I'm New and need Help!

Ok, Hi! my name is Tracy and I'm 49 and for the FIRST time in my life I have started a diet. From the time I was really young up until about 35 years old I was ONLY 110 and could eat ANYTHING I wanted and NOT gain weight. I had overweight people that said I must eat like a bird. I said NO WAY and they I could probably out eat them.

Ok now for the worse part. I have never before worried about what I ate. Whatever was find including TONS and TONS of junk food. I can't even begin to imagine the calories, sugar, etc I was taking in. BUT I guess I can call that my past and look towards the future right?

So last Monday I woke up and said I was going to watch what I was eating and told my friends who are also watching what their eating. So I have a family of friends I can work with.

BUT here is the problem. Well actually I have 2 big issues. BUT before I do that I just want you to no I'm a normal type food eater. I don't like weird stuff. Like I looked over the thread of people here showing off their food. I was grossed out and after viewing 3 pages I had to stop. No offense to anyone but those meals look gross and I don't think I could eat them. (and I could see many here were drooling over the pics) I just can't take this that far. At least not at this time. BUT stopping the junk food is a HUGE step isn't it? I has also been raised as a meat and potatoes kind of person. Are potatoes out for me? Or is there some kind I can still have?

#1 Ok I have stopped eating all candy and junk food EXCEPT I did buy a few things like Fiber One 90 calorie cinnamon coffee cake. And I bought some 100 calories Keebler Chip Ahoys. I just need to have some of those things. BUT I am trying to limit them.

Regarding food these are some of the things I can't give up with at least for now or maybe ever.

Butter. I mainly use butter 3 ways. One my toast BUT now a very tiny amount and about 1/4 of what I used to use. And I have to have butter on corn on the cob and to dip lobster in. Otherwise I don't really use butter for much else. So I went to the store to get some Smart Balance to try to see if I would be ok with but instead got Parkay since it said it had zero calories in it. Is that ok? I'm trying to at least have some things be normal and not have to go to far and not want to eat It because the taste difference is to drastic. The butter I used to use was Country Crock.

I have to have my miracle whip. BUT I only use very little on ham sandwiches and chicken sandwiches.

These are the only fruits and veggies I will eat at this time.

Veggies
cucumbers
carrots
radishes
potatoes
broccoli only cooked
cauliflower only raw with dip
lettuce

Fruit
Cantalope (sp?)
Watermelon
Raspberries
Grapes Green Seedless
Granny Smith Apples
Oranges
Strawberries
Bananas

These are the ONLY nuts I like
pecans LOVE LOVE them
cashews
Honey Roasted Peanuts
Shelled Sunflower seeds

NO other nuts at all and NO nuts in any of my food. I can't do eat something with nuts in it even pecans or cashews. (well maybe cashews I could)

I can't think of any others right now. I don't like squash and all that stuff.

These are the things I won't eat

Fish of any kinds (I can't even stand the smell of it esp when someone is cooking it)
BUT I LOVE Lobster and cold Shrimp cocktail (but that's in for Seafood)

I don't like sweet potatoes, anything diet

I know there is a HUGE list of stuff I won't eat. I'm a normal type food eater. Nothing weird.

Am I going to make it and loose any weight?

For exercise this is hopefully not going to be my downfall. I'm literally forcing myself to do it. As out of shape as I am I doing 20 minutes of brisk walking inside my warehouse. I don't think I can do more than that for now.

The reason I got started with this is because I look like I'm pregnaut (sp?) Most of all the weight is in my belly and I hate it. I even have a tough time shaving my legs. I feel like someone opened me up and put a basketball in me. So I'm not all concerned about how much I lose it's just wanting to get rid of my belly.

At little more about me that's important. I'm single and run 2 businesses. So I am VERY busy and don't have much time or really like to cook. So I eat out (or used to eat out) almost everyday and sometimes a couple times a day. I have put the brakes on that since I started last Monday except the first day going to Taco Bell. And then today I went to a dinner and picked up some Chicken Dumpling soup and a small loaf of wheat bread. Oh wait I forgot yesterday I went to Subway.

Being that my time is limited I need to be able to eat frozen dinners sometimes. I have been buying Lean Cusine, Smart Ones, and Marie Callenders. And I don't have the time or want to cook ahead. I will go to some local dinners and try to get some healthy foods when I can. I'm single so for me it's just cheaper just to eat out. I'm set with MFP to do 1,250 calories a day. And I do eat the calories I burn from walking. I'm looking in to a gym on Monday. I ordered a Fitbit to help me track my exercise.

So am I going to get anywhere with trying to trim down my stomach pouch? Please tell me yes and that everyone loosing weight doesn't have to eat what I consider gross food. I would have to be able to turn my taste buds on and off to be able to eat like that.

Oh and I gotta be able to eat bread and toast occasionally but I did force myself to switch to wheat. That is a VERY big step for me. I really don't like the taste of wheat but I was surprisingly ok with the wheat bread from Subway and the wheat bread I got from the dinner ok. BUT the dinner I like to go to doesn't have nutrition info. Sucks cause it's helpful when someone has that.

If you want to/need to look at my meals for the past week let me know.

Sorry to go on and on but I hope someone will help me and I wanted to provide as much info as possible!

Also one question I have about MFP. Is there a way to store the foods you eat over and over so I don't have to keep scanning the packages before I eat something?

And lastly this is not as bad as I thought it would be AND I feel almost like a new person in JUST a week. I used to have to take a nap during the day and now I have all kinds of energy. Can JUST a week of cutting out the candy and stuff do that?? I thought there was NO way I could live on so few calories but it's really not a small amount when you get going. And I only felt really hungry for the first couple days in between eating. Sometimes I want to eat more BUT I don't think it's because I'm hungry. I'm just used to nibbling all the time just to nibble. I can't even begin to imagine just how many calories I must have been taking in before. A HUGE amount!