New gym girl in need of serious help 😊

what's your height, weight and goals?

does your gym have a free personal trainer visit? several of the ones around here offering one session. i was nervous when i started at the gym, but a friend came with me and showed me how to use the machines properly. depending on your goals, you could join a beginner class if your gym offers the for free or cheap. you can also check youtube videos for each machine or lift you want to do - there are also books and magazines that can show you the moves.

back when i was new to the gym, heavy and very nervous, the only people who paid any attention to me were kind and helpful. i never saw anyone else looking at me at all, and no one was ever rude. i went to three different gyms starting out, and no one ever judged me, so it's not as scary as you might fear.

you can add protein powder to your diet - some are very tasty, and you can mix them with milk or water. or you can eat non-fat or light yogurt (dannon light & fit cherry is my favorite followed by vanilla), cottage cheese, lean meat, edamame or other soy products, cheese, egg whites or egg substitute in omelets or just scrambled. i'm a vegetarian, so i don't eat lean meat, but many years ago when i was bodybuilding, i used to eat a can of water-packed tuna for protein.

You don't need to change everything radically all at once. It's fine to chip away at it.

I like @nossmf's approach of logging what you eat now, then starting to make cuts that are easiest for you, gradually dialing in the right calorie level and gradually tuning up nutrition. (The link he gave you for protein is extremely helpful. Check it out.)

I did an "incrementally remodel eating habits" approach myself (to lose almost 1/3 of my body weight and maintain in a healthy range for 7+ years since). If that appeals to you, there are details here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

That won't be perfect for everyone - nothing is - but it's an option to consider, maybe a bit less overwhelming than trying to fix everything all at once.

On the exercise front, seek out ways of moving more that are relatively fun (or at least tolerable/practical). There's no need to do punitively intense, miserable exercise. Something that's just a bit of manageable challenge is perfect. As you get fitter, you will be able to increase intensity, duration, frequency or type of exercise, so that you keep a bit of challenge always in the picture. That's the best way to improve fitness.

For weight loss, exhausting exercise can be counter-productive: It makes us drag through the rest of our day, burning fewer calories than would otherwise be expected from daily life stuff. Keeping it manageably challenging, not exhausting, is better for weight loss, too.

For starters, if the gym is intimidating, just go there and look around. If you see something that looks doable, try it - even just walking on a track or treadmill. Otherwise, just observe what's available (politely) and plan what you can do next time. If you can get a free or affordable trainer session(s) or even just a guided facility tour, do that . . . or look for a basic group class that sounds fun.

It's OK to feel awkward and incompetent the first time we try new activities. That's normal. In a group or gym setting, the nice people will remember what it felt like to be new. They may ignore you, but they're not criticizing inside (they're focused on their workout). Some may be encouraging or supportive. Only jerks will be negative to new people, and who cares what jerks think, anyway? Ignore 'em, if there are any there. Anything that's instantly easy the first try is going to be boring soon. Give a new thing a chance for a few sessions, as long as it doesn't feel actually injurious.

You can make progress. Incremental progress really is effective, it's less overwhelming mentally, and allows more time for learning and adapting. The time is going to pass anyway. Moving gradually toward habits that enhance your health - that can work great.

I'm cheering for you to succeed - the results are worth it!

I don't like throwing out entire categories of food personally, but I realize some people have success doing so, thus I won't object too strongly to your point #1. I will, however, shake my head about your second point, twice-a-day protein shakes. And I'm an avid weightlifter! Sure, shakes are convenient, but if you get enough lean meat and (unless intolerant) dairy, you can get all the protein you need through diet alone. Protein shakes can be expensive, and they don't have the same nutritional profile of nutrients as getting your protein from whole food sources.

If you find it more convenient to have multiple protein shakes per day as meal alternatives, on-the-run meals or because you're not getting enough protein otherwise, then you do you. But I don't like suggesting somebody just starting their fitness journey to start with multiple protein shakes right away.

I agree with @nossmf

You’re here to lose weight, right? Chewing an actual piece of food is sooooooo much more satisfying than downing a protein shake.

Every Sunday when I grill our steaks, I grill a couple extra pounds of seasoned chicken, or if I’m smoking a pork loin, I do one that’s several pounds more than I need.

I chop up the extra or leftover meats and have them for lunch in a salad or simple wrap with some season salt, or sugar free bbq sauce. Fast, easy, and a serious protein hit.

Lidl (and presumably Aldi) sell chicken sausages that are 80 calories apiece. I broil them, wrap them in a piece of low cal toast and top with spicy mustard. Two sausage dogs are well under 250 calories.

Breakfast is either pancakes enhanced with protein powder and cottage cheese to boost protein, or lately I’ve been having a couple servings of cottage cheese topped with honey and a spoonful of meusli, and two or three slices of thin bacon strips cooked in a microwave bowl.

My diary is open if you need some appealing (to me, of course!!!) protein ideas.

If I do find myself short on protein, a serving of beef jerky for about (14 gr), or a smoothie made of a bottle of chocolate Corepower and a serving of cottage cheese, with ice (about 40 gr protein) are tasty and enjoyable as “real” food, versus protein shakes.

I just can’t abide the taste of powdered protein shakes, but that’s me. Life is too short and tasty options too available to waste time on meh substitutions.

springlering62 wrote: »

(snip for reply length)
At no point did anyone look stare disapprove or anything. Yeah, you see the posts by jerks like the “can’t unsee that” woman, but that type of human is going to find something or someone to ridicule under any circumstance. That’s on them.

99.99% of people are there to do their own workout and couldn’t care less about yours. As long as you’re not running around nekkid, I doubt they’ll even notice you. In my experience those who did, did so to offer tentative advice or support.

(snip )

Harsh, but true and remember that when you’re working out. They just do not care. You care. They don’t. No one is out there looking at you or judging you.

It’s far more likely they are silently cheering you on, or wishing they came as regularly as you.

I am currently at a hospital owned gym, which has a much older clientele. They range from the very fit, to cardiac rehab. I’d still be at the competitive gym- even though I’m no way shape or form am I competitive- but I chose to go to the gym my husband feels comfortable at. A good gym is a good gym, period. You’ll know when you’ve found one that fits you.

So true. In my late 40s/early 50s, I decided I needed adult learn to swim lessons. At that point, I was class 1 obese, and I was/am post-bilateral-mastectomies with no reconstruction, so completely flat (even a little concave) up top. I was super self-conscious about wearing my plus-size swimsuit at the pool as a fat, middle-aged, post-mastectomy woman. Guess what? No one cared. No one paid the slightest attention. To the extent that the pool setting allowed, everyone was pleasant/friendly.

I've done a lot of gym/workout stuff since, a decade or so of that while still overweight/obese. My experience has pretty much always been that no one pays attention to my body, except me. The only counter-example is that because of being very active, I actually got reasonably fit while still quite fat: Sometimes in a group setting, I could tell that someone(s) would be surprised by my ability to do well in challenging classes. That was more positive than negative.