Exercise and Blood Pressure

bermequeen · January 2015

I'm getting better with snacking but I'm getting frustrated with my blood pressure. My doctor put me on medicine in August and told me to lose weight. I half listened and then in October she changed it to add a water pill to it because she said I was retaining water and it was still high. I checked my pressure on one of those digital ones in the grocery store and it still says it's high. I'm eating better and doing atleast 20 minutes of activity, what else do I need to do to get it down? I'm so over this. Please help.

BWBTrish · January 2015

I am not a doctor so not giving any medical advice here. But mine was too high too.
I cut back all added salt. And salty foods ( like cod or other salty foods) i spread over the week.

i eat everything fresh and homemade (cook from scratch)
And like magic lol.... i got mine down again to 123/73.
Took me 3 months and losing a lot of weight.

But no medication at all what so ever

I take some supplements and vitamins but that's it.

Also my blood sugar level is normal again.

So yes changing your diet could/can help and exercising. It only takes a bit of time.

You can add me and explore my diary if you want, if that helps

healthygreek · January 2015

Have you lost weight?

Liftng4Lis · January 2015

Lower your sodium and keep plugging away. When you say eating better, what does that mean?

shabaity · January 2015

This leaves some details out eating better can mean a lot of things. So did you eat a healthier diet, cut calories, or some combination? Second you say you half listened so did you listen and lose weight or no?

Now for some advice to take as you will lowering salt can help with this not saying it will and there is a limit to how low you should go and this should be determined by you and your doc if it's a route you take. Second upping your activity more if you can may also help more.

zyxst · January 2015

Talk to your doctor again about what you need to do to lower your BP. For some people, weight loss along with a lower sodium intake will lower BP. For others (like me), we just have HBP despite weight loss, lower sodium, and better eating.

TimothyFish · January 2015

Only some people have blood pressure that is sensitive to salt. Losing weight often helps. Cardiovascular exercise can help. Your blood vessels expand during exercise, so your blood pressure will often go down after exercise. Foods rich in potassium help some people.

JoyeII · January 2015

It's unlikely it has anything to do with sodium. Lose weight, exercise, take your meds as prescribed, and see your doc every 90 days or so until he/she gets the dosage correct for you.

azulvioleta6 · January 2015

That's not a lot of activity.

Have you tried the DASH diet? Do you cook from scratch or eat processed foods?

lisac195 · January 2015

Sometimes weight loss does not change blood pressure readings enough to be in a safe level. But sometimes it does. I would encourage you to work hard to get to a healthy weight and see what that does but don't go too long with high blood pressure, it is dangerous to do so and very hard on your body.

Adc7225 · January 2015

First if you are taking the medicine your blood pressure should not still be high.

The thing that started me on this was my high blood pressure, watching most of my relatives deal with that and how you start with one pill and then you need another for some reaction from the first pill - I wasn't having it. I started at 44 years old, 244 pounds at 5'2". My first doctor gave me medication that was not working for me and even though I took after doing some research I discovered it was not the recommend for African Americans. I am 99.9% sure I was AA the day he gave it to me. Now I have a new doctor who is semi-homeopathic and we discussed a plan that had me going to 175 and she would wean me off what I was supposed to be taking (that I never took). I think I was so excited not to have a Dr. tell me that I need to be a weight based on a chart that this really helped me work at it because it was a real goal that was for me as an individual. At 175 I was at a normal BP and with no pre-conditions (pre-diabetic, etc.) Of course losing weight will help, also being active will help, cutting the salt (it will take some time for your taste buds to adjust but you will be surprised).

If you are not comfortable with the advice the doctor is giving you and you cannot have a real conversation with your doctor to figure out a plan that you can manage you might want to consider changing. I always see this as a situation where there is only one me and I need to look out for me!

CraigShift · January 2015

Bermequeen, watch the movie forks over knives it is a life changer, and the engine #2 diet rip esylestein https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DbqzeO480rM&x-yt-cl=84503534&x-yt-ts=1421914688

bermequeen · January 2015

healthygreek wrote: »

Have you lost weight?

I've lost about 5lbs so far

bermequeen · January 2015

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Lower your sodium and keep plugging away. When you say eating better, what does that mean?

Less fried and fatty foods, less junky snacks, just mindful of my intake

bermequeen · January 2015

TimothyFish wrote: »

Only some people have blood pressure that is sensitive to salt. Losing weight often helps. Cardiovascular exercise can help. Your blood vessels expand during exercise, so your blood pressure will often go down after exercise. Foods rich in potassium help some people.

Ok I have a potassium, vitamin d, vitamin k, and iron deficiency

bermequeen · January 2015

CraigShift wrote: »

Bermequeen, watch the movie forks over knives it is a life changer, and the engine #2 diet rip esylestein https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DbqzeO480rM&x-yt-cl=84503534&x-yt-ts=1421914688

Thank you

amunet07 · January 2015

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

I am not a doctor so not giving any medical advice here. But mine was too high too.
I cut back all added salt. And salty foods ( like cod or other salty foods) i spread over the week.

i eat everything fresh and homemade (cook from scratch)
And like magic lol.... i got mine down again to 123/73.
Took me 3 months and losing a lot of weight.

But no medication at all what so ever

I take some supplements and vitamins but that's it.

Also my blood sugar level is normal again.

So yes changing your diet could/can help and exercising. It only takes a bit of time.

You can add me and explore my diary if you want, if that helps

^^ that and try adding tea with Hibbiscus in it, it naturally helps. I drink Celestial Seasonings Apple Cinnamon. Also, try meditation or something similar, part of blood press is tension/stress.

20yearsyounger · January 2015

I ignored my doctor for 7 years and finally decided to do something about it. Here are the things that help me to manage without medication (in addition to losing weight). Reduce sodium in take while balancing it with my potassium intake, low-mid intensity exercise nearly every day for at least 30 minutes, avoid coffee and other stimulants including any type of decongestant medication, drink the right level of water, added vitamin c to help with stress levels. This is my situation, may not work for others.

happygalah · January 2015

Do you have a home blood pressure monitor? Try the DASH diet. Measure your sodium intake. Start tracking it today and see how much you are actually consuming. Cut out caffeine. 30 minutes of vigorous cardio exercise every day; something like zumba. What worked best for me is the vigorous exercise every day and losing weight. I was so amazed how when I measure my BP an hour after exercising, my BP was nice and low. I would try the sodium reduction and vigorous exercise first.

cwolfman13 · January 2015

I'm hypertensive and while often people can rectify this through diet, weightloss, and fitness, not all of us can. In my case, it is hereditary. I've been able to reduce my dosage, but I will likely be on hypertension meds for the rest of my life.

It's not all for not though...I'm more fit than I've been since my mid twenties and feel and look great. Taking a little pill isn't a big deal compared to the alternative...and really, had I not made the changes I made, hypertension would likely be the least of my worries in about a decade or so.

Also, if you're nutrient deficient you should start there...

FredDoyle · January 2015

First, lose that 50 lbs.
You'll see the difference.

JoseCastaneda · January 2015

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 · January 2015

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 · January 2015

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 · January 2015

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.

Exercise and Blood Pressure

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