Unfit and sedentary

[Peppa08]

Can being unfit and overweight cause a fast heart rate when walking or just getting up, I’m about 15 and a half stone and don’t move a lot. Is this what it could be causing fast heart rate

[Hidden]

If you’re overweight, your heart will have to work harder when moving around, which often translates to a higher heart rate generally. You’ve said how much you weigh, but not your height, so I can’t determine to what extent you’re overweight, but I used to be morbidly obese, and even my resting heart rate was far higher when I was big compared to now that I’m a healthy weight. The same is true of being unfit; the primary way of measuring improvement to physical fitness is monitoring changes to heart rate over time. Excluding people with heart conditions for a minute (because that can effect things), the fitter you are, the lower your resting heart rate, the less your hr raises when exercising, and the more effort you have to put in to get it to rise to same level. When I first started exercising, my heart rate would soar very quickly doing the most basic things. These days, having dropped 10 stone, it still soars as a result of the cardiac issues I’ve got, but it doesn’t happen as quickly, and not in response to barely doing anything at all, I have to put quite a bit of effort in to get the same effect. The other major thing to consider is that excess weight is a massive risk factor for all sorts of health problems, including heart attacks, strokes and diabetes, so even if you don’t have a heart problem currently, all the while you’re overweight, you’re stacking the odds against yourself. You can be overweight and relatively fit (like Lizzo, the pop star - she’s significantly obese, but has currently got good physical fitness as demonstrated by all the videos she puts out to support her stance that being fat isn’t a problem), but you cannot be overweight and healthy. Fitness and health are not the same thing. Having been 21 stone, with a BMI of 48, I will argue that point all day long with anyone that would like to disagree.

[Peppa08 in reply to Hidden]

I’m 5ft 3 and my heart rate will rise quickly from just getting up to about 120 and then about 140/50 just walking around and I start to feel dizzy, legs a bit shaky I don’t know wether this is from being inactive for so long or a heart problem I have had a recent 24 hour ecg that picked up sinus tracardia, do I need more tests do you think it is making me really anxious and scared to move it’s all I’m thinking about 😥

[Hidden in reply to Peppa08]

Sinus tachycardia is a faster than ‘normal’ heart rate, so more than 100bpm, but to what extent and when is the key bit. I strongly suspect I have something called inappropriate sinus tachycardia: having lost the weight, my resting heart rate has dropped from the 80s/90s to the mid 50s, however walking across the room bumps it up to 100, sometimes as high as 120 (still better than it used to be when I was big, though!). I’m 37 and have an arrhythmia anyway, but when I do my regular cardio exercise, I exceed 180 even though I take medication to lower my heart rate to prevent the arrhythmia I have. Because I’m fairly fit now, as soon as I stop moving it very rapidly drops back down, it’s just still a bit too quick to fire up in the first place, and overreacts to boot. However, sinus tachycardia in and of itself isn’t abnormal, lots of things including caffeine, anxiety, stress, and exercise can all lead to completely normal sinus tachycardia. If you’re above 100 more often than not, that would also be inappropriate sinus tachycardia, at which point it’s about lowering the heart rate with beta blockers, but aside from potentially adding to the problem, excess weight can also play a part with how well medication will work to do it. Often larger people require larger doses of many meds to achieve the same effect as somebody at a healthy weight. A 24hr holter (the test you had) is designed to pick up a huge amount of abnormalities with the heart, so the fact that all it registered is sinus tachycardia is reassuring. If you’ve seen the report, or received a letter, it should give you your average heart rate whilst you were wearing the monitor - the standard definition of IST isan average of 100bpm or more (or above 90 in some areas), although sudden raises like the ones I get are also symptomatic of it, but having IST is most often nothing more than an inconvenience for the majority of people.

In the nicest possible way, and I’m sure you already know this, you are significantly overweight. Having worked out your BMI, to get down to the top of the healthy range (18 to 25), you’d need to drop about 5 stone. I know better than anyone how daunting a prospect that probably seems, but I also know better than anyone that it is completely achievable if you want to lose the weight. The biggest issue with weight gain is the mental and emotional relationship with food, not the food itself, and anyone that is obese actually needs to deal with that side of it more than they do the diet and exercise. Nobody gets big if they have a healthy relationship with food, and nobody loses weight effectively and keeps it off for a sustained period unless they develop a healthy relationship with food. It’s why a significant proportion of people that have bariatric surgery or follow replacement diets gain some or all of the weight back - they’ve restricted their physical ability to eat, but once the novelty of that wears off, the triggers and mental drive to overeat haven’t actually changed.

