New here and trying to stay motivated

Don't try to stay motivated. Motivation comes and goes. You lose weight when you consistently eat less, it's that simple, but you have to do it for real and for a long time, so it's not necessarily easy. Most people struggle because we tend to overcomplicate simple things and be taken in by hype. MFP can change all that for you if you let it. MFP has given you a calorie target that makes you lose weight at a healthy rate if you stick to it - as fast as you can without feeling any negative effects. If you don't have a lot to lose, it will be slow, and take a lot of patience, but implementing some tweaks to your routines can be enough. If you have a lot to lose, it will be faster in the beginning, but you'll have to make major changes of habits, attitudes and environment.

If you use MFP as it's designed, and eat food you like, and exercise moderately, you'll find that weightloss stops being a horrible time, and starts being an enjoyable time. Welcome to MFP