Newbie

Calorie counting and WW are not terribly different. Both assign values to food, and both give you a goal to aim for. Calorie counting is a bit more specific/precise - and of course does not have 'free' foods. I imagine WW does that as a way to encourage you to eat more of what they deem healthy.

If you have not already done so, set up your profile and enter your stats (age, weight, gender, height) and choose an activity level. The way MFP works is it does not ASSUME you are going to exercise. So activity level is based on regular life, including your job, hobbies and day to day activities. If you exercise you can log that. Anyhow, MFP takes your stats and activity level and your stated weight loss goal (lose 1 pound a week, lose 1.5 pounds a week, etc.) and gives you a calorie target.

A few common mistakes, in my opinion... Aiming for the highest allowed 2 pounds per week. This may not be reasonable for you. If you set everything up and get a low calorie target, perhaps go back and revise to 1 or 1.5 pound per week. The other is with the activity level. Many choose sedentary when they are not. If you work a desk job and sit most of the day, you probably are sedentary. But if you're on your feet a good bit of the day then you should probably at least go with lightly active. THe more you move, the more energy your body uses. So to get a reasonable calorie target you want to set an activity level that matches your life and choose a reasonable weight loss rate.