My Trainer is Wrong?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hello to all,

After years of being out of shape, I’ve made the plunge to get out of the hell hole that is fatness. A friend of mine directed me to T-Nation and I’ve been devouring the articles ever since. I have a question about diets.

I joined a local gym near my house, no problems there. It’s named after a precious metal, if you get my drift. Lots of equipment, plenty of free weights, nice scenery too.

So when I joined I was told I could meet with a certified trainer three times for free. This was before I read a couple of the newer articles posted here about trainers.

My primary goal at the moment is fat loss as I am extremely over weight and have a very high body fat % – 35 as of a week ago. After reading T-Nation for a while, I had thought I would try the T-Dawg diet coupled with the bowlful of jelly program. Maybe that isn’t appropriate for a beginner, I do not know.

So the trainer puts me on the basic machine circuit which the unnamed gym wants every member to know. Now before this, we talked about nutrition, etc, and he seemed to know his stuff (based upon what I read here). Until we started the circuit.

He recommended a diet consisting of 60% of my calories coming from carbs, 25% from protein, and 15% from fat. Which, from what I have been reading here, seems the opposite thing to do; atleast from what I understood of the T-Dawg diet.

I do not plan on hiring the trainer after our third visit, in the end only I can lift the weight. But I was hoping to get some good info from him, but now I am not so sure. He is a nice enough guy though, and he is in shape, though he isn’t “big”.

Thoughts?

Mike

2

The carbs seem a bit high, but that really depends on your activity levels, but seeing as how you’re overweight, I assume not all that high.

I would be first more worried about getting you to eat frequently of unprocessed foods before trying to make things overcomplicated.

Be sure to include a lean protein with each meal and some type of unprocessed carb (think oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc) and some type of dark green veggie. All in visually equal portion sizes. Keep simple sugars to a minimum. Focus on trying to get a meal every 3-3.5 hrs like that.
After a while, if you need to tweak it more, then you can worry about the % breakdowns, but I’d doubt you’ll need to.

3

I do eat every 3 hours and have begun to eat better – whole grains, nuts, veggies, and more protein (mainly from chicken and turkey). Over the past 11 days I’ve lost 12 lbs. I’m not starving myself, I eat a considerable amount of food at each sitting and I’m not hungry, but it seems like a lot; maybe it is mostly water weight? I don’t know. I have a lot to lose, so maybe the first couple pounds come off easy.

I have no clue how much of that is fat or muscle, though. I keep a daily food log which really helps. My carbs have been well above what is recommended in the t-dawg diet, but I still seem to lose weight, so like you said, maybe I can just continue on that route until I seem to hit a wall?

Thanks for the response.

4

I’m not a big fan of anything that has the word diet in it. To be honest, it just throws up a red flag to me, no offense the author of the diet.

I just feel that if more people focused on eating frequently of unprocessed foods while learning to control blood sugar (of course with the proper exercise routine), they’ll be well on there way. Now, if you’re looking to compete in some sort of BB competition or something similar, then maybe you can worry about getting into more detailed nutritional philosophies, but for now, realize you’ve made great improvements I’m sure over what you used to eat, so your health is sure to improve, and you’re already seeing results (yes, you’ve probably lost a bit of water weight). As long as what you’re doing is providing the results you want don’t mess with it (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it :smiley: )

I wish you luck, it’s always great to hear people take control of their health in the positive way you seem to be.

5

Personally I think 60% is way to high to lose fat, unless of course you are playing sports or performing a lot of cardio. I think the t-tawg diet is a great diet and, with a few tweaks, an awesome guideline for a life-long eating plan (more than just a “diet”). Its also very simple. In the past, I did the T-dawg diet, and I went from 35% to 24% BF within a couple months.

Unfortunately, this past year of heavy stress led to an drastic increase in BF back to the thirties. Currently my diet is pretty much the t-dawg, with a lot of protein replacement drinks and higher carbs (I also find I can get away with higher carbs and still lose weight, plus its easier to get enough fiber). My protein intake around 1-1.5g/lb bodyweight (at least 40%diet I think), 100-150g carbs (less that 25% diet), fat higher around 30% (good fats- eggs, flax seeds/oil, fish oil). My carbs come from things like: oatmeal, aspargus, spinach, broccoli, plain yogurt, blueberries. Every morning I start my day with milk, oatmeal, egg whites and a whole egg.

I have lost an average 4-5lbs a week, without sacrificing LBM or energy. A lot of it is water at the moment (as with you, especially if you ate a lot of processed carbs before) but it is still great to get rid of bloating. My workouts consist of a fair amount of weight training and HIIT.

Jehovasfitness makes some really good points about eating regularly every few hours and keeping things simple. Keep up with the food log, then if weight loss slows down or you hit a plateau you can “analyze” what you need to change and perhaps be more particular with details.

6

One tool I use sometimes to record my food log is www.fitday.com. It is a free site that you can record food/workout information. When you enter your foods in for the day it gives you a general overview (pie graph) of what you ate- carbs/proteins/different fats. Like jehovasfitness wrote, its not necessary to count every last gram and be super particular about percentages, but the site is easy to use and it can be interesting to see how balanced your diet is. I am a geek with numbers and organization so I enjoy it!

That being said, I don’t know how accurate the site is or its credibilty…i did check a few of the database foods with food lables out of my fridge and it was pretty close. So its up to your discretion! :slight_smile:

7

In my personal experience, which is fairly limited I must say, I’m not very impressed with the advice given by trainers about nutrition.

I’m also unimpressed by the advice given by professional nutritionists. Often it is outdated at best. Frequently it is complete wrong.

