the incredible lightness of being

I'm a forty six year old mom of two and my eldest is a senior in high school this year. When I reached over 200 lbs last winter, I didn't know what else to do except buy bigger clothes. I felt just so tired and hopeless...told myself to just accept that I was getting older and to make the best of it. Then I visited a dear friend who had moved to another town about two year ago(so great--I had been missing her soo much) and she told me about MFP, showed me how to join, use the site...etc, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Having tried various excersise programs and diets in the past, I couldn't seem to find anything that I thought I could do for THE REST OF MY LIFE.
I weighed in at 198.8lbs on April 16, 2011, and when I stepped on the scale this am, it said 175.2!!! I almost fell off! Then I weighed myself two more times, ran to the desk to enter my weight online and started to cry. IAMSOHA[PPY!!!!!