Hey Pals!

Hello, I guess we're all here for the same reasons. I'm 26 yr old mother of a 9 month old and I can't exactly blame my pregnancy on my weight gain. I'm only 4'11" so obviously my weight should be somewhere in the 100-110s range. All through middle school, high school, and my freshman year of college I weighed 105lbs and was never a really active person, except for being in marching band. Well, the summer before my sophomore year of college I worked at a restaurant and gained 5lbs. It was really no big deal at the time, I figured it would come off naturally since it always seemed to work that way before. I got married two months before I turned 24, by that time I was already at 120-125lbs. Of course I wasn't happy, but again I figured that's life, I was getting older and it wasn't such a big deal. Well, less than one month after being married I quit my job and about a month later I became a teacher and moved into my in-laws house. Before the fall semester was even over I had gained 20lbs. It had taken me about 5 yrs to gain the first 20ish lbs and in 2007 I gained another 20ish lbs in less than a six month period. I just had my first child in August 2009 and the weight came off immediately, in less than two weeks I actually weighed less than I had before I had gotten pregnant. Well, I could only stay on maternity leave for more than 6 wks and as soon as I returned to work I gained some weight back and am now at 142lbs give or take.
I've recently reconnected with a lot of my high school class on FB and it's amazing to see how much people have gained/lost weight or have been able to keep the weight off and still look the same. Last month my aunt tagged me in one of her pictures and when I looked at the picture it took me a second or two to recognize myself - I couldn't even recognize myself because I still believe in my mind that I'm that petite girl I was in high school but I'm not anymore :-( I turn 27 in three months and it's going to be my 10 yr reunion next summer - I have to do something about this weight NOW!!! I'm a teacher and have the summer off so I definitely want to take advantage of the time I have. I don't have $ for a gym but I can definitely walk in my neighborhood or the local track and my daughter would love to have a reason to be taken outside for a stroll.
Any support and/or advice you all have would definitely be appreciated!