I need advice

My advice:

First off. Do 30 days of the Insanity workout.

This will get you started into the intensity and habit that a successful fitness routine requires.

Then move on to a weight program since it's going to much more beneficial to you at that point. You'll know what it feels like to TRULY push yourself because you'll have had the video pushing you. In the meantime, you'll develop a nice base to work on and probably lose some fat and put on a bit of muscle.

At that point you'll want to begin a full body workout program with those free weights (or at the gym, depending on what you have). You're going to want to read a .pdf of Ripptoe's Starting Strength. This will tell you everything about lifting weights to get in shape without any lies, bull shit, or fru fru crap.



As far as the nutrional guide: Yes, you do have to follow it. A bottle of multi-vitamins are NOT expensive (from a local drug store) and all you really need to do is eat the calorie amount they tell you in good food (no twinkies). Eating right is 60% of the battle! There are many inexpensive foods you can use: Steel Cut Oats, tuna fish, eggs, rice, .etc

 

Best advice I can give you is to start counting your calories and if you want to cut some weight you need to be a at a caloric deficit. Some cheap healthy food eggs,oatmeal,cottage cheese, peanut butter. Also as the above poster mentioned rippetoes starting 3x5 workout is a very good workout to start with .

 

This is not bad advice, but I found counting calories to be time consuming and unnecessary. I cut 30 pounds in three months (dropped to 150 from 180) and toned up my muscles by doing the following. I was 16 when I did this, so as far as metabolism goes, I wasn't atrociously overweight to begin with, and obviously young bodies adapt to change better.

As I said, this is what worked for me. I make no guarantees as to its anatomical, factual, or educational value - it's simply my knowledge on the subject and some things I learned and took into consideration when I was in your situation.

As far as diet goes:
First and most importantly, drink lots of water. I drank atleast two liters a day when I was seriously trying to get in shape. This helps keep your body clean, improves blood flow, and generally helps you feel better. Your body needs water to function, and if you convince it you have enough, you can drop water weight that your body stores.

Second, pick some healthy foods that you like and base your meals around them. Hopefully you enjoy chicken and or fish, as these are two of the cleanest sources of protein for your body. Obviously go for the baked or broiled varieties rather than fried. Keep your carbs clean - don't eat anything that's not whole grain. Fruits and veggies with each meal if possible. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains all contain a lot of fiber, which is good for your digestion and general health. You'll find that you stay full longer when you eat healthy foods. Beans (cannelini, kidney, etc) are a good source of fiber as well.

Eat several smaller meals throughout the day instead of 3 big meals. The two smaller meals should be based about 3 hours from when you eat breakfast and lunch, and should contain complex carbohydrates (whole grains) and proteins.

Eat your bigger meals in the morning when you'll be burning the most calories, and trim them down as the day goes on. You don't need to eat a big dinner, especially since most people don't do a whole lot of physical activity at night time (sex aside).

Cut out the sugars - don't drink soda, if you HAVE to drink coffee, use fake sugars. No ice cream, candy, that sort of thing.

ONCE A WEEK: Have a meal you love, whether it be pizza, meatloaf, or whatever. It'll help keep you motivated, and you can use it as a reward. Eating big one or two meals a week will also help keep your metabolism from dropping, which can kill your appetite, thus preventing muscle growth. Alternatively, eat a candy bar or something when you feel you've earned it. DO NOT DO THIS MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK. You might want to make this the day you go a little wild with your munchies

Things to watch out for: 'Hidden calories'. These come in the form of things most people eat or drink without thinking about - condiments, salad dressings, cheese, that sort of thing. If you only drink water most of the time, you'll cut out a lot of calories. Switch to skim milk, keep the cheese off your sandwiches and salads. Eat wheat crackers or pretzels instead of chips if you have to have a crunchy snack. If they make it in fat free, get it in fat free - milk, yogurt, sour cream, mayonnaise, etc.

It pays to read the food labels - if you're not positive it's good for you and 'clean', take a look. Go through what you have in your house - get rid of the unhealthy junk and replace it with clean foods.

Sample Diet:
Breakfast (6:45 am) - 2 egg whites, 2 slices wheat toast, banana, fat free yogurt, protein shake (10-25 grams depending on hunger)
Mid-morning snack (9:30-10 am) - Clif bar (these are great sources of protein, fiber, and complex carbs. They are sugary, which will give you energy if you start to lose it).
Lunch (12-1 pm) - Turkey sandwich on wheat bread with mustard, lettuce, tomatoes. 1 serving triscuit crackers (good fiber, fucking delicious). Apple. Small salad with fat free dressing.
Afternoon snack/postworkout (4-5 pm) - protein shake (50 grams protein, 8 ounces water).
Dinner (any time before 8 pm) - Salad, lean chicken breast, broccoli, black beans. Try to avoid carbs at dinner.

