Finally found something my husband won't support me in

Go for it!!!!  I have been going to a personal trainer for a while now and she has been wonderful.  She is motivating and creative in my workouts, and has encouraged me to do better all the time.  If you can afford the cost, then don't hesitate.  

I worked with a personal trainer for over 2 years a few years ago.  I worked with him 2x/week for a few weeks, then 1x/week for about 30 weeks, then every other week for more than a year, then as needed.  After that, here and there.  He was expensive, but he was awesome.  I learned so much, and I became not only strong but also more quick-reflexed, etc.  My proprioception was so much better.  I was less prone to injury.  I just felt better overall. He is much more expensive now, though, and I cannot afford him.  (He now works with celebrities and some very wealthy people; people even fly in to work with him.  How can I pay $100/session?  I can't!  Was just glad to know him before his fame.)  I have been considering working with another personal trainer in the near future. 

Some things to keep in mind:

--Not all personal trainers are good.  Lots of people can hang out a sign and call themselves personal trainers.  What do they really know? 

--Not all personal trainers have the same approach.  What are your goals?  Does the trainer work with general flexibility and strength for living?  Does the trainer work with strengthening your core?  Teaching you to lift things to avoid injury?  Real strength does not always look like big muscle.  

--I think it really does take about 20 weeks to see some real benefits.  I mean, you will see some benefits after just 2-4 weeks.  But for long-term benefit, and to really learn some of the exercises well, a longer period of time is important.

--a good personal trainer will vary the exercises you do, will watch your form, and will adapt over time to meet your growing needs (like a private piano teacher would)

--the price of private music lessons, around where I live, varies from $15/30 minutes to $40/30 minutes to more.  If you think about someone really being a professional, and really teaching you things based on a real education (and consider that they have to earn a living), these are not unreasonable prices.  But it has to be something you can personally afford.

--I don't think that a group class at the gym is helpful in teaching correct form.  Been there, done that.

p.s.  I just re-read your original post, about how the physical therapist recommended working with a trainer.  I have done lots of physical therapy in the past 10 years.  LOTS!   Doing that, I learned that a lot of physical therapy is doing the kinds of general strengthening that will help you avoid injury in the future.  The physical therapists I like best are like personal trainers in some ways.  In fact, the PT office my family now uses now offers "wellness" programs--these are basically personal training, but the name of "wellness program"  appeals more to the older crows.  "Personal training" seems to appeal more to the 30-somethings who around here who are striving to do triathlons, marathons, etc.  Then they get injured, work with the PT's, and eventually seek "wellness."  :-)

Also, there is so much research now that says that one of the most important things to improve quality of life is strength training.  In the aging population, this appears to be more important than aerobic exercise.  (Sorry I am not linking to any real studies--don't have time to look them up now--this is just an area of real personal interest to me, obviously, since I keep typing typing typing.)

Finally, (this is related to personal training) since my health insurance has really excellent physical therapy benefits, my husband and I even take our kids to physical therapy any time they might need it, because we have found such a great PT practice after looking around for a while.  We will usually go to these PTs before the doctor for aches/pains.  When one kid kinked his neck, and a week went by and the kid was still favoring it, it led to weird walking, and additional pain, and the PT got him to break through his fear of movement and strengthen/loosen those neck/shoulder/back muscles.  Another kid (the super active teen athlete) keeps having back pain, and the PT got him working on things to strengthen his core and stabilize his back.  The other son had knee surgery, and the PT got him doing exercises to improve his range of motion, etc.  My point related to personal training is, that the physical therapists put my kids  (and my husband and me when needed) onto a program very similar to what the good personal trainer I worked with did. 

A really good personal trainer will not work on "buffness," but will work with you on all of these general strength things, all of the small movement things, all of the core-strength and balance and flexibility things, all of the biomechanical things like how you walk and your posture--he/she will assess fitness in a very broad way--you will get strong, and you will see the muscle--but more so, your quality of life will improve now and in the years to come.

Thanks for all your insight! That makes me feel like I'm in a good place. We spent a lot of time talking about goals, and they told me how what I was doing on my own was really more aimed at "buffness" than overall strength. Yesterday we did upper body/back and core mat exercises that were MUCH more difficult than I could have anticipated!

I had to look up proprioception.  Now that I did, I need me some :)  

For those who are interested: from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own", "individual," and capio, capere, to take or grasp, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement.

Ha! Yes, like balance, stability, equilibrium.  The unconscious ability, of our muscles, to steady us when we trip, to catch ourselves if we start to fall.  The sense of how to move in response to a curving road or roller coaster.  The "right amount" of response to a physical change.  

You are into the contract now...so make your trainer work for his money. You have different needs, get him to research and follow up to suit your needs. It's a work in progress for both you and the trainer. The comments you got from this strand is very good advice. What you can get from reading the fitness and exercise forum can be your springboard for questions and getting your trainer trained for WLS clients. After my first WLS 25 years ago. I started with walking, low impact exercise and lots of aqua aerobics. This worked out well but my arms and legs were very flabby. I didn't want to get stuck with a personal trainer. At that time a circuit called "Curves" really worked for me. Within four months, I noticed my arms shaping nicely and my legs better shape. But nothing lasts forever...Curves changed their platform and I no longer could change machines when I needed or skip over machines that impact and injured me. I stopped going. I hired a personal trainer on a special of 6 weeks intro to personal training. I gave him research homework each week to come back and advise his take. He was a bit stubborn and still insisted that I needed to turn my fat into muscle. Stay true to yourself. Trainers have a lot to learn. Use this forum to utilize our experience. Good luck. 

A full year seems like a very long time to me. Perhaps you could try it for 6 montsh and then reassess whether or not you still need it (you will be surprised at how much you can learn -- and then take it from there on your own -- in six months).

Also, as Grim said, losing some muscle mass is unavoidable.

Lora

With LA Fitness (at least here in AZ), if you break the contract, you are liable for 1/2 the remaining fee --

So, if the OP wanted to stop after 6 months, she would be liable for 3 months (1/2 of the remaining contract) with no appointments during that time.

Also -- if I had to miss a session, I could only 'carry it over' within the same month -- so, basically I was paying for 8 sessions per month, not 2 per week --- but if I did not use them within that month, I would have lost them.

The trainer was paid less than 1/2 the fee I was paying --

It's the same 1/2 the remaining fee to break the contract here, but they said there's no limit to how long unused sessions can carry over. You essentially "receive" your sessions on the first of the month and you can accrue unused ones to extend the number of months you do the training. That's sad to hear the trainers make so little of the fee though.