Hypertension and weight?!

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This is e25scort’s wife & I am always on him for this stuff, lol. Your blood pressure does not affect your weight loss, but your weight loss will help decrease your blood pressure. If you are eating too little calories, you can put yourself into “starvation mode.” My husband is the same size & he needed about 2,500cal just to maintain his weight so 1,000cal less is an awful lot. They say you should cut about 500 a day to lose one pound a week & 700 max. Plus, if you are working out, you would need to cut less because you are burning more. My husband also has high BP- Lisinipril is on Walmart’s $4 generic list. Don’t wait to get back on it because leaving it untreated can really hurt you.

Your body mass index is 33 and you are obese.
Lisinopril is used alone or in combination with other medications to treat high blood pressure. It is used in combination with other medications to treat heart failure. Lisinopril is also used to improve survival after a heart attack. Lisinopril is in a class of medications called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. It works by decreasing certain chemicals that tighten the blood vessels, so blood flows more smoothly and the heart can pump blood more efficiently.
According to the Massachusetts Medical Society Committee on Nutrition, fast food is especially high in fat content, and studies have found associations between fast food intake and increased body mass index (BMI) and weight gain. In general, people with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease must be much more careful about choosing fast food, due to the high content of fat, sodium, and sugar.
Adopt DASH diet (Mediterranean diet). Eat a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet, which includes cottage cheese, fat-free milk, fish, vegetables, poultry, and egg whites. Use monounsaturated oils such as olive, peanut, and canola oils or polyunsaturated oils such as corn, safflower, soy, sunflower, cottonseed, and soybean oils. Avoid foods with excess fat in them such as meat (especially liver and fatty meat), egg yolks, whole milk, cream, butter, shortening, pastries, cakes, cookies, gravy, peanut butter, chocolate, olives, potato chips, coconut, cheese (other than cottage cheese), coconut oil, palm oil, and fried foods.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_i…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_i…
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drugi…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisinopril
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food#H…
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/…
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DASH_diet
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/…

The only way high blood pressure or hypertension can prevent you from losing weight is that you have to start slower and not work as hard at losing weight initially. Exercise naturally raises the blood pressure and when it's already elevated one must be careful not to go into dangerous ranges. I suggest that now that you have insurance is to see a doctor and get their advice on a exercise routine. As you become more fit your pressure will come down. Many people that I council on diets need one important thing. Food education. It is OK to go to fast food restaurants on a rare occasion but you must learn to eat healthy. 1500 calories is a little low for you being so young, maybe 2000 is better as long as it comes from healthy calories like fish and vegetables. Spend some time at your local library or online and learn how to read the nutrition labels that are on all food items. Watch your sodium intake because of your hypertension. The good thing is that you are doing something about your weight and blood pressure while you're still young and have time to develop healthy, lifelong habits. Also talk with your parents to see if they have hypertension, as it can be hereditary. I know several 20 something males that have severe hypertension even though they live a very healthy lifestyle. Good luck and I hoped this helped a little.

RJ

18 yrs of ICU, ER and operating room nursing. :)