However, I did have a personal trainer for several months. And her advice has helped me lose 20 pounds with 15 more to go to reach my first goal weight. So I thought I should share some of what she has told me with the rest of you in hopes that maybe she might help anyone who is struggling with weight loss.
That’s right. Weight LOSS. So if you’re a muscle head or gym junkie with guns big enough to start World War III like @Chico_brah , then this Take really isn’t meant for you. These tips are VERY basic, like, for anyone who has never successfully lost any weight, never tried, or doesn’t even know where to begin. But if you need to lose some weight and are at a plateau or simply just don’t know where to start, here’s six basic tips to help you get started from a personal trainer.
And, again, for those who don't like to read, this Take is advice given to me by a personal trainer and what happened when I followed it, not my own personal opinion.
1. There’s no healthy way to lose weight fast
This was the first thing I had to accept when my trainer started with me. I’ll admit, I was going in thinking I was going to lose like 20 pounds in a month. Completely dumb, yes, but the reason I believed this was because I was an athlete. I played soccer for 16 years, did marching band for 6, and ran track for 2. So in my brain, since I was always in shape minus the last few years, I thought I’d be able to drop weight like I did before. However, she explained that I was 100% delusional (and I was).
To lose weight the healthy way, someone my weight and height should lose only 1-3 pounds a week, and 3 pounds is pushing it. An obese person could lose twice as much, but anyone morbidly or super morbidly obese could lose much more. The closer you are to your goal weight, the quicker your weight loss will slow down. Your body knows what is a healthy weight for it better than you do, and you shouldn’t force it get than faster because those results typically don’t last.
2. Exercise is almost useless if you don’t change your diet
‘Yes, you can have your cake, but no, you can’t eat it.’
A literal statement my trainer made because I’m a baker and cake decorator. Yes, the photos of cakes and cupcakes are ones I actually did. But she assumed I ate all the cake I made (which, you know, lol), but just because I didn’t eat it didn’t mean I had a healthy diet.
I had a 2 liter of Coke a day addiction. Yes, you read it right. For 5 years, I drank a liter of Coke a day. And because of it, I was extremely bloated. I’m very lucky that’s all that was wrong. With my sugar intake, my doctor couldn’t believe I didn’t develop Type II diabetes, especially since it runs in my family and both my parents have it. And my trainer didn’t believe it, either. I took a blood sugar test with my father’s monitor after a 12 hour fast in front of her to prove to her I didn’t have it. And once I stopped drinking it, my weight didn’t go down, but my waist went from 39 inches to 32 inches in two months. Stop the soda.
Beyond that, I was eating pizza, burgers, pasta, noodle based soups, cereals, and prepackaged ‘healthy’ meals for lunch. Pair that with all the taste testing I had to do with cake batters and buttercreams and my diet was far from healthy. In other words, a ton of carbs and sugars with minimal protein. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t losing weight with my trainer. She said I was maintaining.
Basically, the hours of cardio and weightlifting I was putting in at the gym combined with my many years of being an athlete were counteracting my diet, but she also warned me that it wouldn’t last long, and I would soon again start putting on weight.
According to her and G@Gers who frequent the gym, weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. Essentially, you can lose weight without going to the gym but you can’t lose weight going to the gym without editing your diet somewhat. The general consensus is that a high protein and low carb diet is the way to go when losing weight.
3. Eliminate any excuses you have
For me, my excuses for not going to the gym was, “Oh my phone isn’t charged, and I need music to work out” or “Darn, left my headphones at work, guess I can’t go to the gym” or, and this is my personal favorite, “I can’t find a hair tie.”
I have a phone charger in my car. I can always go to the dollar store to get cheap headphones for five bucks. And hair ties are like…$3 at the Walmart for a pack of 10. So you know what I did?
I bought a gym bag. Solved all my problems. I keep two extra outfits in there, my swimsuit, two towels, deodorant, perfume, an EXTRA pair of head phones, a pack of ponytail holders, an extra headband, and an extra water bottle. I literally have zero reason to not go to the gym because I keep my bag in the trunk of my car.
My gym bag cost about $45 dollars a Dick’s Sporting Goods, but you can probably just use a backpack or a cheaper one at a different store.
And if meals is your excuse, you may have to meal prep. That means make as many meals as you can for the next few days so all you have to do is take it out of the fridge and eat it. So if you’re in a rush for breakfast, you can just grab it out of the fridge instead of stopping at McDonald’s. But make sure the calories are right.
4. Keep a journal of everything you eat, workout, and how much you weigh
This suggestion from my trainer helped me a lot. I never really thought to keep track of my progress using a journal. But mostly, the journal helped because after a week, I was able to go back and look at my food intake. I had already been training with her for a month so my diet was not as bad as it used to be, but I could still see what I was doing wrong and she helped show me, too.
You don’t have to have a personal trainer to tell you what foods to eat. Granted, it’s a lot harder to change your diet on your own, but if you know someone who is in shape or works out, I promise you that they know what a healthy diet is, or, at least, your doctor has some type of inkling. They can point out what you’re doing wrong and possibly give you suggestions.
But it will also remind you what exercises you did and at how much weight, which is extremely helpful.
5. Just because you exercise doesn’t mean you’re doing it right
First of all, walking around the office during the day is not exercise. Hell, being a server running around during a busy dinner service isn’t really exercise, either.
The first week of training, my trainer started me with 5 pound dumbbells. I didn’t really know why she did that, but she explained later that she was focused more on my form rather than getting me in shape. My back wasn’t straight for planks or squats, I didn’t go all the way down for squats, either, and my bicep curls and tricep kickbacks weren’t straight, but crooked.
