New, looking for injury and max efficiency advice

fitnessphotog

So hello! I'm no stranger to exercise, but in the past month joined a gym and am trying to make the most of it without injuring myself. While you'd never look at me and think it, I have daily significant pain issues due to various factors. I've been under the care of several kinds of drs etc. and right now am in an ok place. But not so great that I can take any of their advice, as it all varies and I'm pretty sure I've been told to do and not to do everything I'm doing at some point. But I have to be careful. So I'm trying to maximize my time at the gym, but several of the "lift to failure" and general "hit a wall and break through" ideologies would put me out for a month. I did Insanity for a while and loved it until something I thought I could do injured me pretty badly. So anyway, I've noticed that the most fit girls rotate their cardio, so I've been doing that. (is that a good idea?) I'm not supposed to run, but I started slow and I'm running about 1.5 miles on treadmill (confession- my hip has been getting me badly so I skipped this the past two visits and did 3.5 on elliptical), then 2 on elliptical, 1-2 on bike and if my knees are ok, a half mile or so on some weird stair machine the gym has. All of these are with incline or resistance (like 8-12 resistance and 5-6.5 speed)

Then I lift on machines with the goal of increasing weight vs. low weight and many reps (good idea?) Right now I'm a little lopsided, and can handle 65lbs for most arms except bicep unless its on the row machine for whatever reason, and can get in the 100s for most legs except the machine where you bring your heels to your rear in a sitting position, which is about 50 right now. I feel like that would amount to some pretty noticeable results after a month, but I mostly just feel more internal results, less aesthetic improvement. In the past, I could just cut calories, lose a good amount and still have some muscle tone due to living a less sedentary lifestyle. I'm not seeing that currently.

So its slow going and I definitely had more faster with Insanity, but I also forked out a lot of money on the gym membership and can't afford to hurt myself and not go for a month. I can see I'm getting some great leg muscles, but my stomach seems bloated more than ever. I am eating pretty darn healthfully (making my own meals, lean meats, and limiting carbs, sugars etc) but I know I need help being more dietarily efficient (but I'll be honest- I'm not going gluten free or buying expensive flour substitutes). I guess I want to know what I can do so that my diet is allowing my exercise to do the most good.

Oh, I'm F, 5'7 and currently 142. Sorry this is long, I really don't know what information is useful and what isn't. I just feel like I'm not being efficient and I'm bothered that I seem to be worse looking since starting in areas that women tend to be more self conscious.