Beginner at fitness - am I doing enough?

Consistency is the key. Do what you can for up to six days a week, making sure you take one day off minimum to recover.

Other than that, it's all about incremental and consistent changes in your fitness. It's incredible over the course of a year or two how much more fit you can become. And over several years, stunning. There are many on this forum that can accomplish amazing things physically that were once couch potatoes like you.

Just be consistent, when you add in work, add it in extremely incremental. Know the difference between soreness from working out and injury (your body is a good judge of that) and keep at it. If you can't do something, try something else that you can do. And be forgiving if you get off your routine and try to get back on it as soon as you can.

If you do something for four to six weeks consistently, it becomes a habit. Be proud of what you have done so far.

Weight loss does happen in the kitchen, but over long term studies, most that keep the weight off workout an hour a day on average (from the Natl. Weight Loss Registry). Those that lose the weight by diet alone tend, generally, not to have long-term success.

Check out the recomposition thread. There are females on here that have rebuilt their bodies completely. I know I did, but the whole big booty thing isn't as important to me!

@motherthemountain - I have the same fitness goals as you: strong, healthy and capable. Plus the extra booty.

Unlike you, I've been overweight most of my life. But like you, my exercise and fitness have also been sporadic throughout my life. I've been focusing on the weight loss and consistent regular exercise for almost 18months now with good success, but it wasn't until quarantine that I've been putting in much more time and effort to fitness and exercise.

For me, after 3mos of exercise (running and yoga mostly), it aided somewhat with weight loss, but mostly laid the foundation for baseline fitness. After 6mos of exercise, I saw good improvement in my fitness levels (running longer; stronger doing yoga, swimming longer laps) and enough physical changes that a few friends commented that I looked "in shape."

These past 2.5mos, I started a 10wk weight training program on top of everything else, and that has been the real game changer. For an always fat kid/adult, I'm sometimes in disbelief at how toned my arms look and how strong my legs are (the tush is firm, but still have work to do to grow that peach). Now acquaintances or strangers are making the remarks that I'm "athletic" (former me: hahahahhahaha, what? hahahahahha).

While I love this physical transformation, honestly, it takes a lot of time (50min-2hrs of rigorous exercise a day, 5-6 days/wk) and a lot of hard work. And this is only possible because I work from home now during the pandemic. When thing get back to normal, I'm afraid how I will keep up this pace/effort. Not to mention that I definitely have feelings of burn out now and feel the call of my former couch potato/sedentary self ALL THE TIME. At the moment, though, I am going to keep going while I still have the motivation and the discipline.

As for your questions: "Am I doing enough? Will this help me see some change in body?"

Yes, you are doing enough for right now. I bet, though, you will get stronger and do more/push more.
No, I don't think you will see changes in your body right now or even in the next couple of months.

BUT as you increase the intensity, stamina, and strength because you are consistent (CONSISTENCY and PATIENCE are key), then you WILL see changes in 3mos, 6mos and longer. And I want to roll my eyes at this advice bc I'm parroting what others have also said, but I agree 1000%: if you can incorporate strength and resistance training (bodyweight is good; dumbbells/weights are even better), do so now! I'm currently going through Caroline Girvan's excellent strength program on youtube, but Sydney Cummings and Heather Robertson are also bosses with their strength workouts.

Sorry this post is so long. Your post really resonated with me because I was also a beginner (we all were) and I just wanted to relay that what you're doing is great! You will get stronger, but you will also do much more than you think you would/could ever do. Be consistent, be patient. Keep going!

Do report back with your progress!

PS Hula hooping! So fun! It appears like it it's relatively easy and effortless, but I've never been able to successfully hula hoop for more than a few revolutions!