Exercise and Blood Pressure

Have you lost weight?

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.

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.

That's not a lot of activity.

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

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!

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.

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.

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