Failed once, but trying again--need active friends

I joined MFP once a few years ago, but only had one friend doing it with me, so as soon as one of us failed, the other would, too. We lasted maybe a week and a half. I joined again a few weeks ago, and I've made great progress, but I'd really like some more friends on here for motivation and support, particularly ones who log on every day.

just a few tips from someone who has had great success on this site...

Portion control is the key so,
get a food scale
using measuring cups

Honestly log everything that you eat or drink, drinks can be very high-calorie so do not neglect them. Many of us have had great success logging what we are GOING to eat, in other words, make a plan and work that plan, once you eat it, it's too late to change your mind. I feel much less restricted when I feel in control, so if I want a particular food, I plan for it and make room in my 'calorie budget' for it.

Exercise is important, but... you can far exceed your exercised-off calories in what you eat, so, pay careful attention to calorie intake. I used to run, ride and lift everyday - and lost nothing in terms of weight because I (pre-My Fitness Pal) did not have any idea of the amount of calories I was consuming. Now, 20 years and several serious injuries later, I cannot do much in terms of exercise, and for the purposes of education, do virtually nothing for exercise other than my daily routine. Having said that, I park very far away from "the store" or wherever I am conducting business, I almost never use an elevator or escalator. And yet, I've lost 32 pounds and feel absolutely great. Once I hit my goal, which is just three pounds away, I will begin some moderate exercise such as walking, push-ups and sit-ups.

Yesterday I read a post in which someone said something that I hear myself say very often, and that is - "it's simple, it's just not easy." That is so very true here, the simple truth is, if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight, it's just not possible to gain or even maintain weight otherwise, after all, we're not air ferns, right?

Lastly, set a realistic goal - 3500 pounds is about one pound, so... drop 500 calories out of your daily diet and that will theoretically equal one pound of weight lost each week. Trying to do much more, if not any more, is very likely to signal to your body that starvation is impending and it will immediately respond with a drop in metabolism, which you do not want... so, my suggestion is to eat three to five small meals and spread them out, eat complex carbs, no white flour, no refined sugar, no HFCS, those cause a sharp spike in blood glucose and it will almost certainly cause a corresponding glut of insulin to be released, which then causes that unused glucagon (I think that's correct) to be stored as fat...

I'm certainly not an expert, however, it's hard to argue with success, and all of this that I have related is coming from much research that I have done and many, many failures of diet disasters that I have been through such as Atkins, Susan Powter's "fat make you fat" and on and on... eat a balanced diet, burn more that you eat and you will lose weight. I have and so have countless others here.

Good luck,
-Gary