¡Ombligo!

So, after last week's weigh-in my oldest friend called me because she happened to be in town.

I last saw her a year ago and at the time tried to convince her to join Weight Watchers as it had proven to be successful in my weight loss. She was never heavy but has maintained the weight gain from her two pregnancies. She's mentioned that her eating habits aren't a problem, that her problem was a lack of exercise. While I continued with my WW/Treadmill routine, she joined Curves.

She had mentioned on the phone a few times that she hadn't lost any weight from Curves, only inches. Still, sometimes it's hard to gage weight loss.

Anyhow, when she saw me she said "Wow, you look different."

Ah, this year has been a rather hard one in so many ways. I've been SO frustrated with how slow my weight loss has been. I'll be quite honest, there are times where I'm more concerned with the numbers than how nourished my body feels.

And I know I've said it before but I really need to be more gratefull at how far I've come. The process has to be a gradual one in order for the weight loss to remain permanent.

As my WW mentor has mentioned to me on many occasions: "You didn't pack it in overnight, so it's not going to come off overnight!"

Ok, so going back to my story. My friend had mentioned that food isn't her problem but then she started talking about all the fattening and fast food she had been eating lately.

To which I said "I don't eat any fast food anymore. Instead of the regular stuff, I eat turkey bacon, turkey pepperoni and use ground turkey over beef. I eat egg whites, use fat free cheese and have sugar free ice cream in the freezer. I am very committed to my health now."

And she responded with "Oh, I'm committed! I'm just not THAT committed."

Let me add I so did not say this in my "normal" bitchy tone - and I never try to sound preachy. Because - please, there is a reason why I am on Weight Watchers!

Maybe it's me but the food substitutions aren't that much of a sacrifice. Oh sure, when I started that wasn't exactly the case. I remember crying on more than one occasion because I had used up all my daily points and was still hungry. And if I wanted to, I could still totally eat the regular stuff but then I'd have to eat a lot less of everything else.

Anyhow, talking about my health is what totally stayed with me after the visit. This entire journey isn't just about weight loss, it's about my health and being the healthiest I can be - inside and out.

Got on the scale yesterday and discovered a loss of 0.6 lbs which isn't a lot but it's more than I've lost in the past three weeks combined, so it's a start!

Fast forward to today - my labwork appt. was bumped up to this morning to test for Thalessemia. Mind you I'm am massively hemophobic but have handled labwork fairly well in these three post-Graves years that I've had to go in on a regular basis. God, I HATE labwork!

I spent last night on the treadmill, took a shower and got ready for bed. I had trouble falling asleep and stayed up late. I try to make it a point to exercise before I go in for labwork to ease any tension but because I didn't get enough sleep the night before, I skipped the treadmill this morning. Took a shower and got dressed, made sure not to apply any fragrance and I was ready to get it over with.

Got to the Dr.'s office and had to wait a while and I was fine in the waiting room - nervous as usual but all around fine.

They called me in and I talked to the phlebotomist a bit and started with my deep breathing and concentration while she started the process.

The last thing I remembered was her saying "Gosh, you don't want to give me any blood today."

Then I feel myself being drained - slowly being drained. I felt like it was all a dream and I was being lulled back to sleep.

The next thing I remembered was opening my eyes and the phlebotomist and two assistants hovering over me and seeing the three of them around me I started to think of the three witches from Macbeth - very random.

I didn't understand what was going on and they were trying to get me to drink water and breathe. I couldn't understand why my entire body was stiff and according to them I lost all color because I passed out!

They had me drink more water and wanted me to lay down for a while but I just wanted to get out of there. I was relieved to find out that blood sample had already been taken before I passed out.

They asked if I was diabetic (I'm not - YAY!) and offered cake to improve my condition but I refused a piece - which is SO unlike me.

*sobs* I HATE Labwork!

I have an appt. next Monday where I find out the results of the tests and *fingers crossed* there will be no fainting involved.