You've perhaps seen my post about my personal trainer, and I LOVE working with him. He's the perfect person to train me, and I really look forward to meeting with him. So I'm sorry that you don't have the same relationship with your trainer.

If you dread meeting with him, then that almost defeats the purpose ... but keep in mind that he's trying to help you the best he knows how.

Although my trainer does not require me to keep a food diary, I do. But I only report to him my calorie intake for the day, exercise, net calories, and percentage fat, carbs and protein along with the averages for the week.

He doesn't ask me to do this; I just do it because I know it's what I need to lose weight and stay accountable. (He said he wishes all his clients would do that.) This week he gently told me I can't have a 900 net calorie day and expect to perform well. And in the past, I'd go for a 2-hour bike ride and then eat 3,000 calories so I wouldn't lost weight.

He recommends I keep percentages of 60% carbs, 20% fat, 20% protein when the season starts. For now he says I can keep the carbs a bit lower -- 50 to 55% -- to spur the weight loss.

Unless you were consistently low on protein, I don't see the need for the protein shakes. IMHO, they are just an expensive waste of money when you could get the same thing by eating real food like turkey, tuna, salmon, chicken, etc.