Looking for a good workout routine

How many days of the week and length of time per day do you have to dedicate to the gym?

I think a fitness program that centered around strength training and then complemented with cardio would be ideal. The reason is that with a solid nutrition plan, you will lose a significant amount of bodyfat while maintaining or even building lean muscle. You may minimize the excess skin issues that some people have to deal with by utilizing other weight loss strategies than strength training and cardio. You will increase your caloric burn when in a state of non-activity. And it's not just your muscles that will get stronger, but your bones, tendons, joints, etc. will also get stronger.

First, if you have the budget, I would suggest hiring a personal trainer for at least 2 sessions a week (ideally, strength training). This could be a single source for training education and experience. You will likely know how hard you can push yourself with a trainer than on your own.

But if that's not an option, there are some really great beginning strength training programs out there, you might be able to pick up any of the following books from the library or used off of bookstore website: "Starting Strength" (Rippetoe) or "5/3/1" (Wendler)

Here's a very basic three day starter program (4 weeks) found online: http://www.liftbigeatbig.com/p/programming.html (Beginning Program - pdf)

My suggestion would be to try to build your strength training program around big muscle groups and compound movements (that utilize multiple muscles). The top three are Deadlifts, Bench Press, and Squats.

So on Day 1 (Monday), you would start out with Deadlifts and do several warm-ups, that lead up to working sets. And then you would do some accessory exercises that hit some of the muscles used in the Deadlift routine (hamstrings, glutes, upper and lower back, biceps)

Day 3 (Wednesday) you would start out with Bench Press, several warm-ups and working sets...accessory work would be a variety of exercises that hit the chest and triceps. Maybe some shoulder exercises here.

Day 5 (Friday), would be Squat day. You would start off with the squat exercise, and afterwards do some accessory exercises that hit the quads, calves, hamstrings, glutes, and abs).

Day 2 & 4 can be your cardio days. You probably won't need to do an hour of cardio, maybe 30 minutes or so. You might be a bit sore from strength training, so it might be a challenge to do cardio on some days. Just do what you can, even if it's walking on a treadmill (the soreness actually subsides if you start exercising again).

You'll likely see transformational changes within weeks (provided that your exercise is intense and nutrition is good), so you'll want to take progress pictures. The weight may not jump off right away, give that a few weeks. But take measurements and pictures every 3-4 weeks.

If you need motivation, check out the Success Stories forums and find some folks who've dropped the weight. My guess is that once you start seeing the changes, that will be motivation enough.

I hope this is of some help! Good luck to you!