Originally Posted by
jfsully
Maybe instead of the “obesity” epidemic, we should refer to it as “adioposity.” There is definitely a risk from carrying excess body fat (the dividing line for “excess” is certainly debatable). And there is definitely a benefit to carrying more skeletal muscle, more of which, increases weight and BMI and clouds the picture.
When people on these forums are encouraged to gain weight, it is generally not with the purpose of increasing body fat %, but for the purpose of increasing lean body mass. Some fat gain comes along with that of course.
Astute doctors will realize this, but many focus on BMI. The reason is that the vast, VAST majority of Americans with high BMI are sedentary and sarcopenic. The folks doing regular resistance training, like those on these forums, represent a sliver of the general population, unfortunately. So when your doctor worries about your BMI after you gain a bunch of muscle, it’s not because doctors are wrong and BMI is BS, it’s because they don’t recognize you as unusual and therefore they are not using BMI correctly.
If you gain significant lean body mass, that should not increase BP, as muscle is very vascular and the increase in capillary bed should reduce the resistance against which your heart has to pump.
If you are eating above an appropriate caloric surplus, your BF% may be increasing, and you may want to focus on recomposition to get your BF% and BP down where you want it.
Sorry, this went off on a tangent and I just re-read the original post: sounds like your BF and overall weight are OK. You are 31, and if you are getting hypertension from an extra 10 lbs, you likely have essential hypertension that will need medication management no matter what you do. Do you have a family history of high BP? To avoid meds, you could experiment with losing some weight and see if it improves your BP. If so, keeping your weight lower and continuing to train would be a reasonable option. If you want to max out your gains on SSNLP and your BP stays high, taking a BP Med would be a reasonable course of action too.
Again, sorry for the extended rant above, it may not apply to the OP, but I will leave it in as I am curious about Coach Santana’s thoughts and it may be helpful to someone.