Going from a 14 to a 10

A lot of women claim that their weight gain is from their children. "Oh when I had a baby I gained so much weight!" That's not the case for me though. After the birth of my daughter (who is now 5) I weighed about 20 lbs less than I do now. I gained a lot since. I've lost around 40 lbs so far. It depends. Some days I'm 190 and some days I'm 180. Gotta love water weight. But overall I've lost around 40. It took me about a year to do just by eating healthier. It's been 2 years and I haven't lost more than that. I'm at a plateau. The main reason for that is because I'm eating a very standard American diet at the moment and I'm not very active. I'm not eating as much junk as I was 40 lbs ago. But I am eating more than I should. This is it. It's time for a change. I'm making a plan and I'm going to stick with it. This isn't just to lose 40 lbs (I would like to be 140) and go down to an 8 or 10. It's also for my general health. After I lose the weight I hope to continue eating healthy and working out. So here's the plan: Exercise:: I'm going to start by using weights, doing ab work, and running 3 days a week. It's a routine I've done before and really enjoy. After I get used to that then I'm going to step it up by adding classes at my gym 3 days a week. They have some AMAZING classes there. Diet: For now I'm cutting out anything I consider unhealthy. I'm not cutting it out completely though. On the weekends I'm allowing myself to have soda and on my period I can have chocolate. Other junk foods will be eaten sparingly. The rest of my diet is pretty healthy. I eat a lot of fruits, veggies, and nuts. I try to stay away from meat because of digestive issues. I don't eat a lot of fatty foods when it comes to my meals. It's the snacks that kill me. I'm going back to eating fruit when I'm craving a snack. Sometimes all you need are some strawberries and a banana. Or an apple with almond butter. etc. I'm also going to quit smoking. The classes and running will be difficult to do with clogged lungs. lol Plus, if I'm working on being healthy then it's kind of counter productive to do something as harmful as smoking. I think I can do this. Thankfully my gym has a daycare so the whole "Who will watch the kids?" routine won't work. lol No excuses.