how do i lower my blood pressure

[brianmanahan]

every time i get it tested it's like 140/90 or close to that

nurses who tested it say i better get it under control but i don't know how

maybe i need to start running and stop eating, or something

 

[Mai72]

Well look at your diet. What are you eating that you could eliminate, and what are you not eating that you should be implementing in your diet? It's not hard, but it is hard because you can easily fall back to your old routine. We all know we need to eat healthy, but how many people do it? Try to incorporate dark leafy greens into your diet. Also, try things like intermittent fasting. That has been shown to help reduce blood pressure. Eliminate or watch the caffeine. Are you a smoker? If so, try to quit. Good luck.

18 foods that help lower blood pressure

Dietary choices can help manage high blood pressure. Here, find out which foods can help and how to incorporate them into a balanced diet.

www.medicalnewstoday.com

 

[balloonshark]

Stop smoking, drinking, oil, salt and unhealthy fats intake. Eat mostly whole plant foods. Reduce stressors and find healthy ways to cope with stress (meditation, etc). Learn to quiet your mind and fall asleep quickly quickly. Try to get at least 7 hours of solid sleep or more. Exercise daily if you can.

My Diastolic had been close to or at 90 for years. All I did was change my diet to a whole food plant based diet (minimal oil, salt and sugar) and that alone got my pressure down. I've also been working hard on the stress and sleep part. I still suck at dealing with stress though. I could use a heavy bag to punch lol.

 

[brianmanahan]

Stop smoking, drinking, oil, salt and unhealthy fats intake. Eat mostly whole plant foods. Reduce stressors and find healthy ways to cope with stress (meditation, etc). Learn to quiet your mind and fall asleep quickly quickly. Try to get at least 7 hours of solid sleep or more. Exercise daily if you can.

My Diastolic had been close to or at 90 for years. All I did was change my diet to a whole food plant based diet (minimal oil, salt and sugar) and that alone got my pressure down. I've also been working hard on the stress and sleep part. I still suck at dealing with stress though. I could use a heavy bag to punch lol.

ok cool, i am working on a diet plan today. i need to lose about 30 pounds anyway, time to do it while eating better and see if that helps.

stress has never been higher, i've been working 60 hour weeks for months trying to get something done by the end of the year. will be dead in the water if it doesn't get done.

my blood pressure has been fine in the past, even when i weighed quite a bit more than i do now. i think a medication that i'm currently taking for something else might be causing the whole thing. but i'll see if i can lower it despite that medicine.

 

[balloonshark]

ok cool, i am working on a diet plan today. i need to lose about 30 pounds anyway, time to do it while eating better and see if that helps.

stress has never been higher, i've been working 60 hour weeks for months trying to get something done by the end of the year. will be dead in the water if it doesn't get done.

my blood pressure has been fine in the past, even when i weighed quite a bit more than i do now. i think a medication that i'm currently taking for something else might be causing the whole thing. but i'll see if i can lower it despite that medicine.

It could just be stress coupled with a bad diet due to not having the time to fix a healthy meals perhaps?

I lost about 25 pounds pretty quickly after I changed my diet and I've kept it off. Since I now weigh 125lbs I don't want to lose more. Just checked my bp and it's 113/75. I'm also hoping my cholesterol has dropped since it was borderline high but haven't had it checked since before I changed my eating habits. My HDL was "superwoman" good according to my doctor so I'm not worried about it.

 

[WelshBloke]

How old are you?
140/90 isnt terrible. I had someone with 210/110 the other day!

 

[CalebRockeT]

i think a medication that i'm currently taking for something else might be causing the whole thing. but i'll see if i can lower it despite that medicine.

I have an Omron blood pressure monitor that I use at home to keep tabs on my numbers. When I started on venlafaxine last fall, my blood pressure jumped from 115/70 to 140/80 after just a few weeks on the medication. It wasn't making any discernible positive change for me, and my doctor said enough time had passed that I should be able to tell if it was going to be helpful. Since it wasn't, I decided to taper off over the course of a few weeks. After about a month the stuff was out of my system and I was no longer feeling the side effects associated from discontinuing use (the dizziness was the worst for me; it was bad enough that I wasn't able to workout), my blood pressure returned to what was about normal for me.

