed to have something physically wrong with me to account for my weight? Responsibility isn't a physical or very tangible thing, I'd say...
My response: "I'm over weight." Simple enough, right? Two can play the vague game!
Trainer: "Well, what is your
goal in being here?"
My response: "Lose weight and slim down. I'm primarily concerned with my lower half."
At that point he started talking about proper
nutrition and he wanted to make sure I wasn't eating "junk". He started telling me to kick the soda habit, kick the candy habit, eat leaner meats, etc. He never once gave me a moment to tell him that I don't drink soda, I don't eat candy often, I don't have a sweet tooth, and that currently
nutrition isn't my problem.
When he found out that I frequent Starbucks, he gave me one of those looks like
"You're one of those people who eats lots of bad stuff and says 'it doesn't count'." So I told him that in general I get an iced grande (medium) non-
fat, triple espresso (one third is just coffee) drink that barely has any sweeteners added. Instead of the 3-5 pumps of vanilla they put in, I ask for 1/2 to 1 pump and easy on any caramel they might use. I won't do the sugar free stuff. He didn't approve of that. So I said, "My drink only comes out to about 162
calories. Its barely more than having a cup of whole milk. I think I'm doing alright there."
I think he was trying to size me up at that point and decide if I had a '
resistant attitude'. Its not that I'm resistant. Its more like, I don't enjoy people telling me that something is a bad habit if they don't know what the habit is. Its presumptuous, and I don't do well with that.
At this point, he decided he'd do a
body fat test. He didn't seem sure how to treat me for this part. I guess some women are funny about things like this, but I was genuinely curious and wanted to know the percentage of
body fat. He took some upper
body measurements and then said, "I need you to find the next spot, just above the hip bone," and he sort of gestured on himself where it would be as if I might not know where my hip bone was. So I said, "How about I put my finger on my hip bone and you pick the spot to measure." He seemed so confused by that, but I put my finger on my hip bone and he found the spot he needed. Was that so difficult? The calculation came out to 30% and the decision was that I needed to lose about 6%
body fat. Sounds easy enough, right?
So I asked, "Whats the best thing to do to get down to that 24%
body fat?" This is where he said "Good
nutrition paired with some exercise and you'll be there just fine." I felt like banging my head against a wall. Clearly I knew that much to be telling him that my nutritional habits were greatly improved and that exercise is what I was at the
gym for. I guess I should have phrased it as "
How do I go about losing a bunch of fat at this gym?" I let it go. I had a feeling that I should just keep my mouth shut and get all I could out of the session. It was after all, free.
My trainer decided that one of my major targets should be my core. Yea, I know its one of the places you build up to hold yourself upright, keep good posture, and aid in proper lifting/pulling/pushing/etc. While I appreciated his effort in helping me on my core, the middle section of my
body is the thing I worry about the least. If the rest of me were as slim as my "true-waist", I'd probably be at 25%
body fat and not 30%. But hey, I'm not the trainer and maybe working your core to death is the magic
cure for having a large bottom.
He went over some machines to use, most of them involving free movement (which I really liked) and then showed me a couple things I could do on the floor at home to improve my
abs. The exercise that seemed like it should be the easiest actually kicked my butt. He had me down on my elbows and my toes, holding my back perfectly straight with only my
abs to support it. It felt good.
We never discussed any machines/weights/movements that would address muscles
below the core.
After all that, we walked back over to where we started and he asked me what I'd be eating when I got home from the
gym. I said "Probably nothing," and I knew that was a no-no. He told me I better have at least something, so I asked if a protein shake would suffice. He asked me what brand I was using and when I told him Spirutein, he gave me a funny look and said, "Ahh, Spirulina Protein." What was the funny look for?
He said: "Do you know whats in it?"
I said: "Yea, for proteins its got a variety of sources including whey, soy, and pea. I use it because its one of the very few protein powders that doesn't upset my tummy."
He said: "Maybe you should try one that has less junk in it. I mean, that one has everything down to mushroom powder in it. Something else might be easier on your stomach."
Did he miss what I said? I think so.
I repeated: "I use it
because it doesn't upset my stomach."
He wrapped up the session trying to sell me on a set of 10 training sessions with him for some ridiculous amount of money. He then followed it by telling me when he'd be free and that I managed to get an appointment with him because one of his clients canceled. Canceled for the night or permenantly, I wondered...
I felt like I had wasted the better part of an hour. I don't think I'd pay good money to waste more time.
- Sunny
(Coffee time!)
Good grief!
No good!
The Trainer. 
Linear Mode
