Is this enough to get started with?

Tewksinma

Hi, I’ve just started working out for the first time in years so I’m very weak, have 30lbs to lose and was at the point of being puffed when walking upstairs. Food has never been the problem persay, but wine with dinner at home or cocktails when eating out would always then lead to snacks or poor food choices after in the evening combined with a somewhat sedentary lifestyle has made me gain weight. I stopped the alcohol three weeks ago which in turn stopped the snacking and I’ve started going to the gym. However... the scale has not moved even a little. I haven’t gained of course, but I haven’t lost so I’m feeling a bit deflated. I haven’t gone gung-ho at it where I’m miserable or ready to fall over at the gym as i want it to be long lasting. I’m really enjoying what I do now as I already feel sharper in the mind, I’m no longer puffed walking upstairs and I actually find myself wanting to be active. Great stuff... but I also want my self confidence to be sorted out with some weight loss. I wrote down everything I did at my last workout, which is pretty much what I do every single time I go to the gym, which is three times a week every single week. The only change is for example, this record I had to skip the calf machine because I overdid it last week and the ache and stiffness wasn’t the normal kind but painful. But usually that would be in addition to below. Here’s what I’m currently doing....

30mins walking treadmill 2.5mph
45-60mins doing the following...
3 sets 12 adductor 30lbs
4x 12 abductor 60lbs
6x 12 leg press 60lbs
3x 12 arm extension (bat wings) 30lbs
3x 12 rear delt row 35lbs
1x 12 rear delt row 40lbs
3x 12 vertical traction 45lbs
3x 12 pectoral 30lbs
2x 12 prone leg curl 30lbs
1x 12 prone leg curl 20lbs
Another 30 mins x 2.5mph treadmill

The weights may sound very low to you all... but that weight is actually an increase on where I began. My abs are being completely missed at the moment but the machines hurt my back for those exercises and the gyms been really busy lately that I’m too intimidated to go over to the free weights/mat section to fumble about not sure of what to do. I will get on it, but since I’ve been doing so well with sticking to every other aspect of diet and actually going to the gym I’m just focusing on that at the moment. I will get there.

My question is a one I’m sure has been asked a million times here... why am I not losing weight?

I have smoothy every morning before breakfast which is a banana, cocoa powder, cold brew coffee (zero sugar) and oatmilk (unsweetened plain) and a handful of raw spinach.

I have been eating one of three breakfast/lunch options everyday an hour or so after my smoothy....

2 eggs scrambled with one slice cheese non stick pan, no fat added to cook. Cup cooked spinach (huge handfuls when raw before wilting) with garlic powder and grated Parmesan cheese. No cream or anything added.

6oz Baked plain salmon (I cook day before. I’m weird and absolutely love cold salmon) with the same spinach as above.

Whole grain bagel topped with half an avocado that’s been mashed with orange segments. Topped with Sesame seeds sprinkle. —— this breakfast is only once a week, the day after I buy the pack of four bagels. My husband and son eat the other three during the week.

My snack between lunch and dinner are strawberries or an orange and/or a mini naan with hummus or almond butter spread (natural kind I microwave a little so it’ll spread) sometimes a bowl of heated up frozen green peas (another weird thing I like. Ate them as a kid everyday)

Dinner has been a rotation of -

chicken thighs cut up and marinated in Greek yogurt with spices etc then skewered and grilled on bbq. Served with a veg like carrots, zucchini, broccoli, green beans, cabbage, asparagus etc all are steamed or cooked in olive oil, but not much because I don’t like greasy food. Also bell peppers and onions sometimes skewered on bbq.

Steak filet with veg like above.

Pork stir fry (soy sauce, fresh garlic and ginger... no sugar or sauces) with veg

Grilled chicken breast with hot sauce, slice cheddar cheese in a bun with veg

Fish, baked or grilled depending on type.

Once every couple weeks or so, okipoke sushi tuna burrito. Seaweed, brown rice, tuna, mango, avocado, ponzu and spicy mayo on the side.

All of these except for the fish sometime become left over lunch or a snack to tide me over until dinner time. Im not starving but because I know I’m going to the gym and won’t be home until 6.45-7pm. I do sometimes get two hard boiled eggs after from the cafe they have at the gym if I am hungry. But they are just plain boiled eggs I add a little salt to.

My only de tours have been three Haagen daz chocolate ice cream bars. One a night for three nights in a row. (My six year old got a super Mario game for his switch multi player and we gamed it up a few days over the weekend and I had one with him. But that is three in three weeks! 270 calories a bar. And that’s all I’ve had sugar wise or indulgent. And that was over a week ago.

So swinging back around to my question? Why am I not losing weight? I thought I would have lost just by stopping the booze and snacking at night. I’m moving more than I was too. So what’s going on? I will be including cardio beyond walking but I’ve started with walking as an easy way to get moving and strengthen my joints. I have arthritis in my left knee that causes problems and I have a degenerative disk in my back that causes pain in my hip where if my right leg goes outwards I get a sharp pain and i almost go down. Same with doing a squat, my hip gives out and I fall down. I used to squat many moons ago in my younger days of exercise so I wish I could again for the sake of my behind, so im using the leg press and adductor as a substitute as those don’t seem to bother it. My plan is to strengthen through the simplicity and low impact of walking before moving onto more intensive movements. Oh, in the spring and summer I will be back to riding my bike for about an hour once or twice a week too on our local bike path. And once the pool at my gym is completely reopened I will be swimming laps there for 30 mins three times a week instead of walking after lifting weights.

I’m 36 years old, 5,6 and 160lbs. I strangely carry all my excess weight in my waist and upper body leaving me with thinner legs. But when I’m not overweight I’m completely proportioned. I don’t lose more weight from my legs if that makes sense.

Any advice? What am I doing wrong and what can I do to fix it? 130lbs is my goal and I’m not looking for a fast result or deadline where it’s unsustainable but i do need to see the scale go down at least some. I’m at three weeks so I’m clearly doing something wrong.

Lietchi

Have you completed the goal setup on MFP? Entering your stats, activity level and desired weight loss rate (I would suggest choosing 1 lb or 0.5lb per week)?
Are you weighing and logging your food?

For weight loss you need to be in a deficit, so monitoring your calorie intake would be a good start (it's not absolutely necessary, but this is a calorie counting app, so most of us do count our calories).
Exercise is great for health, but not strictly necessary for weight loss.
And eliminating things like ice cream bars isn't necessary either, you can lose weight while still enjoying occasional/regular treats, as long as it fits into your calories.
I highly encourage you to not make drastic changes to your diet and not be overly restrictive in what you 'allow' yourself to eat (from your post is not clear whether your current way of getting is new or not).
The goal is to build good habits for when you reach maintenance, so the harder you make it on yourself, the less likely you will be able to stick with it long-term i.e. give up before you reach your goal, or reach your goal and then go back to eating the way you are before and then gain back weight.

A final comment: you have started exercising. Muscle repair causes water retention, so you could be in a calorie deficit, but this water retention could be making your fat loss on the scale. In which case it's just a matter of patience, and perhaps taking progress pictures and measurements to determine if what you're doing is working.

yirara

What Lietchi said. Apart from that: What is your goal in exercising? I see a lot of isolated muscle exercises. Have you considered a progressive lifting programme? Not only is it a lot shorter and targets lots of muscles at the same time, it also makes you stronger as you use higher weights once something gets too easy. Just doing the same over and over again might not make you stronger, but just good at doing those 3x12 reps.