where to start??

Hi! Welcome! You are definitely going to find that MFP helps! My starting weight was very close to yours! All you have to do to "start" is eat less calories than you burn. You don't have to make time for anything or feel like you need to completely overhaul your diet. You can eat the exact same things as you are currently eating, just less. Its so easy its a joke! Stay under your calorie goal for a week and get on the scale at the end of the week. You will realize that counting calories WORKS! Once you see the first few pounds off you are going to be hooked! Feel free to add me as a friend!

All you have to do to "start" is eat less calories than you burn. You don't have to make time for anything or feel like you need to completely overhaul your diet. You can eat the exact same things as you are currently eating, just less.

^^ This!

You don't need to exercise to lose weight, if that is what you are worried about (finding the time/motivation). I think you'll find that after you've lost some weight by eating less, you will WANT to move more and the exercise part will come naturally.

Use the MFP guidelines to determine how many calories you need to eat each day to lose weight. You can do it!!

Sorry for the loss of your dad and aunt.

Welcome! Don't worry, it all (fitness, weight, health, happiness) comes back with exercise.

My recommendation is to start small with things that you know you can achieve. It's great to have an end-goal in mind but the smaller stepping stones will be motivational mile-markers to help you get there. By this I mean two things:
1) Weight loss is a perfectly acceptable goal. While you may have an end number in mind, pick something smaller as a first goal - maybe 5 or 10 pounds to start with. WHEN you accomplish this, CELEBRATE IT in whatever way is meaningful to you that doesn't involve food as a reward.
2) Set some process rather than outcome goals too. Again, start with something manageable for you and not what the internet tells you should be manageable. You can always grow and increase from there. Maybe something like a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood 3 days a week for exercise. If you are totally new to the site, another great goal is to promise yourself to log everything you eat, maybe not even every single day to start. Don't worry to much about restricting your diet until you get a handle on what you're currently eating and into the habit of logging everyday. Take what you learn in the first week or two and set additional goals from there that can target in on lowering carbs, hitting protein macros... whatever you find is an area for improvement. Research shows that simply logging your intake, without conscious modification to your diet, will help you be more aware of what you're eating and have positive dietary effects.