2y ago

Beginner, quit a few months ago and starting again

Hey!

I worked out from September to November and quit gym because of our house construction.

Now I am going back to the gym and I feel like I didn't achieve anything from September to November. I went full try hard mode and documented all my kcals, went 5 times a week and somehow without real noticable changes.

I didn't really care at first because I am skinny fat. Was just going to have some fun and free my mind but after November it felt kind of useless.

I started at 79.3 kg and I am 175 cm tall. I am skinny asf but my bodyfat is very high, I'd say about 23% if I compare images of Bodyfat% on google to my look. I can't even do a single pull up and at the end of the three months I still couldn't do a single pullup eventhough I did so much back, lat, shoulder, biceps, triceps exercises.

So my days looked like this:

Monday: Chest/ Triceps (push ups, assisted dips); Abs (sit ups, standing leg raises), Benchpress (Chest, Triceps) and Triceps isolated with pulldown machine -> Every two weeks I started off with push ups and assisted dips and the other weeks I started with Benchpresses instead to keep that balanced.

Tuesdays: Lat (Lat pulldown), Dead Hangs (I couldn't do a single pullup) started 1 minute, extended to like maximum of 2 minutes after 8 weeks), Back (seated rows) and rows on a fixed machine,

Wednesday: Legs (Squats, later Squats with dumbbells), Lunges (later with dumbbells) and this legpress machine started off with 0 kg and later after like 2 months 10 kg each side but felt dead after those.

Thursday I did what I did monday, friday I did what I did tuesday and friday I did what I did wednesday.

Cardio I didn't do anymore only 5 minutes before and after each training.

And I played soccer with my friends 3 months later and couldn't keep up. My cardio didn't get better in that time. I honestly felt so tired and exhausted I think that was the reason I quit in the end.

I barely eat so its hard for me to get my kcal in but I counted about 2200 kcal a day (require 2800) and my lowest protein intake was 1.7g and my highest protein intake a day was 2.8g in this time period. So I never was lower than 1.7g and never higher than 2.8g and the days I hit my 2.8 g was when I drank a shake and somehow had dinner with way more protein than expected (meat) cause I barely eat meat.

Man I just want to go to the gym and notice a difference..

My stats at the beginning of training: 79.3 kg. After the three months I was at 78.5 kg.

I decreased my kcal intake and increased my protein intake. It could be muscles, but to be honest I have way too much body fat to do a body recompensation atleast its what I have read. So my goal wasn't to gain muscles, my goal was to lose weight while maintaining my not existing muscles. It didn't work.

My goal now would be to go down from 79.8 kg (now) to 72 kg and then gain muscles. But how? Just do more cardio and no weight training? People say I gotta do weight training cause muscles burn kcal. Yeah true, but people also say I can't gain muscles if I wanna lose weight. But I gotta lose weight... what should I do?

6 comments

You're counting calories which is great. But don't worry about the number on the scale. If you have little muscle and are not super fat (23% isn't that fat) you will gain weight if you start building muscle.
My biggest suggestion would be to follow the starting strength workout 3 days a week. As a beginner, you're doing a bunch of worthless exercises. Stick with the barbell essentials, and pullups: deadlift, squat, bench, overhead press, bent over row, and pullups. These use lots of muscles and will best promote muscle growth. Go heavy, you should be really struggling to get that last rep. If you're not sore as hell after the first few workouts, you aren't lifting heavy enough. If you get all the reps you wanted to do, add 5 pounds the next time you do that exercise.
Stay away from the machines until you want to focus on really specific muscles.
Especially do deadlifts, it works a ton of muscles and nothing builds confidence like lifting a bunch of weight off the ground.
Watch youtube videos for form advice. Do a few warm up reps with really light weight, such as just the bar, to practice form. Ask others at the gym for form advice. Most lifters are super friendly.
As you get stronger, you can work in other things like biceps, triceps, dead hangs, etc.
- Another good resource for form: https://stronglifts.com/deadlift/
I have a similar build and similar body fat percentage.
I don't tend to notice a significant weight loss from exercise, but I do look a bit skinner/healthier - muscle weighs more than fat.
The only way I lose weight is by dieting, not exercise. But the exercise makes me feel better/happier/stronger so you do both :)
Consistency is key - 3 months you are just getting started if you are coming from zero! From a similar starting point I found it took about 6months of daily exercise before I felt significantly different.
Keep at it is my only advice, don't sweat the protein measurements you aren't at a level it matters. Avoid take out, eat reasonably well, and do at least 1hr of cardio or strength daily and you'll get where you want to go.
- Yes, eat well!
  Cooking can be fun, inexpensive, and rewarding.
  Learn to cook chicken and fish dishes. Marinate a bunch of chicken breasts or boneless, skinless chicken thighs and bake in oven as needed. Super easy.
  Eat lots of veggies. You can't get fat eating veggies. This also has the additional benefit of making it super easy to poop. Cut up and saute carrots, onions, brussel sprouts, spinach, or whatever you like. Frozen peas. Put on tv or listen to podcasts while you prep. Watch cooking shows for inspiration.
  This is essentially my go to dinner for the past fifteen years when i decided i wanted to be healthier by exercising and eating well.
I'm just a newbie myself, but I think it might be better if you simplify what you're doing a bit. I started the Starting Strength Novice Linear Progression about 2 months ago and have seen noticeable changes in my body and measurable changes in my strength -- eg I've improved ~100lbs (45kg) on my squat and ~40lbs (18kg) on my bench.
The program is super simple, just 3x week and 4 exercises to start with. The goal is to increase the weight on each lift by 5 lbs every workout.
You switch between these two workouts:
`A Squat Bench Deadlift
B Squat Press Deadlift`
The trick is, from my own experience at least, is that you need to eat a bit more than you're used to (at least to start with). I feel it when I haven't eaten or slept enough the day before the gym.
Check out this page for more info https://startingstrength.com/get-started/programs
They have some really good videos on how to do the exercises on their YouTube channel.
There's also a bunch of other variations I've seen of this routine, like the Grey Skull LP, but they all look pretty much the same to me.
If I were in your position as a beginner again, I would follow a much simpler program. 3-4 very basic compound lifts starting with just the bar 3 times a week at most. Your progression in the beginning should be very quick, you should not be tired after a workout (at least for the first couple of months) and you should keep track of how much you're lifting so that with each workout you can increase the weight by 5 to 10 pounds depending on the exercise. Lots of phone apps that can do this for you. Also shoot for 150 minutes of cardio a week (soccer is good cardio).
Eat whatever calories you calculated. Also 1.7g and 2.8g of protein is nothing unless you mean per kg of body mass which is in range (1.7 is too low though). And working out from September to November is just getting warmed up. Don't give up, and think of fitness as a life long pursuit, not something with an end goal.

6 comments