Improper exercise can cause injuries and impede on your progress. You can spend an hour at the gym, but if you aren’t doing the proper exercise or, at the very least, doing the exercises right, you won’t see progress.
But the second session? Dumbbells were increased to 15 pounds with 3 sets of 10 reps. And I thought I was going to die. Keep in mind, I have no upper body strength. I failed every push up test in gym class. To this day, I still can’t do a push up. And I know to a lot of people, 15 pounds isn’t much, but for someone like me with zero upper body strength, it was a lot for me. But now I’m at 20 pounds and plan to increase that in a couple weeks.
Dumbbell weights depend on your goal, too. If a guy is doing 20 pound dumbbells, that’s a problem because you won’t see much progress unless your arms are like mine. But the right amount of weight plus the right amount of reps is how you develop lean muscle. Cardio causes fat loss, but to maintain it, you need weights. I hate weights, but I’ll admit, since she made me start doing those, I’ve not only felt leaner, but I don’t put on weight like I used to.
6. The BMI chart and bathroom scale can be your worst enemy
It’s super annoying, but it’s also super true. Why? Well, the scale will tell you sometimes that you have gained weight or that you’ve plateaued. When you plateau, it’s when your body is refusing to lose more weight. You probably aren’t doing anything wrong necessarily. But your body is at the weight it feels comfortable at. So those last 5-10 pounds may be difficult, but it is possible to do it.
And there will be weeks where you put on weight. Either your diet is still awful or you’ve been lifting weights and that weight gain is muscle mass. She told me it’s better to go by measurements and body fat percentage than the BMI scale or the literal scale in your bathroom. Remember earlier when I told you I lost inches around my waist and it’s now 32 inches instead of 39 from cutting pop? I also said I didn’t lose weight by cutting out pop. But I was still smaller and my clothes were looser. The number on the scale is probably your worst enemy when really, compared to other ways to measure your progress, it really doesn’t mean much.
For instance, my trainer weighs 150, the weight that’s my first target. And she and I are the same height at 5ft. 4in. But I’ve seen her flex and that girl is all muscle. The tool they have to measure body fat percentage came back as 19%. Mine, at my current weight, is 26%. Clearly, I still have body fat to lose, but I’m technically considered slightly overweight.
The BMI chart isn’t completely useful, especially if you aren’t white or Asian, which would mean it’s not helpful for me. Latinos and blacks can have a healthier higher body fat percentage and BMI when compared to whites and Asians. The BMI was a chart created based on the height and weight of white men and women, but no one else. And it doesn’t take into account muscle mass. Most trainers and gym junkies completely ignore the BMI because it’s a one size fits all idea that really doesn’t fit all.
Hopefully something on this Take was helpful to any beginners looking to get started. Everything on this list are suggestions that my trainer gave me and has helped me get started with losing weight. However, you should find someone who you personally know who is educated in weight loss, weight gain, and diet, whether it’s a gym junkie or a doctor because they can help you lose weight and give you advice with exercises and diets. I ask my guy friends all the time for help. There’s no shame in it.
A few tips i can offer here just form a different persons view
for weight loss its 80% diet and 20% fitness DO NOT use BMI its only useful to the general population for generalizations Eat 3 or 5 meals a day and dont miss any this will help in the weight loss Junk food is ok in small moderation Drink water it will help the digestion process when working out do both weight training and cardio for weight loss and toning up
By eating more. You can have snacks in between meals, they just have to be healthy ones. My trainer has fruits and protein snacks in between meals, which how she reaches 1800 calories. The 3 meals a day thing is complete fallacy. So she'll oatmeal and eggs for breakfast, the a couple hours later have an apple or pear or something, then for lunch chicken and veg, then maybe celery and peanut butter for a snack, and then fish and veg for dinner. Peanut butter has a lot of calories as does oatmeal. And the healthy snacks in between help.
Is there some evidence that shows certain ethnicities are allowed to have more fat and still be considered just as healthy? I didn't know that, if it's true. I don't really see how fat can be contingent upon ethnicity; it has the same negative effects on the heart and body in general, right?
I'd have to ask her for the source. She wrote it down for me in an exercise manual where she learned it because they studied it in one of her courses to become a personal trainer. I know there are several online sources, but I can ask her.
Your body should be relying on your fat reserves to burn energy, not just food. If you eat too many calories then you still put on weight or maintain. That's why they tell you to go on a diet. Like I'm on a 1600 calorie one.
My sports caused me to have a lot of muscle in my thighs, which is the largest muscle in your body. Muscle weighs more and I don't want to lose muscle. That's why my trainer said 145-150 would be good for me.
Thank you for all the good advices in this Take. I have some questions :if I want to maintain my curent weight and eat healthy, should I cut off completely sugar? I tried, but I felt tired because I study a lot. Do you eat sugar? How often is too often?
I asked my trainer the same thing. She said refined sugar and sugar substitutes are not good, but natural ones are. So her snack during the day is always an apple or a pear. But cookies, cakes, cupcakes, ever sugar in your tea is bad. I make a fruit smoothie with greek yogurt and sweeten it with honey.
I mean, it won't kill you in small doses. But you shouldn't eat it every day. She told me it turns to fat and it's not good for you.
But can I eat a piece of pie or cake or a cookie once in a while? Or forget about this completely. I don't eat them everyday anyway. And is honey good? Instead of sugar in my tea. I drink my coffee black.
True, true, true, true, true. Except use a calorie tracker instead of hand writing down everything you eat. That sounds like it would be a pain in the ass.
Most Helpful Opinions