At first I thought this would be better suited for a journal type thing, but I figured there are probably more people in the same shoes as me who'd like to get back in shape too. I think it would be a cool idea to keep each other motivated and comment on each other's progress. I'll probably be updating it similar to this post a few times a week, I find the more you keep track of your statistics the easier it is to keep consistent.
Anyway, I have a really useful app on my phone I use when I run, it keeps track of distance, speed, calories burned, all kinds of useful shit! It might be free, but I think I paid $.99 for it, it's called MapMyRUN
Pictures are always a plus to help see the progress. I'm chubby right now but fuck it, I won't be by July, so I'll get some pics of my fat ass self up here as the thread progresses.
Share helpful tips on healthy foods too, maybe something you came across that gives you a lot of energy, a good recipe for some healthy chicken dinner, whatever.
My pro tips for becoming healthy are as follows, this is stuff I've personally observed to work well;
1. Water! Drink NOTHING but water.
2. Chicken and fish are the best sources of protein with the least amount of fat, great pre-workout foods
3. Always eat breakfast
4. Don't excessively snack throughout the day
5. Leafy greens are excellent for your body, the darker the better
6. Fresh > Frozen > Canned
7. KEEP CONSISTENT, if you have a regular workout schedule and you miss ONE day, you're statistically 75% more likely to skip the next one!
8. Don't exercise everyday, give your body time to recover
9. Don't feel guilty for indulging in something every once in a while, like a piece of cake for someones birthday
10. Wear sunblock! One bad sunburn increases your risk of getting skin cancer by 50%
11. Change up your workouts to keep yourself interested, one day jog a couple miles, the next day go cycle, swim, etc.
12. MUSIC is a huge motivator, get an MP3 player and listen to it while you workout!
So for me, today is day one. I just got back from a really short, moderately intense (because of the fat) workout, here are the results of that and my current status;
Day 1 - May 17, 2012
Distance: 1.56 miles
Duration: 24:52
Calories burned: 98
Average speed: 3 mi/h
Pace: 15:44 min/mile
Current weight: *190lbs (6'2")
*estimate
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Day 2 - May 18, 2012
Distance: 3.95 miles
Duration: 101:44
Calories burned: 260
Average speed: 3 mi/h
Pace: 15:34 min/mile
After today I feel sore as hell!
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The distance helps out a LOT. The beginning is always the toughest part, but I know once the current distance reaches somewhere around 15-20 miles, my body will have much more stamina, it's kind of like a snowball effect. The more you do it, the more you can do.
So hopefully more people join in on this, perfect time to get your summer beach body and get rid of those love handles! 
Hey, somewhat of a late post and I will be honest I have not read the entire thread. I just thought I would comment on your list of "tips" to help you out since this is my field. FYI I have a BS in Exercise Science as well as a BS in Dietetics. I am an RD (registered dietitian) and used to compete in numerous bodybuilding competitions when I was in my 20s. I say this just to let you know I am not spouting out inaccurate info. That being said:
1. You are right on water intake....shoot for .660z/lb of bodyweight....to make it simpler just drink half of what you weigh....if you weigh 220lbs shot for 110oz of water PER DAY. I myself drink 1 gallon plus (128oz)
2. Chicken and fish are good protein with chicken being numero uno. Fish has less of a diserable amino acid profile and while its beneficial for EFAs and other healthy fats, it is somewhat lacking. Also, "meat" sources (even the leaner poultry and fish) are not ideal to take in pre-workout as they have a slow transient time (time it gets into the bloodstream and is beneficial). Yogurt, cottage cheese, whey protein and even nuts are advantageous. Same goes for post workout, ideally you want whey as the primary choice but chicken and lean redmeat are good as well if that is not an option. Don't forget some carbs postworkout. Everyone is always scared of carbs but thats when the body soaks them up for recovery EVEN WHEN DIETING.
3. YES
4. Not necessarily, you can snack as much as you want on proteins like (chicken, fish, lean redmeat and turkey, even whey) with all the veggies you want. This actually speeds up the metabolism. Your body will store fat as fat and carbs as fat but does NOT like to store protein as fat. It has to go through 2 times the metabolic conversion to do so. You burn calories eating protein/veggies.
5. YES
6. YES
7. YES
8. Somewhat true. I can't stress enough EVERYONE SHOULD INCLUDE STRENGTH TRAINING WHILE DOING CARDIO AS WELL TO LOOSE FAT/TRIM DOWN. Everybody always seems to focus on cardio (especially women...sorry its true....as a side note NO WOMAN CANNOT GET MUSCULAR LIKE A MAN if they lift weights. If you see woman like that they have an endocrinological disorder or are taking steroids. They simply do not have the levels of testosterone needed to accumulate that kind of muscle.) I suggest a weight training day followed by cardio then a day off and repeat so: weights, cardio, off, weights, cardi,o off, etc
9. YES and the best time to have it....you guessed it immediately after the workout since your body is concerned with repair/rebuilding for up to the next 24 hours.
10. YES
11. YES but as far as the weight training days go, keep that the same and track poundage and reps, this tells you a wealth of info like if you are going down in reps or weight used, you are losing strength which equals muscle and then you can tweak diet and program to rebound while still loosing fat. Also, while higher intensity cardio has heart benefits which is great I suggest you keep those to only 1-2 days of the week if the goal is to burn fat. Higher intensity requires more carbs and when people diet they limit carbs so the body converts protein into carbs or sugar and guess where the protein is locates....MUSCLES. Do you really want to look like "skinny flabby/fat"? Use the talk test, perform cardio at a rate that you could answer someone in a sentence or two and thats it. Conversly if you can carry on a conversation rather easily you are not working enough. Just to illisutrate my point on lower vs. higher cardio instensity. Say two people perform cardio (30min). One is at say, 55% of heart rate and the other at 75%. First one burns 350 calories, second 600 calories. However, the first one burns around 70% fat of those calories and the second one only burns around 35% fat. The first one has burned 262 calories from fat which equals ~29gms of fat (9kcal per gram of fat) and the second has only burned 210 calories from fat which is ~23gms of fat. PLUS the first one has only burned only 30% from carbs in the bloodstream where the second one burned 65% of carbs from the bloodstream which more than likely was aided from breaking down muscle.
12. YES
13. This one I added, I realize this is a forum for pro-marijuana use whcih I advocated (I am a licensed caregiver in MI) however, it is PROVEN that marijuana lowers testosterone in males so it will be a bit harder to build muscle with heightened estrogen and suppressed tesosterone levels. That being said, go ahead an blaze up, just try to cut back as much as you can on the reefer if you want better results.
