How to respond to an anti-vegan trainer?

@jamesf123 Ditch that trainer, link her to The Game Changers, and if she works for a company, make a complaint to the company. Continue to go to the same gym and make awesome progress, and I'm not saying be passive aggressive, but do pointedly eat seitan burritos and the like right after. You could even say "MMMMMM" loudly, I dunno.

There's this weird thing with fitness and nutrition where everyone's the expert, it drives me bonkers - she may be a PT, but that doesn't make her a dietician.

Even without the anti-vegan sentiment, a PT who has your interests at heart would not be using the phrase "give me a f*cking break" in response to you - you mentioned that you're shy, and part of me wonders if she gets a little kick out of the dynamic? Either way, replace!!
 
@thewalk316 I was a personal trainer for three years and the amount of times I had to chiggidy check myself and tell myself “stop giving medical advice, you’re not a doctor” was stupid. Same with many of my former colleagues. (Not all but most) PTs love the sound of their own voice.

OP: train with who you feel comfortable with and who motivates you. Maybe tell her she offended you and give her the chance to rescind her ignorant comment and apologise. If she doesn’t, maybe she’s not the PT for you!
 
@jamesf123 My breakfast today literally had 41 grams of protein and only 42 grams of carbs and it literally totaled up to 430 kcal. Your trainer sounds a bit uninformed, no offense to her.
 
@jamesf123 First off, it’s annoying when fitness trainers, or anyone really, give nutrition advice without a degree in dietetics. When I’m assuming she does not have. Especially if it’s unsolicited. If you like her as a trainer, just tell her politely that you agree to disagree. Or maybe try to get on some level ground, and let her know your main reason for omitting animal products from your diet is ethical reasons, and that you do not think a traditional American diet is necessarily “unhealthy”. Also remind her, there are lots of ways to be “healthy” not just her way. Or google vegan body builders or athletes for her.
 
@jamesf123 I wouldn't waste any more breath on her than necessary. She has no respect for you and is arrogant aside from being ignorant. She won't be receptive to anything regarding your veganism. If you really want to keep her on, avoid food talk and focus on the workouts. Remember, you pay her and she is essentially your employee and you can fire her for not performing to your standards.
 
@jamesf123 For some reason, people start looking differently at you once they find out you don't do things the same way they do. Nutrition is one of the hottest topics, especially lately. What I do in this type of encounters is listen and respond calmly and in time, people either start paying attention to what I'm saying or we go separate ways. It seems your trainer is an average I-know-it-all and doesn't care much about educating herself too much, and what's problematic, she doesn't listen to you as a client and a human being. I've met my share of trainers in the past decades who are exactly the same, what I've noticed as well in the past years is that there are many "trainers" who learned everything they know through Instagram and ads.

The same happens to me all the time, once people know that I'm a vegan, they say I secretly eat meat, otherwise, my body would not look like it does, nor would my endurance be as high as it is. I learned to deal with them in an easy way, but it does take time and patience. For some reason, people get pissed of the most when you reply kindly and with a smile :)

There's a lot of research out there today in favour of consuming non-animal food. Most of it is hard to digest, to get people interested, articles like https://www.plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/identical-twins-compare-vegan-meat-diets and https://www.plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/-ironman-athlete-transforms-vegan-diet are a great conversation starter

In your case, I'd ask myself whether the trainer is worth the time and effort, her reaction could simply be because of a bad day, or she could be hard-headed. Personally, I'd give it a try and talk to her to see what her main concern is, if it doesn't help, I'd thank her for the past year and move on, finishing it with So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish :D
 
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