This is a hard question because every body is different. There are however certain rules you can go by. Nutrition is 80% and exercising is 20% of the equation. The first thing you should look at cutting out of your diet is the food you eat the most. For many of us it is sweets, cheese or condiments. Ketchup and Mayonnaise are 2 condiments that you can cut out w/o going too berserk. Just think of how many tablespoons you ingest a month in condiments. I bet it is way more than you realize. Another one is cheese, this is calorie dense w/ a lot of saturated fat. Don’t get me started what sweets do the body! Let’s just say it isn’t pretty. This is easily remedied by eating whole fruits when you are craving sugar or rewarding yourself from time to time w/ half of what you would normally eat. Except if you binge on a half gallon of ice cream 🙂
Exercise is more of a struggle for people. They want to get right into it and then they get injured or burned out. It took me 9 months to cut my body fat % in half so shoot for the same. The first month I walked around my city 10 miles a week. The next month I went up to 15 miles a week. The next Month I went up to 25-30 miles a week. Progressive loading is the way to go folks. Be patient w/ yourself, it took years to get you this way, take a year to get your self out of the abyss! When I started feeling really good I went to Personal Training School. This would be drastic for most but I felt that I wanted to have forced exercise, learn the right techniques and possibly have a career by the end of the 6 months. If you do not want to go to school I strongly suggest getting a Personal Trainer or A Weight Loss Challenge, Weight Watchers, anything w/ a group of people. This will make you accountable and provide the safety and support you will need. You need help, going at it alone will just leave you frustrated and depressed. Believe ME, I used to be a Division I Athlete and it was even too hard for me to get back into shape. The benefits will be endless and it will be life changing. I could go on and on but YOU need to EXPERIENCE it for yourself so get up off the chair and start walking!