Blood Brothers

I used to be a regular blood donor, but that all stopped about 25 years ago, when my increasing weight led to increasing blood pressure, which led to some powerful tablets to control it, which ruled me out of giving blood. A few weeks ago I saw an advert for new donors, and it prompted me to see if I could start to donate again, given that my blood pressure tablet dose is just a quarter of what it used to be. The answer was yes, and yesterday I gave blood for the first time since 1990. It's a bit more formal nowadays, but everyone is just as friendly as they used to be, and it was an all-round nice experience, as it always was.

But there was a bit of a twist this time, because I found out that your body has to work quite hard to make up the lost pint of blood. You're not aware of it at all, but energy is being used, and I read from a reputable study that your body burns 650 calories to top you up. This must be the easiest way of burning 650 calories that there is!

I don't know if it's just coincidence, but I got on the scales this morning, and found that I had lost over a kilo since yesterday - not far off three pounds. Coincidence or not, I went online immediately and made my next donation appointment!