How do I know what info to use and discard?

In my opinion, the reason there's so many tips and diet plans or reputed quick fixes, is because different things work for different people. And, sometimes one can be at a point in their life where they want one kind of solution (quick or long term) over another. For me, it was reading about a lot of stuff and then trying different approaches before I found what worked for me, and not only resulted in weight loss, but feeling way healthier. Eating in a way that makes me feel good makes it easy to stick to it.

So, unfortunately it's hard for someone else to tell you what's keeper info and what's not.

The key to success?

Read a lot. Do research. Then figure out what works best for you. Weight loss is not a one size fits all journey. It is up to you to figure out what your body wants and how to change your life so this is long term successful.

Dunno. In the end it's pretty simple.
Eat less than you did before trying to lose weight, and exercise more.

Your body consumes itself when you lose weight, this includes muscle. Weight training stalls/slows this process.

First thing you should do is start tracking. Track everything that passes through your lips. A taste, a sip, a sample. EVERYTHING. Then you will be able to identify where your extra calories are coming from.

Calories come from energy sources in your food, namely protein, fat and carbs. To be balanced, MFP suggests 55% carbs, 30% fat, and 15% protein.

MFP provides a pie chart for your daily calories log to make it easy to see where you may be going over or need to boost.

As far as weight loss tricks and tips are concerned, the ABSOLUTE NUMBER ONE predictor of weight loss success is a calorie log so whatever you do, make sure you know what you are eating and how much and you will be successful. Knowledge is power.

Use the same techniques that I use when it comes to evaluating what a mechanic tells me is wrong with my car:

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

My advice...don't take anyone's advice. They aren't you. But since you're asking for input:

- Gather information and opinions and use it to come up with something that is going to work for you, and when that doesn't work exactly like you thought it would then make alterations as you go.

- Accept that you are going to fail from time to time. We all have our moments of weakness. The trick is to re-focus and keep on going. The old you is going to play constant mind games with the new you, so keep moving forward even if you knock yourself back every once in awhile and forgive yourself for doing so.

This is going to be one of the hardest things you've even done. If it were easy everyone would be thin and fit.

- Have an end goal...a reason you want to get in shape. I'm not talking about a number. I'm talking about choosing something maybe you always wanted to do but couldn't because of your fitness level/weight.

For me it was obstacle mud runs like Spartan Race. At 278 pounds I decided in six months I was going to try an 8-mile race through the Texas Hill Country. Six months later I was down about 40 pounds and barely dragged myself over the finish line at the Super Spartan. I'm doing a 3-mile Spartan Sprint next month and am on track to be at 210 for that race, and in December is a big 10-12 mile Super Spartan which I want to be under 200 and in great shape to tackle the course again.

- Surround yourself with positive enablers and distance yourself from the negative. I'm a big believer in "You are what you surround yourself with". I'm not saying kick any friends to the curb...I'm just saying maybe avoid eating meals with them.

Good info to know. To select wisely. To learn from others. I've never been one to desire to go through the school of hard knocks, just seems foolish when you can look at other's examples, some smart, some foolish themselves.

Suggest you use the Search button above and search for "stall" "plateau" "weight loss stop" and learn what can happen, and what they did that got them there. Any need to repeat their mistakes?
And then read the responses of those that got out of it, perhaps doing those smart things from the start.

Sadly if you search for the successful topics, it doesn't tell you when they came back 3 months later for topic on weight loss stopped. Meaning their initial thoughts and actions didn't work out.

Here's some facts to keep in mind. Be aware in the discussion of activity levels, MFP does it differently. You selected, hopefully correctly, an activity level that had nothing to do with exercise. Because you are expected to add it later.
And you may recall entering a weight loss goal.
Check out the results of those decisions on My Home - Goals.

http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html

Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed asleep all day!

BMR can be responsible for burning up to 70% of the total calories expended, but this figure varies due to different factors (see below).

Diet. Starvation or serious abrupt calorie-reduction can dramatically reduce BMR by up to 30 percent. Restrictive low-calorie weight loss diets may cause your BMR to drop as much as 20%.

Exercise. Physical exercise not only influences body weight by burning calories, it also helps raise your BMR by building extra lean tissue. (Lean tissue is more metabolically demanding than fat tissue.) So you burn more calories even when sleeping.

Calorie deficit thresholds: How low is too low?
It is well known that cutting calories too much slows down the metabolic rate, decreases thyroid output and causes loss of lean mass, so the question is how much of a deficit do you need? There definitely seems to be a specific cutoff or threshold where further reductions in calories will have detrimental effects.

Adjust your caloric intake gradually
It is not advisable to make any drastic changes to your diet all at once. After calculating your own total daily energy expenditure and adjusting it according to your goal, if the amount is substantially higher or lower than your current intake, then you may need to adjust your calories gradually.

I have read a lot of information online about weight loss. So many guidelines and tips. How do I know what to utilize and what isn't necessary? I think in my past attempts to lose weight I became overwhelmed with all this information and didn't know where to even start with it all.

I currently weight about 300lbs and my goal weight is 150lbs. I'm wanting to focus on losing weight rather than gaining muscle, although I do want to tone up a bit in the long run.

Are there any basic guidelines and tips that could help me start?

Something that I'm doing that is helping is eating twice as many vegetables first (plain veggies, no butter, no fried, no blah blah ...) and then eat the protein and then rest....and then if still hungry eat the carb (pasta potato bread). Also filling your plate HALF with veggies, then 1/4 with proteing and 1/4 with carb....and make sure you can see the plate underneath the food. This has helped me. Good luck and great job getting onto this site.