its first day of dieting

Here is advice I've gotten from others that helps me:

Instead of "dieting", make life style changes. Make those changes gradually for long term success.

Log everything.

Remember that it's not a race and it takes time.

One day off target doesn't "wreck everything, and equal failure". It's when we revert to the old life style completely that we don't achieve our goals.

Using a food scale to weigh out things helps with accuracy. It literally adds 1-3 minutes to an entire meal prep.

Log everything.

Watch out for drinking your calories. It's usually not satisfying or filling, and adds up quickly.

Log everything.

Don't diet, it does NOT work. Eat whole foods for 80 - 90 % of the time. Log everything! Eat to be healthy and fuel your body. Exercise 3 - 5 times a week. Enjoy a small treat if you must a couple times a week. Those are my top tips and if you follow them you can't go wrong. Good luck!

So telling someone specifics is harmful? Please. Everyone can exercise 3 days a week. All it means is to move your body, go for a walk, take stairs instead of elevator, dance while cooking, etc. Eating whole foods is the ideal way to lose weight and isn't complicated. Eat stuff that doesn't have packaging and has the actual thing as the main ingredient, ie, rice, carrot, chicken. This is the only way to lose weight AND be healthy. If you just want to lose weight then all you have to go is eat less but it won't result in health and MOST people fail on diets and regain all if not more weight. I don't know what you eat so maybe you are the exception and will keep it off. I hope you do. In my opinion eating to be healthy makes sense because eating processed foods has been linked to a whole host of diseases and there is no point losing weight if you still have clogged arteries or diabetes. I would guess that the second highest reason for people wanting to change their diet aside from "looking better" is to live longer and feel better. Maybe I am wrong, but I doubt it. My advice is nothing like "Doc Oz", he is a *kitten* artist and a charlatan who has sold his soul for money long ago. I am giving solid advice that will work, period. So don't call me out for telling someone what has been proven to be an very effective way of losing weight and becoming healthy just because you don't think they can handle the info.

So it's okay for you to tell people your way of eating in response but not me? I get called out for giving a road out just because mine is not in line with yours? If someone doesn't want to follow my advice fine but that doesn't mean it's not valid. You are right about eating within your calories for the day will result in weight loss. I had ice cream yesterday and will likely again this week. I won't argue anymore about health issues connected with food because I suppose it is besides the point to the OP. I will say though that you should not assume that someone doesn't want info just because you would have failed. Good luck on your journey.