Despite my best efforts to try to be as calm as possible during the visit, all of the blood pressure readings that I have taken while at the doctor are quite high, even though all the readings I take at home are within a healthy range. They believe it's white coat syndrome, after I logged morning and evening readings in the normal range at home over a few weeks. Worst case, the readings at the doctor's office are accurate and my Omron monitor takes consistently low readings. Shrug.

Everyone else has offered up some solid ideas to make a positive change. Good luck getting your situation figured out.

 

[Mai72]

Stop smoking, drinking, oil, salt and unhealthy fats intake. Eat mostly whole plant foods. Reduce stressors and find healthy ways to cope with stress (meditation, etc). Learn to quiet your mind and fall asleep quickly quickly. Try to get at least 7 hours of solid sleep or more. Exercise daily if you can.

My Diastolic had been close to or at 90 for years. All I did was change my diet to a whole food plant based diet (minimal oil, salt and sugar) and that alone got my pressure down. I've also been working hard on the stress and sleep part. I still suck at dealing with stress though. I could use a heavy bag to punch lol.

Have you tried meditation? It has been shown to reduce blood pressure, sleep better, better focus, and so much more. 2m a day is what I started with, and now I'm doing 10m a day. It's a good way to calm your mind as well. As they say in India, your mind is like a monkey. What do monkeys do? They jump from branch to branch. It's the same concept with your mind. It jumps around from thought to thought all day. We have to calm it via meditation. I've also gotten much better with my train of thought. If I'm feeling anxious I can now acknowledge my thoughts (I'm feeling anxious), and redirect my thoughts. In the past I'd let my thoughts get away from me. I've gotten much better.

People underestimate the dangers of high blood pressure. On YouTube, I like viewing this one guy who produces a lot of small business videos. Well he stopped producing vidoes for 2-3 weeks straight. Normally, he was producing and uploading consistently 4-5 videos. We were all wondering what happened. He made a video and told us that he had a heart attack. A widow maker to be exact, and it happened because of his high blood pressure. He went to the gym 4X a week. He didn't go into his eating routine but I'm almost positive that it wasn't great. And, he's only 51. That is how fast it can happen.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Healthy eating and exercise. No process foods, even the ones that seem fine can be very high in sodium, also could be a genetic factor involved

 

[brianmanahan]

Healthy eating and exercise. No process foods, even the ones that seem fine can be very high in sodium, also could be a genetic factor involved

it might be the sodium. i've been trying to eat extra sodium for the past year because my medication lowers sodium, and one of my doctors said it is at potentially bad levels (in the low 120s occasionally).

but i guess i might have to choose between hyponatremia or hypertension.

 

[ch33zw1z]

it might be the sodium. i've been trying to eat extra sodium for the past year because my medication lowers sodium, and one of my doctors said it is at potentially bad levels (in the low 120s occasionally).

but i guess i might have to choose between hyponatremia or hypertension.

You need 500mg a day minimum, a low sodium american diet is considered 1500mg or less.

The other side of the puzzle is potassium, you need plenty of that.

Exercise, hydration, whole foods diet will help.

I ended up having to add salt to my diet because it was too low (250mg a day) and started to feel crummy. I added the brand "real salt" twice a day, and it seemed to help.

I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, basmati brown rice, poultry and fish, grapeseed or Olive oil.

You may want to discuss this more with a nutritionist, it may help

 

[balloonshark]

Have you tried meditation? It has been shown to reduce blood pressure, sleep better, better focus, and so much more. 2m a day is what I started with, and now I'm doing 10m a day. It's a good way to calm your mind as well. As they say in India, your mind is like a monkey. What do monkeys do? They jump from branch to branch. It's the same concept with your mind. It jumps around from thought to thought all day. We have to calm it via meditation. I've also gotten much better with my train of thought. If I'm feeling anxious I can now acknowledge my thoughts (I'm feeling anxious), and redirect my thoughts. In the past I'd let my thoughts get away from me. I've gotten much better.

