The FastDay Forum

I would just like to introduce myself.
I am a new member, but I started the 5 2 diet in August. I fast on Mondays and Thursdays. I start after supper the night before, then I have a large salad for lunch and soup or cereal (Eat Natural 'Nuts and Seeds' with skimmed milk) for supper. I drink lots of herbal tea. Then I don't eat until lunch the next day. I find this is the easiest way because I have never eaten breakfast, but love my supper! I have lost 16lbs. I aimed to lose weight slowly so I am very pleased. I am 62, and my main reason for starting the diet was to try to stay healthy for as long as possible and to avoid dementia, which my 94 year old mother has. I suffer from high blood pressure and in August my cholesterol level went up to 6.5. I haven't been back to the doctor yet. She wants to put me on statins and I am hoping to avoid having to take them. Occasionally I stop taking my blood pressure tablets so that I can check if it is improving, but it is still as high as ever, even though I am now the correct weight for my height. This is really disappointing. I am trying to lose just a bit more weight as my waist measurement is slightly high, but it doesn't look as though my bp will come down. However I know I haven't been exercising enough through the winter. I still work full time and I don't like walking to work when it is dark, or icy. I would love to know if anyone else is having little success in lowering blood pressure, and does it mean my cholesterol will also still be high?

[carorees]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

The fact that your bp has not come down does not mean your cholesterol won't have. Although high bp, high cholesterol, obesity and glucose intolerance often go together, there are other reasons for high blood pressure.

My blood pressure has only come down a bit even with losing nearly 2 stone! I have been doing the high intensity interval exercise that Dr M advises and that may have helped a bit too. But it's still disappointing.

I think it's worth going back to the doc and seeing what your cholesterol is now. Make sure she looks at the total to HDL ratio as this is a much better indicator of cardiovascular risk than total cholesterol alone. A ratio below 4 is recommended.

Suddenly stopping your blood pressure medications can cause you blood pressure to rebound showing higher blood pressure. That may be why it appears high still. Take your blood pressure regularly while on meds and see if there is a reduction over time. Then talk to your GP if there is. Dont just stop meds - it's not good for you.

Mine has gone down over 5 weeks so keep it up and hopefully it will happen

Hi Teragram don't have much to add on the BP aspect but wanted to congratulate you on your weight loss. I am same age as you and it's harder to lose as you get older unfortunately.

I too have high BP and am not on meds at moment. I am waiting to get it checked again until I've been doing this for a while (only just started) as I too want to avoid statins, and also diabetes.

I haven't done any exercise yet, so suppose I must start (very unenthusiastic). I have been doing wii fit in winter (step etc) which is better than nothing.

Good luck and hope if you continue, you may get more improvement in BP soon x

Thanks everyone. I will take your advice on board. I am back on my BP tablets. Perhaps I should get a Wii Fit? SunflowerSuffolk, do you find it helps, and is it enjoyable to use? I will go back to the doctor once I get back to exercising regularly again.

Hi Terragram, This may have a touch of the "old wives tale" about it but it worked for me. Having been warned to get my blood pressure down or have to go on medication I took advice and began eating a couple of sticks of celery a day.Lo and behold after a month blood pressure was within healthy limits.Anyway good luck .

You may be right about the physical exercise, both my blood pressure, recovery heart rate (return to normal after exercise) and resting heart rate dropped after I started with interval training and yoga (the yoga also helped to reduce stress). My cholesterol profile improved, even though I gained weight during that time. Activity may also help reduce your cholesterol/improve your cholesterol profile. So definitely worth trying to find ways to be active even in this unfriendly season. Regarding your blood pressure, have you tried reducing salt intake?
All that being said, cholesterol is correlated with weight, so there's a good chance your cholesterol is lower after your impressive weight loss! Congrats and keep up the good work!

BTW, I would think you can see if your blood pressure gets lower even while you take your usual dose. No need to experiment with medication dosages as long as its not too low.

Hi Tera Yes I enjoy the Wii fit, its so good in the winter when I am at work (sitting all day) and then get home in the dark and feel unhealthy but don't want to go out to exercise.

I can just go in spare room and do 20 mins step, etc, and in gets me puffed out (I am very unfit) and it keeps your score, so then I want to have another go and beat my last score. As your fitness improves you can do harder levels. You can choose all types of games on Wii fit including aerobic, balance etc.

In summer I think a bike ride is better and harder for me, but still recommend it if you aren't already megafit.