High Blood Pressure at 26!?: Just found... - Weight Loss Support

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High Blood Pressure at 26!?

Vegeta profile image
19 Replies

Just found out my BP is 167/80.

Last year it was 120. Now, I have not exercised in a long while. I walk a lot, but that won't change anything as I can walk miles and not feel tired.

I need help with diet and fitness advice. I'm 5"11 and weigh 85kgs. I need to lose 23kgs.

I need some advice. Thanks in advance

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Vegeta profile image
Vegeta
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19 Replies
Prin profile image
Prin

Oh dear by my calculations you will then only weigh 22 kg!

HI Vegeta,

I'm presuming that you meant 185 kgs (about 29 stone) and that you're intending to lose a third of your body mass (about 10 stone), which would still leave you obese. At a guess, I'd put you at a "top of normal BMI" weight of about 80 kgs. If I've presumed wrongly then my apologies in advance.

If that is the case, then you are very seriously obese, and at that level of obesity - whilst all the information at the NHS live well lose weight pages and within the free 12 week plan is perfectly valid - I would strongly recommend that you discuss this in some depth with a doctor with a view to entering into a medically supervised weight loss regime.

It's going to be a long journey for you - but an extraordinarily beneficial one.

Good luck with your weight loss journey.

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply to

I meant 23 kgs, not 63 kgs. Typos :D

jah2507 profile image
jah2507

I would suggest resistance strength training. Purely losing weight will also make you lose muscle. Building lean muscle tissue will help increase your metabolism and help you burn calories - even while resting. I suggest speaking to a personal trainer as well as a nutritionist to learn about strength training. You'll build lean muscle tissue, lose body fat, reduce your BMI, and reduce your blood pressure, amongst many other healthy benefits.

Good luck!

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply tojah2507

I read that lifting weights can make BP worse.

jah2507 profile image
jah2507

I don't mean lifting weights. I mean resistance training to strengthen your muscles and build lean muscle tissue. I don't want to be seen to be shamelessly promoting Curves on this website, but have a look at the Curves Circuit workout to see what I mean. curves.co.uk/what-is-curves

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply tojah2507

Could rowing be seen as resistance training?

Hi Vegeta,

Losing weight by calorie deficit won't necessarily cause loss of muscle, unless you are talking about VLCDs (Very Low Calorie Diets) which can cause the body - due to lack of glycogen (carbohydrate stores) - to consume protein as well as stored fat as fuel to run on.

If you lose weight at a sensible and recommended rate of 1 to 2 lbs a week on average, it shouldn't cause you any muscle loss problems.

Not using your muscles, however, will cause you to lose muscle, because your body will re-use the protein.

But you know there are many types of exercise available to people, and indeed they don't have to be "sporty" ones to help with burning a few calories, improving your flexibility or building up muscle strength (dependent on the type of exercise).

Walking at a good brisk rate with arms swinging is pretty good for raising the pulse rate and you already seem pretty good at walking, so why not use a 'strength'?

How about hill-walking, or swimming (probably the best all-round exercise), or going to the gym, or rowing, or horse-riding, or doing the hoovering, or polishing the car, or doing step aerobics at home, or following the fitness DVD. or climbing a few stairs instead of taking the lift? Just to mention a few.

Have a good read around the NHS live well lose weight pages and the free 12 week plan nhs.uk/LiveWell/weight-loss...

And also check out the Couch to 5K and other programmes. nhs.uk/livewell/c25k/Pages/...

If you're pretty out of condition, then start gently and let your body get used to it.

If you have any prevailing health issues then talk with your GP before starting your new exercise/activity regime.

Good luck with your weight loss journey.

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply to

I've joined a gym (which has a pool). Started jogging and rowing machine. Will incorporate swimming as well.

OlsBean profile image
OlsBean

Hi Vegeta, this might be a dumb question but do you smoke?

Diet itself can play a critical role with blood pressure, forget weight for a second, think of weight as a symptom of your unhealthy lifestyle as is also the hypertension, what we eat can affect our blood pressure quite quickly, some foods having an effect within literally hours of being eaten.

Obviously other things or a combination of them also play a role, such as smoking, drinking, activity level and even genes but switching to healthy diet which includes avoiding processed foods (Salt and Sugar) and includes at least a good variety 5 portions of Fruit and Veg a day can lower your blood pressure quite quickly, how quickly depends alot on how drastic those changes are but it is possible to make a difference within days and most certainly within weeks. Hopefully weight loss will also follow along with an increase in activity which will help in the long term.

