Bad advice from a personal trainer..."dont eat"

I went to they gym today, and started talking to a huge buff dude, who happens to be a personal trainer.  We started talking about a recent 15 pounds that I gained.  I told him how upset I was etc.  He told me that if I drastically cut my cals...way lower than the 1200 minimum that I would lose weight rapidly.  He then suggested that I do a 5 day shake diet.  I started quizzing him on the end results...he said that as long as I do not go from a cal intake of 400 to 1200 plus, if i went from 400 to 500 to 600...slowly I would not gain back the weight...what the heck?  I know that I would lose the weight, thats obvious right...but why would he tell me to do that if he is a personal trainer!?  I know that it isnt safe. ....It really brothers me that if a doctor did something in that matter, they would be charged with Malpractice but I have seen this happen and heard of it before with Personal trainers...People like me take that advice to my heart and run with it....and its like People like me could end up very messed up...and he walks around like he just gave me the super secret to weight loss...what gives? 

Just because he is a personal trainer..does NOT mean he is a nutritionist nor knows anything about it. All he cares about mostly is probably losing weight or gaining muscle..whether healthyfully or not. He might not even have a degree or w/e.

Most personal trainers with a degree and a background of nutrition wont tell u this! Dont lose faith! lol

You WILL lose weight, NO doubt...300 cals!?!?! Is that what he suggested.....you will also go into starvation mode, and ur body will TURN everything to fat...and its human nature to eventually give up and crave in when ur super strict.....One day you WILL snap and eat everything in sight.  You will be come tired, grumpy, weak, there are so many bad side effects to eating only 300 cals.  If you are 15 pds over weight, its only like 7 weeks away to what u want to be.  Dont try to do it in under 7 weeks...the key to KEEPING off the weight is doing it the RIGHT way!

Should have checked his credentials. At my gym they try to pass off, as personal trainers, people that have no qualifications whatsoever. Some of these are 16 year olds! I just shake my head. One girl, who I actually consider a friend, showed me a new workout routine and the next day my arm was swollen like a watermelon and I couldn't straighten it for a week. I've been working out at the gym for 7 years! I should have known better than to listen to her! Even the certified ones dish out the crap though too. I don't trust most of them!

yeah all they have to do is study and pass a little test, dont trust personal trainers, trust doctors. they can give you good exercise tips though

Another thought...some trainers and gym employees make extra comission off of selling supplements and shakes.  Maybe he was trying to get you to buy the shakes to boost his pay.

I scheduled a physical when I wanted to start losing weight. The woman I saw was recommended to me by a friend who lost a lot of weight with her help, I guess. Not a doctor or nutritionist but a registered nurse practitioner.

Anyway, she told me to eat 1000 calories a day. She also told me to eat about 150 cals for breakfast and a meal replacement bar for lunch. I spin right after work (she knew this) and I asked her if I would have enough energy for that kind of a workout on 300 calories. She said yes, that should be plenty of food, and then I can eat the rest at dinner.

I didn't know any better, so I did it for 2 weeks until I started reading that it was bad for me. I saw her for a follow-up after about 4 weeks, she said she was just trying to "shake up" my metabolism because I had plateaued (which is crap because I hadn't even started losing... hehe) and that I could eat a little more now. But what if I hadn't seen her again and just went by her original advice???

So... I guess it's not just personal trainers...

That's a load of crap that he gave you..I'm studying to get a certification in personal training and even without this sheep skin yet, that advice was absurd..you probably talked to one of those muscle heads that think they know it all in the gym whether it's healthy or not..if his employer or place he got certified from knew the nutrition advice he gave, he'd be stripped of it..and unless he got continued ed in it, he does not have authority to give out nutrition advice except for maybe what to eat in replace of certain foods..you need a sound nutritionist for that...don't listen to that garbage..go with your gut instinct

Was he a personal trainer employed by the gym you met him at?

If so, I would report his bad advice to the management.  They need to know that their paid personal trainers are handing out unhealthy advice. 

If not - just assume he's another ding-fab talking out of his other end and ignore him.

You obviously have a good grip on eating healthy.  I would just up your cardio and change your workout routine a little - should kick start a little weight loss. :)

Take care! :)

The personal trainer that I was using was a nutritionist.

He had me working out 3 to 4 hours a day ( 1 hr circuit, 1.5 cardio, and the rest classes at the gym)

He also only had me eating 950 calories a day, I stayed Hungry all the time and I just didn't feel like doing anything.

My point being even though they may have a certificate saying they are a Nutritionist doesn' t mean they are worth their weight in salt.