I just joined and could use some help!

Good Morning!! i just joined last week and I have to say, this website is awesome. SO wish I had stumbled upon it earlier!! I have a long ways to go, as I want to be down 50 pounds. This tool will definitely make it easier!! Any tips, pointers, would be greatly appreciated!!

you can add me. I feel mfp works by gaining education and having worldwide web encouragement. Really I have learned more about my eating habits than ever before, and I had some food and diet knowledge.

Feel free to add me if you would like. I have been here since sept. 11, only down 20lbs but hey I haven't deprived myself of anything I am losing weight eating ice cream and other goodies! Moderation is key

I think the best part of this website is.. it allows you to learn vs simply telling you to not eat this or not eat that (which is what a lot of "diets" do). You want this to be a lifestyle change and not a diet. You want this to be something you can do for the rest of your life and not something you do for a few weeks, hit a goal weight, go back to your old habits and re-gain all the weight again.

I think the most important part of this journey is learning about serving sizes. We are a society of HUGE portions. It takes a lot to learn that those huge platters of food they hand you at most restaurants? Well, that is 2, 3 or even 4 servings and we are consuming it as one meal. No wonder obesity is such a problem.

Read labels. Measure food (even get a food scale!). Log your food HONESTLY. If you eat 4 cookies, log 4 cookies. It'll help you to understand what you're really consuming. You can lie to your food diary, but your body knows what you really ate!

Also, you don't have to give up the foods you love to lose weight. Simply eat them in moderation.

You can add me. I've been on here a couple of months and had been doing really well. I'm in a bit of a slump but getting back on track as of tomorrow. We all need all the support we can find so welcome and good luck. Try not to get discouraged and keep going forward. Listen to your body as it will tell you what it needs. Sometimes it is barely a whisper and other times it will scream bloody murder. The trick s hearing both for what they are. Onward and upward (or downward if it is the scale).:flowerforyou:

That's my number too!! I'm working on losing 50 pounds. We can do this altogether. Just keep counting your calorie intake, exercise, and drink water. It's been almost a month for me and I've lost pounds. Honestly I expected to lose more than 5 or 6 pounds in almost a month since I've been working out everyday. But I keep reminding myself it took years to put all this weight on and it will take time to lose all the pounds. In the meantime I will just have fun exercising and meeting new friends who have the same goal and are going through the same journey.....now that's a huge perk!

Hi Mandy, you can do this! I have lost almost 58 pounds since last Aug 2011, feel free to add me, I will encourage you!

Hey, I only signed up last week too. And I am at 192 pounds at the moment. I have set my goal to get down to 150 pounds at the moment ( as it seems achievable ) I find this site sooo much better than Weight Watchers (which i have joined for 4 times at this stage) and the calorie counting here is better too (IMO). It is also great how much information you can get from others...for example I discovered that the reason I did not lose weight was cause I ate too litlle,.thats right- too LITTLE! so now that i have increased my calorie intake i actually start seeing results (havent recorded yet as i want to do it after 7 days and i have few days to go til then) ... anyway..feel free to add me

I love this site!! I joined in January and I have learned so much! Add me if you want.

Welcome, Mandy! This site is a great tool, and you'll get out of it exactly what you put into learning how to live healthy. The best advice here is read, read, and read some more - then ask lots of questions and apply what you learn to your new lifestyle. You'll do great! :-)