I was in the exact same position as you about 3 months ago. I'm 6'4, on 12/1/10 I was at 280lbs. I hated how I looked, so I got serious about food and exercise. I've been going to the gym on and off for years, same thing with running. I didn't follow any routine or any program. I started eating 3 meals a day, kept my calories under 2000 per day, usually under 1500, and did 20-30 minutes of cardio 6 days a week, usually running outside. I also cut out bread, any drink that wasn't water (except occasional beer), and all snacks. I stopped eating anything with more then 10g of sugar per serving, started eating oatmeal for breakfast everyday, and also started preparing my meals in advance. And I drank a TON of water, especially when I was hungry, which was often. But I stuck with it, and now 3 months later, I'm at 228 (with a goal of 225 by the weekend, though I doubt that will happen).
For the first month, all I did was focus on food and cardio. I forced myself to run 6 days a week and eat no more then 1500 calories a day. I also bought a scale and weighed myself everyday, and recorded it. The scale was a huge motivation for me. I could see the weight coming off right from the beginning, sometimes 1lb a day. It was also motivating because I could see that I didn't lose weight on days that I binged or gave myself that extra serving, so it was like extra incentive not to do that again in the future. Its hard to "see" a 1lb or 2lb weight loss, so i think its a good idea to weigh yourself often, just to stay motivated to keep losing. Its so easy to give up when you don't feel like you "see" results.
I lost a LOT of weight at first, nearly 20 pounds in the first month. After that I started going to the gym. I go 3 times a week with a day in between each, I do about 1hr 15min of lifting followed by 30 min of cardio. On the other days, I do an hour of cardio. My cardio of choice is running, because I love running, and its been addicting to see how many miles I can add each time I go out. Right now I do about 7 miles in an hour, but last week I did 10 miles in 1.5hr. I still follow the same eating schedule, albeit with a few more calories then before, since I realize I was effectively starving myself in the beginning. I focus on eating 3 meals a day, no more then 600 calories per meal, with no snacks, no bread, only drink water, and cardio 6 days a week.
Its worked amazingly for me, i've lost over 50lbs and I'm confident I'll be beach ready by the summer, which, among the health aspects, is my ultimate goal. Plus running gives you an amazing high, both while doing it and afterwards. It has to come from within though, it took a lot of self control to not break down and gorge on sweets or go back to my old, poor eating habits.
Hope this helps, like I said its done wonders for me, both physically and mentally.
