newbie :) ❤

I'm new here myself but the best advice I can give you is to get stuck in and then don't be afraid to ask questions when you need advice on something. It's a great community here and you'll have a line of people try to help you whenever you need it

The community here is definitely very knowledgeable, but they do have some pet peeves that you want to be aware of. For example, search for the answers you're looking for on the boards before asking a question. Because if it's something that has been asked 1000 times before, people might jump down your throat. Also, fad diets don't fly here at all. So don't even go there.

Ya I haven't been here long, but the popular opinion around here is to stay away from those diets that you go on for a week to super punch 10 lbs off right away. The reason for that is first its really unhealthy, but most people don't really care about that, but this however they do care about. After that one week crazy crash diet your bodies metabolism slows down and goes into starvation mode. This means that your body naturally starts to store fat purposely even if you are way under eating your calories. Its a survival mechanism, and most times you gain the weight back as fast as you lost it, and then you gain more because your body needs time to readjust its metabolism back to normal your best bet is to make a lifestyle change, and if you would like, u can always add me as a friend, over the past few days ive made alot of new friends, and its been nothing but support and motivation from everyone.

When you boil it down to calories in vs calories out... everything seems a little easier. Grab a food scale and make sure that you are documenting everything as correctly as possible... Remember when you cheat your numbers you are really cheating yourself so be as honest as possible. I've done the fad diets and lost a lot of weight by restricting myself to ridiculously low amount of calories but in the end I binged and gave up. My new lifestyle allows me more choices, more freedom, and this is the longest I've had a change stay in place in forever. Good luck on your journey and make sure to browse the boards to find even more awesome tips.

Hi there, Vik! Sorry I hope i didn't rain on your parade, that was not my intentions at all Actually it was quite the opposite. I just didn't want to see you set yourself up for that, because I have before. I did the cabbage diet a few years ago. You pretty much eat nothing but cabbage stew for 7 days straight. After about day 3 i was dizzy from lack of nutrition, I did not feel well, i kinda felt diseased, and in the end I actually started to gain weight because my body started conserving calories and transforming them into fat. I know this is going to be a sad image to put in your head, but its the truth. When you see the pictures or videos of other countries with starving people, did you ever notice that their arms, legs, and faces were skin and bone, but they had pot bellies? That's because when the human body starts to starve it starts to conserve as well. Its the same as putting away a lil bit of your paycheck into a bank account. When your body stops getting what it needs everyday it starts to put away calories in a savings account just in case.

You have to think our current species is several million years old, dating back to times when there were days where hunting was hard, and winters were cold and deprived the woods of gathering berries. Its a natural trait that links back that long ago, putting away a portion of calories into fat just in case the next day or few days they didnt have anything to eat at all.

I also have to say im not a nutritionalist either :P but i have a friend who is a personal trainer, he graduated a year ago and he knows alot about these things, and this is what he told me when I used to starve myself thinking the weight would just disappear with that strategy.