Complete Gym noob - need help brehs

[SmoothOperator88]

I'm 6'2.5" 290 right now. Up from about 275 early this year. My target weight is 225. I have never been skinny and haven't weighed my target weight since I was 15 (I'm 26 now).

I want to lose weight for body image and some piece of mind. I have never been happy with my body and want to be able to feel comfortable about myself body image for the first time. And I'm kinda unsure how to go about it from a workout and a mental standpoint. Motivation has always been low, I've suffered from severe depression most of my life and I don't like workout with other people because truth be told it makes me feel like shyt. Most of my excess is concentrated in my upper body, especially the midsection for reference.

That being said, I'm not exactly sure what workouts I should be doing, supplements I should be taking, what I should be eating etc. And how not to make this stuff not seem a complete chore, mentally draining and depressing.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mofongo]

Since your just starting, focus on making a habit of going to the gym.
Bench press, squats, deadlifts, dips & and pull ups on a assisted machine if their is one. Start with doing 1 mile on a elliptical for cardio.
It's mostly how I started out.

 

[Brosef]

Don't worry about the supplements it'll be a waste of money at this point
Like breh above said, time to refocus yourself, towards healthy living... that goes for eating more balanced meals, and getting into the gym regularly
Once you get into the habit of going a few times a week, find stuff that you like doing and build on it
Don't set hard goals for yourself like losing x amount of pounds in x time. Just start off slow and see how things go
Put less focus on isolating muscles (e.g. biceps, chest), and more on whole body exercises/ circuit training

Good luck

 

[Adam3000]

Eat smaller portions. Try not to go over 2500 calories per day. You can still eat well at that calorie level if you give up junk food and dont drink anythig with calories in it.

As far as the gym goes, I would recommend 3 weightlifting sessions per week, then however many cardio sessions you can add to those 3 weight days.

For cardio--stay off of the elliptical and the bike. The reason people use those is because they are easier. Don't cheat yourself. Hop on a treadmill, put the incline at 8%, and walk 3.5-4 MPH for 45 minutes. Throw on some headphones and blast your favorite music. If you have a stairclimber at thr gym, thats a great cardio machine too.

For weightlifting....focus on 6 core exercises. ZERO reason for you to do something else. Those exercises are:

1) Compound horizontal pushing movement (bench press, dumbbell bench press, dips are 3 examples)

2) Compound horizontal pulling movement (dumbbell rows, barbell rows are 2 examples)

3) Squatting movement (barbell squats, walking dumbbell lunges are 2 examples)

4) Compound vertical pushing movement (military press, dumbbell shoulder press, etc)

5) Compound vertical pulling movement (pull ups with any grip. You will have to use the "assistance" machine at your gym. Use youtube to find out how to use the assisted pullup/dip machine that most gyms have)

6) Hip Hinge movement (deadlift, glute ham raise, hex bar deadlift, picking anything heavy up off the ground with your legs and butt)


You can find demonstrations of all these exercises on youtube

Pick 1 exercise from each of these categories and do 2 or 3 sets every workout. Pick a weight that is light enough that you can do around 8 reps, but heavy enough that you cant do anymore.

Write down the weight you lifted and the number of reps you did each set. Make it your goal to improve on either the number of reps or the total weight every single time you go to the gym. You wont be able to improve every time, but at least TRY

This is called progressive overload and it is the key to getting stronger and continuing to improve your body. Your eating will ultimately determine your success though.

Make sure to bring headphones and an mp3 player to the gym. Lose yourself in your music. Ignore what others are doing. They are seeking their own goals, you are seeking yours. You are there for yourself.

Feel free to ask more specific questions.

 

[winb83]

I'm 6'2.5" 290 right now. Up from about 275 early this year. My target weight is 225. I have never been skinny and haven't weighed my target weight since I was 15 (I'm 26 now).

I want to lose weight for body image and some piece of mind. I have never been happy with my body and want to be able to feel comfortable about myself body image for the first time. And I'm kinda unsure how to go about it from a workout and a mental standpoint. Motivation has always been low, I've suffered from severe depression most of my life and I don't like workout with other people because truth be told it makes me feel like shyt. Most of my excess is concentrated in my upper body, especially the midsection for reference.

That being said, I'm not exactly sure what workouts I should be doing, supplements I should be taking, what I should be eating etc. And how not to make this stuff not seem a complete chore, mentally draining and depressing.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Diet is most important and by most important I mean 85-90% of your weight loss will be controlled by the amount of calories you eat. The truth is you can't burn enough calories in the gym to eat completely garbage and still lose weight.

