Pete from the UK has recently shared his inspiring story with us, of how QardioArm and QardioBase helped him to lose weight and lower his blood pressure.
Family history of high blood pressure
High blood pressure runs in my family, and I knew there was a link between high blood pressure and lifestyle, but I thought that the genetic factors meant I was going to get it no matter what. Especially as I was overweight for pretty much my entire life. I went to visit my doctor in November 2017 for my first ‘Pete is in his forties’ health check, and that’s when I got the trigger I needed. This doctor was the first medical professional in my life that told me that if I lost weight, my blood pressure would come down, in spite of my genetic background. Bingo. That’s what I needed, and that’s when I decided I was going to take steps towards losing weight.
Making good habits
I’ve got a background in psychology and game design, and knew that cementing good habits quickly was going to be make or break when it came to reaching my goals. So I made myself a few rules:
- – Shopping for the week (or as much of it as possible) at the weekend. This stops me from going to the supermarket at lunchtime when I’m hungry, and then eating too much.
- – No gyms. Any exercise I’m doing, is at home. Before the habits were cemented, I figured I’d jump on any excuse to not do what I needed to do. So even if the gym is only five minutes’ walk away, if it’s chucking it down with rain, I was going to use it as an excuse not to go. If I’m doing everything at home it meant I had no excuses.
- – Monitor the numbers to see trends; make data capture as simple, no fuss and as low-impact as possible.
- – Progress is important. I’m in this for the long term.
How Qardio helped
Qardio gear obviously came into its own on the third and fourth of my personal rules. Qardio products make it really easy to monitor the numbers. I’d already got some old body-fat scales, but I’d have to laboriously make notes of numbers, and then plug them into a tracking sheet somewhere. With QardioBase you get on, get off and the data is captured. Dead easy, no excuse not to do it. QardioArm needs a little more involvement, but it still sends numbers back to the app automatically, and makes it really easy to track my blood pressure and see trends. The fact that both devices are visually very well designed (especially QardioBase) is the icing-on-the-cake.
Improving fitness levels
I started improving my fitness with bodyweight, cardio and stretching workouts via an app I could play on my smart TV at home. I got noticeable results from that routine, including getting my blood pressure down from occasional Grade 1 hypertension into the optimal range in just six weeks.
Following this, from early 2018 I have enjoyed many types of exercise from cycling, running, interval training and road and mountain biking. I have just started CrossFit which I am loving, and am absolutely obsessed with! I’m still using both QardioArm and QardioBase 2 to track my progress, stats and any changes.
Ultimate Success
Some things I’ve achieved over the course of the last fifteen or so months:
I have lost around 5 stone (about 30kg). I have completed two half marathons and cycled the London to Brighton bike event for charity. I’m also doing the Brighton Half Marathon in a month, dressed as Spider-Man on a unicorn, for charity..
Thank you to Pete for sharing his story with us! We love to hear how Qardio products have made a difference to our customers lives and helped them to reach their health or fitness goals. If you would like to share your story with us, please email; sharemystory@getqardio.com
