[Claire23]

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 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).
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 thugs 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!

[mjf]

Counting calories isn't essential, but some people find it useful. It's more important to make sure you're eating a healthy and balanced diet. Do you eat enough vegetables? You mentioned some foods that you eat, but you didn't mention vegetables. If you like sweets then eat fruit. Fruit should be sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.

For exercise, I suggest not doing leg extensions, due to the high risk of injury. Hip abduction probably won't hurt you, but it's not worth the time imo.

Are you doing any chest exercises, for example bench press or push ups?

[Claire23]

No I haven’t been doing any chest exercises. In terms of vegetables I only eat them within my meals not really as snacks!
What do you suggest are effective workouts!? (Since the leg and hip aren’t really that great)

[HealthyKris]

HI there. I definitely wouldn't count calories as this also makes you obsessed much like weighing every day. You need to make sure you are getting enough protein and essential fatty acids to stimulate your metabolism. Chances are you are eating too many carbs...starches.
A rule of thumb I follow is carbs in the morning for breakfast (since our brains needs glucose from carbs so we don't become a dead head) and the second carb (starch) is after a workout.

It's great that you are doing legs and arms but what about the rest of your body? Legs are our biggest muscle group and therefore burn the largest amount of calories but you've got the rest of your beautiful body to exercise too to help with total fat burn.

A suggestion is to do a full body workout, hitting all parts. Since you workout 3 days a week, you could do;

Monday - Legs, back and abs
Wednesday - Chest, Shoulders
Friday - Arms

Also, it's a good idea to take a multi vitamin or at least a b complex to help you keep your iron levels up.

Hope this helps!! You are stronger than you think and it's a new learning curve. You've got this!!

[mjf]

Originally Posted by Claire23

No I haven’t been doing any chest exercises. In terms of vegetables I only eat them within my meals not really as snacks!
What do you suggest are effective workouts!? (Since the leg and hip aren’t really that great)

Personally I only do one leg exercise, squats. Lunges and leg presses are good exercises, but they're kind of similar to squats. Hip abduction is less important because it's an isolation exercise (but if you like the exercise, it won't hurt you).

The most important exercises are the ones that work large muscle groups.