I joined the gym and have cut down on eating...esp sugary foods. What are some other tips? How long should I work out a day? What are some good snack food ideas? Should I look at the fat content or calories? Anything else you wanna share, I'd appreciate! Thanks!

Drink water.
Eat small meals every 2,3 hours.
More carbs AM. More protein PM.
Try caffeine, coffee or pill form, an hour before working out.
http://www.usgyms.net/caffeine.htm
Don't workout more than an hour without having food or a Gatorade. Cortisol builds up in your system. Cortisol breaks down muscle tissue & promotes fat retention.
Eat proein & fast carbs within an hour of finishing your workout.
Do weights first, then cardio.
VARY YOUR WORKOUT.

My girlfriend tried all sorts of different diets and products, most without success. Her friend let her try out a new Acai Berry product she was using and she now swears by it.
Shes lost over 13 pounds already, most of the weight went from her tummy, hips, bottom and thighs. Apparently the Acai Berry flushes all the waste out your system and cleanses your body of toxins and bacteria.
She got her own supply for free too, only had to pay like $3 shipping.
Here's their site if you want to check it out: http://tinyurl.com/acaiedge

try cutting out bread from your diet. As lng as you replace it with sensible food it will work. I hve recently ditched sandwiches for go ahead biscuits together with fruit and nuts. My clothes feel loose already!

Some articles for you:
http://www.yourfatfreedom.com/blog/cravi...
and
http://www.yourfatfreedom.com/blog/cravi...
Eat plenty of fruit before every meal as much as you desire and eat fruit after workouts.
I would try to do cardio everyday - long and slow is better than short and fast. Weight training - 3 times a week.
Fat content is important - you should try to get 10% calories from fat. I give an article above about how to work out your calories.
Use something like fitday.com to track this if you really want to but its not necessary. Eating plenty of fruits and a large green salad daily will help immensely on keeping you on track.

When it comes to the calories..
There are 3500 calories in 1 pound of body fat.
So when you are working out and the machine tells you that you burned 1750 calories ( probably unrealistic) you have burned off 1/2 a lb of body fat.
How that makes sense.

Hey annie, I am a personal trainer. so what you should keep in mind is just your heart-rate and your training. Because anyone could run a treadmill and lose weight. It would take people loads of time in order for that one to happen. But, if you do what is called circuit training it'll keep your heart rate at a metabolic rate where it burns fat off your body. Circuit training is where you do multiple different exercises in a row without a rest until the end of it. That will burn fat off your body and get you toned up. You could workout like 20 minutes a day and achieve your goal weight. Some good snack ideas that you can take up is like fruits, like grapes and oranges. Even peanuts are good for you in the case, as long as they are unsalted. You should definitely be looking at fat content because bad fat will put on weight onto your body. And carbs would do the same since carbs are your energy and unused energy would stay onto your body which creates fat. I would definitely help you to get to your goal and if you need assistance, feel free to contact me.
Oh btw, it takes 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of fat off your body. So you can imagine how long you will be on that machine for to burn that fat.