Help me get in better shape

[dethgrind]

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Also, about the gym thing. How does a total weight noob get started in the weight room? I'm pretty weak, I think. I can use the weight room at my school, but I don't know where to start.

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You're probably going to need to find someone to show you proper form in the basic lifts. You should probably also read some stuff on the internet first to make sure whoever you find knows what they're talking about. In high school I remember the wrestling couch encourage all his wrestlers to lift and worked out with them, but he had absolutely atrocious form. I know a couple guys who hurt themselves lifting with him.

Bare minimum, you need to learn how to squat, deadlift, and bench press. There are a ton of routines listed in this forum, pick one you like. Sounds like you're pretty busy, so I'd recommend an abbreviated full body workout focusing on just a handful of big compound exercises.

Your first couple weeks should be spent lifting really light (even for you) so you can practice the movements. Once its no longer awkward, slowly start adding weight each time. After a couple more weeks you should be ready to lift reasonably hard.

[skunkworks]

bowens,

I've been banging out a long primer on weightlifting based on how I got introduced to it -- I plan on finishing it sometime this weekend.

[Thremp]

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thremp,

can you tell me what parts of my advice were wrong? i'm here to learn also.

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Regular cheerios w/ milk from breakfast sucks. Your advice for eating out is really stilted and limited. There are a ton more decent choices that you can make. 2k cals is a pretty restrictive diet. Some people may want to lose slower or faster; or just phase in their diet (This isn't so much wrong, but without knowing someone's work levels etc you should throw out a random baseline. I think thirddan is rocking ~1300-1600 cals a day for his diet whereas someone might be hitting 2200 and still be very restricted depending on size).

That and the cals in v cals out thing which isn't exactly correct.

[kyleb]

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That and the cals in v cals out thing which isn't exactly correct.

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The posters at the local 24 Hour Fitness that say this put me on tilt so [censored] hard it is unbelievable. I was genuinely shocked that the handout that came with my weight scale said that cals in = cals out was wrong, and that simply restricting calories is not sufficient enough to lose fat pounds.