People underestimate the dangers of high blood pressure. On YouTube, I like viewing this one guy who produces a lot of small business videos. Well he stopped producing vidoes for 2-3 weeks straight. Normally, he was producing and uploading consistently 4-5 videos. We were all wondering what happened. He made a video and told us that he had a heart attack. A widow maker to be exact, and it happened because of his high blood pressure. He went to the gym 4X a week. He didn't go into his eating routine but I'm almost positive that it wasn't great. And, he's only 51. That is how fast it can happen.

I've been watching a bunch of Alan Watts, Eckhart Tolle and other videos on youtube. I just heard about the monkey mind fairly recently. It really kicks into high hear when I go to bed. I do take a pill which helps if I get to sleep within an hour but if I don't it will babble all night. To be honest changing my diet, watching the videos, clearing my mind, learning how to fall asleep have helped more than my meds or therapy. I do need to take more time to meditate though. All I'm doing right now is making an effort to clear my mind and let any thoughts go.

 

[brianmanahan]

now that i am thinking about it - i have noticed that it feels harder to breathe nowadays. like breaths don't bring in as much oxygen as they used to, and it's gotten harder to just breathe normally. this started sometime in past few months, not long after i started taking the new medicine.

i wonder if it's related?

i've kind of gotten used to it and it's not a huge deal but it's weird. the med i take says that if this happens to notify the doctor, but could just be a coincidence.

if my new diet/exercise doesn't help with the blood pressure or the shortness of breath in a month or two, i will bring it up to him.

 

[JEDIYoda]

ok cool, i am working on a diet plan today. i need to lose about 30 pounds anyway, time to do it while eating better and see if that helps.

stress has never been higher, i've been working 60 hour weeks for months trying to get something done by the end of the year. will be dead in the water if it doesn't get done.

my blood pressure has been fine in the past, even when i weighed quite a bit more than i do now. i think a medication that i'm currently taking for something else might be causing the whole thing. but i'll see if i can lower it despite that medicine.

Don`t and I repeat don`t work on a diet plan! Just do it!! It is easy to takre th9ings like salt out of your diet!
It is easy to cut out all sodas and whatnot! -- Just do it!! Nothing says you need to change the way you eat if you are smart and eliminate salts as much as you can!
The hard part is dealing with Stress! Stress can kill you if it is not managed!
Also many people take medicine to control their blood pressure ands the medicines work great with little to no side effects!
Also I eat 4 or 5 salads a week , why? Because I have too! I just do it and suck it in!! I hate salads. but they are importants to your over all health!!

 

[brianmanahan]

Don`t and I repeat don`t work on a diet plan!

that's kind of what i did today. just went to the store and picked up some new foods that are better for me. i'll finish off the old food that i have but then replace it with some healthier stuff. more potassium, lower salt, overall better for me.

The hard part is dealing with Stress! Stress can kill you if it is not managed!

i still need to figure out how to do that... deadlines have always been %90 of my stress, and the only way i know for dealing with them is to work long hours to try to meet the crazy deadlines that are causing the stress in the first place.

right now i am trying to get 12 months of work done in 6 months. it is like an almost impossible race against the clock. i tried pushing back on management and they're like "this deadline cannot be pushed back" and "we know you can do it". yeah, maybe if i work 60-70 hour weeks for 25 weeks straight.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Exercise is a great stress release. I would be cautious based on you're symptoms of difficulty breathing, you may want to talk to your doctor asap

 

[snoopy7548]

Yeah, talk to your doctor, especially if you're considering a diet change.

 

[balloonshark]

Just throwing this out there but people who have anxiety do a lot of shallow breathing. I believe it's part of the fight or flight response. I find myself doing it all the time. Every now and then be conscious of your breath. If you find you are taking quick little breaths make an effort to breathe deeply for a short while.

