Phyriel, the best thing to do is read, read, read. Within the past month I’ve read about 2/3 of this site. Knowledge is power and you will see many contridictions. Some will gain in the first month, some won’t gain for a year. Some have met their goals in 2 years and others in 4 years. There are great success stories here and other stories of folks that have given up. As I said, the main thing is finding something that works and sticking with it. I’m lucky enough to have made some newbie gains within the first three weeks but that doesn’t happen for everyone. A great place to start is the newbie primer, there are a ton of links there. Some that will make you feel good, others that will make you feel like shit.
A Newbie Primer
Good luck on your journey and if you are really that pleased with the site, check out the donation drive thread.