Sue,
No worries. It's a long process to erase years of questionable habits. Start with nutrition and add in some exercise. It's a solid combination of both. You need to be able to come up with a nutritional plan that you will be happy with for the rest of your life. That's the biggest issue with the specialty diets. You lose weight while you are on them, and then gain once you go back to your old eating habits.
The same goes for exercise alone. In the spring of 2005, I started exercising heavily with a personal trainer and lost about 30 pounds. However, I didn't change my eating habits. My exercising slowed down, and I gained all the weight back. This past January, I started again with a personal trainer and changed my eating habits. 40+ pounds later, I am reaching my 1 year mark. I am eating a wide variety of foods, and still have treats once in a while, I had a hunk of carrot cake yesterday mmmmmmmm, but I am eating foods I could eat for the rest of my life. I don't feel like I am missing anything. Now I need to reduce quantity, and I think things will start to drop again.
Keep up the work, and keep posting here, good or bad. It's a great group, and you will get a lot of support.