Goal: drop 75lbs in a year

Hey there!

75 pounds in a year is doable, but depending on your starting weight and height it may be difficult or fairly easy. I encourage you to check out the posts pinned to the top of this forum and the Food & Nutrition one, as well as reading through some threads.

First, make sure you've set MFP up correctly. With 75lbs to lose, you should be looking at a goal of 1.5 pounds lost per week as your healthiest option. Make sure you've chosen the correct activity level for your life, without over- or under-estimating the work you do.

After that, the important thing is going to be accurate logging. Buy yourself a food scale if you don't already have one and use it to weigh your solid and semi-solid foods -- even pre-packaged ones. Measure your liquids with measuring spoons and cups. Compare these weights and measures to nutrition label and USDA data; this means taking note of how many grams a serving of a particular food is, and adjusting your log to reflect how many grams you actually ate.

Learn how to assess which database entries are reliable and which are not. (There are forum posts for this.) Then, log everything you eat or drink. This is what will let you know whether you're truly staying within your calorie goals.

From there, the important things are nutrition and satiety. Again, the forums can be a huge help with this. The general idea is to eat plenty of protein, enough fat to help with satiety and function, and however many carbs work best for you. The other general idea is to choose good, nutrient-rich foods to meet these goals -- but not deprive yourself of favorite foods and treats, because life is short and happiness is important. Remember that calories are what matter for weight loss; nutrition is what matters for health; and taste is what matters for pleasure and mood.

Remember that there's no "bad" or "off-limits" food, except those which make you ill or trigger a binge (if you have binge issues). There is simply food which meets your goals and food which doesn't. This means quantity will play a big role in your food choices; sometimes you'll want a food you can eat in large quantity for low calories and lots of nutrients, but other times you may choose a food you can only "afford" a little of, just for fun. Both are good choices, in context.

You will have days you go over your limit. You will have days you feel are "bad." You will not be perfect. You will make mistakes. All of that is okay, and it won't derail you as long as you remember to log it, face it, and move on. And the last, most important thing: you are in control of all of this. You aren't helpless and you absolutely can do this.

Just pointing out first...suggesting that OP aim to drop 2-3 lbs a week without knowing her starting height or weight is not really the best call. If OP is, for instance, a 5'6" woman who weighs 200 lbs and wants to get down to 125 lb, then 2-3 lbs a week is not at ALL safe or realistic.
If you give us those details, OP, we'll try to get you started on a game plan that will hopefully work well for you!