If it's not that and you're having trouble catching your breathe you should talk to a doctor. Also, If you think it's the medicine your taking you could call and ask your doctor or pharmacy if that's a normal side effect.

 

[Mai72]

I've been watching a bunch of Alan Watts, Eckhart Tolle and other videos on youtube. I just heard about the monkey mind fairly recently. It really kicks into high hear when I go to bed. I do take a pill which helps if I get to sleep within an hour but if I don't it will babble all night. To be honest changing my diet, watching the videos, clearing my mind, learning how to fall asleep have helped more than my meds or therapy. I do need to take more time to meditate though. All I'm doing right now is making an effort to clear my mind and let any thoughts go.

Yea, I really like Alan Watts. He can be a bit out there, but he has some deep insight on topics like death. I think turning off all electronics 1 hour before sleep is vital. I need to do this. I keep bringing my phone with me to bed. Not good.

 

[Kaido]

ok cool, i am working on a diet plan today. i need to lose about 30 pounds anyway, time to do it while eating better and see if that helps.

Switch to macros:

• Guide here

If you set the IIFYM calculator to aggressive & follow your macros, you'll lose an average of 2 pounds a week. A 30-pound weight-loss project would take 15 weeks. No magic involved, just science, and you don't have to give up any foods that you love.

stress has never been higher, i've been working 60 hour weeks for months trying to get something done by the end of the year. will be dead in the water if it doesn't get done.

Stress management requires a strong personal productivity system. I have tools available, PM me if interested. It's a bit outside the scope of this sub-forum.

my blood pressure has been fine in the past, even when i weighed quite a bit more than i do now. i think a medication that i'm currently taking for something else might be causing the whole thing. but i'll see if i can lower it despite that medicine.

Do you currently have an active daily exercise program? If not, I would suggest starting small & working up to a 30-minute brisk cardio program per day. Start at just 5 minutes a day & add 5 minutes a week until you hit 30 minutes, you don't need to rush into it. Everyone wants to swing for the fences, but that's not a sustainable approach for the majority of people.

You don't need to become He-Man or anything, but exercise does help take care of your heart & help your blood pressure. It can be indoors or outdoors. Get a cheap exercise bike off Craigslist & park it in front of the TV, for example. You will need a way to consistently exercise, an appointment with yourself every day to make sure you actually do it every day, and a simple interative-growth program (ex. 5 minutes week 1, 10 minutes week 2, 15 minutes week 3, etc.).

You are going to be alive until you die, and in the meantime, you are locked inside of your body, so it can either be a meat prison or a meat paradise, depending on how you manage it. Try looking at your body as an external asset to manage - to get the best results, it needs proper fuel (macros), regular exercise, good sleep, and proper stress management. Everyone has room to grow in all of these areas!

As you get older, your body becomes more sensitive because it's breaking down due to age. That simply means that you have to be more careful about managing your body in terms of sleep, diet, exercise, and stress-management. That doesn't mean you have to have a radical lifestyle change & eat weird foods & live at the gym, it just means some simple & small tweaks to your daily routine.

Roughly 75 million America adults have high blood pressure, which is 1 out of every 3 adults. That's 29% of the adult population in the United States. One in 8 deaths worldwide is due to high blood pressure. Also, over 50% of American adults have pre-diabetes or diabetes, it's a HUGE epidemic. Some minor lifestyle tweaks can reverse these health issues in the majority of cases.

So, everything in this post is a nice idea, and we all have good intentions, the question is - what are you going to do about it? Based on the information above, how do you want to choose to manage your situation? Taking a health issue from an idea to reality can be extremely difficult, no matter how simple the related actions may be, because we are creatures of habit. So, what's your plan of attack?

 

[brianmanahan]

Switch to macros:

• Guide here

If you set the IIFYM calculator to aggressive & follow your macros, you'll lose an average of 2 pounds a week. A 30-pound weight-loss project would take 15 weeks. No magic involved, just science, and you don't have to give up any foods that you love.



