BP mystery. They laughed at me when I said....
Around seven years ago my BP was checked and it was up in the 160/100 range so I was put on meds which controlled it to 140/80. Then a couple of years later I decided to see if I could do something about the BP as I was a skinny/fat under conditioned 55 year old carrying a bit of extra weight.
I decided to try a Keto diet-the newest fad-bought a little barbell and started doing some resistance training and lost 2 stone. After a few months I was getting dizzy spells after the work out and was surprised to see my BP had fallen to a low of 90/60. I checked it over the following days and it never went above 120/80, but frequently went much lower, so I quit my meds. My BP stayed in a range of about 130/80 for a year or so.
Then I took up serious BB training and SS. I was advised to up my carbs and calories to cope with the recovery, so I did although I was concerned it might bring my BP back up. My weight increased as did weight on the bar and I got stronger, but my BP shot back up to 160/90 and I went back on the meds.
So, to today. I hired Andy Baker to coach me and he put me on quite a strict diet which I only began 4 days ago. It's low fat-unlike Keto, it's quite low on carbs compared to how I was eating (far more complex carbs like rice/potatoes instead of bread) and of course lots of lean protein. The training has changed, a bit more work with a 4 day split, but again, this is only day 4. Yesterday I started feeling a touch dizzy and checked my BP at 110/80 so I decided not to take my meds. Today I recorded 125/78 and then later on 101/66. This is a mirror of what happened last time.
Have I accidentally discovered the secret to lowering blood pressure and its hidden in my new diet ? Everyone laughed when I said that I thought the Keto diet had been responsible last time, putting it down to weight loss and the effects of training.....but that cannot happen in 4 days when I've been training for 2 years and haven't had chance to shed any pounds.