Welcome to the forums!
Part of healthy eating is portion control! You can still enjoy your mom's fantastic meals, but maybe put a little less on your plate than usual? My fiance is a wonderful cook, and while I do have a lot more control over what we eat for dinner, the odd occasion that he does cook something downright bad for me (but still incredibly yummy), I just try to take a small portion of it, and then have a healthy snack later in the night if I'm peckish.
That's good you're getting more active. That will definetly help with your weight loss. I always hated exercise when I was younger, but this past year I've found once I get into the swing of it, I really enjoy it. After a few sessions you'll start feeling better (not only physically, but emotionally as well), and you'll want that high all the time
One piece of advice I will give, is that you should do a little research of the calorie value of foods you normally eat. I never thought I ate particularily badly (apart from the fast food I used to eat, and all the dinners out), but when I started counting calories, I was amazed by how many calories some of the foods I thought were healthy had! Even if you can't outright count calories because your mom cooks dinner for you, it might be good to have a ball-park idea of the foods you're eating so you can take smaller portions of the more caloric ones.