Long Introduction (violins included)

In the most basic way, the only thing required for you to lose weight is to eat less than you burn every day. You don't need to change your way of eating (unless you want to), you don't have to do exercise (especially if it hurts right now); all you have to do to start seeing some weight loss is to eat less by a small amount.

You can start just by logging your food into MFP. You didn't mention your stats, but the target rate of weight loss is dependent on how much weight you have to lose (so people with more to lose can lose it more quickly). Everyone starts off wanting to lose 2 pounds per week, the max allowed by MFP, but that's not always possible or the best idea. For a lot of people, it's better to start more slowly so that they're not trying to make a drastic change right off the bat, while they're still learning how to log.

If you tell MFP that you want to lose 1 pound per week, how many calories does that give you? If it's too few, try entering 0.5 pounds and see what that looks like. I would start just by sticking to my given calorie target for 4 weeks. Don't change anything else, just eat what you normally would up to that calorie target.

After those 4 weeks, you can reevaluate and see how that feels. A HUGE part of weight loss is finding things that you can stick to for a long time, because it always takes longer than we think it will. Weight loss isn't about how much you can lose in one or two weeks -- it's about how long you can stick to it.

Have you found the Success Stories forum yet? I would recommend spending a little bit of time there and reading other people's stories. A lot of MFP users started off exactly where you are (or in worse mental/physical shape), and it might be fun for you to see how they made it through.

magrizzle2005 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply! I'm 5'0 and currently weighing 15st3lb. I've set to 1.5lb a week and it's given me 1600 cals. I've never tried calorie counting before usually attending groups then when I can't eat with my family I give up as it proves time consuming and expensive cooking separate meals. I really do appreciate you taking the time to advise I'm feeling very lost at the moment (friends think it's so easy to lose weight) x

You've been given good advice already. I'll add some more.

Invest in a food scale if you don't have one. They're fairly cheap and it's invaluable when it comes to accurately logging food and portions. You want to weigh solids on your food scale in grams. Liquids you want to measure in a measuring cup or using tablespoons/teaspoons. It sounds harder and more time consuming than it is. It takes seconds and that way you can accurately log how much you are eating.

If you find sticking to 1600 cals is too hard just lower your goal to a pound a week. I started out with one goal, found it too hard to stick to, and lowered my goal to have more calories.

I wouldn't radically change anything. Just make small changes as necessary. For example, cooking with less oil, switching to diet soda, etc. You might have to play around to see what leaves you satisfied. Some people do more meals, some do fewer, some snack, some don't, etc.