in fact if your gym is a YMCA (which are unusually awesome) they have a life training station the coaches there show you how to do stuff for a few days and help you devise a routine, then give you training on machines that have a code you can enter to keep track of your progress in a database. At the end of X amount of time it breaks it down into total calories and or miles done. Its pretty cool. But otherwise the most important thing is to get in there and do something, even if that something isnt particularly hard. You can always make it harder. But if you are starting to exercise after a long hiatus even an easy routine can mess you up.
Shrian, think about using a few machines too, but dont mess with them until you have someone show you the ropes. If you know how to use them then just do some short reps at the lowest weight you can and focus on form, not reps or weight. Take it slow and let your muscles get used to the movement. The same goes with cardio, don't push yourself so hard that you die in week 1. Try a treadmill at a brisk walking pace with a little incline say 5 degrees, for 30 minutes. You'll find that you burn as many calories as you would at a run of almost twice the speed on flat ground. (Also it makes your butt look good, or at least mine looks good because of it). Its not hard, your not out of breath and you can always bump it up untill you feel like your heartrate is up, but manageable. Alternate up and down to keep it from getting boring.
You can lose a pound a week just walking like that if you do it for 30 minutes a day and eat a reasonable diet.
Which is really good.
But like I said, light cardio to start just to get your muscles used to the movements.