Give your body good, and your body will give you good in return.


Exercise:

Most importantly, stretch. This, combined with all the water you're drinking will allow you to perform better at everything. Stretch your entire body, holding each for atleast 20 seconds. If you can do this three times a day, its best, but before and after exercise is a minimum.

Find a cardio exercise you like/are good at. I personally enjoy nothing more than running through some pleasant scenery, whether it's a nice neighborhood or a local park. Another nice thing about running is that you don't need anything other than shoes - no need to join a gym if you can just run around outdoors. I realize not everyone lives where this is feasible, so if you can find a treadmill, make SURE you have music. Treadmills are hell without it. Other good alternatives are elliptical machines (might be good depending on how strong your joints are, running takes its toll on your knees and ankles, as well as your shins). Bicycling is good too, but won't work your core in the way that running and to a lesser degree the elliptical will. Swimming is an entire body workout, and is best not to be combined with lifting on the same day, you'll ruin yourself for the next week.

Basics: Pushups and situps are a great place to start. Building a strong core is important in any fitness routine, so throw in some leg lifts as well. You'll be surprised how fast your ab lines will emerge if you've built up a core at all once your belly starts to melt away. Its a fantastic motivator - who doesn't want a six pack?

Lifting routines: Theres tons of ways to approach this - some people do every day routines by working a different group of muscles each day. I didn't and still don't have that kind of time, so I preferred a 3 day routine, working every muscle every day. I only worked my upper body and core, and left the leg strength to be built by running. My calves are scrawny, but I'm ok with that - they do what they need to do.

I think that the best way to achieve strength and size gains is to do a program that alternates between two styles of lifting. The first style involves doing lots of reps, fewer sets, and medium weight (3 sets of 10 reps). This helps build endurance. Alternate this with the other style, fewer reps, lots of sets, and heavy weight (4 sets of 5 reps).

After my first three months or so of lifting, I started switching back and forth between these two styles doing the same exercises and saw tremendous gains in 15 weeks or so. I did the 3 sets of 10 reps routine for 9 weeks or so when I first started, as I was just beginning to build strength. You may wish to do the same, or if you feel you already have a base strength such that you can do the more demanding heavy sets after 3 weeks of the endurance style, you may do so. Most programs call for 3 weeks endurance, 3 weeks heavy, etc. The idea behind this is that it 'confuses' your body into building strength and size.

Muscle groups - it's very important to be careful with lifting weights to make sure you don't strain your muscles, hurt your posture, or end up with back/balance issues. A good piece of advice that I heard is to do one 'pulling' lift for every 'pushing' lift you do. Working with freeweights will help you build stability rather than isolating your muscles, which is healthier in the long run from what I understand. Work all your muscle groups evenly.

Sample upper body routine:
Bench press - chest, triceps
Bicep Curls - biceps, chest, core
Forward shoulder raise - hold two dumbbells in front of your body, then slowly raise them over your head and back down. This builds your shoulders and core.
Military press - shoulders, back
Bent over row - back
Seated row - back
Barbell pull over - I rarely see people doing this one, but I like it. Look it up. Chest, triceps and torso.
Cross body cable pull - obliques, shoulders, arms
Hammer curls - biceps, forearms
Lat pulldowns or seated lat raises - lats, obviously
Shoulder shrugs- trapezius

You should be able to do most of these, if not all, with the equipment you have now, except maybe the cross body cable pulls, which you can mimic by doing the same motion with a dumbbell.

I've been doing a routine similar to this, plus or minus a few exercises, for quite some time. Switch it up now and then, throw in incline bench presses, decline bench presses, reverse your grips to hit different areas. There's tons of information on lifting and routines on the web - I'm sure if you found the city, you can find something you'll like.

As I said, I don't do leg exercises because I run. It would probably be a good idea to do squats too if you can, because they work your core and legs very thoroughly.

I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, so expect an edit soon. Hope this helps you out! Find what motivates you and focus on it - it'll keep you from slacking. There's going to be days where you don't want to do it, but if you can force yourself to stay on track I promise you'll feel better for it.

GOOD LUCK!