Hi Wanda! I agree with your trainer - it's important to have some protein after you work out.
Some people say that you have a 'golden hour' (just like in emergency rooms!) to eat because your muscles are all depleted from working out and ready to be re-fed. My trainer always told me to have some protein AND carbs, because the carbs help transport the protein to the muscles. He'd actually yell at me, as I was walking (sometimes crawling
) out the door, to go home and EAT!
Peanut butter's not all that good of a source of protein (but how on earth could one get sick of it?!
)
, so it's no great loss if you ditch the PB. Personally, what I eat after working out is just one of my regularly scheduled meals (I eat five small meals a day, so one's always coming up). Frequently it's a huge salad with chicken breast sliced on top. Another favorite is a 95% lean ground beef patty and an apple.
If you're looking for something that's a little more snacky and maybe portable, I'd suggest Mel's muffins. They're delicious and loaded with protein. Here's Mel's
Banana Nut Muffin recipe and here's her
Carrot Protein Muffin recipe. She also has a recipe for some great
Pumpkin Protein Bars and here's my
Chocolate Protein Bar recipe.
If you don't want to bake, how about cottage cheese and fruit? A hard-boiled egg? Tuna salad?
Tips for good snacks?
Just keep taking it one week at a time and - almost before you even know it! - you'll be at your goal!
Now the ideal world would have M & M themselves training each of us to become top notch personal trainers. Of course to keep our skills at peak efficiency we would need to all get together say quarterly for training seminars. During the spring, summer & fall quarters we could meet say at the M & M Ontario Facility or the M & M Pittsburg Facility and during the winter months we could meet at the M & M Tucson Facility. 
