Hi bmason, Congratulations for the successful weight loss. I have faith you'll do it again. That is my goal, to loose 5lbs. at a time til I get to 20 by April. I do believe weight affects bp. I have heard alot of folks say they cut back doses of bp meds when they lost weight. It makes good sense to me.

I experienced that first hand. In 2005, I went through a lot of stress at work that I developed a high BP. The attending physician told me I would have to go on medication for life! At that time, I never linked my weight as also a key contributing factor and the fact that I was mostly living a sedentary life. Then sometime in 2006, I heard about Brazilian aerobics and attended one-hour sessions twice a week. My weight dropped in just two months. In the meantime, I stopped taking medication because I was moving from one country to another, was feeling okay and couldn't have a regular doctor monitoring me. However, there were occasions during this period when I had to go see a doctor for routine exams and they told me my BP was normal. It had actually gone back to normal! Now I'm convinced that stress and weight gain increase your chances of developing high BP, and that taking medication for life is hogwash!

If losing weight helps you bring down normal resting blood pressure to the range where it is naturally staying in balance, then excellent!

For some people, high blood pressure is directly connected to anxiety spikes, and it takes a combination of losing weight, therapy, and relaxation techniques to be able to keep the resting blood pressure in balance.