Coming back for accountability to deal with the weight creep

Good morning everyone

I was a member a few years ago and lost weight using the site and then cleaning up my way of eating. I was able to maintain my weight loss pretty well on/off MFP, until the pandemic hit last year and I stopped making my health/weight management a priority. Fast forward a little over a year and I finally decided to face the music-weighed myself this morning and almost started crying, I'm up almost 25lbs. In one year!! Realizing that if I don't get back at it now, and re-take control of the situation, I'm going to end up in a really bad place with my weight and health.

I'm 42 years old and I just became interested in running a few weeks ago, for the first time, and I'm slowly working towards a goal to run in my community's annual 5K, this fall.

I'm also going to be working on getting my diet cleaned back up-eating 1,000 calorie microwave potpies for lunch every day, with a side of chips, is not beneficial for my weight goals ha! Going to start adding more veg/fruit/whole grains again, and move away from the overly processed, high calorie convenience foods that I've been consuming with no regard to calorie intake.

Whew, sorry this is so long! I'm so glad to be back and can't wait to get re-plugged into the community!