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Well, some time ago I weighted in at 115 kg. That's a *lot*, and I was not happy.
I found a nice trainig idea at http://bodyforlife.com/ - while I did buy the book, I found this not to be necessary: you can find all required data at the site. And no, there's no need to buy their advertised food-stuff.

Now I'm at 92 kg, and feel much better. And yes, it did go rather quickly. And I'm certain I'll reach my aim of 80 kg, even if it'll take some time yet.

Yes, you probably need a Gym, although you might find enough info on the net to do your muscle training at home, perhaps with just a few dumbbells.
If you worry about being in a Gym, it's easy: use a walkman, set it to relatively noisy, do your training, ignore everybody. Simple ;)

Here's what I do:

* Monday: Upper body muscle training.
* Tuesday: Cardio (20 minutes, spike-form)
* Wednesday: Lower body muscle training
* Thursday: Cardio (fast walk for 68 minutes at 5.0 km/h and 15 to burn 1000 kcal)
* Friday: Upper body muscle training

Would be good to do some cardio on Saturday, but I usually don't get around to it.

Some basic points about muscle training:
* The BFL program is pretty good. You do a set of 12 movements, wait 60 seconds, do a set of 10 (with more weights), then 8 (more weight), then 6 (max weight), then 2x12 (less weight, but without any pause between them). The idea is to see your muscles fail on the second set of 12, no matter how hard you try. Yes, do this as hard as you can, curse at your muscles, try for juuuust one more... it really helps.
* Perfection is if you can upgrade the weights on one of these movements every time.
* Give your muscles an entire day to recover. Do not do the same training two days in a row, it's pretty useless as the muscles need some peace and quiet to grow.
* Training is hard: you train to the absolute limit of your muscle capability. This is the best way of making sure your muscles feel the need to grow. Because:
* Your body hates muscles. They are expensive to build up, and they are expensive to maintain, as a kilo of muscles consumes about 100 kcal per day, even if it doesn't move at all.

Cardio:
* Spiked Cardio is nice, too. You start at a low level (imagine level 0 being in bed in the morning, and level 10 running away from a pack of wolves), slowly grow each minute, reach a spike, drop down to relax, and build up again. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes, which each level running for 60s. The levels look like this:
6 6 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 10 6
* You can use any form of cardio for this (running, swimming, skating, rowing, etc), but I prefere the Crosstrainer. Nice.
* The long cardio is useful for flushing your body, loosing a lot of kcal in the process. It's not too hard (my heartbeat being in the high 150s), and I view a nice (short) movie while a walk fast.

Food:
* I use low fat stuff, and avoid anything white (bread, potatoes, cheese, milk, etc).
* Eat 4-5 times per day, about a handful of meat and a handful of greenery each time. Concentrate on proteins (meat).
* Fish are good, turkey breast, Bananas, Apples... (check the BFL site for full details).
Ü The amount of kcal you need per day varies (they have a calculator). I need 1800, thus this is what I eat every day - don't eat too little.
* Sunday is your Free Day - eat what you want. Choclate, Pizza, Ice Cream - no problem. Yes, yes, you'll overdo it the first time. And the second. But you'll learn to limit yourself and not eat too much, and then it works very well.
* If you see a nice munchy choclate bar in a shop - no need to think "Aaaarghm I'm not allowed!". Think: "Heeey, only two days until Sunday, then I can eat it!". Don't buy it yet, though - wait till Sunday (or Saturday afternoon in case the shop would be closed).

Good luck!

Ciao,
Klaus

Good points!

I'd like to add another one: fitness training.

Don't stare at me like that. Of course even you can do it, it's just a question of starting small, and working your way up.
Trust me, when you've just sweated fifteen gallons (or at least it feels like it), really finished yourself, and took a long hot shower afterwards, you feel completely new and relaxed. Especially if you finished the shower with an ice-cold minute :)

Have a look at, for example, http://www.bodyforlife.com/ - they have a pretty good system.

PS: Yes, we have a fitness studio across the street from my office. Very useful! :)

I'm thinking that trying just to lose weight is a very negative goal. Instead, you should be trying to convert fat to muscle, and build fitness and energy levels. Best option for doing this I've seen is this approach: Body For Life.

Check out some of the "before" and "after" pictures on that website. Those are ordinary people, who found that a simple commitment to fitness and exercise can really change your life.

Six days out of seven, you eat six meals a day, 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat. You drink ten cups of water a day, and piss like a race horse throughout. You alternate weights with aerobics, an average of about a half an hour a day. And you take that seventh lovely day off and sit on your butt and eat like a hog. It sounded just horrible when I started--eating right and exercising? Nooooo! I want a quick fix, dammit!--but it worked.

Fitting the workouts in was the hardest part; I eventually settled on aerobics--treadmill, mostly--in the morning, and weight training at lunch. Find yourself a Gold's Gym; they're well-equipped, are not thinly-disguised pick-up joints, cost a lousy $30 a month, and are totally reasonable about letting you quit if it doesn't work out.

