I don't really know what I can and cannot eat. Please help

its more about quantity and moderation that cutting out entire foods.

let my fitness pal calculate your calorie requirements to lose the desired amount of weight and then log your food accurately to stick to it

You can eat whatever you want. The trick to weight loss is taking in fewer calories than your body burns in a day. Without knowing your current weight and height it's impossible to tell you how many calories a day that is, but if you accurately input that information into MFP along with your goals, it should spit out a recommended daily calorie goal that will at least give you a place to start.

Eat: Food
Don't Eat: Non-Food things

Seriously - you don't need any crazy restrictions to lose weight. Eat to your calorie goal and then stop. With that said - somethings will make you feel fuller longer and you might want to eat them - for example a big plate of broccoli is going to fill you up more than the same amount of calories in jelly beans. Some things have more nutritional value - for example greek yogurt has more nutrients (protein, calcium) than like a rice cake). But as far as losing weight - calories in/calories out.

I've got a new mindset where I need and want to lose weight. I have about 130 pounds that I need to lose. My problem is, is that I don't really know what I am suppose to be eating, and what i'm suppose to avoid (besides breads, pasta and potatoes.) I know I can have lots of fruits and veggies. What other items would be good to eat on to lose weight?

What are you allergic to?
Don't eat that.

What do you hate?
Don't eat that.

Focus on eating nutrient dense foods like veggies, fruit, meats, etc and fill the rest of your calories with foods that you like as long as you stay under your calorie goal.

Check out this thread.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?

From what I've learned: avoid heavily processed foods like packaged snacks and white bread. Avoid "low-fat" or "low-calorie" foods that over over processed and have little nutritional value. Try to eat food that you enjoy, especially fruits and vegetables. Stick with lean meats, like turkey or fish, over heavier red meats like beef and pork. Avoid sugary drinks and snacks. Complex carbs are good, like wheat breads and some starches that take longer to break down in your body and therefore keep you full longer. The biggest one for me — avoid TRANS fat. Other types of fat can be healthy in moderation, but trans fat found in fried foods, many "snack" foods like chips or cookies, and baked goods that use high levels of margarine or butter.

Don't need to avoid anything except overeating.

I'm going to echo others here and share a few words that changed my life...you can literally eat whatever you want, just not as much as you want. If course it's good to focus on whole grains, veggies, lean protein/legumes, and fruit, but if you want to lose weight the only thing you really HAVE to do, is create a caloric deficit eating foods you enjoy. Good luck!

I have to agree if you can speak to a nutritionist, but in general eat "real" foods. The less they are processed the better MFP will help with percentages of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Lean cuts of meat,fish, chicken. I found the book "The Ab Diet" a great book. It's not a diet but healthy eating. It has some great filing low cal recipes in it too. I'm a believer is the 3meals and 3 snacks. I feel fuller and actually eat less. There are a lot of factors in weight loss and calories in don't always equally calories out. I don't get real exact with my calorie counting, but you may want to. It's surprising when you think you have a cup of cereal and you really have 1.5 cups. By making good voices on meals you can really feel full and satisfied. I also pick a day that is my splurge day. Usually Saturday. That way if I'm craving something I tell myself I can have it Saturday. Most of the time I don't want it when Saturday comes. Also the splurge is controlled not eat what ever you want. Good luck with your journey. Check with your health insurance, they may have some resources available to you also.

I eat anything i want that fits in my calories goals... I've had cake, McDonalds, Arby's and Salads all in the same week. Just budget for your day and stick to it. There is nothing you "shouldn't eat" except maybe a full tub of crisco... cuz that's gross... but I mean if it works into your diet? Even cookies and donuts are A-okay! HOWEVER, make sure to balance that with some green stuff.

You can eat what you want, just not as much of it as you're used to eating. It's about portion control.

Use MFP to log calories and try to reach your macros or at least get something into each group for nutrition. Staying under your calorie goal is good too because you can use the extra points for 6 days to know how much to go over by on your 7th/cheat day.

I recommend eating approximately 80% healthy and 20% indulgence. Don't deprive yourself but at the same time don't overdo it on the high-calorie junk food or you won't meet your goals.

The reason some people say to stay away from certain things is because they have a lot of calories and low nutritional value. You want to avoid these foods, as well as sugary drinks, because they won't help you lose weight. They won't make you feel full so it'll be easy to go over your limit.