I’m always annoyed when an interested amateur outperforms a paid professional expert. But that’s just me I guess.

8

[quote]Wreckless wrote:
In my personal experience, which is fairly limited I must say, I’m not very impressed with the advice given by trainers about nutrition.

I’m also unimpressed by the advice given by professional nutritionists. Often it is outdated at best. Frequently it is complete wrong.

I’m always annoyed when an interested amateur outperforms a paid professional expert. But that’s just me I guess.[/quote]

Personal Trainers are not nutritionists, unless they go back for it. That being said you should not listen to his dietary recomendations. He is not a nutritionist. His job, during the free sessions, was to teach you the machine circut. If you were to hire him, you would be getting him as the trainer instead of the required material handed out by the facility.

The trainers job, up until now, was to teach you the material set out by his employer. His job if you hired him, would be to train you and get you in shape. Please bear in mind the (at my gym we call it orientation) material is generic, watered down, and for everyone 15 - 90. In hiring this (or any other) trainer you would expect more personal information. Please do not hold it against him personally, because he was only doing what he had to do to keep his job.

And before this board gets in an uproar that he shouldn’t do it or whatever, please ask yourselves what you do that you don’t want to, because it’s your job.

If I were the one doing that orientation, I would have taken your BMR, assessed your goals, and diet, and had you slowly change them. Perhaps at the moment your diet is 70% carbs. If that was the case I would have you slowly come back on the carbs while upping the protein, instead of changing it on you cold turkey. Perhaps he wanted the 60% carbs oatmeal and fiber carbs, not white bread and pasta. This trainer, since you yourself said he was a good guy, probably had a reason for doing what he did.

I’m personally sick of the mentality, “I’m not where I want to be, let me blame the trainer.”

9

Forget the ratios for a while, try to get a source of protein on the table every 2-3 hours and eat as much vegetables and fruit as you want.

You could eat a moderate amount of starchy carbs post wourkout.

You should lose weight in the beginning without counting calories.

10

Carbs seem too high a percentage to me for most individuals whatever their goals. However, i don’t think anyone with 33% bodyfat should be doing the T-Dawg diet. No reason that you shouldn’t and couldn’t include fruits, veggies, and whole grains in quanities much greater than the T-Dawg diet allows and drop fat great. Check out Berardi’s Don’t diet and Seven Effective Habits articles.

11

[quote]orion wrote:
Forget the ratios for a while, try to get a source of protein on the table every 2-3 hours and eat as much vegetables and fruit as you want.

You could eat a moderate amount of starchy carbs post wourkout.

You should lose weight in the beginning without counting calories.[/quote]

Yup. Most likely. If you are not recomposing your body after awhile, try counting calories. But don’t restrict carbs right now.

12

Well, if he’s relying on what he’s been taught in class, this guy is promoting a higher protein intake than what is “acceptable” in the general litterature (FDA food pyramid and the likes). So yeah, he’s not all that bad and for a PT, he’s doing a good job.

13

eating every three hours is NOT necessary for someone losing fat … that’s bodybuilding dogma that needs to die

read this:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1025241

14

Hmmm, that’s a great article I’ve never read before, thanks for posting!..however, I think the whole “eat every few hours” is a simple principle that still has value to someone who is trying to lose weight. Yeah it isn’t as efficient and scientific as the plan in the article…but the purpose behind that rule is to get people to eat small meals more frequently, thus avoiding binging on a unhealthy meal late at night. To get into the habit of eating small, heathly meals is great start…it’s not likely a fat person was doing that before hand!

All the weight I gained this year is from fasting all day and then becoming massively hungry later in the afternoon. I would get horrible cravings and stop at the store on the way home…buying every thing in sight. Just by keeping in mind the “3hr” rule over the past few weeks, I’ve cut my cravings to zero and my daily calorie intake in half. (and I’ve lost 15lbs, whoohoo). To be honest I don’t think I ever actually ate every three hours…I just remembered I had to nourish myself during the day, especially before and after workouts and out of say 5-6 meals in the day 2-3 would be liquid. With some common sense and flexibility the “3hr” rule is useful. Once that “first step” is accomplished, it is easier to fine-tune meal timing…enter Surge! lol. I love that stuff post workout :slight_smile:

15

Hi Mike,

As you’ll see (or have already seen) there are a lot of competing ideas, diets, workouts, strategies and so forth. Don’t worry about it!

If the T-Dawg sounds good to you, then do the T-Dawg.

Just be comfortable that you are on the site that will give you the information and advice you need as you get yourself in order over the next months and/or years.

Heck, it was probably about four years ago that a trainer at my gym (I don’t even remember who it was or if they still work there) showed me how to use all the machines. I used them for almost a year before I “graduated” to the weights… I was a big fat out of weight pussy when I first got here (hey, I can hear the friendly insults being typed out already and I haven’t even hit submit yet) and it took me a while to feel it was worth crossing over. I’d led an awfully sedentary lifestyle for a long while, so I was slow to get started. Every couple of weeks I would try a new lift for the first time on a day when the gym wasn’t crowded.

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling and get to it. Just pick a good program, maybe one like “big boy basics” and pick a nutritional strategy, and apply them. Use a tape measure on the various places where people measure as well as a scale… and you’ll be making progress.

Ignore your personal trainer and all the crap you read in magazines and newspapers. Take your time and stick with it, you’ll be glad you did!

16

[quote]BASTARD GUY wrote:
eating every three hours is NOT necessary for someone losing fat … that’s bodybuilding dogma that needs to die

read this:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1025241[/quote]

Not necessary. But I think still a good practice. Helps prevent drops in blood sugar. Helps keep you feeling good. Helps keep from getting too hungry.