I just stumbled upon this thread, started reading it, and nearly puked from the amount of incorrect information my eyes have just seen, and now I am replying.
Before I even get into it I’m going to tell you two things right now.
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You cannot target fat loss. Your body burns fat as a WHOLE UNIT and not as individual areas (ie. when you run not just your legs burn fat).
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It is impossible to lose fat without losing some muscle, even with a 100% perfect diet, but with a good diet you can minimize muscle loss when cutting (this is the word which I will refer to what you will be doing).
The first thing I read from someone was that you burn more calories in the morning when you run because you have an empty stomach. Who says you only have an empty stomach in the morning? While his point could generally be true, it is a TERRIBLE idea in your case because in the morning cortisol levels are higher in the blood steam than any other time of the day. In case you don’t know, cortisol is a substance which causes muscle deterioration and exercising when its levels are high causes muscle loss (which is what you don’t want).
Your diet should be low fat (obviously) but it should also be very high in protein and kinda mild in carbs. You’re going to want to get a 1:1 ratio of grams of protein to body weight while you are doing this cut. Carbs probably .8:1. Do not completely neglect carbs though, as that is your main source and most healthy source of energy, which is still important.
You need to get on a set workout plan. I recommend a total body work out with 3 compound lifts and then 1-2 supplemental lifts to those. Rep ranges should be between 10 and 12. Anything above 12 is excessive and I will automatically label you a female who wants a nice ass who does sets of 20 reps for squats.
Compound lifts are lifts which are an entire movement and workout multiple muscle groups. Types of compound lifts are the bench press, squats, bent over rows, dead lifts, military press, incline bench press, and good mornings.
These lifts will give you the most calorie burning effects and they also work to heighten your metabolism. I stopped reading this thread after the 10th or so reply, but I’m sure there was at least a couple idiots telling you to do workout routines full of isolation lifts. Punch them in the face if you see them.
I’m not sure how many times you plan on going to the gym a week, I’m hoping at least three. You made it sound like you have very limited time so I’m going to assume three times is what you will be doing. Heres what I recommend. Pick three of those compound lifts every day you work out and do them. Don’t pick ones that work too many of the same muscle groups.
Good Example:
Doing Bench Press, Barbell Rows, and Deadlifts. Bench Press works out chest, triceps, shoulders, lats(yes bench press does more than just chest folks), barbell rows do upper back, lats, biceps, and dead lifts do legs, lower back, and traps.
Bad Example:
Doing Incline Bench Press, Military Press, Squats. Here we have the Incline Press and Military press both hitting the shoulders too hard.
Set and rep ranges for your goal should be something like 3 sets of 8-12 reps, shoot for at least 10 and have a warm up set.
In addition to your three compound lifts throw in 2 other lifts to supplement the workout. Some good supplemental lifts would be dips, pull ups, push ups, bicep curls, tricep pull downs, sit-ups. Recommend set-rep for these are 3x8-12 as well, except for situps and pushups which you might want to do to failure.
So say on days you aren’t doing barbell rows (which hit your bicpes very well) you would throw in bicep curls. Whatever you do just make sure you are hitting nearly every muscle group in your body.
Now onto the cardio. Unless you plan on throwing 1-2 cardio days (days on which you do only cardio) into your work out scheme then you will not be doing any running on the same days that you lift. The reason for this is that running is a high impact cardio which puts stress on the joints of your body and you don’t want to do intense lifts with stress already on your joints. Since it seems you have an injury, or had one already you definitely don’t want to be running on the same day as you lift. I recommend the bikes or elliptical if you want to burn the most calories for the time you put into it.
Make sure you get 48 hours in between your lifting days, since you are working out your entire body you will need longer rest periods. Also go to www.bodybuilding.com and make sure you are doing proper technique on your lifts to help make sure you getting the most out of your work outs, and obviously to avoid injury.
I may have left a couple of things out. Any questions just let me know.