Stuck, Frustrated, Unsure? Start here.

Two of the biggest problems hindering people from ultimately reaching their goals are: Misinformation, and over-complication. Once I've learned some basic, general information; I've found that getting what you want is (dare I say it) "easy". I believe in the KISS (Keep It Short & Simple) philosophy, and I'm just trying to put some "general" information out there. Whether or not you choose to follow it, is entirely up to you. Hopefully some "newb" and "vets" alike can find something useful from this. I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible, so as many people as possible can understand (this isn't intended to be some academic work). It's on the longer side, but I'm trying to put in sections the best I can.

Technical Stuff and Nutrition in a Nutshell:
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"Metabolism" is an aggregate of various things (many are very complex) that happen in your body. Any value we use to gauge metabolism is going to be estimated and/or generalized. Generally "metabolism" works in 3 different states: Maintenance, Anabolism (building), and Catabolism (breaking down). MOST PEOPLE cannot do both at the same time. There are a few exceptions, but generally the body can't "build muscle while losing fat"; those take conflicting metabolic states.

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) for example is generally how much energy your body needs for basic functions.
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is generally the average amount of energy you would use in a day, it's BMR+activity.
While we can figure both of these number out "generally" they're only estimates, and guidelines. Both of these things are influenced by a variety of things such as hormones, genetics, and body composition (more on this later).

Macros/Micros-
Macronutrients are Protein, Fats, and Carbs.
Micronutrients are vitamins,minerals,etc.

Weight is just a number on a scale,it doesn't inherently tell you anything about your body composition. Most of us are on here for two very basic reasons:
1. We want to be healthy.
2. We want to look better.

Regarding 2, what most of us want isn't simply "weight loss" we want "fat loss"; and they're not the same thing. Weight is the sum of LBM (Lean Body Mass-which is bone, muscle, organs,etc), Body Fat, and Fluid. I can say "I'll help you lose 50lbs and it will only take about 15 minutes", but that involves me taking a chainsaw to your arms and legs. This isn't the outcome any of us want however.

What we do, and how we do it has an effect on body composition. This is partly the reason that MACROs are so very important.
Protein IMHO it the most important of the 3. Protein deserves it's own special category; Protein can be converted to energy, but energy CANNOT be converted to protein (we cannot convert fat/glucose into protein).

Why is this important to body composition?
If your dietary protein intake is inadequate, your body pulls protein from existing sources (muscles,organs,etc). This type of loss WILL result in weight loss, but this isn't the kind we want. So regardless of what your OTHER macronutrients are, make sure your protein intake is sufficient.

Usually this is:
A. 1g/lb LBM (You can figure this out by taking overall weight - bodyfat).
B. .82g/lb overall weight.

There are several different ways to determine bodyfat, most are "close enough". The most "accurate" are water displacement, bodpod, or DEXA scans; these are somewhat expensive and we can't do them at home. If you have the money, and live close by all means go get ONE.

The "less accurate" ways are calipers, tapes, and bodyfat meters. These methods can be off as much as +/- 5%, which can be pretty substantial. However they CAN give you a decent general idea, especially if you don't have access to one of the scientific methods.

A decent LBM number is imperative, as this is going to be our primary method for establishing the diet (protein).
Once you have your protein intake taken care of, fill in the rest with whatever you want (it's largely a matter of personal preference).
Both fats and carbs are utilized for energy, carbs just happen to be "quicker".
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Setting Goals and how to lose fat:

Bodyfat is STORED energy. So if we use more energy then we need, we'll tap into that stored energy. If we take in more energy then we need, we'll store the excess for later. In the most simple terms we need to make a calorie deficit to lose fat.
Fat loss is NON-LINEAR, that means oftentimes we don't actually "lose" what we think we "should".

Scales DO NOT tell you if you're losing fat. Honestly I think scales are one of the biggest impediments to people reaching their ultimate goals. People get demotivated and demoralized because they didn't "lose" anything this week. Water is heavy, 1 gallon weighs approximately 8lbs!

