Confused! New to MFP. Caloric deficit or low sugar?

Unless you have a medical issue, the amount of sugar you're eating will have little bearing on your weight loss. The same with the ratio of carbs/protein/fat. So if you like the flavored yogurt eat the flavored yogurt. (I personally buy the big tubs of non-fat, plain and flavor and sweeten it myself). The secrets to calorie counting are brutal honesty and accuracy. I don't know you or your eating habits so I'm about to make generalizations, not accusations.

There are no "free" foods when you count calories because nearly everything has calories including fruits and vegetables. You have to log everything you eat, bad days, good days and everything in between. You have to enter the right foods, no choosing entries with the lowest calories or picking someone else's "homemade" entry. You should weigh as much of your food as you can, even the prepackaged stuff because it can be way off. If you don't own a kitchen scale, invest in one. Measuring cups are good for liquids but everything else that has grams listed for the serving size, including peanut butter and salad dressing, should be weighed. The bonus to weighing is you don't dirty the measuring cups and spoons!

If you're exercising and plan to eat back your exercise calories underestimate rather than overestimate. MFP's entries are notoriously over-inflated so beware of using them. It doesn't take much to erase a calorie deficit.

If MFP has you at 1200 calories, you're probably being too aggressive with your goal. Set it for .5 to 1 pound per week and have patience. I'm sure you don't plan to go back to eating the way you were before (and regaining the weight you've lost) so plan to lose weight in a way that will give you lasting results. Most of all, I wish you success this time. Stick to the plan and you can do it.

Calorie counting is way easier with tools like MFP. Just work on hitting a deficit.

Sugar is probably one of the least important things for you to focus on, assuming you don't have a medical reason for doing so. It's a micronutrient. In the general importance level for paying attention, it goes Calories --> Macronutrients (aka carbs, protein, and fat) --> Micronutrients (Iron, sugar, dietary fiber, etc).

For now, focus on the calories. But know how the macronutrients affect your body. Carbs are good for quick energy, but they won't keep you full for very long. If you're hungry all the time, there's a good chance you're not eating enough fat and protein. Those are the ones that keep you full longer. If you need to feel the difference, just see how long it takes you to get hungry in the morning when you start your day off with a bagel and some fruit vs. some eggs.

Once you feel like you can manage calories and macronutrients pretty well and are hitting your goals regularly, then start working on those micronutrients. Keeping sugar down won't magically make you lose weight though.

Hi Brenda, after kind of crunching you numbers I came up with 1500-1700 for your stats. Assuming you do light to moderate work. Try at this calorie goal for a few weeks and the weight should come off easily. You should lose a lb to 2 lbs a week. Its not exact. The sugar amount mfp gives you is very hard to stay under as well. I cut out added sugar from my diet and am almost always still over. I have little treats everyday. I am losing a little bit faster than I would like and may have to start eating at 2000-2100.