Hey, y'all

Hi ! I am fairly new to myfitnesspal and am finding this website to be a VERY beneficial tool to help me eat and live better. Welcome and good luck to you also !

Welcome to all of the new members!

I can say without a doubt that you have made a good decision in selecting MFP to help you along your weight loss journey. There are only a couple of things that you have to remember..

1) Be honest with yourself in your entries. It's no use trying to lie to yourself and leave out calories to make your daily total look better.

2) Seek the support of the community. Many of us have been through much of what you will go through along your journey. Plateaus, mystery weight gains, etc. Ask for help when you need it. In general this is a very helpful and non judgmental community.

3) You are not on a "diet", you are changing the way you eat for a lifetime. If you look at this as a way to lose that extra 10-100 lbs (I say 100 because that's my final goal) without fundamentally changing how and what you eat then you're just wasting your time. You may lose in the short term, but you won't keep it off unless you commit to developing better eating habits. Simply put, you got the way you are because of the foods you ate, just like I did when I finally decided it was time to drop the extra 100lbs I had put on over the past 20 years.

Diet is a four letter word.. I'm on a calorie budget and as such there are no "off limits" foods for me. I still eat many of the same foods I did before I started losing weight. It's more about portion control than denial. If I want to eat a piece of cheesecake then I do, and dutifully log it into MFP. I either make up for the extra calories through exercise or by cutting out a snack later in the day. In time you really won't want that cheesecake or bag of chips once you see the caloric impact and how much "real food" you can eat in it's place.

This ate least has been my experience over the last year of weight loss. Your mileage may vary.