Advice for weight loss

[feverforever]

Hi there! Im new to working out. About 6 weeks ago I decided to try and get to at least 8.5 k steps a day. Up until 2020 I had a fairly active lifestyle. The pandemic, depression, and working from home changed that completely. Between 2020 and 2023 I averaged only 3.5k steps a day. Some days way less.

So for the last 6 weeks I’ve averaged 10k steps a day while also working with a nutritionist. My starting weight was 301 lbs and I’m down to 278 lbs. I just recently joined a gym. I’ve been doing mostly the elliptical, some treadmill and some strength training. That said, I feel like I’m mostly guessing on what and how much to do. I’m up to about 35-40 minutes on the elliptical paired with about 15 minutes on the treadmill with around 4 of those minutes being a light jog. I’m mixing in some arm, core, leg strength straining with the machines at the gym.

Is there a way I can figure out exactly what I should be doing based on my weight, goals, etc? I don’t go to the gym everyday, as sometimes I prefer just going for a super long walk outdoors.

I should add, I have major heart health anxiety so I would like to understand how far I should push it / what is too much etc.

Any and all advice is super helpful and appreciated!!

Edit: for reference I’m 32 Female and 5 foot 11 ft tall

 

[dinafrancis]

@feverforever Do activity you enjoy and can do safely, at a volume you can comfortably manage and recover from. You do NOT need to go intense, you do not need to push yourself super hard.

I would encourage some weight lifting in order to help preserve muscle mass and possibly build some. This will be the best thing you can do long term.

Otherwise, eating in a calorie deficit is the only thing that matters. So if you aren't losing weight, you're eating too much. You could sit on the couch and do nothing but watch Netflix and still lose weight if you kept your calories low.

Now you don't wanna cut you calories too low. You still need to hit your nutrition goals (probably something around 100g+ protein a day, 50g+ fats at a minimum). A 500 calorie a day deficit will have you lose 1lb a week, a 1000 cal deficit will have you lose 2lbs. Somewhere between those 2 values is where you should aim to be. You don't need to lose it faster than that

I would head over to r/fitness and read their wiki. Great info there. I would say you should do 3x a week lifting in the gym. A full body workout for about 45 mins to an hour BEFORE you do any cardio. Feel free to go for a walk outside every day and never do cardio in the gym again if you like. This is personally my main form of cardio - the long walks outside. My intense cardio is long bike rides outside. Until you get to a healthier weight, walking is honestly intense cardio for you. You're carrying around a whole extra persons worth of weight! I would be immensely gassed if I did that. You just wanna take it easy and be kind to your joints.

When you get sub 200lbs, maybe then start thinking about upping the intensity!

 

[feverforever]

@dinafrancis This is all super helpful. Thanks so much for your reply!!!

 

[wretchedman]

@feverforever walk everyday , Shia seed with water and lemon every morning . if you eat junk food lower it amount .