...and before you your mind into the gutter, you need to get it right back out of there.

Last night, for the first time in ages, I went back to Curves. If you've been following this blog for some time, then you know that I'm a Curves addict - not an exercise addict, mind you, but a Curves addict. And you also know that in the last month I've dealt with a back injury (very bad muscle strain), physical therapy, and a really bad case of intestinal flu.

All that combined together kept me from getting my measurements done at the beginning of May, and kept me from going to the gym all but twice. Yup, twice. In an entire month.

So I had my measurements taken yesterday, and I bet you can guess what one month away from the gym did to me. Yup - everything's out of whack. I've gained 1/4 to a 1/2 inch *everywhere*. That was really disappointing, except that my weight is down (132 pounds even now) and my body fat is...

...wait for it....

25.9%! YAY!!!! I got it under 26. Finally. But I suspect that both of those milestones are a result of having the intestinal flu that I had last week. Nevertheless, I'm trying to make sure I keep it that way. So I started with my workout yesterday. And about 1/3 of the way to completed, one of the rotating fans they have finally hit me and I shivered. That's when I realized that I was sweating. And that made me happy.

Considering that I could barely use the machines the two times that I came in post back strain, and it was really humbling to do that, and then I was gone for another week on top of that, it felt really great to be able to use the machines at almost perfect capacity again.

So I was sweaty, and I was happy, and I kept moving around the circuit. I did situps afterward, and while it was challenging on my hip (which is really the issue that led to the back strain) and definitely challenging on my abs, it felt good. I was happy to stretch and sweat and be sore.

Now, before you label me some freaky exercise evangelist, you have to understand - I hate feeling helpless and that back strain rendered me helpless for a couple of days, and then weak for the rest of the time while things slowly healed. Going to Curves a couple of weeks ago was a milestone but I was still far from capacity.

Yesterday felt like I was almost normal again, and this morning I have the slight ache and wonderful stretchy soreness to prove it. Feels good to stretch, and I can't wait to get back to Curves on Wednesday...

...for a little more sweat, a little more satisfaction, and to keep that body fat down.