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Diet Diet Diet. You will not acheive the result you want without getting your diet in check. You can exercise all day long, but if your diet is crap, it won't do much good.
the last time i got on an exercise kick i walked for 29mins and ran for 1min. the next day walked for 28mins and ran for 2mins, etc, increasing my running time 1min/day. at day 10 i was so proud of myself, but then did some reading/posting (maybe on this board) and was told that was not healthy and was too high of an increase each day. so i tried to cut back, and tried to increase 1min/week, but totally lost interest. i hate not seeing immediate results in working out. and my 1min/day increase was a marker, like a result. i was getting better, pushing myself more every day
Seven Minutes increase per week are supposed to be too much? Never! You're a young person and not absurdly overweight, so why should you not be able to run 15, 20, 30 minutes?
No wonder you feel demotivated and slowed down...
Running can be fun because you can see increases in your fitness very fast. I started running in a similar situation as yours, and I loved it. Started with 2 minutes in July, ran a 5-mile "race" in September. That was a bit too much, so I slowed down and took a year until I could run a 10k in below one hour, and do long runs of two hours and more.
The general rule that I know is that you can safely increase distance by 10-15% each week - but of course this does not apply to such distances as you can run in 1 minute Half hour of running, three or four times a week should not cause any damage even to a beginner. Then I would take one of these days and gradually increase until you can run fpr one hour, or by appox. 1km per week. If you want to get into running, I would recommend setting your goals higher so they can motivate you... a 10k is a good goal, or even a half marathon which almost anyone can do with a year or two of preparation.
As far as weight loss is concerned frankly running is not very effective, and you will be more successful with diet. With just running 3 times a week and no diet change I did not notice any weight loss at all until I regularly ran more than 90 minutes.
after finishing the bar exam and recognizing just how much weight i've gained over the last 3 years of law school-- of having to admit it to myself-- and to all of you, probably 30 lbs, maybe more. i'm up a pants size or two. even clothes i bought at the beginning of school don't really fit any more. it's time to do something about it.
i know in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you take in. i've started to identify foods that make me feel good, and foods that make me feel tired. i've switched to diet soda, which i know has its own problems. i'm trying to drink more water.
i went running today for the first time in over a year. i downloaded the couch to 5k app. i don't enjoy running, i don't enjoy the elliptical. i am not a strong swimmer. i don't enjoy working out, period. most of what i don't like has to do with how i feel after working out. i also have bad hips which, after a few days of running, and even walking, hurt. my sciatic nerve will get pinched which makes any activity painful or my hip will become dislocated, which is also painful. on top of that, i've never gotten the endorphin high that so many people talk about. in fact, i just want to sleep when i'm done. i'm not saying that to excuse my inactivity or justify not exercising, just trying to explain.
the last time i got on an exercise kick i walked for 29mins and ran for 1min. the next day walked for 28mins and ran for 2mins, etc, increasing my running time 1min/day. at day 10 i was so proud of myself, but then did some reading/posting (maybe on this board) and was told that was not healthy and was too high of an increase each day. so i tried to cut back, and tried to increase 1min/week, but totally lost interest. i hate not seeing immediate results in working out. and my 1min/day increase was a marker, like a result. i was getting better, pushing myself more every day, even though i wasn't able to see any immediate changes, it was something i could track. a goal i could reach. immediate and tangible. i love helping people move because i love the end result getting completed. it doesn't matter how many times i have to climb stairs or how many boxes whatever, i don't quit till the job is done. only then do i feel good. but i can't make the connection between that good feeling and daily workouts.
basically, i'm just posting here so that maybe i'll guilt myself into continuing, or maybe i'll hear some ideas of how to keep interested/motivated. i don't know.
Which do you hate more? How your look or working out?
If running hurts, don't do it. If you enjoy swimming but aren't a strong swimmer, take a class to learn the strokes better. As someone said above, try taking some sort of fitness class. Once you're there, it will be hard to quit before it's over. Invest in a personal trainer and learn how to lift weights. I never got an endorphin high from running, either, but I feel like a million bucks after a good weight-training session.
Exercise is wonderful in many ways, but if you want to lose weight, it's all about the diet. Look at an "eating clean" plan, or check out SparkPeople.com or My Fitness Pal or another online calorie counter. Figure out how many calories you're eating and where it makes sense to cut back.
Ultimately, you're the only person who can motivate you. And it won't work to "guilt" yourself into doing it. Lose the weight and build some muscle so that you feel good and don't cringe when you look in the mirror.
Yoga. Done properly it will build strength, flexibility, and will help get your hips back in alignment. And I'm not talking about "sweaty yoga" - just a basic beginners class 2 + times a week. Also try water aerobics - again, no sweat and no major pain.
I walk my dogs for an hour to an hour and a half after work at night two to three times a week and I lost two pounds in a month. It's not tedious or boring like going to the gym and I actually look forward to it. Do you have a dog? If not there are many that need rescuing from the shelters. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
Eat more whole foods, limit carbs, try to eat good quality. If you have a farmer's market nearby, shop there, buy a ton of veggies and figure out how to cook them.
As for working out, you've gotten a lot of different (and great) recommendations. If running really doesn't agree with you, you don't have to do it. Find something that does agree with you. Running really is hard on your body. Something like Insanity or P90x, or to some extent, even something Crossfit may be more tiring, but also less hard on your body because it's simply less redundant. (This coming from a long-time runner, who switched mostly to Crossfit, biking and climbing, and have far fewer injuries while feeling better in general.)
Find something you enjoy. Yoga might work well as a low-impact (though generally low intensity) workout. Or engender good habits in an indirect way: Try to find a physical activity that you really and purely enjoy, even if it's something you can only really do on weekends. Maybe that's hiking/backpacking, biking, rock climbing, whatever. (My girlfriend hates exercising too, but we joined a climbing gym and she finally actually looks forward to the gym.) If you find something you like, workouts will be easy. If you find something you like to do on the weekends and want to get better at it, workouts during the week will be a way to improve your performance, not just how you look in the mirror.
An easy approach to calories is pick a goal weight, and just eat 10 x the goal weight in calories each day.
So if you currently weigh 200lbs, and your goal is to weigh 150lbs, then just eat 10 x 150 = 1500 calories per day.
Doing this, you will loose approximately 1 - 2lbs per week, and it will take around 6 months to drop 50lbs.
After I switched to eating only healthy foods 3 years ago, I never stopped.
Eating healthy food makes me feel much healthier in general.
I will never go back to eating junk food or fast food ever again.
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Half hour of running, three or four times a week should not cause any damage even to a beginner. Then I would take one of these days and gradually increase until you can run fpr one hour, or by appox. 1km per week. If you want to get into running, I would recommend setting your goals higher so they can motivate you... a 10k is a good goal, or even a half marathon which almost anyone can do with a year or two of preparation. 
that's at least a start. When you lost weight and the skin starts sagging, that might get you motivated enough to join a gym 