Regardless of whether there is anything wrong with your heart atm, losing weight is the single biggest thing you can do to help your health both right now, and in the future. I can completely understand the anxiety, but your heart is a muscle: like all muscles, the less you use it, the more you lose it. Exercise is important for everyone because it strengthens the heart and helps it to work more effectively. I also wonder from your posts if anxiety generally is a factor in what’s going on for you, in which case getting some appropriate support and treatment for that will really, really help. Again, I’m speaking from my own extensive experience there. Gentle, regular exercise (as long as the medics are happy), and adjusting your diet will ultimately do you the world of good, not just physically, but mentally, too. And dieting doesn’t have to be depressing or lead to cravings - I didn’t cut anything at all out, just adjusted my portions and had any treats (like cheese, and chocolate) in moderation. The biggest secret to my weight loss was actually really simple: if you don’t buy it in the first place, you can’t eat it.

If you haven’t actually had medical feedback about your holter results, I would speak to your GP and ask them to explain what the results mean both generally and for you specifically. I’d also ask them about exercise and what they feel is safe and appropriate. Covid has kind of bandjaxed everything, but when things are more normal, many GPs can refer you for help with exercise. If you wanted to chat about the weight and diet side of things privately, then please feel free to message me.

[nursenancy53 in reply to Hidden]

Well done on your amazing weight loss x

[Handel in reply to Hidden]

Great stuff Charlie. xxx

[Peppa08 in reply to Hidden]

Is it dangerous? I’m scared to move

[Hidden in reply to Peppa08]

No, IST is not dangerous. Not moving is definitely dangerous, though. Speak to your GP, get them to explain the holter result and what that means for you, then start dealing with your anxiety and lack of movement.

[Peppa08 in reply to Hidden]

They just said sinus tachycardia and to do some gentle walking, but even walking slow raises it to 150 and then I feel dizzy and start to panic

[lettingoffsteam in reply to Hidden]

Amazing weight loss, well done Charlie.

[Hidden in reply to lettingoffsteam]

Thank you 😊

[lettingoffsteam]

Losing weight and taking gentle exercise will help you.I was wondering whether some of your symptoms are due to anxiety as I have been plagued with that too.If you are concerned about your heart check with your GP.Also take a look at the BHF website for diet and exercise ideas.

[Xtorti0n]

Hi Peppa, 2 years ago I was 18+ stone fat bloke - eating the wrong things, drinking too much, sedentary job and lifestyle. The scare came for me a couple of years ago when I wasn't feeling great, had gout and was 1 point off diabetes. I was sleepwalking towards bad things.To answer your question - yes all the extra weight will put a strain on your heart and exertion will have it beating faster than that of a lighter person.

The good news is you can fix a lot of things for free 😀.

I overhauled my lifestyle aged 48 - ditched all the bad stuff I was doing.

If, after looking at your diet, you find you consume too many bad things then change it - I ditched sugary soft drinks, pastries, ready meals, milk chocolate, booze and caffeine. I've embraced a diet more around veg, fruit, berries, seeds, nuts, fish. I have very high cocoa plain chocolate and the odd whiskey & beer. Plus a monthly restaurant treat.

Then exercise - I got walking I try for at least 5 miles a day in working week and up it to 8-10 miles on weekend days.

When faced with health issues that lay ahead it was easy to make changes , losing 8st.

I don't know your age/sex so you have to decide what's right for you. I use hip/weight ratio as a guide over BMI.

If you make a good effort to change things you'll improve for the better. Take healthcare professional advice if you plan strenuous exercise and wait until you've "settled" before buying new clothes or you'll be buying 2/3 times (like I did 🤣).

Good luck!

[thehypnotist in reply to Xtorti0n]

Given your amazing changes, would you know anything about how useful trying to do a VERY modified HITT session would be?

[Xtorti0n in reply to thehypnotist]

I don't know much about HIIT but I think it has its place if done say every other day and not for more than 30 mins. I'd like to get into it some time. The best I do atm is a daily slot of 15 mins exercise bike, 10 mins crunches and 10 mins arms/weights toning.

[Peppa08 in reply to Xtorti0n]

When my heart rate goes up it makes me so anxious and then I’m scared to move after

[Hidden]

Hi Peppa08

CDreamer sent you a detailed reply to your post about your problem on the Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA) forum, referencing POTS syndrome. Could well be worth a look.