I quit smoking and have drastically cut back on the gorging I did for years. At 6' I reached a scary high of 290 pounds, and am now down to 272 with much more to go. Now I have 2 months off to spend raising my kids and kickstarting a life dedicated to being there for them. To cut off my melodrama, I have 2 or 3 months, I understand slow and steady is the way to go but I'd also be down to try something I normally couldn't, say a cleanse... Or a particularly time consuming workout routine.
Also, first of all, congrats on quitting smoking & deciding to take control of your health! The idea is hard, but it's actually really simple to do. You basically have control over 3 things:
1. Food
2. Exercise
3. Sleep
To figure out how to handle those 3 things, the first thing you need to do is set some goals. Outside of training for specific events, fitness goals usually fall into one of two categories:
1. Achieve the body you want (lose fat)
2. Maintain your body (don't get fat again)
Diets fail because they cover the first category, but not the second - people achieve their weight-loss goals through dieting, but then go back to where they were because their mental programming, their habits, haven't changed, so they gain weight again. If you want long-term health, then that's a
lifestyle change - a permanent change of habits. The good news is, you're going to eat better & feel better than you ever have before in your life!
Let's start out with food. Food is the real key to losing fat. Generally this means shifting your diet to "eating clean". That means eating lean protein, good carbs, and good fats, instead of fatty protein, bad carbs, and bad fats. For example, chicken vs. pork, vegetables vs. potato chips, and peanut butter vs. candy bars. The fat loss sticky has an excellent listing of good foods to eat:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=162171
It's not really a huge change...for example, change your lunch to a turkey sandwich on wheat bread. Still tastes good, but now the ingredients fall within the fat-loss criteria (lean meat, good carbs, etc.). What it boils down to is 2 things:
1. Be willing to cook, and/or
2. Have the budget to buy prepared foods
Cooking at home is the most cost-effective way to lose weight. If you don't want to cook, then you'll need to have the budget to buy food that fits the dietary guidelines for your goals. There are plenty of pre-made foods out there specifically for getting in shape, even ones you can order directly online like this one:
http://www.personaltrainerfood.com/
I happen to enjoy cooking, so I just make my own meals so I can eat the meals that I want to. I change up my diet a lot, but here's what is currently on my menu most of the time:
http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/78929159/Meal Plan
I also like to cook in bulk & make my own TV dinners. I have a thread on that here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2336038
What I do is carry my containers in a big lunchbox with ice packs, so that I never have the excuse that I didn't have healthy food available to eat. This also removes the barrier of eating it because everything tastes good since I picked the menu - meatloaf, chili, chocolate protein smoothies, etc. - no nasty healthfood stuff here! You're not stuck eating salads all day either. I lost over 50 pounds eating this way, so it definitely works!
As far as when to eat, the traditional way of eating is to have 3 meals a day. Most people have snacks & dessert as well, and a lot of people skip breakfast. I recommend eating smaller meals more often - so if you're going to have a turkey sandwich for lunch, eat half of it for a morning snack, and the other half for lunch. That prevents you from getting hungry inbetween meals because you're always eating. Plus it doesn't take all that long to eat since you're eating a smaller portion every few hours. I like this method because you stay full all the time.
Beyond that, it doesn't really matter. Some people only eat like once a day ("warrior's diet" style), some people eat 3 meals, some people eat 6 smaller meals. I like the smaller meals because I day full all day & my energy stays up all day. I personally don't like eating before bed because I don't sleep well (the food sits in my stomach & also gives me energy, so I have a hard time sleeping because it feels uncomfortable), but some people can't sleep without eating before bed, so whatever works for you.
Also, this is a not a death sentence for your favorite foods, and you don't need to go nuts about having "cheat meals" and whatnot. Just follow the 80/20 rule...eat well 80% of the time, and enjoy other stuff the rest. I still have pizza and cookies and stuff a couple nights a week, but the majority of my eating is pretty healthy - plus my food tastes good, so I don't feel deprived at all. The hard thing is just cooking on a regular basis, which is why I do a lot of make-ahead meals that I can freeze to eat later.
As far as exercise goes, the heart association recommends elevating your heartrate for at least 30 minutes a day for optimum health. That can be a brisk walk, playing DDR dancing games, going for a bike ride, jumping rope, swimming, pretty much anything. Exercising isn't absolutely required for getting skinny, but it helps keep your body balanced (burning calories & all) & also helps your body process food (helps you have regular bowel movements). They also recommend a couple strength-training sessions a week, so whether that's weights or pushups or whatever is up to you. If you're overweight, I would start out with the diet change, and optionally if you want, 10 or 15 minutes doing simple aerobics - you mentioned a stepper & dumbbells, so you already have everything you need if you want to add daily exercise to your fat-loss plan.
For sleep, pretty much just make sure you're getting at least 7 hours or so. You'll know what is enough if you stop being tired all the time. I'm a big fan of going to bed earlier rather than later because I feel better when I do that, but you have to figure out what works for your body & your schedule. Your body does a lot of health-related stuff when it's recharging your batteries at night, so it's really important not to skimp on sleep. The best route to go is going to sleep early & sleeping until you wake up (sometimes 8 or 9 hours depending on your body), but that's not always possible, so you'll have to figure out your own schedule.
That's basically it. This is my approach:
1. Eat small meals every few hours, made up of lean protein, good carbs, and good fats
2. Go to bed early & get 7 or 8 hours of sleep
3. Exercise daily
I'm not always perfect at it, but my energy & weight do better when I follow those guidelines more carefully. So here is a step-by-step checklist of what you need to do:
1. Set a fat-loss goal (how to get the body you want)
2. Set a maintenance goal (how to keep the body you want)
3. Pick a menu
4. Make a shopping list
5. Get the gear you need (Tupperware, insulated lunchbox, ice packs, etc.)
Once you solidify your plans and get setup & in the swing of things, it becomes second nature. The pounds fall off & you start having energy all day long. You think more clearly, you feel better, your waistline looks better. Lots of great benefits!
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