Question for those who work out

Do you use a personal trainer? If not, how do you know what to do? If you do, do you think you have better results? Does it help to reduce the possibility of flabby skin?

I wish I could afford a personal trainer!!!  I wish I could afford a gym membership as well, but I just walk/jog about 1.5 and 2.5 miles 6 days a week, 30-45 min at a time.  I do have walk at home videos that I do as well. 

I say whatever you do gets your heartrate up and keeps it up for a while.  Good luck!

I do weight training with a personal trainer 4 days a week. I am seeing results. She makes sure I am doing the right form and knows when to increase/decrease the weight. For me, it's well worth the money. You could look into hiring a trainer for like 4-6 weeks and let them teach you what to do, and then go ahead and do it on your own. I know the sessions are very expensive. As far as flabby skin, it's my belief that once the skin looses it's elasticity it's gone. Short of plastic surgery I don't think there is anything out there (like creams or some kind of treatment) that work. Just my opinion.

I work out at Curves (women only) and do Zumba there.  Here, Curvess is $38.00 a month, and each Zumba class is $2.00.  I started out struggling through Zumba once, then twice a week.  Now I shoot for 6 times a week, but life happens and I'm lucky to make it 5.  I need the Curves equipment to strengthen my stomach and back muscles, but am addicted to their Zumba.  Good Luck! Oh, and I'm a slow loser, and keep it that way hoping my older skin might react a bit better than to a drastic fast weight loss.  Don't know if that works though.













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I have used a personal trainer in the past.  They taught me some exercises and how to use certain machines.

I also take classes at my gym which are included in the membership price.  Body Pump, Step Aerobics, RPM, Yoga, Pilates, Zumba.

I also sometimes do Boot Camp which is 3 days a week for about a month.  Boot costs 150.00

Personal Training is 120.00 for 6 sessions.. so you can see Boot is a better value, but sometimes the personal attention is what is needed... and sometimes there's not enough people to make the 10 am session and I'd rather not go @ 5:30AM.. and 4:30 PM doesn't work for me.

Once the skin is stretched for a significant amount of time, there's probably no going back.  HOWEVER, I do want to say that I think loose skin looks better over toned muscle than untoned muscle.

I have some looseness on my belly, but I was showing a girl who was interested in the band how tiny and barely visible were my scars and she said something like "and your skin isn't very loose".. and it looks that way cuz I've been working out for almost 2 years.  My arms .. even though I now have good biceps/triceps.. will need plastics.  Such is life.

My workout consists of 45 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight training.  I also stretch for about 15 minutes afterwards. 

I can tell you that what I did was go to the library and read every book I could get my hand on about fitness, weight training, stretching, yoga and core workouts.  I bought the books I wanted and took notes and brought them with me.  I will eventually hire a trainer but in the mean time I feel knowledgeable. 

 I work out about 5-7x a week fairly moderate/intense I do not have a personal trainer but may think about getting one once I hit that huge bump of no more weight loss I;m 188 now down from 376 so a fair amount of damage was done althou its been 4yrs since my Lap-band and im younger (27) so it could be a reason its not as bad as some others who lost similiar amounts of weight. I have some saggy skin/fat still havent decided what it is yet. It's mostly on my lower stomach, my arms & legs arent bad at all and I have seen signifigant improvement since I stepped up my intensity at the gym.  I would personally focus on those areas and try to tone see if you can create some results yourself if not a few lessons would be good maybe find a trainer that knows how to help you focus on our type of weight loss and not a body builder one lol. Also the last 4 weeks I have been using Mederma Strech Mark Theaphy and have noticed a slight decrease in the redness and appearance of scars as well as much healither skin and less flab. I guess what I'm saying is try whatever you can and see what comes of it. Good Luck !

I've had a personal trainer since i was six weeks post-op.  It gives me the motivation to get my butt to the gym on days when i just don't want to go.  We pay for training up front, and if i don't give 24 hours notice, i lose that hour.  So "just don't feel like it" is no longer an option.  :D  I work with him 5 days a week, 8 hours total, and it's made a huge difference.  He has taught me the correct movements to use with free weights, how much/how often to increase the weight i'm lifting, how to work opposing muscles, etc.  I plan on working with him another 6 months to get where i want to be, then going on a maintenance schedule where i work out on my own, and see him for an hour every couple of weeks to check my progress.

As for the skin - putting some nice tone into the muscles underneath will help the appearance, but there is very little else you can do to help with sagging, unless surgery is an option.

Thanks for all the great info. The personal trainer at my gym is $450 a month for two sessions per week and they want you to commit for 6 months, which is a lot of money (especially since I also had to self pay for the band).

It sounds like there are pro's and cons each way. I have worked out before so know how to use most of the machines - so maybe I will try on my own for a while and see if I get results before I commit to the trainer.

I really appreciate all the responses and will keep you all posted on the results!

 If you have an iPhone, you might want to check the app store.  There are some apps that look great.  I haven't personally tried any, so can't make a recommendation, but I love the concept.  I would look for one that allows you to plug in your own stats to personalize the program, then gives you a workout routine to follow, and keeps your records so that you can progress appropriately.  

I'm not saying that an app can in any way be as good as a real-time personal trainer, though.  A good personal trainer will make sure you are using good form to prevent injuries, provide motivation to push yourself, and give you that "accountability" factor to keep you consistent.  But, honestly, a 6-month requirement, IMHO, is excessive.  

Tami