I started a thread on here last January to sort of celebrate my change in direction towards a healthier life. Its full of great information and feedback from people here. Lots of whom have actually gone beyond my meager start and have done some fairly impressive work in terms of fitness.
I give my advice as a framework. You should consult your doctor and other professionals to ensure you find out what is ultimately right for you.
You can read the original thread here, but be warned that it is very long:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...or+weight+loss
Suffice to say your plan has started ok because you are active. I think running might allow you to lose lots of fat. I can sum up some of the best advice here:
Set a goal of being fit. That means less fat, but more strength and muscle in place of fat. Not just weight loss. A goal for being fit means:
You want
#1) fat loss
#2) muscle gain
#3) strong cardio vascular fitness
#4) improved flexibility
Do 3 to 4 days of exercise of 30-45 minutes each minimum per week.
Each week, do cardio 2 to 4 times a week. Of these, do one long cardio. One easier shorter cardio and one cardio day with intervals or sprints. Intervals or sprints means you go at your medium or slow pace for 75% of the cardio time, but during this cardio exercise time, you sprint or exercise against high resistance for short intervals of say 30 second to 1 minute at a time. For example say you run for 30 minutes with 6 one minute sprints every five minutes. The sprinting should feel significantly faster than your average pace.
Choose from swimming, running, cycling and/or rollerblading or crosstraining.
Weight training 3 times a week.
Stretch before and after cardio and weight training.
Weight training and running will really build your athletic abilities, build and strengthen your muscles which will burn access fat and calories and also weight training maintains higher bone density and improves joint strength.
Include an abdominal workout (upper, lower and obliques) and a lower back workout. Do some research and ask professional at your local gym, or community centre gym
To address your problem of mixed information, I believe you are aware that you don't have to do anything "extreme" to lose weight. Eat a well balanced diet. You shouldn't be totally eliminating fat nor should you be eating lots of it. Mainly, stick to a diet that doesn't obtain the bulk of calories from saturated fat. Olive oil is a good example. Use Olive oil instead of butter (saturated fat) and instead of margerine (liquid plastic). Unless you can find an all natural margerine. You may find there is little need for a butter or margerine substitute when you don't eat bread. You can eat non-wheat breads though. I eat 100% rye breads now because I am avoiding all white flour bread. Also, I eat peanut butter (100% peanuts) and I don't seem to gain fat, however, I only started back on peanut butter after surpassing my fat loss goals.
In order to go with a well balanced diet and lose weight, find a food guide and adjust it this way: Avoid or nearly eliminate white bread and sugar until you are near your fitness and fat loss goals. Even then, try to minimize your intake of bread and sugar. Bread and sugar promote fat storage for many people.
Eat a balanced diet with fruit, vegetables, protein, nuts and complex carbohydrates. Avoid all junk food. Avoid bread as much as possible. Avoid sugar. Thats it. Eat brown rice, brown rice pasta, whole wheat pasta, oatmeal, fish, turkey and chicken unless you are vegetarian. Eat fruits and vegetables. Don't eat too much carbos like cereal or pasta. White bread is the worst because of what it does to your blood sugar. Once you have lost a considerable amount of fat, you can add sweetness to your diet a little at a time. For sweetness try small quantities of pure fruit juice and
honey or pure maple syrup. Anything not pure will have sucrose, fructose and/or glucose which is refined cane sugar and that is bad. Avoid at all costs. That means very little or no pop! Especially now while you start your weight loss.
Enjoy exercising and let us know how you do.