Stress management requires a strong personal productivity system. I have tools available, PM me if interested. It's a bit outside the scope of this sub-forum.



Do you currently have an active daily exercise program? If not, I would suggest starting small & working up to a 30-minute brisk cardio program per day. Start at just 5 minutes a day & add 5 minutes a week until you hit 30 minutes, you don't need to rush into it. Everyone wants to swing for the fences, but that's not a sustainable approach for the majority of people.

You don't need to become He-Man or anything, but exercise does help take care of your heart & help your blood pressure. It can be indoors or outdoors. Get a cheap exercise bike off Craigslist & park it in front of the TV, for example. You will need a way to consistently exercise, an appointment with yourself every day to make sure you actually do it every day, and a simple interative-growth program (ex. 5 minutes week 1, 10 minutes week 2, 15 minutes week 3, etc.).

You are going to be alive until you die, and in the meantime, you are locked inside of your body, so it can either be a meat prison or a meat paradise, depending on how you manage it. Try looking at your body as an external asset to manage - to get the best results, it needs proper fuel (macros), regular exercise, good sleep, and proper stress management. Everyone has room to grow in all of these areas!

As you get older, your body becomes more sensitive because it's breaking down due to age. That simply means that you have to be more careful about managing your body in terms of sleep, diet, exercise, and stress-management. That doesn't mean you have to have a radical lifestyle change & eat weird foods & live at the gym, it just means some simple & small tweaks to your daily routine.

Roughly 75 million America adults have high blood pressure, which is 1 out of every 3 adults. That's 29% of the adult population in the United States. One in 8 deaths worldwide is due to high blood pressure. Also, over 50% of American adults have pre-diabetes or diabetes, it's a HUGE epidemic. Some minor lifestyle tweaks can reverse these health issues in the majority of cases.

So, everything in this post is a nice idea, and we all have good intentions, the question is - what are you going to do about it? Based on the information above, how do you want to choose to manage your situation? Taking a health issue from an idea to reality can be extremely difficult, no matter how simple the related actions may be, because we are creatures of habit. So, what's your plan of attack?

thanks, this is awesome! i am going for something that sounds similar with myfitnesspal, with goal maxes of carbs/fat/protein/sugar each day. already it has helped me choose better foods because i can't eat all the crap with a bunch of sugar all the time, and i have started eating way more protein than i ever have. and better kinds than just hamburgers LOL.

i like the idea of workings beginning at 5 minutes and adding a little at a time. i started a longer cardio exercise routine and it really made me sore, so i definitely will cut it back and work toward the full thing.

sleep is still a tough one, i better do that now actually. it's just hard working 12-14 hour days to get as much time as i want to chill. but i think my body and head would definitely thank me for the sleep.

 

[Kaido]

i like the idea of workings beginning at 5 minutes and adding a little at a time. i started a longer cardio exercise routine and it really made me sore, so i definitely will cut it back and work toward the full thing.

That's the thing...you're going to be alive until you die. I know that sounds morbid, but the point is that you literally have the rest of your life to get in shape. That isn't an excuse to do nothing, but rather to not feel pressured to take such a big leap into exercise that you can't sustain it. The important thing isn't getting instant, overnight results...it's about setting up your environment for success & it's about building the habit. 5 minutes will become 10 will become 15 will become 20 will become 25 will become 30. So really, the first step is to setup your environment for success:

1. Buy a used exercise machine off Craigslist
2. Park it in front of the TV & pick out a few good TV series that will hold you over for a few months
3. Get some Gatorades & put them in the fridge as your daily reward for completing your daily workout

So now you have the equipment & have bothered to make it fun & interesting (TV shows) & rewarding (ice-cold Gatorade). We're simple creatures...we need some stimulation to help us do boring things. It's hard to maintain hardcore willpower & motivation & determination & self-discipline long-term, because all of that fades over time. Commitment & convenience are what really win out long-term, in my experience. So then to cement in the habit & make progress, setup your program:

