Hi all,

I've not done any real form of exercise for over 8 years now and am really wanting to try and increase my fitness, overhaul my diet and get myself back on track.

What I would like help with is constructing a full strict diet, that will promote a healthy lifestyle, help me shed body fat without looking like I'm in desperate need of a good feeding and give me the go to be active throughout the whole day. As I'm currently getting up at 11am, sleeping early evening at between 6-7 for a couple of hours then being awake till 3am, I really would like to be able to get through the whole day without sleeping during the evening.

My current diet is a bit of a sham, I'm currently a student so have been eating all the junk food you can think of as well as excessive amounts of alcohol. I stopped drinking from 1st september so wont have to worry about that anymore but would like a structured diet which I can then purchase a set, strict range of foods which will only be used specifically for each of the meals I have.

Secondly we have a garage at my current address that is totally empty and my house mates and I were considering converting it into some form of home gym. I personally would prefer cardio work to weight lifting, what cardio equipment should I be looking at investing in? My max spend would be up to approx £1000 so have to make it quite cheap and would like to have a range of different cardio activities that are going to give me a whole body workout.

Finally once I've got my diet on track and have increased my general fitness so that I'm actually able to walk/run several miles without being out of breath in the first two minutes. I would like to work on muscle definition, I've got a small build and dont want to bulk up too much so what would be most advisable to do this?

Looking forward to some advice.

Thanks,
DS