Exercise and Blood Pressure

JoseCastaneda

Hi! well, I haven't read all the comments so, I'll go with mine, and if I repeat what has been said, my apologies.

I was diagnosed with HBP at age 24. I have been chubby/fat and sedentary most of my life. And I've been with HBP medication for 12 years now. In April 2014, my cardiologist told me that I had pre-diabetes, and with my lifestyle and weight (270 pounds at the time), I'd suffer a heart attack before reaching 40 years old.

So, I decided to change. The doctor has always told me that I can forget to kiss my wife in the morning but I can't forget to take my HBP medicine. And, in most of the cases, people have to take the medicine for their entire life. I decided that wouldn't be my case, against all odds.

To make my story short, here I am, 8 months later, 85 pounds lost so far, with a different lifestyle (exercise, food, rest), and the Dr. has just told me that he has no reason to prescribe the medicine again. High blood pressure isn't something that can be "cured" (at least not in most cases), but it must be regulated. The usual thing is to regulate it with medication, because most of the people can't change that much their lifestyle. But in my case (and in many other cases), after making radical lifestyle changes, and with time, medication can be reduced, and eventually, not needed.

How did I do it? I change my eating habits. While I haven't adopted any fad or fancy diet, I have learned to eat more intelligent. I have been trying to reduce my sodium intake, try to stick to my macros, and eat less crap. I eat more whole foods, less packaged stuff. Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. While I still eat pizza, ice cream, pork rinds and cakes (just a few examples), I tend to eat more healthy most of the days.

Workouts? nothing fancy. I walk every day. I run every other day. I do bicycle twice a week, and now I'm including body weight exercises. Every day.

So, how's my blood pressure now? My wife takes it every day just for monitoring purposes (she's a pediatrician), and it has been in the 100/70 - 120/80 range for two months now. My heart rate before was always 75-100 at rest. It's now 45-55 bpm at rest.

Then, I can say, it IS possible to be free of the medication. You just need patience, dedication, persistence. It can be done.

grantwashere

I'm a 46 year old male. My doc put me on those same meds last year after a visit resulted in a BP reading of somewhere in the neighborhood of 190/150. I don't recall what the exact numbers were but I know it was way too high. He contemplated putting me in the hospital that day but decided against it. Back then, I was eating everything under the sun and not moving at all. Today, I keep my caloric intake under 1,569/day. I lift weights, swim laps 2 hours per week, and hike 2 hours per week. I usually eat back half of my exercise calories. I'm close to 30 lbs lighter than I was that day. I just checked my BP a little bit ago tonight and it was 104/73. That's pretty normal now since I have been counting calories and working out. Oh, I also TOTALLY buy in to IIFYM. I eat pizza and cookies and drink whiskey and beer in that daily calorie count. No sense in being boring while I'm making this journey, eh?

Feel free to add me if you want to.

jmachiejr

Going on a diet doesn't just make your blood pressure go down. You have to lose weight first. It just takes time. Once you get your weight down your body will adjust. As others have said lowering your sodium intake can help but it doesn't work for everyone. Either way when you are on BP medicine you should be watching your salt intake.

Ibknute

JoseCastaneda wrote: »

Hi! well, I haven't read all the comments so, I'll go with mine, and if I repeat what has been said, my apologies.

I was diagnosed with HBP at age 24. I have been chubby/fat and sedentary most of my life. And I've been with HBP medication for 12 years now. In April 2014, my cardiologist told me that I had pre-diabetes, and with my lifestyle and weight (270 pounds at the time), I'd suffer a heart attack before reaching 40 years old.

So, I decided to change. The doctor has always told me that I can forget to kiss my wife in the morning but I can't forget to take my HBP medicine. And, in most of the cases, people have to take the medicine for their entire life. I decided that wouldn't be my case, against all odds.

To make my story short, here I am, 8 months later, 85 pounds lost so far, with a different lifestyle (exercise, food, rest), and the Dr. has just told me that he has no reason to prescribe the medicine again. High blood pressure isn't something that can be "cured" (at least not in most cases), but it must be regulated. The usual thing is to regulate it with medication, because most of the people can't change that much their lifestyle. But in my case (and in many other cases), after making radical lifestyle changes, and with time, medication can be reduced, and eventually, not needed.

How did I do it? I change my eating habits. While I haven't adopted any fad or fancy diet, I have learned to eat more intelligent. I have been trying to reduce my sodium intake, try to stick to my macros, and eat less crap. I eat more whole foods, less packaged stuff. Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. While I still eat pizza, ice cream, pork rinds and cakes (just a few examples), I tend to eat more healthy most of the days.

Workouts? nothing fancy. I walk every day. I run every other day. I do bicycle twice a week, and now I'm including body weight exercises. Every day.

So, how's my blood pressure now? My wife takes it every day just for monitoring purposes (she's a pediatrician), and it has been in the 100/70 - 120/80 range for two months now. My heart rate before was always 75-100 at rest. It's now 45-55 bpm at rest.

Then, I can say, it IS possible to be free of the medication. You just need patience, dedication, persistence. It can be done.

Completely second the above. I have been on blood pressure medication for 3+ years and diabetes and cholesterol medication for close to 2. I made a commitment at the beginning of October 2014 to improve my health and fitness which includes a goal to eliminate the need for any of the medications. Just had a check up earlier this week having lost 45+ pounds since the last one and the doctor said if my numbers are as good in another 3-4 months are they are now, we will cut the dosage of each in half. If they remain good for another few months after that, we will cut them out all together. The test is if I maintain this lifestyle change commitment long term in order to prevent having to go back on the meds again. I am committed to that plan but know that it does take time for some changes to happen.