First time user and first diet! Help!

Keep track of what you eat for a week. Don't judge, just write everything down. Then take a look and see where you need to adjust. Then find something that gets you moving like walking and do a little bit every day. Just keep it simple and you won't get overwhelmed. Good luck! I started on weight watchers in February, walked a lot and then joined a club with personal trainer in May. I have lost 30 pounds and feel great. Just about a pound a week. Halfway done. You can do it!

Keeping it simple- just logging what you eat into MyFitnessPal (or some similar tool) helps. If the whole diet/exercise thing seems overwhelming, resolve first just to record what you're doing - assuming you're not ready to add activity or restrict food consumption yet. The MyFitnessPal database has a surprising scope of foods and their calorie content, so it tracks calorie consumption for you without requiring you to look up calories on a table or write down things in a log (which IMHO is far less convenient than an online tool).

Researchers claim, and my own experience confirms, that if we track what we're doing, we just naturally are driven to correct any bad habits. We get a psychological boost from seeing our good results documented, and that serves as a strong incentive to keep us going.

Good luck!

The beauty of calorie counting is that you don't have to eat special foods, even "healthy" ones (whatever that means to you) to lose weight. You just have to eat less than you're burning every day.

I agree with previous posters: start by just tracking everything you eat. Everything. Be brutally honest with what you're eating; overestimate portions rather than underestimating them or attempting to find the entry with the lowest calorie amount. After a week or so, take a good look at your food diary and see where you can make small changes that will have big impact. A 20 ounce regular soda can have as many as 300 calories. Cut out one per day, and exchange for water or unsweetened ice tea, and that'll save you 1/2 pound per week! Instead of full-sized candy bars, buy the miniature size ones and eat one really, really slowly. You'll get just as much chocolate satisfaction with a fraction of the calories. Instead of french fries with your value meal have a side salad with low fat dressing. You get the idea.

If you can make just one small change per week, and keep snowballing them, you'll eventually start to make a real difference.

For exercise, just try to move more. Park at the back of the parking lot. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go on long walks with the family. Find a sport you like and get active. (I started running and surprisingly I like it.) The most important thing is that you find something you like; you're more likely to stick with it for the long haul.