Maybe you know that your lifestyle isn’t as healthy as it could be, and you’re looking for a way to improve it. Or maybe your doctor has told you that you have high blood pressure and could be at risk for developing cardiovascular disease later on. Whatever the case, if you want to improve your overall health and lower your blood pressure, losing weight is one of the most effective things you can do. Here’s how a custom weight loss plan like Slim4Life can help you achieve better cardiovascular health.
Factors That Influence Your Blood Pressure
Not every aspect of your health can be changed. However, blood pressure is one thing that is highly controllable. Your blood pressure is affected by all of the following factors:
- Your weight
- Whether or not you exercise
- How much sodium you consume
- How much alcohol you consume
- Whether or not you smoke
- Your age
- Whether you have a family history of high blood pressure or heart disease
While you obviously can’t control your age or your family history of illness, you are in control of everything else on the list. If you improve your habits in all those controllable areas of your life, your blood pressure is very likely to go down.
How Managing Your Weight Improves Your Blood Pressure
In simple terms, the more you weigh, the harder your body has to work. In particular, your cardiovascular system has to work especially hard to distribute blood to every part of your body when you’re carrying a lot of excess fat tissue. Losing the weight takes much of that strain off your heart and blood vessels, because there’s literally less of you that needs to be sustained. The result is lower blood pressure and a healthier heart.
How Much Weight Do I Need to Lose for Healthier Blood Pressure?
You don’t need to get all the way down to your goal weight to see an improvement in your blood pressure. In fact, you might see a change after losing just a few pounds. The American Heart Association notes that a loss of five to ten pounds is often enough to make a difference in blood pressure. If you follow one of our Slim4Life programs, you’ll most likely lose that amount in just two or three weeks. Of course, the closer you get to a healthy BMI, the more your blood pressure will improve.
The Takeaway
You may not be able to control every aspect of your health, but your blood pressure is for the most part under your control. Empower yourself to improve your health and extend your lifespan by signing up for one of our Slim4Life programs today. You can expect to lose, on average, three to five pounds every week on any of our plans. After just a few short weeks of doing Slim4Life, you will likely find that your blood pressure readings have improved significantly.
