Losing a minimum amount of weight can make a BIG difference on your blood pressure.

In February 2015, I started having health issues. For me that's major because I have always been the "healthy" overweight person in my family. I was blessed to have no medical problems at all even though I was well over 100 pounds overweight and exercised sporadically for years. When I went in to see my primary care doctor, she informed me, like I didn't already know, that I had gained a significantly amount of weight since my last visit with her. It was also at that time, she informed me that my blood pressure was a little higher than it was on my last visit.

Because I kept having unexplained health issues, I went to see her or the nurse practitioner about 3 more times over the course of 4- 5 months. My blood pressure kept creeping up higher and higher and I was told after running a boat load of test that all the symptom's was leading back to my rising blood pressure. The nurse practitioner kept STRONGLY suggesting each visit that I had with her that I get on high blood pressure medicine. I resisted that suggestion because for me, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that with God's help, I could get my blood pressure down through making better food choices and being consistent with my exercising.

I went in to get my yearly physical in October with my PCP and needless to say, she told me that my blood pressure was a tad bit higher than before. I can't tell you how very disappointed I was because I had been exercising 3-4 times every week and definitely eating clean at least 5-6 days each week and had lost 3 whole pounds. What I found out through talking further with her was that consuming too may calories eating healthy foods is just as bad as eating the unhealthy foods. She stressed to me that the best way for me to lose weight was by practicing portion control and tracking my food daily.

Taking my doctor's advice to heart, to date, I have lost a total of 14 pounds. To some, especially those like myself who have to lose 100 pounds or more, that might not be significantly enough to get excited about but I say to you, I BEG TO DIFFER.

As a result of the 14 pounds weight lost, my feet have stop swelling, my legs have stop aching, I can walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded, I'm now much more active than I was before because I have more energy and stamina and when I got a blood pressure reading the other day, it was in the NORMAL/ HEALTHY range. I was so excited that I all I could do was thank God for helping me to get my pressure down to a healthy range. It took 9 months but through God's grace, I'm finally seeing the fruit of all my hard work.

I can't tell you how many times I really wanted to quit and resort back to my bad habits but what kept me motivated to get up and exercise when I was tired and sleepy or choose a fruit over a Reese Peanut Butter Cup was the fact that I didn't want to get on high blood pressure medicine.

For those out there who may have to lose a significant amount of weight and you feel like losing 1 or 2 pounds is no big deal, just know that each pound lost makes a positive impact on your blood pressure not to mention your overall health in general.


because !!!