Hello everyone I'm a newbie!

Well luckily it isn't rocket science. Just enter in every meal you have daily to keep track of your daily calorie intake. If you don't have a goal in mind already then set one to get an idea for how much calories you should be eatting. If you want to lose weight then you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you want to gain you need a calorie overload. Or if you just need to maintain you need to find out how much calories you need to maintain.

Here is a link with the equations to figure out how much calories you need daily to maintain.
http://www.predatornutrition.com/articlesdetail?cid=bulking-plan-for-the-hard-gainer

You'll need to figure out how much you need to maintain in order to get in a deficit or overload anyways.

Then once you get that figured out also add in any workouts you do so it can subtract the calories you've burned so youre taking in the proper amount of calories and not cheating yourself.


Theeeen, add lots and lots of friends who will support you and motivate you along the way. You'll find that the MFP community is great for that.

Hope that helps and good luck on your fitness journey. I'll go ahead and send you a friend request.

P. S., if you want to add someone as a friend just click on their name or picture and once the window with their pic opens up click on their name again and it should bring you to a page with the "add friend" button.