1. Set an appointment on your calendar, just like a dentist's appointment - this is what you do, every day, at this time
2. Create a tracking spreadsheet for scheduling, starting out at just 5 minutes of exercise on the lowest setting possible
3. Do that every day, and increase 5 minutes a week until you hit 30 - add this system to your spreadsheet. Then increase one level of resistance (say 1 through 10) each week. So every 7 days, you "level up" just a little bit, starting with time & ending with resistance levels. Five months in, you'll be doing 30 minutes at max resistance like it's a piece of cake! This is simple to do on a spreadsheet; that spreadsheet then tells you EXACTLY what your workout is supposed to be every day, i.e. this week is 7 days of doing 30 minutes at Speed 2 on your treadmill (or whatever). In half a year's worth of work, you can have a solid habit that will bring you health benefits for literally the rest of your life!

I've become very much a fan of designing habits & psychological helper tools to increase my odds of success, because my results & control of those results is important to me. The idea of daily exercise is very simple, but really, truly, actually doing it consistently is really, really, really hard for most people. I don't like going to the gym, but I also find it extremely hard to motivate myself. Here are two additional tricks I use:

1. I use the costume trick, which is where you buy special clothing that puts you in the mood or in the right frame of mind. I have some cheap exercise shoes from Amazon, spiffy dayglow green workout socks, a workout shirt, and workout shorts. When my alarm goes off, my very first task is to put my workout clothes on. It doesn't matter if it's for 5 minutes or an hour - your job is to do your workout, whatever it may be, so you need to gear up for it. This also helps my ADHD-riddled brain bypass the barrier of "ugh, I have to do my workout", because my next-action step is literally to put on my clothes. And of course, once you unplug from whatever you're doing & shift gears & get dressed in your workout outfit, your body & mind are kind of like yeah okay let's do this, haha!

2. I use the "X-effect" to track my progress. This is a fun psychological trick that uses the "out of sight, out of mind" idea to put a visual tracking system in your face every day. The goal is not to break the chain of X's, so it puts pressure on you to keep doing it every day. Don't except overnight success with it, but you'll get better in time as you practice using it!

I setup ALL of my projects are short-term projects, because that's simply what motivates me. So what I do is print out a calendar for the month (max 31 days per piece of paper), then use a big red sharpie to mark an "X" on my calendar for every day that I do my workout routine. I keep that on a horizontal clipboard, with one marker per clipboard, so that I can instantly check it off. These are the clipboards I buy:

Amazon.com : Acrimet Clipboard Landscape Letter Size A4 (9 1/16” x 13”) Low Profile Clip (Hardboard) (6 Pack) : Office Products

Amazon.com : Acrimet Clipboard Landscape Letter Size A4 (9 1/16” x 13”) Low Profile Clip (Hardboard) (6 Pack) : Office Products

www.amazon.com

These are the red Sharpie markers I buy:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IFHE/

This is the tool I use to generate printable calendars:

Make your own 2024, 2025, or 2026 printable calendar PDF.

Create your own customized calendar for 2024, 2025, and 2026 then download it. Select the paper size, orientation, how many months per page, etc.

print-a-calendar.com

So this is the result:

1. The exercise bike is setup & ready to go - I don't have to drag it out or set it up or anything, it's just instantly usable
2. I have my exercise clothes ready to go, so my first job when my exercise appointment alarm goes off is to get changed, even if it's just for a 5-minute workout - doesn't matter, it's my job, and I need to wear the appropriate attire!
3. My bike is parked in front of the TV, and I have some dedicated TV shows that I ONLY watch while working out, and have a bunch of series lined up so I don't get bored. I use the spreadsheet to tell me what my workout of the day is.
4. When I finish my daily workout, I get to mark the calendar off with a big, red "X". This sounds trivial, but is actually HUGELY effective.
5. After I check off my calendar, I get my ice-cold reward drink. I'm currently using water enhancers for my reward drink (Mio, Kool-aid, Jelly Belly, and Crush sugar-free squirt bottles).

