Here is what I learned this week: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

I know. Three-year-olds know that. I never claimed to be a genius.

At my last appointment with my personal trainer, I mused aloud about my body fat percentage, and wasn't it amazing that someone with a BMI in the normal range could be classified as obese? I wobbled on my Bosu ball as I said wise things about the ways we define ourselves, and how misleading those numbers can be.

"Uh, I'm not sure where you're getting your information," said my trainer, wrinkling her brow.

According to the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health, a body fat percentage of 34.7 is not, in fact, obese. It is just over the edge into the "overweight" category. Which is pretty much exactly what I'd expect, as I could stand to lose about 15 pounds.

Click here for more on Alexa's reality check.

So for your own reference, here is the real, actual, correct body fat percentage chart, the same one my trainer gave me to take home:



So let that be a lesson to all of us.

My fitness quest hit a snag last weekend, when I got the stomach flu, and the only exercise I got for several days was dragging my dehydrated body from my bed to the bathroom by my fingernails.

Three days of being ill and completely sedentary left me so weakened that when I tried to do my customary weight routine this morning, I made it through half of one set with my eight-pound weights.

One of the most frustrating parts about exercise, for me, has been the constant vigilance aspect. Fall off the wagon for even a week, and it's like you're back at the beginning all over again.

I did yoga for years and then stopped, and when I started again I couldn't heave myself into plow pose to save my life. I keep hoping that eventually I will reach a level of fitness where I can take ten days off to lounge around and eat carrot cake, and then pick right back up where I left off.

Better yet, I'd like to get to a point where exercise is no longer a chore, where I don't have to bribe/trick/bully myself into working out. Every. Single. Time. Does that ever happen, or is this Sisyphus-in-spandex routine going to continue indefinitely?

Alexa Stevenson tries out various exercise techniques and documents them every other week on Lemondrop.