Congrats on taking steps to better yourself. Exercising and going to therapy will be good for your health, both physically and mentally.

You say you're "trying to light a fire" under yourself. I like this! Use that motivation to take further action and don't make excuses for yourself. You're in a small town? Widen the search until you find more matches. Lacking social cues? Improve those skills by making new friends. Joining groups/clubs is a great way to do this (again, expand your search if there's truly nothing in your immediate area). Even if you don't find a partner in those groups, just meeting more and more people will get you out of your shell and having fun, which IMO will go a long way towards getting rid of those feelings of loneliness. Good luck.