Do yourself a favor, and stop worrying about what the scale says! Seriously try to NOT weigh yourself for a month, and put complete trust in your diet (you'll likely have better results).

Now that we have that out of the way...
1lb of fat is equal to roughly 3500 calories. Most of us didn't get fat in a short time, you're not going to get skinny quickly either (absent surgery). As a general example lets say you gained 2lbs of fat in a year's time. It took you a whole year to eat 7000 calories more then you needed, you won't (and likely can't) eliminate this in a day.

A deficit can be created by diet, exercise (or any combo). The BIGGER you are, the higher your deficit can be. We would all love to drop 10lbs of fat in a month, it's not realistic though. 10lbs=35,000 calories, that takes a hell of a lot of time, or not much food.

Bad News for the Ladies:
Women inherently have a larger proportion of bodyfat then men, which in turn means a generally lower proportion of LBM. LBM makes up a large part of our metabolism, so typically your deficits are going to need to be smaller and over a longer timeframe.
So I know you WANT to drop 20lbs by bikini season, unless you spend 30 hours/week in the gym it's probably not going to happen.

Setting reasonable and realistic goals is something that is supremely important. Being overzealous is going to make you upset/frustrated. Your body composition and starting weight are largely going to determine "how much" you can lose in a given timeframe.

So how do I figure out my deficit?
First we're going to want to figure out our "maintenance" which is going to be equal to our TDEE. There's calculators aplenty on the internet, but they can vary substantially. If you're going to use a calculator I suggest putting your stats into quite a few and taking an average, it's still only going to be a "ballpark".

TDEE x .2=20% deficit. So if your TDEE "average" is 2000, creating a 20% deficit is 400. That means somehow (either through diet or exercise) cutting out 400 calories per day. This is about .75lbs per week.

One other method is bodyweight X10-12 to create a deficit. So if you weigh 150lbs you can GENERALLY eat 1500-1800 calories per day and be at a deficit.

Putting it all together:
Macronutrient composition of a diet is usually expressed in X/X/X.
So if I say 30/30/40, that means 30% fats, 30% protein, 40% carbs. These values are expressed as percentages in GRAMS.

Protein-1g=4 calories.
Carbs-1g=4 calories.
Fat-1g=9 calories.

So to use me as an example:
I'm about 180lbs, with about 150lbs of LBM. So my protein intake SHOULD be 150g/day, which is 600 calories. Using the 10 rule, 1800 calories per day is a deficit for me.

1800-600=1200. Protein is therefore 33% of my diet. The remaining 66% (1200 calories) can come from either fat or carbs, this depends on your activity/preference.
I don't use the fixed macro percentage because it's going to vary based on body composition.
Get ENOUGH protein, and fill in the rest.

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Troubleshooting/FAQs:

I've stalled/plateaued, or I'm not losing:
Usually this comes from several different things. Overestimating TDEE, or UNDERestimating what you're actually eating. If you REALLY want to get your diet taken care of, you need to get a food scale, measuring cups, and measuring spoons. Measure out EVERY SINGLE THING you put in your mouth. Chances are if you're "eyeballing" it, you're probably overeating.

Solution 2:
Quit obsessing over the scale. If you ARE eating at a deficit, you ARE using fat. FORGET the scale for a month (or more) and focus on getting your diet taken care of 100%. The scale is so susceptible to fluid fluctuations, and people get absolutely insane over it.

How do I tone X body part?
Get Lipo. There's no such thing as "toning". The "lean" or "tone" look is a direct result of your bodyfat composition. The less bodyfat you have, the more "toned" you look. Doing 10,000 crunches per day isn't going to make you have a 6-pack if you're still fat.

You forgot to mention Micronutrients!
Not really, these are very easy to get. Usually a multivitamin or a few food choices can get you everything you need (if your diet happens to be lacking in the first place).

Isn't exercise X necessary?
Not really. There's plenty of benefits to doing exercise, it's not an absolute necessity to exercise to lose fat though (the leaner you get the more important it becomes).

I'll be happy to answer any other questions, but if it's covered here I probably won't address it.