i lost alot last year and am working on losing more now. here are some tips and how i did it. i struggled with weight loss for a long time and finally found a system that works for me. hope someone finds it helpfull (and yes, I'm bored at work right now)
don't eat less, eat different. eating less will only slow you're metabolism. even if you're at the gym everyday doing cardio. lots of protein, lots of fibre, as little carbs as you can handle. good fats (olive oil, avocado, almonds, etc) will really help to make you feel full, just don't eat too many. spreading you're food intake out over the whole day will help too, say into 5 or 6 small meals and snacks. and this is the hard one, avoid rewarding yourself with comfort food (i.e. "i've been good all week, i'm gonna have pizza and beer on saturday night during the game").
don't make the mistake of thinking that cardio is for losing weight, lifting is for getting bigger. lifting increases the amount of muscle you have and thus increases your metabolism. cardio burns calories while you're doing it (although not as much as lifting if your lifting "right") but lifting has more of an effect on your metabolism between workouts, which is much more important for weightloss. its all about metabolism.
don't think that longer is better in terms of cardio, faster is better. if you walk 3 miles or run three miles, you'll burn about the same amount of calories, but your metabolism and muscle gains will be much greater if you run. Ideally (and you may have to work up to this) a combination of running hard for a few minutes and jogging (active rest) will be the most effective. getting on a treadmill and jogging slowly for an hour will help you lose some weight, but not much - just look at some of the people who finish the boston marathon every year in the 4-6 hour range.
when lifting, don't follow the standard approach. lots of guys fall into the working one muscle group every day routine because that's what body builders do. that's fine for when you're in great shape and trying to perfect things, but not when you're trying to get in shape and lose weight. i'd recommend a full body workout every other day utilizing only multi-joint exercises and concentrating on big muscle groups. Don't waste your time on an excercise like bicept curls (which works a muscle that weighs maybe a pound) when you could be doing a horizontal pullup or lat. pull down (which works pounds of muscle, including you're bicepts). basically, don't do any excersise that you're only working one joint. focus of presses, pulls and squats. also, only rest 30-60 seconds between sets. supersets are good too.
don't ignore your legs when lifting. i think that a leg workout activates more muscle than anyother workout. but don't use the machines, they're too easy and do too much of the work for you. I read somewhere that madeline albright could do 400 lbs on the incline squat machine. goblet squats, lunges, dead lifts (only if you think your back can handle them), swiss ball leg curls, etc. are all good. avoid leg extensions, they'll destroy your knees.
hope it helps and good luck.
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