MrsLovebug

I find it easier to avoid sugary foods on the days that I'm not working, which is weird in a way because there is always something available to eat at work - whether it's chocolates, biscuits, sweets or cakes. However, it tends to be the evenings after work that's my downfall, or at least it was prior to the new me! I blame the job itself though, or more specifically my boss. When she's in one of her moods, which touch wood she hasn't been in a while, things in the office tend to get a bit stressful with a really bad atmosphere, sometimes for weeks on end, and that's when I tend to turn to comfort food in the evenings... I guess it's a way of cheering myself up! So far this year everything's been okay on the job front so maybe that's one of the reasons why I've been able to stay so strong with my food intake. I guess the real test for me will be when work gets stressful again!

Thanks Inver! I've had a bit of a hectic week this week so my time here has been limited but hopefully things will change now the weekend has arrived. Thank you Jessi!

Yeah, this is something that I still haven't plucked up the courage to do yet. Maybe in another week or two!

Good for you for wearing a bikini in the first place! I haven't had the confidence to wear even a one-piece for years! I'm guilty of that, or at least I used to be. I'm still going strong at the moment, although I have had a few temptations at work this week. Yesterday I had to turn down cream cakes that one of the girls at work brought in, and today I had to turn down a slice of carrot cake and I love carrot cake! I did it though, so go me! I'm actually quite proud of myself and in turn it's making it easier to say no. I do know I'm bound to slip up at some point, so the longer I can go the better! Well done to everyone for keeping so strong and for doing so well!

Thank you Weave! I think I'm already well on my way. Thanks! Thank you! I love it here already! Thanks Laura!

Thanks Chrissy! Like I said I've never formatted them before, but after reading the comments on Amazon I did begin to wonder whether I should.

Sorry for posting in a thread that's not been posted in for nearly 7 months but I was wondering if anyone could help me out with some advice about USB memory sticks. I recently purchased two new 16GB memory sticks, but while reading some of the reviews on Amazon a few people had mentioned that they had formatted them before using them to get rid of the software that they came with. Now, I've never done that with the previous USB sticks I've had in the past and I didn't even know they came with built in software, so I'm just wondering if people would recommend formatting them before use and if so why. Any advice from someone a little bit more computer savvy than me is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I collect the 4" plush My Blue Nose Friends characters. I initially bought a couple of them last year because I thought they looked adorable, then very quickly fell in love with them all and purchased all the ones I could possibly find. Sadly, I don't have the earlier ones in the collection because they seem to be fairly hard to come by unless you want to pay a fortune, which I'm not prepared to do. Now I've started collecting them though, I can't stop!

I got a Kindle for my birthday last year and although I was a little sceptical about it at first I have to admit that I love it now. I have about 120 books on it so far, most of which were either free or less than £3.00. I still buy just as many books as before and if I'm honest still prefer them, but the Kindle is great and convenient when it comes to storage etc.

After taking a fortnight off from reading I'll be picking up my first book of the year today. I've been searching through my books since yesterday looking for the perfect book to kick-start my 'reading for enjoyment' phase again and the books I keep coming back to time and time again are the Harry Potter books, so I guess that's what I'm going to do - re-read the whole series back-to-back for the pure and simple reason of... well, just because I can.

Admittedly I haven't actually posted in any book threads yet, but I'm already beginning to think I'm going to spend a fair amount of time here. Everyone has been so welcoming and I love the fact that you can talk about everything here, not just books.

You are all such an attractive group of people. I think I'll hold off posting a picture of my ugly mug until I've been here a little longer. Let my charm and wisdom work its magic first!

Thanks for the info. You've made me feel a little better. I mean, I knew it would make a difference, but I always thought that I would have to do more exercise to be able to see that much of a difference. I haven't really been to a gym since my schooldays so I can't really say I hate them as such, but I think its probably more to do with self confidence. I don't really have any at the best of times, so plucking up the courage to go to a gym or any sort of public class would scare me to death. One of my work colleagues goes to a spin class and that sounds like fun, but again walking into a place where the majority of people are slim, toned and fit compared to me... yeah, I don't think so! One good thing is that I don't drive so I do tend to do a fair bit of walking anyway. I walk to and from work and usually go for a walk at lunchtime too, providing the weather isn't too bad, so I guess that's probably a start right?