This sounds like an ad, but I seriously lost 20 lbs doing the body for life program. Most of it is common sense, like get your butt in the gym and eat right. But, it helps to have a plan. And this is a good one. Buy the book, read it, and follow it to the letter, and you can't help but lose weight.
It's very strict, but for those who can handle it, it's worth the effort.
Being in shape is a lifelong process, not a quick fix, though...The book can help you get started, but you have to want to change.

Transforming yourself from pudgy to studly is really, really hard. You've just discovered that for yourself. Congrats. But just because it's hard doesn't mean it's impossible.
Most of the information floating around the fitness & wieght loss industry is either politically or commercially motivated. You need info from someone who makes it their business to take ordinary people and help them reach their physical goals. Try here: Body for Life. He lays out an effective program for people who can't devote their entire life to training, nor have the genetic disposition of Arnold. Give it a try.
Also - for some more advanced tips, try : Testostrone.net. Less 'mainstream' than the other guys, but some good info nonethless.
Good Luck

What's worked for Slashdotters?

Body for Life, mentioned elsewhere in posts on this article, worked for me. I like it 'cause it works on the premise you shouldn't spend more than an hour in the gym at a time, it's easy for novices to follow, and it works for women. Frankly, much of the advice in your post is exactly what the BFL program advocates.

I once lost 55 lbs in six weeks eating nothing but complex carbs and working out twice a day. Kept it off as long as I worked out, even after changing the diet to admit fats and protein. That was drastic but it can be done.

IMHO the best plan blends the approaches of Dr. Weil and Bill Phillips

Become friends with your Natural food store and mix up your work outs to stay entertained! I ride my bike for 45 minutes at lunch five days a week and after work and weekends practice yoga three days a week interspersed with lifting two and rock climbing one.

Make it a phased approach changing no more than one thing a week. If you find you cannot change a habit move on to the next and try that one again later (I had the hardest time giving up peanut butter).

Simply, eat Organic/Naturally, get your cardio work outs and lift.

My daughter is to teach me rollerblading next week and next year my goal is to get into kayaking.

I feel great!

Beal

I was a little overweight this last fall. I started a 3 month excercise program called body for life. It wasn't the easiest thing to get started, but I can say after 2 months of hard work I went from 6'6" 245 with 17.9% body fat down to 220 with 6.9% body fat. I haven't worked out in about 2 weeks and I am now down to around 110. This program has seriously changed my physique and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to do the same. The biggest thing for me was that I stopped eating so much sugar and I started eating six small meals a day. Voila the rest is history.

This is at a cost of $2.10 per unit for the supplements, a loss of an hour a day at her console ($50-100 depending on the person) and nothing for her gym membership provided by her primary employer. This brings her weekly program cost to over $400.

In response, I have been using large amounts of methamphetimines. An eighth of an ounce a week costs around $300 in any large metro on the west coast. I have lost 25 lbs. in the same time.

My costs are 1 hour a week to score; $300 for the supplement; a GAIN of 3 working hours a day; and a loss of approximately 1 hour a day looking for the bugging devices I am convinced the government, friends, family and coworkers have started putting in my keyboard, clothes, and lighting fixtures. This brings my weekly program cost to a gain of $400 a week, which I place into my fund for eventual rehab, making my adjusted total cost zero.

Let's recap: Body for Life Program: -400 Meth addiction: 0

The choice is obvious.

Bravo, Cliff!
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I have read all that all have to say and I am not surprised at the differences in opinions. I am personally finishing a 12wk program of exercise, dieting, and supplamentation (God I hate spelling that!). I have reduced my body fat by over 10%, adding a large amount of muscle and changed my eating. I still love a good greasy burger, but I don't focus on them. It suprises me how many of us are not willing to find the time to take care of us. I work out of town for 50-60 hours a week minimum, travel to and from work each week, and still make time to make a difference. I spent a long time researching different approaches before using a particular one.
Yes, a high protien diet can be bad for you, IF you don't counter it with a large amount of water intake (10 cups or so) per day. The body needs that protein to repair the muscles that you are going to "damage" when working out. Cut back (not cut out) on the carbs to allow the body the options to use up the fats you have now. The more mucle you have, the more enegy your body needs to keep goig, thus you burn more carbs/fat.
Yes, Creatine is a excellent choice for a supplement (got it that time!) to you diet. Just remember that you still need to drink water! Creatine sucks up water like mad!
Yes you need the weights, not just running. Not matter what sport you take part in, you can benefit from the effects of a structured weight training program. Why do you think that the US Olympic Track & Field Team has one of the best weight centers? Train with weight 3x weekly and perform INTERVAL intensity aerobic exercises 3x weekly. This is because the body will respond to the intense aerobics much better than low-impact aerobics.
My suggestion would be to look at the Body for Life program. It is a great way to reshape your body, and who knows maybe you could win some cash?
Just find something that will work for you, and do it. We work in somewhat sendentary jobs, and will waste away if we don't do something!
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