There's alot of "you can eat whatever you want" here, and to a degree that is true. But if you want to make a sustainable, life-long change, you shouldn't exactly eat whatever you want.
If you eat all of your daily allotted calories in Doritos and chocolate, you will be HUNGRY. Seriously: two bags of doritos and a king-sized Twix bar and 75% of my calories for the day are gone.
The most important thing you can do is cook for yourself - you control what goes in, you know what you're eating. Go with whole grains - rice, quinoa, farro, barley, wheat berries, veggies, lean proteins - turkey, chicken, fish, eggs, beans and legumes. If you don't know how to cook, take a healthy cookbook out of the library, or Google "healthy recipes" or check out the recipe section here, though it's pretty disorganized.
Do some research on what foods you like have a low calorie density - those you can eat more of and still not be too many calories. Sure, you can still eat some "junk" - but if you do you'll have less calories to eat filling meals. Best of luck, happy to help if you have more questions!

I'm just starting out myself but have been told by a dietician to stick to the following guide lines:-
* 1200-1500 cals per day
* reduce salt and sugar intake
* avoid high fat and fried food or eat sparingly.
* Eat plenty of veg and salad plus some fruit
* Eat plenty of protein ( it increases your metabolism)
* Eat frequently ( about every 3 hours to keep your metabolism pepped up)
* Drink plenty of water
* Don't eat for a couple of hours before bedtime
* move about more even if it is only doing extra chores at home or taking a walk, the more you move the more cals you will burn but don't go from being completely sedentary to doing 2 hours of gym overnight as you could injure yourself.

GOOD LUCK

This is all pretty bunk advice.

Caloric intake isn't universal. 1200-1500 calories gross, in general, is pretty low. It will fit some, but not many.

Salt, sugar, fat, fried, whatever.... you can eat it. You just need to plan for it.

Salads and fruit are fine. but you need to make sure you're staying within your goals, same thing with protein. You can eat all "non processed foods" but if you're over in your intake, you're still over.

Eating frequently had been debunked times over. It's about staying in your caloric intake goals for the day.

Water is fine...

"Don't eat a couple hours before bedtime" has also been proven as nonsense. You can eat whenever you want. You have a calorie goal for 24hrs, not 16. If your goal for the day is 1800 and 800 of that comes right as you go to bed it doesn't matter.

Exercise is for fitness, diet is for weight loss. If you start moving more, make sure you account for that in your diary and still take in the proper amount of fuel for the day.

My problem is, is that I don't really know what I am suppose to be eating, and what i'm suppose to avoid (besides breads, pasta and potatoes.)

There is no need to "avoid" those foods.

I'm just starting out myself but have been told by a dietician to stick to the following guide lines:-
* 1200-1500 cals per day
* reduce salt and sugar intake
* avoid high fat and fried food or eat sparingly.
* Eat plenty of veg and salad plus some fruit
* Eat plenty of protein ( it increases your metabolism)
* Eat frequently ( about every 3 hours to keep your metabolism pepped up)
* Drink plenty of water
* Don't eat for a couple of hours before bedtime
* move about more even if it is only doing extra chores at home or taking a walk, the more you move the more cals you will burn but don't go from being completely sedentary to doing 2 hours of gym overnight as you could injure yourself.

GOOD LUCK

Sounds like a good plan! Try this.

I think you are getting a lot of good advice here. I would definitely NOT rule out entire food groups in general. Personally, I avoid added sugar and sugar-like products (because I can't eat 1 portion of ice cream or cookies, I eat all the ice cream etc), so its a trigger for me. But I eat a potato almost every day. I look in the bins for the smallest ones there, and then cook up 3 or 4 in foil at a time, so I don't stop for fast food etc. I always have something filling at home.

If I were starting where you are, I would probably eat "normally" for a week, and track all of it. Then go back and look at what wasn't worth it, what you like, but could have portioned better (cereal, etc), what meals you could make healthier with less oil, or baking instead of frying. And then add in more veggies and fruit because they are more filling and have fiber to keep you full. I find having several sets of measuring cups is helpful and a kitchen scale.

You don't need to be hungry. You don't need to eat anything you don't like (for example, you don't have to force yourself to eat salad because you think its healthy, there are other foods). And you don't have to cut out your favorites. Figure out your "trigger foods" and keep an eye on them when you do eat them.