Wednesday, I went in to have my final physical and blood work done for the challenge. I had to fast from Tuesday night until Wednesday at 12:15. (wow, did I miss my morning coffee!)…I got into the room, the phlebotomist came in, who was soooo excited for me. She is a beautiful woman who has just lost over 57 pounds herself doing the P90X program. She is so fit and so nice….and she was so excited for me as she took my blood, did my EKG, which she said looked amazing, and told me twice during the time that she was with me, just how proud she was of me and how great I looked. According to their scale, I was also another 4 pounds down since my final Dr. Oz weigh in! It was a great feeling to be at a doctors office, expecting to get great results. And it was really special to have such a fit, medical person say that she was proud of me.

Then my doctor came in, she was really excited to hear that I had made it to the finals, and she looked over all of the paperwork that she had to fill out for the challenge, and then proceeded to do a thorough exam so that every part was filled in.

As she looked at my EKG, and then took my blood pressure, etc…she was filling out the paperwork and just saying how proud she was of me. At on point she said, “you have the heart and blood pressure of an athlete!”  Those words really overwhelmed me. I was a real athlete in school, but that was over 30 years ago (my high school 30 year reunion is actually next week). So, after working so hard in all of the classes at the gym…interval training, weight training, spinning, rowing, etc…to hear that after around 4 months of real workouts at a gym, that I now have the heart and blood pressure of an athlete, was truly amazing! What a gift!

After a very thorough exam, with my wonderful doctor filling out lots of paperwork, making sure everything was in order for me, I left, walking to my car with such a smile, and such gratitude. I just came from an office where everyone joined me today in this exciting place and time. They spent so much time with me, making sure everything was in order with the paperwork, doing a thorough exam of every possible thing, and just making me feel sooooo great about all of the numbers and results, explaining to me what they all really meant, and showing me in my folder, how far I have come in fitness and health.

Of course, as you begin trying to lose weight, it starts off as being all about the number on the scale, and that is still very important to me at this point, but to get to a point of understanding and seeing the important numbers from your doctor improve to a point where your doctor is astounded…..WOW!  I can’t wait to see the new blood results since my last one’s in February.(I should know by Friday).  In February, my triglycerides had already come down 51 points! And all of my cholesterol levels were in a great place. Even my blood pressure was great….now it’s the blood pressure of an “athlete”, wow!

Today, Thursday, I did a spin class and wore my heart monitor and pushed it hard, to a number I had never seen before, and then saw my heart go down, back to a resting place even faster than it had before. Another amazing accomplishment, as it shows that my aerobic heart function has really improved.

These are all of the “off scale victories” that Elyse points out at the WW meetings. She tries to get through to all of us, that if you are doing all of the right things, the scale will eventually catch up, but don’t get so stuck just on the number on the scale.  Take it as feedback, not failure. There are so many other things you have to look at as you know you are becoming more fit and healthy. From clothes fitting a little better, to seeing ankles for the first time, moving a belt one notch smaller, breathing better, sleeping better, getting through a workout a bit stronger…to all of these amazing numbers getting better and better. One small change at a time, one small choice at a time leads to one small victory at a time.

I went to rowing class last night, and the owner of the gym was there, and it was great to share all of this great news with him. I rowed a lot harder last night in the intervals, just to see how hard my body would push. When I started this challenge last October, I never even dreamed of trying anything like this. In October, I started out, just like Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz said, just walk 30 minutes a day. That’s all that I did in the beginning…. and this is all what that has lead to.

As I am in the last weeks of this challenge, praying to make it to the end,  and still envisioning standing next to Dr. Oz, and having the opportunity to thank him and everyone who created this challenge, because it has changed my entire life..I am amazed at how far I have come. I knew the final number on the scale would be a big factor for me, I never imagined how incredible it would feel,  to be at my doctors office and see and experience medical numbers and results that showed such amazing improvement, and actually put me in the category of “an athlete”.  Continuing to walk in these amazing on scale and off scale victories, with such gratitude and awe!  I’ve learned so much.