: Calling out for help from all quarters for a near-magical transformation I am a wannabe fitness freak... Right now I am an overweight, almost obese, completely lazy, low self esteemed low-life with a dream of "magically"

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If all you want to do is lose weight, all you really need is a weekly amphetamine binge.

Your goals are the wrong way round. Concentrate on being healthy first. The weight loss will naturally occur. Weight loss generally doesn't occur in a straight line. It fluctuates. It is hard to stay focused on a goal that is all over the place.

If you work on health, 20 kilos in a year should be achievable.

Weight loss is achieved through a combination of two elements - diet and exercise.

Diet

Diet is by far the most important factor. First of all work out what you are putting in to yourself. For a week write down everything you ingest. How much of it is junk and how much is whole foods? By junk I mean processed - white bread, sugar, basically all the convenience foods. This voyage of discovery will help you become aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

You want to cut out all the junk. Eat only whole foods. Here is more information.

Booze won't help as that is largely empty calories. If you cut out completely though, you are less likely to succeed in your goal. Just be aware every time you drink of what you are doing to yourself and drink less. As you get healthier your natural desire to get wasted does reduce, so just leave it up to nature...

Exercise

Exercise (cardiovascular) for losing weight is overrated. You have to sit on a rowing machine for 20 minutes just to work off a pint of beer. Don't have any preconceptions that you can just run for 15 minutes a day to work off that massive pile of fast food you are about to eat.

However, exercise for health and happiness is vital. The more you exercise the better you feel about yourself and the more likely you are to stick to a whole food diet.

Your first goal will be to just get yourself moving. I would recommend a Couch to 5K program. This will get you running 5 kilometres in 9 weeks.

Once you are a fair way into the running program and are less sedentary you are ready to turn to the iron.

Unfortunately you set the bet to lose weight rather than just body fat. The best exercise for losing body fat is weight lifting. As you build up muscle your body needs more energy to maintain itself and burns off yer fat. Unfortunately as you build up muscle you get heavier. However, it is still well worth doing. You will just have to lose more fat than you gain muscle. As a beginner this is certainly doable - advanced bodybuilders struggle here.

If you can join a gym, I recommend looking into the Strong Lifts program. It is designed for beginners and won't take up much of your time.

If you don't want to do this have a look at Convict Conditioning. It is a strength training program using minimal equipment taking you from beginner to advanced.

Whatever you do, don't let anyone tell you to do loads of sit ups. They do not work.

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Dedication and determination.......as long as you have those, everything else become tough, but do-able. I'm not sure of your financial resources, but would recommend joining a local gym, finding a personal trainer to start you on a program and getting involved in some local self-help groups for smoking and drinking (even though it doesn't sound like you drink excessively).

Find out what will motivate you over the long term and keep you active. It could be a sport you want to participate in, camping, cycling, etc....but something that really interests you that will make the steps you're taking with exercising, etc. more meaningful.

good luck