Can Weight Loss Lower Blood Pressure? Here is why [2023]

So you are wondering about “Can weight loss lower blood pressure”?

Well, the indirect answer is yes,

Weight loss can help you lower blood pressure. If you are overweight, then losing weight will not only help you maintain your blood pressure.

But also gives you many health benefits,

But how much weight loss do you need to do to lower your blood pressure? Losing weight as lesser as 5-10 pounds can also make the difference.

Being overweight puts extra strain on your heart, increasing your risk of developing high blood pressure and raising the risk of a long list of health problems.

Being overweight does a lot of things to the body. None of them are good.

It increases body mass, resistance to flow, and blood pressure. Increased body mass, especially obesity, would essentially be centripetal and have high-fat cell content.

That causes insulin resistance, which we know causes blocked arteries in the heart, increases cholesterol, and increases blood pressure again.

Obesity is something that prevents people from doing regular exercise.

That then, again,

Compounds the same problem of having heart disease and not being able to get blood pressure and cholesterol control. There is no good news about being overweight.

Losing weight can definitely help lower your blood pressure

“Can weight loss lower blood pressure?” let’s dig deep

Let’s have a look at a recent study, which was by JAMA Journal of the American Medical Association on women’s health, here are the details of the study:

• Journal: JAMA
• Journal’s Impact Factor: 45.5
• Publication Date: July 2009
• Type: Prospective cohort study
• Study size: 83,882 women
• Follow-up period: 14 years
• Outcome: as BMI increased, the risk of developing hypertension increased

As we can see from the result of the study that as BMI increases the risk of developing hypertension or blood pressure also increases, you can visualize this in the given graph below:

(we define a normal BMI as less than 25, between 20 and 25)

The researchers found that even an average BMI of 23 or 24 still caused a higher risk of developing high blood pressure than a BMI under 23, and as body weight increases in the overweight category,

So did the risk of high blood pressure getting even greater when body weight got into the obese category with a significantly higher risk of high blood pressure compared to someone with a BMI less than 23

And this is the study in men, it was published in the British Medical Journal BMJ

• Journal: BMJ
• Journal’s Impact Factor: 30.2
• Publication Date: 1989
• Type: Retrospective analysis
• Study size: 964 men
• Follow-up period: 4-40 years
• Outcome: As BMI increased, average systolic blood pressure increased

The researchers found,

As was found in the study on women, that as BMI increased, the average systolic blood pressure also increased, again being in an average weight but towards overweight,

Like 23 and 24 started to get participants into the high blood pressure range, again the ideal body weight in men.

As for women,

The low end of the average weight spectrum was a BMI of 20 to 23.

When participants got into the overweight category, blood pressure rose even further in the obese category, and in extreme obesity, blood pressure was highest.

You can use a BMI calculator if you know your height and weight, you can google BMI calculator to find one or click here,

If you have elevated blood pressure and your BMI is 23 or greater I do recommend weight loss to lower your BMI to less than 23

As a conclusion of this study,

We can clearly see that our body weight plays a major role in maintaining blood pressure, so the answer to your question “Can weight loss lower blood pressure?”

Is absolute yes!,

Weight loss can lower blood pressure and also gives you many more health benefits.

So now you have got the answer to your main question “Can Weight Loss Lower Blood Pressure”

I know that you might have more questions popping into your head, but don’t worry I will cover them up, let’s see some of the FAQs that might be popping into your head

How much does blood pressure go down with weight loss?

As we discussed above that, losing even a little number of weight can help reduce blood pressure. Generally, with every kilogram (around 2.2 Pounds) of weight lost, blood pressure goes as low as 1 millimetre of mercury (mm Hg)

Can Weight Loss Lower Blood Pressure: Can hypertension be cured with diet and exercise?

Yes of course! hypertension can be cured with diet and exercise, they can definitely reduce some amount of blood pressure, but they can’t
completely cure it because first, you have to figure out the cause of your hypertension.

If the cause is an unhealthy diet, then the cure for you is improving your diet and eating healthy (permanent, not temporary diet), and if high blood pressure is due to injury illness, then obviously the cure is healing.

And how do you cure the injury?

By proper diet and exercise (if needed), so improving your diet and doing exercise won’t harm you but will give you many health benefits,

And yes,

It can also help you reduce some amount of hypertension

Can Weight Loss Lower Blood Pressure: Can 5-pounds of weight loss lower blood pressure?

As we discussed above that, with every kilogram (around 2.2 pounds) of weight loss, blood pressure goes down by 1 millimetre of mercury (1mm Hg)

We can write this as 1KG(weight loss) =1mm Hg (BP reduce), which means (N) KG=(N) mm Hg, so considering this formula that we just created to calculate the reduction of blood pressure.

Let’s say you lose 5 pounds of weight which is around 2kg, so 2kg=2 mm Hg, which means if you lose 5 pounds of weight, your blood pressure can get low as 2mm Hg,

But this is not the correct way to find it out, this is just for information, you should always go and consult your doctor.

How much does losing 10 pounds affect blood pressure?

As we have seen in the above parah,

We will calculate the amount just like that, so considering approx 5kg of weight loss, you will have reduced your blood pressure by around 5 mm Hg (millimetre of mercury),

And again these are just estimates and don’t just calculate and believe this numbers you should go and check your blood pressure under doctors moderation

And you can calculate the rest by this formula, and by this time I think you got the answer to your question “Can weight loss lower blood pressure?” and I think there isn’t any remaining question on your mind

Can Weight Loss Lower Blood Pressure: Final thoughts

Weight loss/diet and exercise can lower blood pressure, but first, you should consult a doctor and not just go around the internet and do stuff an unauthorized person recommends.

Here I am just giving you information and not telling you to eat or do any exercise. I am just informing you. Whether you visit a doctor or not, exercising and eating healthy won’t harm you; instead, they give you many health benefits

So it doesn’t matter if you are a hypertension patient or not. You should eat healthily and exercise regularly. So stay healthy, eat healthily, and thank you for reading this enormous article, have a good day bye.

Hope you got a clear answer to your question “Can Weight Loss Lower Blood Pressure”

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