welcome dutchgirl! there are a lot of nice people on here so i'm sure you will find the support/motivation you will need to get on with your weight loss journey.
for the ticker just copy and past the bbcode from tickerfactory.com or tickercentral.com into your signature and save it. i think newbride has posted some help here if you have trouble:
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/showthread.php?t=1809
if you have any questions, feel free to pm us!