new to actually trying to lose weight and confused

Glad you made the decision. Sometimes that's the hardest part is that first step.

In this busy world you need to find time to listen to your body. How do you (your mind and body) feel after you eat a brownie, how do you feel after eating some grilled chicken with grilled veggies. How do you feel after taking a walk around the block as opposed to sitting on the couch?
Here are 6 actions you can take everyday and listening to your body will help you get there.
1. Breathe deep.
2. Drink Water
3. Eat Vegetables
4. Cut Back on Sugar
5. Stretch and Move
6. Laugh

This is condensed from an article that a friend of mine wrote. You can find more on this at
http://beawesomefitness.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/6-quick-and-easy-steps-to-feel-awesome/

Hope this helps.

The basic rule of weight loss is to burn 500 more calories than you consume. I usually eat what I want regardless of carbs, sugar, etc and I'm still losing weight. I have cut my calories down to 1,200 a day and I burn about 909 a day with Zumba Fitness 2.

I have always been disappointed in my weight, even when I was small. I broke both legs in 2008 in the military. It turned into 2 broken legs to nerve damage and in need of hip replacement. I'm a waitress 4days 25hrs a week. I have a family I clean up after and 18 animals. I'm very active especially because I have OCD. I'm not on any medications.
My dream goal is to go from 170-120 by July. However I'd be content with 130 maybe 140 by then.
How do I do this? Diets are so confusing to me. I can't afford a gym membership so whatever workouts I do must be doable at home.
Calories vs workouts. Good food vs bad food. Best workouts vs non effective workouts.
As for eating, I do not eat fish/seafood. Not a big red meat eater. Love pasta and potatoes, carbs but really try to avoid them. Ilove salads and chicken and turkey. I also love beans. I drink lemon water all day.
All advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

I started out by just tracking everything for a week and then cutting back on one or two things a week to fit into my calorie goals.
I admit I don't make the time to exercise like I should. I keep saying I'm going to, but life has gotten in the way.

If you have a problem with over eating or snacking at nights-- I do-- I pre log what I want to eat and set it out. Then only get more if I work out.

I have always been disappointed in my weight, even when I was small. I broke both legs in 2008 in the military. It turned into 2 broken legs to nerve damage and in need of hip replacement. I'm a waitress 4days 25hrs a week. I have a family I clean up after and 18 animals. I'm very active especially because I have OCD. I'm not on any medications.
My dream goal is to go from 170-120 by July. However I'd be content with 130 maybe 140 by then.
How do I do this? Diets are so confusing to me. I can't afford a gym membership so whatever workouts I do must be doable at home.
Calories vs workouts. Good food vs bad food. Best workouts vs non effective workouts.
As for eating, I do not eat fish/seafood. Not a big red meat eater. Love pasta and potatoes, carbs but really try to avoid them. Ilove salads and chicken and turkey. I also love beans. I drink lemon water all day.
All advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

lots of stuff to unpack in here!
1) Healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 2 pounds a week. Your goal is not sustainable--as in, yeah, you can starve yourself and lose the weight but as soon as you stop that behavior the weight will come back. In order to lose weight and keep it off, you need to lose at a slow, steady, sustainable rate by making changes that will be for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. Not while you're dieting and then it ends.

2) You're on this message board so I assume you are familiar with MFP's system. You can play around with your goals, putting in your current stats and how fast you want to lose weight (1 pound a week is a realistic, healthy goal) and it will tell you how many calories you get to eat a day.

3) Calories are calories. There aren't good foods and bad foods. However, you will find that one food item worth 500 cals leaves you hungry and another fills you up. Just start tracking and eat within your limits. You will adjust what you eat such that you can stay full and still be within limits.

4) Workouts are good to tone up, get healthy, but you won't lose much weight with them. Weight loss is done by limiting calories. 3500 calories=1 pound. So you want a deficit of at least 3500 cals a week. But again you don't have to do this math--mfp will do it for you.

5) nothing wrong with carbs but you will find they are incredibly high in calories. Once you start measuring you will see how little else you get to eat if you have a huge plate of pasta. I also love pasta and still eat it, but my portion sizes are much smaller now. That's what I am learning to do, to adapt to this new lifestyle.

I hope some of that helps! good luck!

I eat what I want, but not ALL that I want. Recently, my daughter who is a tad jealous of my loss in weight tells me I do not eat healthy. She is correct, but instead of eating a pack of cookies I have one or two a day. I am good with this. I believe over time, the smart choices come. I used to exercise, and then I would in time automatically change my eating. This time it is the eating, and now I need to exercise.

good one, baby steps.