Hi Kelly!
Actually, diet alone is enough to get rid of fat. You burn calories all the time just by existing. Exercise is important for other things and it might become really important if you want to have a certain look. But at this point, don't stress about it. Just focus on the diet part. Read about it, learn and figure out what sort of diet works for you. It's not supposed to be just misery and then going back to eating comfort foods. Find foods that taste good and make you feel good, but are full of nutrients and don't trigger you into eating more. Doesn't really matter if you go low carb or low fat or any other diet variation that is out there. What matters is that it feels right for you so that you can keep at it.
Persistently making healthy choices, even small ones, can lead to huge success over time. If you try to do too much at once, you might risk failure and then you'd have to start again and again and soon June is here and you've just been bouncing back and forth. So just pick a course and start moving forward (as you have) and don't worry if others say that you're not doing enough. They've just been watching too much Biggest Loser :-) Just keep at it.
Incidentally, I just pasted
a quote of something I read today over here to our 6 month goal thread, which has to do with who succeeds and who doesn't. You're welcome there, by the way :-)
Anyway, sounds like you've got the motivation part down :-) I actually can understand you on that one.