When the Cheshire emerges...

Going to the gym has predominantly been about keeping fit for me; I really only ever considered it in the soccer off-season of 2009-10 for the first time.

Finding Curves ended up being more than just going to a gym - for one thing it's not about treadmills or weights. The circuit ended up being a routine but remained a challenge, and an eventual job out of it didn't hurt either.

Holidays overseas shifted my focus slightly to regaining my former numbers. In 2010 I didn't gain much at all so it wasn't an issue. But in 2011 I found it a bit harder. Like, gaining a whole size harder.

With my move looming and no real employment I returned to Curves and did my best to shed the holiday kilos in what I call my 'unknown' month. Luckily for me I seem to do that okay. And a month or so after joining the Curves here in Dubbo I'd actually gone back to just under my pre-holiday weight.

And then I saw this.

I've never had anything like this before. I'd lost 20 centimetres on the road to recovery! I couldn't believe I actually had something significant up there, it was really encouraging. And it's still up with all of the others.

***

Before I went to Newcastle in early January the last time I wore my bikini I was a size bigger. It was in Athens, my last day before flying out of Europe where a really sleazy middle-aged Greek man tried to make me run away with him after coming up to me in the water. So I was experiencing a whole mix of emotions there.

I noticed when I had it on most recently (laying in the amazing Newcastle sand) that it was a little bit loose, top and bottom. Felt a bit smug there. But annoyed I'd stretched it out at the same time. And realised I felt no different to what I usually do.

Moral of this story: you work toward what you feel is right for you.

I could have stayed at that size. I had a lot of people telling me I looked healthier as that little bit bigger. But not fitting into my clothes did NOT want to make me be home. I couldn't even pick out three-quarters of my outfits as daily choices, which was for a short time a terrible loss. Curves has brainwashed me into thinking healthier thoughts about exercise and looking after myself - so don't touch me, I'm a star okay?