PLEASE HELP SO CONFUSED

oilers14
oilers14 Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
Hey everyone,
I’m new here and thought I would give this forum a try
I started my journey back in February and I motivated more than ever to get to my goal.
I weigh 165, my height is 5 ft 1, I’m 22 and female and my goal weight is 130. I don’t know what my body fat percentage is but I do know it’s definitely way way higher then any percentage of muscle that I have. I know my goal is to go down to 130 but it really also mainly is to decrease my body fat percentage (I have a lot surrounding my abdomen area, arms, thighs a little and glutes)
A medical condition I have is thalassemia, but thankfully it doesn’t effect my health. The only thing about it is that I can get low iron from time to time and as a result high intensity workouts like running, I’ll get short of breath easy. Will this affect my goal and me trying to reach it? Also, I have high levels of TROPONIN AND CK so I’m not really sure how to continue to exercise and get to my goal (whether I should keep going or not with my routine). The doctor said I can continue to exercise but she said it could be from not eating enough protein or drinking water. I still feel like maybe I should tailor my workouts due to this!???!
I started to strength train 3 times a week. For two days I’ll do a leg work out 3 sets of 15 (lunges, leg press, leg extensions, inner and our hip abduction machine) and once a week I will workout my arms 3 sets of 15 ( tricep rope, lat pull down, seated cable row, bicep curls). Before I warm up 15 mins on the elliptical moderate intensity.
My food intake is a bit crazy I have a sweet tooth and try my best not to indulge but I find it challenging
I’ll eat a half of a banana before workout with water and then after work out for breakfast I’ll have whole wheat toast with peanut butter with an apple and then for lunch I’ll have a lentil or quinoa salad and then for supper I’ll have whole wheat rice with a meat stew or something.
The thing is I don’t count calories and I haven’t noticed weight loss results since I started, (only some muscle in my arm and thighs a little) and I don’t like weighing myself because I start to obsess over it.

I’m still a newbie at the gym and I don’t know any other workout but the one above as I don’t know what I should target or whether or not I should increase cardio (whether or not it needs to be high intensity to effectively lose weight)

As for food I don’t know if I should count my calories? As I’m not sure if I’m exceeding it or not.
And any idea how long it could take to lose the fat/weight. Particularly my abdomen fat I have been trying for years

Bottom line is I would really appreciate it if someone helped me out together a solid food and workout plan (or anything online that could help) for a beginner (it can be at the gym or home workout doesn’t matter).

Thank you!

Replies

  • karenscofield1
    karenscofield1 Posts: 15 Member
    The only way I've ever managed to lose weight is by counting calories. It sounds worse that it actually is. With this website its actually becomes much easier...for me at least. I used to log my food onto a spreadsheet and look up the calories and add it to the sheet. At the end of the day I'd do a total. It was very cumbersome and I gave it up after a couple of weeks. This website is so much help. Just log your food. I've started logging my food in advance that help me to stay on track. I only eat what I've logged. Good Luck, you can get to your goal weight and you'll really learn a lot along the way.
  • L_jaimee
    L_jaimee Posts: 10 Member
    I got hurt at work and a good way to workout without being out of breath with the low iron and those trop levels I have found is to put the incline up on the treadmill and walk burns more calories than you think and works those muscles in your legs.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    If you aren’t losing, you should definitely start by counting calories. Some people can lose without doing this but you don’t seem to be one of them.

    Weighing yourself isn’t the be all and end all, but it is one easy way to mark your progress. If you tend to obsess, try entering your scale weight into a program such as Happy Weight which averages out fluctuations so you can see your trend.

    At your current weight, you should be able to safely lose about 1.5 lbs per week, eating at a deficit of 750 calories per day. However, that’s a maximum, and a more reasonable rate of loss for you may be a pound or even half a pound a week.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    oilers14 wrote: »
    once a week I will workout my arms 3 sets of 15 ( tricep rope, lat pull down, seated cable row, bicep curls).

    Just to comment on this.

    If you work your chest and back muscles (which some of those do) - you'll automatically workout your arms.

    Every pull motion is biceps, every push is triceps.

    So skip the machines for just those smaller muscles - get the chest press, overhead press, do the lat pull down and row to focus on back not biceps.

    In addition, if you can focus both the upper and lower body on just a few combo movements like that working out more muscles (like skip leg extension since leg press gets quads already) - 3 x weekly full body would see better results from your efforts.
    Unless you just have time to do them all each of 3 days.

    Ditto to all the great advice about purpose of exercise and losing weight and calorie deficit and needing to know what you eat.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
    This is a counting calorie site, so most people will lean towards doing exactly that...counting calories. I was very strict for a few months until I learned exactly what my typical day felt like, and now I am pretty good at eating consistently and maintaining my weight loss without logging. The only times I count calories now are when I am doing something with my overall fitness plan that requires me to be really strict!

    Weight training is great, but maybe focus on the larger muscle groups. A lot of the exercises you are performing are for very small, isolated muscles. You won't see dramatic weight loss from weight training. That comes from eating at a deficit. Getting in deficit can be accomplished through eating less, burning more or better yet....eating slightly less and burning slightly more. This moderate approach tends to lead to longer lasting success.

    I highly recommend walking! It is easy to do, and works. Start with 20min or whatever you can manage and build from there. Increase the pace, increase the distances.

    Good luck

  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    oilers14 wrote: »
    Hey everyone,
    The thing is I don’t count calories and I haven’t noticed weight loss results since I started, (only some muscle in my arm and thighs a little) and I don’t like weighing myself because I start to obsess over it.

    I’m still a newbie at the gym and I don’t know any other workout but the one above as I don’t know what I should target or whether or not I should increase cardio (whether or not it needs to be high intensity to effectively lose weight)

    Thank you!
    You can lie with numbers, but numbers won't lie, they'll keep you honest. If you aren't going to track something, I'm not sure how you're going to objectively tell something is changing. It isn't absolutely necessary to track calories or body weight, but it sure helps steer the course.

    You don't need high intensity cardio, or even exercise period to lose weight. Exercise just helps with increasing a deficit, and improving general health.

    As others said, you probably won't be able to spot reduce, fat is so rude that not only does it come unwelcome, it leaves in what order it wants. At best, you can target where you build muscle to fill out what remains. For muscle building, it is also important to have a structured program that involves tracking how you progress in terms of lifts over time.
  • 1BlueAurora
    1BlueAurora Posts: 439 Member
    I started logging here on the MFP website and lost enough weight to reach my goal. Honestly, I was overeating in part because I thought I could eye-ball a serving, and I was completely underestimating my daily intake. Use MFP for 2 months and see what happens. It couldn't hurt!
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    It wasn't until I started weighing and tracking my food that my weight finally started moving. Weigh and track, it's the only way you'll learn exactly the value of your food and how much you should be eating.

    It's an eye opener, for sure.

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