You might enjoy reading the "no more zero days" article:

• No more zero days

There are lots of apps & stuff available for the X-effect system, but I've found that a simple printed calendar, at whatever station I'm at (ex. workout bike station), with a red marker, is extremely effective because it doesn't just disappear behind an app somewhere on my phone.

This may sound like a lot of stuff to bother doing, but if you bother doing it, your odds of success will go through the roof! I'm not a very social person as far as exercise & stuff goes, and prefer to do it all at home, but I'm also very lazy & find it hard to self-discipline myself to actually DO stuff like working out, so the little system I have setup like the checklist above has worked wonders for me long-term!

 

[Kaido]

sleep is still a tough one, i better do that now actually. it's just hard working 12-14 hour days to get as much time as i want to chill. but i think my body and head would definitely thank me for the sleep.

To be 100% honest, sleep is the key to everything. It's like wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet...when you're tired, everything gets filtered through that helmet. You have less energy, less motivation, everything is less fun, chores are more of a drag, you have less of an inner motor driving you, etc.

imo, staying up late is the biggest enemy in America. We have access to TV & the Internet & so many distractions, then we're tired all the time. It's my biggest enemy personally, for sure. Everyone likes to unplug at night & chill, because we all need that wind-down time, but then we kind of operate in a sleepy haze all day, and are so constantly tired that we forget we're tired & then don't understand why it's so hard to follow through on simple things like an exercise plan every day, lol.

I had bad insomnia for like 20 years & it took me a really long time to learn how to fall asleep quickly, but now I can be out in less than 15 minutes consistently (usually much quicker than that). The hardest part is actually going to bed early, especially with my semi-erratic work schedule...it's nearly 1am & I just barely finished a work project, so I'm going to need to sleep in tomorrow to ensure that I'm a functional & productive human being tomorrow, lol.

I don't have much else to say other than try to design the most consist sleep hygiene program you can:

1. Go to bed early
2. Get a minimum of 7 to 8 hours of sleep
3. Be as consistent as possible

I believe a consistently early bedtime with a sufficient number of hours of sleep for what your body requires is the most effective productivity tool on the planet. Everything is better when you're constantly well-rested, and that is an extremely rare gem to have in your life in this day & age!

 

[Kaido]

thanks, this is awesome! i am going for something that sounds similar with myfitnesspal, with goal maxes of carbs/fat/protein/sugar each day. already it has helped me choose better foods because i can't eat all the crap with a bunch of sugar all the time, and i have started eating way more protein than i ever have. and better kinds than just hamburgers LOL.

I mean, I eat dessert every single day, and I also get stuff like Whoppers all the time...but it all fits my macros, so whatever. Again, it's not an excuse to eat processed foods 24/7 because that's not good for you (preservatives, manufacturing agents, chemicals, sodium & salt, fried foods, re-used oil in fried foods, greasy foods, extremely high carb numbers, etc.). I eat out on a regular basis, but I also try to stick within my daily macros & make lot of my own food at home, for the majority of the time.

Once macros "clicks" in your head, it's really incredibly easy - it simply boils down to hitting your numbers every day, whether it's for weight loss/maintenance/gain. And that requires a meal-prep program. If you're interested in learning how to cook & how to develop your own meal-prep system, I have a bunch of good posts on that when you're ready!

It's really stupid easy once you get into the swing of it, and you'll wonder why you never did it before & why it took you so long to get into it! I had no idea how to even boil water when I started to get into cooking, and now I have over 100 great recipes & cook pretty much every single day for my meal-prep! And I feel it's important to blow away that mental barrier to cooking & meal-prep, thinking it's hard & all, when it's really not, once you have the inside scoop on it!

 

[balloonshark]

I know I'm stranger on the internet and they are hard to trust. I've mentioned eating plant-based and that's scary to some. It was to me. Here is is recent video of doctors talking about the results some of their patients have experienced from changing their diets.