Where am I going wrong? Stubborn flab!

[chinup123]

Hi

Looking for some tips or insights into where I might be going wrong.

I am a size 12-14, age 35, and at a guess I probably weigh around 11.5 stone, height 5"6.

I am not overweight but would probably like to lose around a stone, but more importantly try and ditch some of the flabby weight around my middle, thighs and arms. I don't have scales, and I generally keep an eye on my weight by tightness on clothes, I don't calorie count and would prefer not to go down that route as I find I can become unhealthily obsessed that way.

I think I eat pretty well, and I'm quite active.

My job is a sedentary office job, but I hit between 7k-10k steps a day through walking to work and walking the dog. I attend a sport once a week which involves quite intense running about and exercise for approx. 2 hours.

Typically daily food:

Breakfast - Scrambled eggs with spinach
Lunch - A prepared salad or a Tesco meal deal wrap if in a hurry
Dinner - A pasta dish, curry, chicken and veg, just standard midweek meals, largely home prepared and try to minimise the carb content.
Snacks: An apple

I used to drink a bit too much but massively cut this down since last year. Still probably a bit too much at the weekend but I have tried to switch this into lower calorie drinks.

Where am I going wrong? Is it my age?

Is there any exercises that would really help and focus on those areas? Supplements I could take?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Tbh I think it's difficult to say without knowing your actual weight or calorie intake. Totally understand not wanting to count calories, I'm the same...but in reality that's a lot easier to avoid if you have quite a bit to lose instead of being at/very near target weight.

Your dinner for example - a curry or pasta dish has so many variables, it could be 400 calories or 1400 calories. Your weight - you could possibly be closer to 12 stone and in actual need of 'losing weight' - or closer to 10 and not needing to lose 'weight' at all, just tone up.

The easiest non-calorie counting wins for me would be stopping alcohol altogether and the same with the Tesco meal deals - make sure you're taking a salad every day - and reducing your portion sizes from where they are now for the evening meal. Then weight lifting and resistance exercises to tone up.

Thank you, yes I agree the evening meal could vary. I enjoy my food and food variety which is another reason I don't want to calorie count but I could with tightening that up to have more control.

Any recommendations on resistance training, I've always heard good things but never embarked on it, usually largely cardio fitness. I'm also not part of a gym and don't intend to so would need to be stuff I can do at home

I'm no expert but for arms you can definitely just buy a set of dumbells and weight lift from home ime.

Several years ago I bought a set (pre-wedding day!) and used them for about 15 minutes a day, just with random weight lifting toning exercises I googled. I think the main ones I used were 2.5kg and then I had a 5kg which I used for Kettlebell-style workouts. The difference in my arms in about 3 months was astounding. And when you follow instructions to stand straight, suck your stomach in etc, there were a lot of workouts I felt in my abs and bum too. And some which incorporated squats for the legs.

Since then I've just gotten fat tbh so I'm currently at the start of a weightloss journey - but I do intend on digging my weights out and just doing the same again as it worked so well last time.