I'm just a stone from target on my second time round with SW, and the following is what I should of taken of heed of from the beginning.
Write everything down.
Ensure each meal is one third speed food. (I don't achieve this with breakfast though)
Check Syn values before you eat the food.
Make sure you use your syns each day, this stops you falling off the wagon.
Don't save your syns for a binge. Binge eating is what gets you overweight and it's a habit you need to break.
Exercise is important, they do say it's 80% diet but that 20% exercise does make the journey a lot easier.
If you fall off the wagon for one or two days don't say fuck it, I'm going to have a gain anyway so I'll carry on. Get straight back on it the next day.
Keep to class, especially in the weeks when you have a maintain or gain - which is when you feel least like staying to class!
Don't compare yourself with others who seem to be losing tons week after week. We are all different, my journey was incredibly slow, but as on all long journeys I've learnt a lot and it takes time to change your mindset to approach food.
Stay until you get to target. I left first time when I was happy with my body in comparison to the way I'd started. But I had no buffer and it was incredibly easy to start going the other way.
Reward yourself in different ways, food is such an easy reward, but not the best.
SW cookbooks have been incredibly helpful for me. Ditto the website.
Be kind to yourself. I've found that going to group has made me actually like myself a lot more making it easier to give my body decent food rather than punishing it with crap.
Sorry for the essay! We were asked in group this week what was our best advice for newbies, and I've been mulling it over since.