Uhhhh avoid the machines first off. avoid avoid avoid avoid.
1. do more compound exercises and less isolation. squats, pushups, bench press, pullups (negatives or assisted if you have to), deadlift.
2. If you're primarily wanting to lose weight, you should be focused on your diet first and foremost. A good diet will give you weight loss. For the time being, I'd say a good diet, 70% cardio and 30% compound exercises (any of the ones listed above depending on what you want to work; squat and deadlift being the most important)
3. People like different things and weight loss will follow cardio. Do whichever one you find more enjoyable. Do HIIT if you wanna get it over with and you enjoy something with more bursts or energy or go more slow paced for a longer amount of time if you get burnt out doing HIIT. From everything I've seen, HIIT is more effective but personally, I hate it. I can't stand it. I'd rather run for an hour than run my heart out for 20 minutes. I find long distance running enjoyable while HIIT is just a pain in the ass.
4. Home cardio without a machine? Go run outside IMO. Do some jumping jacks or get a jump rope as well.
5. Whatever works for you on a personal level. Throw that shit out if you can't resists in the meantime. Do what you have to do. No one knows your limits better than you.
Now also, be careful. Don't overdo it. Start slow and build up. Don't burn yourself out because you're trying something that's too difficult too quickly. That's what causes the yo-yo effect. Make changes in your lifestyle that you can live with. Don't do crash or fad diets because those pretty much encourage a yo-yo effect. Just eat healthy and for God's sake, don't fucking starve yourself. You can eat a lot of good food. Don't hurt yourself with weights either. If you're beginning it's going to be hard and most likely, you'll think you can do more than you actually can. Starting low doesn't mean you're weak, it means you're smart. As you begin to lose weight and you get accustomed to your diet, lose some cardio and do more weight training. When that time comes around, come back here to ask for more advice on weight training.
I'd start with a simple 5 sets of 5 for weights with two warm up sets. When you get to weight you can't do 5x5 of, try to get it 3 times and if you still can't, drop 10% and work your way back up.
If you're in the gym 3 days a week I'd suggest 5x5 squats, 5x5 deadlift, 3 sets of pushups until point of failure to begin with. That should become really easy really quickly and start adding other stuff in as you get more comfortable later.