I've done this myself, if you read my profile you'll see I suffered from very high blood pressure, I was at the time over a 190kg in weight and I managed to reduce my blood pressure to safe level within a couple of weeks of making drastic diet changes, and trust me they were drastic, no half measures but it needed to be done!

Funny my blood pressure is now a little on the low side for my age :)

Good Luck with it!

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply toOlsBean

No, I do not smoke. What were your dietary changes?

OlsBean profile image
OlsBean in reply toVegeta

I had to tweak my diet several times over a 2 year period to accommodate for things like the reduction in my Resting Metabolic Rate and changes in activity level but the basic diet for the first 6 months (ish) that helped reduce my blood pressure consisted of;

Breakfast: Bowl Shredded Wheat (This is one of the few cereal brands on the market today that contains no added sugar or salt, ReadyBrek is another, along with good old fashioned Porridge Oats of course) with SKIMMED milk and a small handful of raisins. Small glass of pure fruit juice, NOT from a concentrate though.

Midmorning: Portion of Fresh Fruit (Blueberries are said to aid in the lowering of Blood Pressure)

Lunch: A homemade salad consisting of Mixed Leaves, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Sweet Peppers, Salad Onions, Small Spoon of Sweetcorn, Dressed with a tsp low fat Salad Dressing. Along with a Spoonful of Low Fat Coleslaw and a Small Tin of Tuna in Springwater (NOT Oil or Brine).

Mid Afternoon: Portion of Fresh Fruit

Evening Meal: Something Homemade, with the emphasis on trying to get a least 3 good quality portions of veg into it. Switch Pasta and Rice for wholegrain varieties. Reduce the meat content by increasing the veg portion. Avoid shop bought sauces and packets as these often contain lots of Salt and Sugar. An example re-vamped meal for me would be a Bolognese or Chilli with Less Beef Mince (Lean of course) and in its place I would dice carrot, peppers and grate a courgette into it.

I would eat nothing after my evening meal (and still don't!), I found this then gave me a good daily fasting period of around 12 hours until breakfast the following morning.

In addition to this I would drink no more than 2 cups of coffee (early morning) with no sugar or sweetener, skimmed milk then for the rest of the day I drank with Tea (once again no sugar, sweeteners and with skimmed milk) or water.

I was trying to initially to lower my blood pressure, I thought healthy first, avoided processed foods, avoided sugar, salt and additives, these include artificial sweeteners including a lot of 'Diet Foods and Drinks'

And here is the biggie, you'll notice there is NO Bread in my diet, this I believe was one of the key factors to reducing my blood pressure and losing weight. Bread and bread type products are normally contain substantial levels of both sugar and salt.

Basically I aimed to eat at least 7 portions of Fresh Quality Fruit and Vegetables a day, I used colour as an aid to getting a variety into my diet.

Before these changes I ate little or no regular fresh vegetables and fruit.

Anyway this was my personal HyperTension Busting Diet condensed into a few paragraphs, hopefully you can glean something from it that helps you on your journey.

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply toOlsBean

Thank-you, that was REALLY helpful. What was your exercise regime, if you had one?

OlsBean profile image
OlsBean in reply toVegeta

I did not exercise for the first year mainly because I was unable to due to a number of physical issues. I lost over 10 stone during that period but I also lost a lot of muscle, which in the long run is not good. However I've made up for it now, second year I did lots of walking and some light aerobic stuff and this year I started C25K. I am now running for at least an hour (10k) 3 or 4 times a week as well as doing an additional 5 to 6 hours of other activities a week, cardio boxing, free weights etc.

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply toOlsBean

What is your weight & height now? Sorry about all these questions......but I'm nosy :D

OlsBean profile image
OlsBean in reply toVegeta

6'2" I'm 13st 9lbs currently, I did go down to 12st 3lbs at my lowest but that was partly due to having to have an emergency bowel op last year, I looked too thin and I lost so much muscle especially on my legs, which I am glad to say I have now regained.

Vegeta profile image
Vegeta in reply toOlsBean

Thanks for all the advice. Been really helpful.

monia profile image
monia in reply toOlsBean

great just great!! same as you i need to lose weight and watch my blood pressure !! will be following the plan you wrote here !! thank u

adamsab profile image
adamsab

Buy this book The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson it covers what to eat, why and the types of exercise you need to do. Superb book

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