No, you don't NEED a personal trainer. In the same way, you don't need to eat salted caramel ice cream, but that would make for a really short and uninformative article.
The answer to 'do you need a personal trainer?' is a rather personal one actually. There are lots of cons and benefits of working with a personal trainer and we will be exploring some of those in this article so you can make a decision for yourself. Also, we have created a mini-quiz (because who doesn't like a quiz) to help you decide if a personal trainer may be useful.
Let's talk about some obvious benefits and cons of working with a personal trainer instead of alone or in group sessions.
Benefits of working with a personal trainer:
You are more likely to show up to your workouts
Your trainer won't avoid exercises that you don't like
They can teach you the proper form for exercises
They can offer perspective when you're not feeling great about training
Cons of working with a personal trainer:
The expense of having a trainer
Reliance on someone to make you workout
Risk of picking a bad trainer
Whilst it is a personal choice of whether you work with a personal trainer or not we do have some reasons you should never consider a trainer.
You're being pushed into it by your gym - gyms can have joining packages that include tasters with trainers and they try to sell you more sessions. Never let this sway you if you don't already want to work with a personal trainer.
A trainer is mildly harassing you at the gym - we know of many stories including trainers walking up to people in a gym, whilst working out, and asking 'do you want to lose weight?'. Don't feel like you owe anything to anyone here. If you feel uncomfortable by trainers approaching you, reach out to the front desk or manager and ask if they could back off.
You already have an unhealthy relationship with overexercising - if you already struggle with overexercising, having another source of training pressure is likely to do further damage. Whilst we can't tell you how to fix this, please consider getting some professional help to allow you to repair your relationship with exercise.
If you are interested in getting a trainer, picking the right one will be crucial to successfully reach your goals. Here are some articles with '5 Questions to ask a PT' and also 'How to find a personal trainer?'.