I recently joined a gym that offers a ton of amenities - from multiple classes because of their many studios to pilates, yoga, dancing, group training, swimming, you name it! I had to do a starting point assessment as part of my membership to get the go ahead to get into certan types of classes knowing that I wouldn't injure myself. I've been working out at a private studio with a personal trainer for over a year, so I passed the test with flying colors which is great.
We were chatting about my goals and I mentioned my food struggles despite that working out is easy. I want to lose a few lbs even though I am at 20.8% body fat. She told me that even though I may be struggling with food, food is easy to tweak over time by starting with implementing small habits - like ok I'm going to have a good breakfast for a week in a row, or I'm going to check the box that I'm eating every 3-4hrs, then once I've got that down I can dig into what I'm eating etc. Her main point really was that food will become easy, but putting fitness at the forefront is a really great thing, so in essense I am making good strides as of right now with where I am as a 'starting point'.
It is very hard to get into fitness and exercise if you haven't been doing it for a while or are not sure where to start. There is a lot out there that can seem to be a 'great idea' yet I have seen many people start off too strong only to fail later. The key is to start doing things you can make a habit and incorporate into your lifestyle as an ongoing foundation that you can continue to build on. I have seen many people decide to start exercising and go out and buy advanced dvds or just get the program that gets the best reviews without considering where they are actually starting from, and how to build up endurance, strength and ability over time.
Some ideas for how to start - I thought I'd mention a few if you are interested in some input that is possibly a little different than everything else you may have been exposed to:
Some apps -
1) nike+ training - even though this is meant for women only, this app is awesome. Be sure to indict yourself as a beginner and don't feel shy to skip certain moves like jumping moves until you build up some strength or even do half of the workout initially to see how you fare. You can also modify running for walking and log the time and perhaps eventually get into a light jog for part of a cardio workout and then walk the rest. Even if you feel like the workout is too easy, do it consistently for a week to see how your body recovers and how your overall energy and hunger levels are. This will help establish if you are ready to take it up a notch or whether you should just continue building yourself up incrementally.
2) Daily Burn - again start off as a beginner. Some moves on a plyo box like box jumps require strength in certain muscle groups to not risk injury and you can't just go out there from not exercising at all to doing sets of box jumps so be aware that even though beginner moves may seem simple and not 'tough enough' recovery is key and the ability to do multiple work out sessions over the course of a week consistently is what will benefit you the most.
The other thing to try is to find a short 15 or 20 minute strength work out and start with that two days a week, either on nike+ training or Daily Burn, or even on Fitocracy and aim to walk at least 5 miles total in a day, for at least 3 days per week. That would mean counting your steps using a pedometer and if you don't walk that much just in your day, actually going for a walk to make up those extra steps.
Starting small and knowing that you are buildiing a foundation is key to being able to sustain long term!