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Life Post-Spark

  It seems a long time since Spark closed down, but it’s only four days. The time has passed very slowly! I think I’m going to be able to manage life without it, but rather than writing about the silver lining, I’m going to write about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.   The biggest loss is frequent contact with Spark friends, and I can’t even make a silk purse out of that sow’s ear. There’s no way that there’s anything good about it. How about motivation for exercise and weight? I hardly ever counted calories, so the diet parts of most health and fitness websites don’t interest me much, and I can still do the Maintenance Challenges here. It’s not that I don’t have trouble with the weight. I’ve slowly gained three kilos since I reached maintenance, and this time it seems particularly stubborn extra weight. I’ve been reading about the progress of sarcopenia through the decades, and it’s hardly surprising that you have to eat less just stay the same weight because muscle b...
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Substitutes

Walking and exercise. How am I going to stay motivated? I’m sure I will, but I enjoy adding up my minutes on Spark, getting those scarlet shields, and doing Nicole Nichols’ exercise videos. I’ve been looking around MFP for a replacement way to do it, but I haven’t worked anything out yet. I could make my own chart, and I may have to if I can’t find another way. A few years ago, a caregiving site I was on meant an enormous amount to me. It kind of fizzled out and went over to Facebook, but there were many features that disappeared - a humor section, a section just to chat. Now it’s still a valuable resource in difficult times, but I still miss the deep connections and the opportunities for fun on the old site. While searching for replacements for the great features on Spark, I thought, “Why don’t I expand my world into the 3D realm and make new connections there?” Then that five-letter word popped into my mind - Covid. So not quite yet.  Losses! Well, there are gains in life too. In...
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Happily swamped

  I want to go back to posting under my Spark name, but I’ve got to work out how, and how to enable comments to be made using aliases.   I’ve been trying to get services my disabled DH is entitled to for several years, and with different personnel, suddenly help is flooding in, which means I have to keep tidying our place up, or at least cleaning up! On top of that, I’m feeling swamped by internet teaching. My fitness minutes are abominable! Summer vacation in four weeks! Actually happily swamped, but difficult to make the mental space to take on this internet challenge. Maybe this weekend.
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Dipping a toe in the water

 I started to blog on SparkPeople some years ago. It was a way of motivating myself to lose weight and then keep my weight down while connecting with others doing the same. My favorite form of exercise is walking, which I did with a few friends and family here in Japan. We’re all seniors but we walked from 12 to 20 kilometers along the Tama River in western Tokyo. Now I’m glued to a black computer screen teaching students who keep their cameras off, and the lack of exercise is probably contributing to a bit of upward creep in weight. Got organize a solution to that.  My little grandson has started talking and I’m now “Baba,” Japanese for Gran.
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