Reddit reviews The Lean Muscle Diet: A Customized Nutrition and Workout Plan--Eat the Foods You Love to Build the Body You Want and Keep It for Life!
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My current list of advice and resources that I routinely recommend to people is the following:
PERSONAL ADVICE:
Every journey that ends in lasting success is uncomfortable. Growth is uncomfortable, because it involves learning to say "I'm wrong; I'm sorry, that was inappropriate; My ego got the better of me; etc."
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Material/Informational Resources
These are intended to be completed IN SEQUENCE, not simultaneously. If you want a career in fitness or health-related fields you need to understand that you are stepping into a saturated market where all kinds of people are trying to make a name for yourself... and most of them are just trying to make money. They aren't trying to be good, they're trying to build a following, and they get lost in the crowd. Every now and then a particularly charismatic individual makes it, and they soon become known to the educated world as the next charlatan, a cheat and a dangerous influence who spreads misinformation and is either out of touch with reality or is literally ok with knowingly misleading their followers. If you want that reputation, there's your roadmap.
If you want to be GOOD, follow my above personal development steps and use the following resources to build your knowledge base. As it builds, you will be able to understand and accomplish things that only other people with the same knowledge can do... this quickly leads to becoming known for being really good, and with proper marketing and business planning that leads to financial success as well. As soon as you stop pushing forward, you WILL start sliding back. Continue to love learning :)
It is OK to read quality books about programming and all that, like anything from Mike Boyle, Starting Strength, Bigger Stronger Faster, whatever, once you're done with resource 1. You will continually understand more, and be able to accomplish more, as you work through this list. It will take several years to do this successfully.
Aragon's book relates to your general population, and Benardot's book is more for fine-tuning knowledge related to professional athletic performance. You need them both. Read Benardot's book first, it isn't that complicated and it will let you understand pretty much everything you'll ever need to know for a knowledge base.
Read Aragon's book AFTER Benardot's. Why? Well, Benardot sets you up for success by reinforcing your understanding of why things are what they are due to how human biochemistry and energy metabolism works. It is very practical, and is easily used with everyday people too. Aragon will then set you up for success with your widest array of clients by clueing you in on exactly what is relevant for the fitness enthusiast, what the research actually says on controversial topics, and does so from a scientific standpoint... he believes what he believes because that's what the body of knowledge shows to be true, and the strength of each believe/assertion is directly proportional to the strenth of the evidence he bases his statements on.
BONUS: If you REALLY want to be known for excellence, read every one of the references as you go through the book. You WILL need an exercise-science specific research design book to guide your interpretation, but this WILL set you apart. Examine the study size, figure out the statistical power, look at demographics of study groups (and the absence of such information), look at effect size and not just P values (and the absence of reported effect size, you'll need to interpret that from the available data in the study if there's enough), and write your own results and conclusion bullet points BEFORE reading those sections in each study. Go back and study why you were wrong when there is a discrepancy, and occasionally you'll find that you're actually more on point than the authors. Bookmark those studies and revisit them in a year, see if you still agree with that assessment.
You can, and should, also do this with Lieber, but there's a lot of crossover because quality resources use quality references, and there's a lot more bad research than good research... you'll be seeing a fair bit of familiar stuff and familiar authors.
I want to be clear: You WILL NOT BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS BOOK SAYS UNTIL YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY LEARNED THE INFORMATION THE STEP 1 & 2 RESOURCES CONTAIN!!! As stated, you may also need to go through an A&P text.
If you're leaning towards rehab, that's a whooooole different list of resources, and you'll probably want to invest in Acland Anatomy if you haven't already (but you should really master all of this first. It will get you to a point where you won't have to work nearly as hard as your peers to reach that next level in terms of knowledge. You'll want to read Pain Free (now noticing that while his general observation points and approach are excellent he also has a lot of seriously bogus statements as well) to set a basic mindset for non-traumatic dysfunction. You'll want to read Janda, and then a neurophysiology text. AFTER that you should read Anatomy Trains, Kit Laughlin's latest edition of Neck and Back Pain, the Kinesio Taping Guide, Therapeutic Taping for Musculoskeletal Conditions, and then Sahrmann's "movement system impairment syndromes" books (there are 2, and they are incredibly dense... you MUST have completed my first list and this list up to this point to really be able to use this book to the fullest, and it will be hard to understand what the hell she is saying regardless unless you're really well-read which is why I say what I say in this guide)
Performance training is something else again, and the books there also require my first 4 steps to be completed successfully in order to really use and understand them. Even then, you'll be reading a LOT of studies, so be sure you get that research design textbook! You'll need to read quality books about periodization and the science of performance programming, and you'll need to subscribe to the NSCA's Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research forever.
There isn't enough space for the performance list, or even a proper explanation of recommendation set for the rehab branch's list, but this'll get you guys and gals started right!
If you want some decent books on nutrition/diet, these are of A+ quality. (some are more science in-depth than others). #5 and #7 are probably the most user friendly.
There's also a book that i expect to be exceptional coming out in december written by Alan Aragon and Lou Schuler that should have some focus on the topic of how to approach eating after a "diet".
Let's talk about your exercise for a minute.
Do you like to do cardio? I spent loads of years doing cardio and lost some weight doing it only to gain it back. And I didn't particularly like it. It felt like work. Like punishment.
What changed for me was dropping the cardio entirely and getting on a training program lifting weights. For me, and it's a popular one around here, I use StrongLifts 5x5. I started with it initially because it looked simple but serious. It's just three exercises, 5 sets, 5 reps per visit, three times a week.
You don't want to lose weight, you want to lose fat. If you don't actively try to build muscle, you'll lose it. And that's what "slows your metabolism" and makes it harder to lose weight as you get thinner.
A great place to start to learn the basics and to get a plan together for eating and fitness is The Lean Muscle Diet. You can take the principles that are in there and turn yourself into a badass.
If you just want the math part of it, I've written it out here.
And the fitness part can easily be found on YouTube since it's based around squats, deadlifts, bench press, barbell rows, and overhead presses, with additional stuff and variants thrown in. To me, it's a more advanced version of StrongLifts.
If you have access to weights or a gym, I'd start here. And don't be intimidated. There's a good chance that everything you know about fitness is a lie. That last link there is to my favorite article on the subject. You'll love it.
The most important thing to remember is that this is not a punishment for anything you've done in the past. Instead it's a kickass, fun way to get the body you know you're capable of getting.
To me, all that cardio sounds hard and boring. But getting under a barbell and getting stronger? Dude, it's awesome. And it fixes your diet right up. Because you can't get gains without eating right.
If you love cardio or feel like you want to do it to burn extra calories, don't let me stop you. But check out the weights. Specifically compound movements using barbells. Learn about progressive overload. And eat enough protein (1g per pound).
You'll be surprised at how much fun recomping your body will be.
Oh, one last thing: DOCUMENT YOUR PROGRESS. You probably don't like your body right now. Take an obnoxious amount of photos. Because you'll never see it again. You won't be able to take the photos later. And once you're a few months into it, you're definitely going to want all the pictures you can get from before so you can compare yourself then to now.
If you can manage, measure yourself with tape weekly and keep a log. I'm a few months away from sharing mine with /r/fitness, but if you like numbers, go nuts with it. The change is fun to see and it'll help you stay on track.
The M.A.X. Muscle Plan by Brad Schoenfeld.
Edit: A good exercise plan is not much without a good diet. So, for the diet, follow The Lean Muscle Diet by Alan Aragon. (It has an exercise plan, too. But, ignore that in favor of The M.A.X. Muscle Plan.)