Hi Teresa and welcome.
You are doing such a smart thing to tackle this now. It is SO much harder to be heavy when you get older. My knees were killing me and I was having pain in other lower extremity joints due the the burden the weight was putting on them. You can compensate so much better when you're younger....and can be over-weight and still do plenty and have energy....but when you get older it's a much different story.
It is SO worth it to do this. Getting old is tough enough without having to deal with being over-weight on top of it. Don't get me wrong....some wonderful wisdom comes with age and we do develop, I think, greater self-control and commitment. But things like degenerative joint diseases, etc. often go with the territory and being overweight can really exacerbate them. Great decision.
deena