First off, if you’re looking for major changes you need to make this a lifestyle change, or you won’t last long enough.

The good news is that you found diet easy so far. That’s the biggest part. A few weeks is not long enough to get rid of a pot belly. Depending how much of a belly you got, probably looking at closer to 6 months for a really visible change. By 3 months you’ll probably notice a difference but might not be where you want to be yet.

Just stick with it, but try not to focus on it.

It takes a long time to lose weight, and it’s about 80% diet and 20% exercise. But after a few weeks your heart/breathing should already be better. I’m 55 and wen I started jogging I was without breath and heart in top after 400 yards. Now I can run 2 or 3 miles non stop without too much suffering :)

I’d keep the focus on your performance. You can do x amount of push ups etc. That is easier to notice and keep track of. I had a notebook where I wrote down every exercise session so I remembered.

The problem with seeing a difference is that you see yourself every day, and the difference from day to day is so small that you’ll just update your “before” image in your head.

The obvious solution is to take a before and after picture, longer between the better. At least a month.

Abs are made in the kitchen, but you sound on the ball there already so:

Yeah in 2-3 months without missing many days you’ll start to notice.

Edit: In my experience it’s other people who see you often/semi often who notice external changes first. Not sure if that’s just me or not.

I started at 35. From skinny fat to visibly “are you lifting” took me about 1 year. Looking “big” took 3-4years. I gained about 15kg of bw, probably about half fat and half muscle. The hardest part now is trying to diet down a bit again. Much harder than actually working out imo.

I did workout using a squat rack at home.

Still the best decision I ever made.

Exercise is going to have the least effect on your weight unless you’re wildly out of shape.

It’s all about diet for the most part.

You should try intermittent fasting.

Take a photo; check back 30 days later. Rinse and repeat.

Progress can seem slow, that if you look at yourself day-to-day you’ll not notice it.

Scale isn’t the best judge either, because even if you weigh at the same time every day (first thing post BM is good) - your weight can fluctuate due to hydration and quality of sleep.

Consider measuring your waist as an alternative, seeing as that’s what was your initial motivation.

If you aren’t already, add walking to your daily routine - or even consider programs like Couch to 5K or ZombieRun if you want some motivation and a tougher goal. It’s great for your heart health, and will help contribute a small amount of additional burned calories.

Lastly, diet is the most important facet of weight loss. I highly recommend logging everything you eat (at least for the first week or two to get your bearings) using an app like Cronometer.

Measure your waist monthly. Yep just your waist. For me, I generally see weight loss over a few months of increased exercise. You will get better results with strength training, less weight loss but more lean, so just as much change in volume. Bodyweight will get you there but at some point you may want to pick up weights.

Remember that physical activity does a lot more than keeping your size where you want it. It’s good for your mental health, your bones, your heart, digestion, it’s an important part of a healthy life, be glad you are able.

Make it to a month, and it will be come a new habit. After three months of dedication, you’ll probably be able to look at yourself in the mirror and see real changes.

I am going to the gym 1-2 times a week for about 2 years now. I think I started to see the first signs after about half a year.
I am not super well defined as I would need to go more often than 2 times a week, but you can see I am a bit more muscular than the average. However, my belly is still there, and if I am not cruel to myself it won’t get away. If you want to lose weight, 90% is diet.

I recommend to shoot some photos to track your progress. When you see yourself daily in the mirror, it’s much harder to tell a difference.

But yeah as others said, especially in the beginning it’s much more about feeling healthy than seeing a lot of difference.

Visually at first it’s going to be mostly weight loss. How much depends on how much caloric deficit you are running - rule of the thumb if you eat 500 kcal less than what you burn per day you will lose about a pound/0.5kg per week. Diet is 80% of success. Your muscle gains will be low while you are losing weight, but your existing muscles will become more visible.

You see yourself every day so it’s going to be hard to spot differences - compare monthly photos.

Hell yeah, props for taking the first steps. I’m 23 right now and I started doing calisthenics about 3 years ago and I’m very happy with the results. When I first started I was skinny fat and spent most of my days behind a computer screen eating lots of snacks. Even with basic exercises like push-ups, squats, pull-ups, I started noticing a difference in strength after about two weeks. I felt much better, slept better and had no more back problems. During that time I also stopped snacking and started drinking protein shakes, which really showed after about a month. After 3 months I lost around 6 kg of fat.

What I love about calisthenics is that it builds functional strength and is very fun and dynamic. You also don’t need a gym because YOU ARE THE GYM.

If you’re interested, you can check out Yellow Dude on Youtube.

So I have always been one to count calories and attempt to keep my weight in check, I always found it to be hard work and while I maintained a pretty healthy weight, I never really lost like I wanted to. I cut out sugar long ago, and I try and only eat whole grain products and be cognizant of my carb intake. It just wasn’t quite enough.

Then I got a physical and saw I had high cholesterol. High enough that it needed to be addressed. I had to go on a diet and the only restriction (aside from stuff I was already doing as I described above) was: keep your intake of saturated fat no more than 13 grams per day.

So I use an app to keep a diary of everything I eat and I make my own food mostly and I have all the things I eat regularly in the app and I have been doing this for years, so I am lucky in that regard. If you can’t/won’t do this or just aren’t bent that way, this will be much harder. But with my app and my eating habits, I have very little problems knowing exactly what I am ingesting - down to the gram. I had to re-do almost all of my regular recipes to create versions that were lower in saturated fat and it was a process.

But holy shit, I can’t keep weight on. I eat and eat and eat as much as I want (I make this sound easy, it’s not - every goddamn thing in the world is loaded with saturated fat, particularly animal products and you might as well just say goodbye to beef my friend). But between my regular (simple and not hardcore at all) exercise and this diet, my body changed dramatically within 3 months.

Also, my cholesterol is perfect now. Score.

Something to keep in mind is that after 30 male testosterone starts to decline and decreased testosterone can result in carrying more weight around the mid-section and may make it harder to lose.

https://trtaustralia.com/testosterone-levels-by-age-chart/

https://rexmd.com/learn/low-testosterone-and-weight-gain

I’ve gone for months and months without seeing a change. Which then discouraged me enough to stop entirely. These days I just hope to die ASAP so the point is moot lol.