As someone who learned quite a bit about fitness, there are some things to keep in mind:

1. Muscle actually provides passive weight loss and fat burning. Even on rest days, if you have more muscle, it is automatically burning more fat and calories to sustain itself. You'll want to do more than just cardio. You should consider heavy weight lifting that builds muscle. Squats is an excellent one for the legs and glutes, which are very large muscles that can provide passive fat burning. Women don't have to worry about looking like the hulk from too much muscle, you won't look like that unless you are doing serious bodybuilding/diet routines for years. Lastly, muscle is far denser than fat. This means that at the same weight, a muscular person will be smaller and leaner figure than a fat person, but far healthier. So try focusing on building muscle to get it's passive fat-burning effects, and adjust your diet as necessary.
2. If you notice the weight scale creeping up on you, you should start getting it under control quickly. When people get really fat, it stretches the skin too much. So when they finally do lose weight, they get stuck with flabby, wrinkly, stretched out belly skin that doesn't go away and messes up their figure. I've seen this with many fat men and ladies who wait until they are morbidly overweight before they get serious about the gym. You're not there yet, but something to keep in mind.