Tina's Story, Part 1

About 6 months after I became a certified personal trainer, a friend and co-worker approached me with her dillemma. Her name--as you probably have already guessed, thanks to the title of this post--is Tina.  She told me that she was having problems losing weight.  She went on to explain that she had cut her calories and was trying to exercise regularly.  Still, the weight was not coming off; in fact, she said she was still gaining weight.  How was this happening?

We went on to talk a little about what she was eating, and what she was doing for exercise, every day.  It seemed to me that she was trying to do things right, but I also had some suspicions and thoughts of what coud be done better.  Despite this, I told her that I didn't want her to change her routine for a week.  All I wanted her to do was write down everything she ate. I didn't care if she counted calories, fat grams, carbs, or anything else; if I needed to know that, I could figure it out.  What I did want to know, however, was (1) what she was eating, (2) how much she was eating (portion size), and (3) when she was eating (what time).  I told her not to change anything else, just to write down this information--plus any exercise she did--for a week.

To be continued...