I see a few people have mentioned having and using a Wii. Would you recommend getting one? How much room and time do you need in order to make full use of it? Although I'm doing quite good with the food side of things I know for a fact I'm probably not getting enough exercise to make that much of a difference and going to the gym is just not me. I hate even the thought of it and wouldn't know where to start and even I did I don't think I'd be able to do it, confidence wise.

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone! I hope so, although I really do need to try and concentrate on my backlog of books first. Excellent. I'm still trying to find my way around the board so I haven't come across it yet, but I will definitely check it out. Thanks. Although I enjoyed blogging, even the non-book side of it was becoming more of a chore and was eating into my 'free time' so to speak. I'm thoroughly enjoying my time more now that I'm not spending all my online time blogging. I just wish I'd made the decision sooner. This seems to be a popular warning!

Thank you. Joining a forum as big and as well established as this one is a little daunting, but everyone has been really welcoming so far. Well, I bought a lot of books last year and as such I've been banned from buying anymore. I'm going to try and go all year without buying any, although I somehow doubt this will happen. My back-up idea involves allowing myself one Amazon shopping trip later in the year (after I've built up a wish list) and hopefully that will be enough to feed my addiction. That's the plan, anyway!

Well, to be honest I like a bit of everything really. I don't think I have a particular favourite type of genre, but I do tend to stick to authors I've read previously. Which, don't get me wrong, is fine in many ways but I would like to try and broaden my horizons a little and maybe try something a little bit more out of my comfort zone. Thank you. That is certainly my main goal for this year. I have always been a big reader but I really have felt like I've lost my way over the last year or so and that's not something I want to continue with. I want to get back to the real reasons why I choose to read in the first place, so I definitely think giving up the blog is the right way to go, certainly for the next 12 months at least. My thoughts exactly! I did receive the books 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up and 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die for Christmas so I'm planning on trying to read a few of the books featured in these that I wouldn't necessarily have picked up before. I also want to try and read a few more of the classics, as books by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens etc. are ones I really want to read but have so far avoided.

I wouldn't say I was on a diet as such but I have made a conscious decision since New Year's Day to cut out all the crap I've felt I've eaten a lot of over the past three or four months. I'm on Day 14 now and so far I'm doing really well. I've had no chocolate, sweets, cakes or even crisps in all that time, which personally I feel is quite an achievement considering the family are still working their way through all the backlog of things we've had leftover from the festive period. I've even turned down homemade baking which is something I don't think I have ever done before... quite an achievement for someone who doesn't just have one sweet tooth, but rather a whole mouthful of them! I haven't weighed myself in months either, so I have no idea what my starting weight was but I'm going to try and hold off weighing myself until the end of January. Hopefully by then it won't be quite a shock! I even borrowed a Davina McCall fitness DVD from a work colleague of mine earlier in the week and stuck it on one evening. I thought it looked like it could be fun (and good for me), but as someone who hasn't been in a gym since her schooldays I figured if I tried something like that on my own I'd end up hurting myself... or worse! So, I think I'll stick to getting my diet and food intake under control before considering any form of exercise!

Hi everyone, Happy New Year to you all. My name is Louise, I'm in my early-thirties and my new year's resolution for 2012 is to start reading for enjoyment again. You see, up until the end of last year I had a blog which I used for both book reviews and general bits and bobs, however it was beginning to feel more like a chore than anything else, the reviews were beginning to get a bit generic and I wasn't enjoying the reading experience as much as I used to... which, quite frankly, sucked! So, after giving it some thought I decided to take a step back from blogging and put my blog on an indefinite hiatus. I also made the decision to take a few weeks off from reading in order to give myself a little bit of a break from everything and clear my mind. Two weeks have passed and I'm ready to pick up a book again. I made the decision to join the Book Club Forum as part of my new start and I'm looking forward to making some new friends along the way.