blood pressure and weight?

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koutroulakis
koutroulakis Posts: 77
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anybody else struggled losing weight with high blood pressure. I have not been able to get the scale to go down no matter how high or low or in between my calorie deficit was. I would lose 3 gain 4, lose 4 gain 2. I finally went to the doctor and they did blood work, which came back for the most part good (except autoimunie disease). however my blood pressure was extremely high (so high they wouldn't let me leave w/o EKG.

well, after taking medication (has a little bit of diuretic in it) the water weight is dropping and so is my weight...any thought on how or why?

Jill

Replies

  • susanrush
    susanrush Posts: 18
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    Two years ago I suffered from extremely high blood pressure, around the 190-200/110-120. Cutting out salt helps but for me the biggest help was eliminating meat and dairy. Meat digests slowly in your system and a lot of the red meats can be high in sodium. If you google the SALT diet, that is supposed to bring it down. I went vegan though and without medication brought my bp down to 115/70.
  • Bevkus
    Bevkus Posts: 274 Member
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    the diuretic in bp pill is hrlping with aater retention.

    If you find you r always gaining and losing the same weight over and over, you might be insulin resistant. that condition often gies hand in hand with high BP.

    test it out...go on low carb diet for two weeks...less than 80-100g carbs per day. if weight comes off, carbs coukd be ur problem
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    You should maybe consult with your doctor a little bit more as to why you might have been retaining so much fluid. There could be an underlying cause.

    But if you have HBP then definitely cut your sodium intake. I think the American Heart Association recommends only 1500mg a day for hypertensive sodium sensitive people.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    I would also try lower carb to see if it helps to lower BP. Just watch it because going low carb can really plummet your BP if also on BP meds. A lot of folks find they have to start cutting back on their meds otherwise BP goes too low.
    What is the autoimmune disease - hypothyroid?
  • IvoryParchment
    IvoryParchment Posts: 651 Member
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    The only thing a diuretic pill does is force your kidneys to waste sodium. You wouldn't need it if you hadn't eaten the sodium in the first place. Read labels. You'd be surprised how much is in foods, even if you don't add table salt.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I don't know much about losing weight with high blood pressure, but I do know that for me a regular exercise program (if you don't have one already) helped greatly to bring mine down. A few years back, way before MFP or the gym I had some issues with my blood pressure. It wasn't high enough for medication or anything.. but like 140+ / 95. Considering I was like 16/17 years old and ~140lbs at 5'8 so not overweight at all my doctor was not happy.

    Anyway, I had a feeling it wasn't helping that I did no exercise, my doctor didn't think so, she said that wouldn't be the case at my age. So I had loads of tests and they found nothing that could be causing it, and that was that, not much could be done apart from check it regularly and make sure it didn't go up!
    Started exercising regularly, surprise surprise it went down, even though my weight never changed much.

    I haven't taken my BP in quite a few months but last time I did I was around 145lbs and 120/75.
  • Annmarie49
    Annmarie49 Posts: 84
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    HBP is not a reason/excuse not to be able to lose weight consistently. there are only a couple of antihypertensive drugs that 'may' cause initial weight gain however, this is rectified spontaneously within 2-6wks in 98.5%+ of individuals.

    Diuretics will support the elimination of any excess fluid via the renal functions, that is causing the heart to work harder and an immediate weight loss is apparent, thus, reducing blood pressure.
    The majority of people with HBP are overweight, hence one of the reasons why they have HBP. It is very unusual for somebody of normal weight/build etc to be hypertensive unless there is a medical reason/genetic/familial reason for it, which any Dr will ascertain.
    it is the same rationale with HBP as it is with being over weight, it didn't happen overnight (although, extreme cases have been recorded).
    Take a practical approach to changing to a healthier lifestyle, for the longer term, weight loss, exercise and general good health= lower blood pressure. (every piece written in medical journals across the world supports this, they can't ALL be wrong, although, there is always the minority exceptions to this, as there is with any medical research!!!!!)

    don't give up and don't use it as a reason/excuse to not progress..... you will see the benefits/results if you go with the plan!!!
    It may take time to work out what is useful/works for you but trial and error will help this.... you can do it!!
  • alyson820
    alyson820 Posts: 448 Member
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    I don't think hbp has anything to do with weight loss. However, the cause of your hbp might be rooted in the amount of sodium you're consuming. If you're taking in too much sodium, not only will it raise your bp, but it will also cause you to retain water.
  • adaplas
    adaplas Posts: 17 Member
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    You mentioned autoimmune disease. Better ask your doctor what specific autoimmune disease you have. Autoimmune diseases are usually multisystemic, and may affect your kidneys (causing hypertension and water retention) or your cardiovascular system (atherosclerosis which can also cause hypertension).

    There are many kinds of autoimmune disease and I will not list them here. I urge you to confer with your doctor again, this is not something you can take for granted.

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