Hey Brandon James! Does anyone call you BJ? First, congratulations on making a renewed commitment in your life to be fit and eat healthy. Summer is a motivator for most. We want to be able to do things. You don't have much weight to lose so I think your goal is entirely do-able.
I'm one of those people who ascribe to the K.I.S.S. method. Keep It Simple Stupid. I know there's a lot of knowledge and theories about weight loss, muscle gain, nutrition, etc. etc. etc. but I disagree that it should be a complicated issue. Your commitment to losing weight is not in question. And commitment is all you need.
Beyond commitment, we all need a little help with finding out which tools will work best for us. Different tools work for differnt people. If you simply want to lose weight, one of the first things you can do is go to: to determine how many calories you should be eating based on height, weight, gender and fitness activity. Then it instructs you to subtract a certain number of calories to create a calorie deficit. There's all kinds of calculator tools available on the web, I'm only suggesting one I use.
Once you calculate how many calories to cut back on, commit to 4-5 times per week exercise. If you wanna go daily no problem, just make sure to build rest into your regime, otherwise your body will build it in, with injury or fatigue. Figure out what YOU like for exercise, even if it's just walking or cycling. I always love that Rene Zellwegger, when asked how she lost the weight after Bridge Jones, simply said "I literally walked my _ss off!" Make it fun, something you like, and you'll be more likely to stick to it.
My sister-in-law is a certified fitness coach who runs marathons, is black belt karate and plays competitive soccer. Once I asked her "what do I need to do to lose weight" and she said jog one hour a day and don't expect results until 6 weeks. I took her up on it and lost a lot of weight. The great thing about exercise is it will further curb your appetite and make portion control easier.
Now to the harder part for most of us. How do you choose a healthy eating plan? Some say low carb (seems to work particularly well for men), but I found that interferred with my ability to exercise and live in a cold climate so us polar bears need our carbs. You probably know what to eat, but if not, there's tons of info on the web about healthy eating plans. To keep it simple, figure out what you're going to eat for meals and snacks and then buy the stuff. No junk obviously. Cut back on sugar drastically and you will be incredibly happy with the results.
I agree that too much info can deter people from beginning. Sometimes it's better to start with a little info and learn as you go. Read books, read people's diaries as Tom suggested, but don't think you have to incorporate every single thing you learn into your personal plan. You will do what works best for YOU. We must allow ourselves to learn all there is to learn, because no one can learn nutrition in the 2.5 months you will be losing this weight. LOL It's a journey.
Congrats for starting yours!! Hope to see your succees...you could start your own diary in Weight Loss Diary (found under the Motivation section of the threads). This really helps to stay accountable to yourself and garners tremendous support from others.
Success to you! Oh, machines at the gym, get an employee to show you how to use them. That's their job. Sometimes I just ask people working out to show me and they never, never mind showing me.
