The old saying is that fitness is 80% diet, 20% exercise. To begin with, there are only 3 things you can control for your health:
1. What you eat
2. How you exercise
3. When you go to bed
Eat well, exercise properly, and get enough sleep. That's the basic idea. To start out with, changing your diet is the biggest thing that will help you right off the bat. By diet, I simply mean
what you eat, not "dieting" in the traditional sense of the word. This guy sells customized diet plans for $40, it REALLY helped me out when I first started:
http://www.anthonycatanzaro.com/dietplans.html
The basic concepts are eat 6 meals a day and eat lean meats + veggies + whole grains in small portions. This gave me a HUGE energy boost. He gives you a customized 7-day rotating menu based on your goals. For me this was totally worth the money because I had absolutely no clue how to eat healthy. I thought I knew, but I really didn't. This was a tremendous step for me in learning how to live a healthy life.
Next you'll want to read Starting Strength ($30) by Mark Rippetoe. A lot of H&F people here will recommend this book right off the bat. It teaches you the basics of strength training, especially proper form:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting...Rippetoe/dp/0976805421
You can follow that up with Practical Programming for Strength Training ($22) also by Mark Rippetoe to help you make a solid workout routine. He has novice, intermediate, and advanced training programs listed:
http://www.amazon.com/Practica...Rippetoe/dp/0976805413
You'll want to combine cardio with strength training. Cardio doesn't mean cycling or jogging for hours and hours on end every single day. From what I've learned, cardio slims down your fat, and strength training bulks up your muscle. So combine those and you get lean muscle (along with a proper diet). For cardio, 15 to 60 minutes, 4 to 6 days a week is good. You can do biking, jogging, elliptical machine, jump rope, whatever you enjoy. Likewise, strength training doesn't mean spending 4 hours a day, 7 days a week lifting weights. Muscles need training, rest, and food. Most people with successful results I've seen do no more than 75 minutes a day, 3 to 5 days a week.
Sleep is also very important, but isn't talked about too much. First of all, your muscles need proper rest to grow. Second, go to bed as early as you can (10:30pm or earlier, 9:00pm is fantastic if you can do it). Not only does your body need rest to repair itself, but it also helps in other areas. I have a lot more motivation when I've gotten enough sleep than when I'm really tired. I don't want to drag myself onto my elliptical machine for 45 minutes when I've stayed up till 2 in the morning. Also, it helps with eating because when you're tired you crave junk food and you want convenient food like McDonalds. So enough sleep and
early sleep helps your muscles grow, gives you more motivation, and helps combat food cravings.
So the course I'd recommend starting on:
1. Get yourself a Meal Plan. You can do the research yourself and make one, or if you want or need help, that guy I linked to has a REALLY good eating program and will personalize it to your specific goals. Food is 80% of your fitness program, so pay special attention to eating correctly!
2. Get the Starting Strength book, and if you want, the Practical Programming book too. Read it and learn how to do the exercises properly.
3. Put together a Workout Plan that includes Cardio, Strength Training, and Rest Days. I'd suggest posting it here for review. A lot of H&F members have been lifting weights for a long time and can give you some good advice and critique your plan.
4. Make a Sleep Plan. Yes, this sounds like the lamest part of the program, but if you're too tired to make good food choices, to motivate yourself to workout on a daily basis, and to allow time for your muscles to recuperate, then you're simply not going to get the best results you can get. Go to bed as early as you can and let yourself sleep for as long as you need to. They're now saying the average adult needs up to 9 hours of sleep, so don't deprive yourself.
That's pretty much all I know. Hope that helps
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