not very clever

If you just care about losing weight it really is as simple as staying under your calorie goal, obviously if you eat lots of veggies etc you will be able to eat more food than if you fill up on calorie dense foods such as chocolate and cookies.
High protein meals will keep you fuller for longer, so lots of chicken breast, tuna, and other lean meats are especially good (if you're a meat eater, anyway).
You will lose weight if you stay under your calorie goal and eat anything, but you'll likely feel better and less hungry if you try to eat as 'healthy' as possible.
Feel free to add me as a friend if you'd like some support etc :-)

Basically, avoid "saturated fats", but still eat good fats. (avocado and peanut butter etc)

Eat complex carbs (wholegrain bread, brown rice etc) but not too many simple carbs (white bread, white potato etc)

Other than that - drink lots, have a little bit of protein with every meal (slows down the digestion), fibre keeps you full, and eat little amounts regularly to boost your metabolism.

Just combine that with the whole keeping your calories under control, and you will definitely lose weight.
Unless you are already underweight, it's highly unlikely that you can be too thick to lose weight.

And also exercise will speed the whole process up and give you a nicer shape.

Good luck

it's not hard. there is a lot of BS on the forums. many people have their own agendas that they push. some want you to eat like a caveman. some want you to only eat things that were alive. some want you to eat more carbs. some want you to eat less carbs. blah blah blah. learn to tune all of that out until you're ready to investigate each "claim" on its own merits.

meanwhile, you can lose weight by eating less and moving more. that's about as basic as it gets.

calories out > calories in

eat whatever you've been eating, just start eating less of it. once you've got the hang of that, start looking at your daily macronutrients. that's things like carbs, protein, fat, etc. there are some pretty standard guides for estimating how much of each of these you need. start adjusting what you eat each day accordingly. e.g., if you're not getting enough protein, add more beans and tuna to your diet.

meanwhile, get out and walk/jog/run. do it often. do it as far as you can and as long as you can. this will really kickstart the weight loss process for you.

when that becomes a habit, you can add strength training a couple of days a week. this will help you tone your muscles and make you feel good. it also helps speed up your metabolism a little bit when you add more muscle.

that's really all there is to it. unless you're an 18-year old girl with an eating disorder (one extreme) or a low BF body builder (the other extreme), your goal here as a newbie is probably just to lose some excess weight and tone up your body so that you feel better and feel better about yourself. eat less and move more will work for you. find out your BMR/TDEE using the site tools. even if it's not 100% accurate, it'll be close enough to get you started.

that's all there is to it. when you've got all of these things down and are on your journey, then you can start investigating all of the other things people like to talk about on here.

i'm a newbie to the site as well (just 5 weeks in), but have been losing weight on my own for the past year simply by eating less and moving more. i won't pretend to know everything, but i am a critical thinker and treat every new idea with skepticism until i see some proof behind it, or unless passes the "common sense" test.

YES YES Give more than you take!

Thank you all. But in very very honsty even some of that was starting to go over my head abit, it isjust like i don't understand the terms, what they mean. I am just trying to do the calories out greater than calories in thing. Will tht alone work or have I no chance? xxxxxx

Yes, it will work alone. I lost my 36 pounds doing this. I also cut back on processed food so I could get more bang for my buck. You've got this!

You've had a lot of good advice. I'll add my two cents. Nutrition is important, and getting everything your body needs strictly through food may require a degree in nutrition and a real passion for it. I've found that taking good vitamins is a wise idea for me. You might want to discuss this with your own doctor. If you're young, a good multi-vitamin for women should ensure that you're getting the minimum basics that you need. I'm older, and have some health issues that prompt me to take more calcium citrate and D than is offered in any multi. My ob/gyn started me on this when I began going through "the change." My current doctor suggested glucosamine and chondroitin more recently, so I"m taking more vitamins and minerals than a younger woman might need.

I basically have a fitness nerd on my friend list who talks Greek to me every time I ask a question. In the beginning I didn't understand diddly squat. I checked out a few books. Don't be mad at me folks. I didn't read them cover to cover because there was parts I had to gloss over because I didn't had a clue what it said. The more I read here, the more my friend sends a wall of nerd text, the more I go back an reread what I bought, the more I search out new info, then the more I begin to understand. Yet it is just barely the tip of the iceberg. I'm good with that. Truthfully, to lose weight, you just gotta move more and eat less (but do eat). Make better choices if you are aiming for health targets. The rest is just stuff to learn if you are willing. Most of it is conflicting with each other anyway. I see this journey as a learning experience so I don't mind the exposure while I'm here. Sometimes I even do some experimenting.

Oh and I consider myself to be a smart person. It is like any other field. It has its own jargon.

I am not an intelligent person at all and I dont even mean that negative bout myself because I have various talents and skills and qualitiites but having a high iq is not one of them (if we all had over verge iq then of course it would not be the average at all! what i mean is- some people have to be less brainy than others!!)

When I came here it was so that mfp would add everything up for me and do the mentlly hard bit. But the more I read and find out, weight loss seems like a really hard science all about the technicalities of nutirtion and biology and thing. And this is where I get totally lost, it is like i dont even speak the language.

I heard that the more when you lose weight, the more this becomes important, like just eating low cal doesnt enough after a point. So I wonder if this will impact on my future progress. Is it possible to be literally too thick to lose weight?? Does anyone know of any very very simple guides for weightloss for people who dont understnad brainy science and things? xxxxx

No really it is all about calories. People make it more complicated. Exercise because it's good for you, lift weights because it makes your body have a nice shape and it increases your quality of life.

There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.

All I can do is share what worked for me. I achieved my goal at age 50 after beating my head against the wall for 15 years. Yeah anyone can do it, but I can tell you that you are up against a lot when you are older and I believe females have some unique issue to face with hormones and such. The sooner you can get a handle on it the better. DO NOT GIVE UP. As I got older and the weight piled on (and I didn't feel I was eating too much!) everyone kept telling me to give up, this is what happens when you get older. I'm small, and I didn't realize how small I was until I lost the weight. Everyone said I had big bones. I looked hefty because I worked out. Once I lost the weight I realized how small I really was and that small people don't need to eat as much as big people. HINT: If you are short you are probably small.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.


Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

It really is about calories. I tell people this all the time and they say "Well if calories are all that matter why do you eat so clean???!!" Well, because it makes me feel better, sleep better, and perform better at my sports.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

Is grapenuts a grain?

Yes (: Grapenuts are made of wheat and barley. Both are grains.