anyone else knew what they were doing before joining MFP?

Well, I had previously lost about 50 lbs through generally healthy/"clean" eating/following the food plate, and I specialize in eating disorder and obesity treatment, so I had a pretty good amount of knowledge about the factors that make up a healthy, balanced diet and weight loss. However, I had a real prejudice against calorie counting, and it was very illuminating to see that rather than a source of obsessionality and disorder (which of course I would see in ED patients), for me it was actually very freeing and allowed me to lose weight more effectively and with more flexible eating.

I had no idea what I was doing before mfp. I had heard of counting calories but thought it sounded incredibly tedious and difficult. I tried all kinds of fads and gimmicks with no luck and even started to believe that I'm meant to be fat forever. Now I feel like an idiot because it's not hard, and it works! I've been at this for a month now and have lost 12 pounds!

Similar! I had a tiny little notebook I carried around with me and wrote down what I ate and the calories (which were googled). Different page each day. I didn't think to weigh out anything so I'm sure my estimates were way off. My goal was 1200 because that's what I "heard" you should eat when "on a diet". If I would eat over 1200 I would draw a sad face at the top of the page. So yeah, my weight was going up and down forever until I learned (when I found MFP) that I can eat enough to not feel like I can't do this for more than a month and still lose weight.

NOTHING ever worked for me - except MFP;

Yep, I knew what I was doing. I was raised by a nurse and I've taken health, fitness, and nutrition classes.

I've also done "this" a few times before with other programs and on my own. First time with another program was with Fit Day back in 2006 or so. I tracked everything for 3 weeks, then stopped tracking because it was such a pain, however, the 3 weeks was enough to readjust my eating. And I lost 5 or 10 lbs ... just enough to get me back into the middle of the "normal" range again.

Around about that time I was taking a kinesiology class and they gave us another program to track things. It focused more on nutrients than Fit Day did.

I tracked for a little while in 2008 ... just before my wedding, and dropped a bit, again, enough to get me into the middle of the "normal" range again.

Then in about 2011, I tracked things with both Fit Day and Daily Plate ... didn't really find either of them very convenient and had to keep checking with Nutrition Data to be sure. I tracked for 3 weeks again, but again the 3 weeks was enough to readjust my eating. I lost 13 lb in 13 weeks ... back into the "normal" range.

On and off periodically, I have used Nutrition Data to get an idea of what I'm eating. Back when I started using that, it was to track my electrolyte consumption for long distance cycling and to find calorie rich foods. Now it is to look for lower calorie foods.

And now, I've been with MFP for 38 days ... and I've lost about 13 lbs. I'm really close to the "normal" range again.

I counted calories when I was in college with a food scale, notebook and Google. I lost 50 lbs then, but was also suffering from severe depressionat the time. After getting help, I gained back 30 lbs. (Food actually tasted good.) I initially put off using MFP because of the negative psychological associations I had with calorie counting. I'm really glad I gave it a shot again!

I spent two and a half weeks "watching what I ate"...and I gained two pounds