At your size you're probably burning 2600ish calories a day in BMR. you should probably eat no more than 3300 calories a day. As for what exercises to do in the gym;
Bench press
Squats
Deadlifts
Bent over rows
Clean and Press
Dips
Pull ups

You basically should just focus on doing compound exercises that hit all your major muscle groups. Cardio is optional. I wouldn't worry about supplements unless you wanna take some whey protein and a daily multi-vitamin.

As for what foods to eat try to eat stuff like eggs, potatoes, broccoli, chicken, turkey, rice, and drink lots of water.

I swear for the last month straight I've eaten almost the same exact meals every meal. I eat an egg beater omelet with Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles and Ore Ida diced hash brown potatoes sometimes I put a hand full of shredded cheese in it and I eat either a pack of special k pastry crisps or a pack of pop tarts. It usually adds up to about 900ish calories if I do pop tarts and 600 if it's the Special K.

In the middle of the day I have a single serving of potato chips and a turkey sandwich with 100% whole wheat bread or Ezekiel bread. It usually adds up to about 500 calories. Or I have some soup I made in my Vitamix which is about 400 calories.

For dinner I mostly repeat breakfast I do play around with the extras but it's usually an omelet and the hash browns with something extra like a sandwich to get me to about 2800-3000 calories total for the day. I've gone to the gym about 6 days in the last month and still lost about 7.5 pounds in the month total. It's been a lazy month for me but that's almost a 2 pound a week loss.

 

[winb83]

Eat smaller portions. Try not to go over 2500 calories per day. You can still eat well at that calorie level if you give up junk food and dont drink anythig with calories in it.

As far as the gym goes, I would recommend 3 weightlifting sessions per week, then however many cardio sessions you can add to those 3 weight days.

For cardio--stay off of the elliptical and the bike. The reason people use those is because they are easier. Don't cheat yourself. Hop on a treadmill, put the incline at 8%, and walk 3.5-4 MPH for 45 minutes. Throw on some headphones and blast your favorite music. If you have a stairclimber at thr gym, thats a great cardio machine too.

For weightlifting....focus on 6 core exercises. ZERO reason for you to do something else. Those exercises are:

1) Compound horizontal pushing movement (bench press, dumbbell bench press, dips are 3 examples)

2) Compound horizontal pulling movement (dumbbell rows, barbell rows are 2 examples)

3) Squatting movement (barbell squats, walking dumbbell lunges are 2 examples)

4) Compound vertical pushing movement (military press, dumbbell shoulder press, etc)

5) Compound vertical pulling movement (pull ups with any grip. You will have to use the "assistance" machine at your gym. Use youtube to find out how to use the assisted pullup/dip machine that most gyms have)

6) Hip Hinge movement (deadlift, glute ham raise, hex bar deadlift, picking anything heavy up off the ground with your legs and butt)


You can find demonstrations of all these exercises on youtube

Pick 1 exercise from each of these categories and do 2 or 3 sets every workout. Pick a weight that is light enough that you can do around 8 reps, but heavy enough that you cant do anymore.

Write down the weight you lifted and the number of reps you did each set. Make it your goal to improve on either the number of reps or the total weight every single time you go to the gym. You wont be able to improve every time, but at least TRY

This is called progressive overload and it is the key to getting stronger and continuing to improve your body. Your eating will ultimately determine your success though.

Make sure to bring headphones and an mp3 player to the gym. Lose yourself in your music. Ignore what others are doing. They are seeking their own goals, you are seeking yours. You are there for yourself.

Feel free to ask more specific questions.

2500 calories is under his BMR. That's too low and he'll plateau on that.

 

[Turbulent]

i'll tell you what i tell everyone starting. and by the way, i don't work for them, am not affiliated with them in anyway, and have no vested interest in them what so ever.

read this completely.
StrongLifts 5x5: The Simplest Workout To Get Stronger

follow the program exactly as it is. don't try to outsmart it. just do EXACTLY what it says. give it 3 months of your life without questioning it and check your results.

 

[Ethnic Vagina Finder]

Cut out junk food, fast food, carbonated drinks, alcohol, fried food and bread.

Don't eat until you're full.
Eat nothing but fruit and veggies for the first 30 days.

 

[Zyne]

For a workout routine, check out Stronglifts 5x5. It works.

 

[DonKnock]

Download MyFitnessPal app. It will help you track your calories much easier