I am overweight and worried about exercising

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Submitted by Dr T on December 7, 2010 – 1:32pm

Question: 
Thank you for taking my question.  I am a 35 yo female who has had all the cardiac tests you can imagine.  Everything from echoes to a cardiac CTA.  All tests were normal.  The most recent test (CTA) was one year ago.  Since that time I have gained a considerable amount of weight due to anxiety regarding exercise and my diet has been higher in fat.  I am working on both of these issues now and have set a goal to lose 70 pounds by eating healthily and exercising.  However, I continue to experience abdominal bloating, heartburn, fatigue, and some shortness of breath mostly due to the abdominal bloating.  My question to you is this- how do I reverse the damage I may have done during two years of inactivity and not eating right?  Additionally, how do I know that my cardiac CT results are still valid since this weight gain and lack of activity?  Should I have my cholesterol re-checked?   I’m very concerned about my health and want to regain what I’ve lost, but am afraid to exercise due to my concerns about my heart.  Thank you so much for your time.
 

If all your tests were normal 2 years ago, it is unlikely you have done serious damage to yourself. Diet & exercise are indeed the best protection and I wish you good luck with your weight loss program!
You probably should keep an eye on your cholesterol, so that you a good baseline to follow. I recommend exercise to everybody, even patients with heart disease, especially if you achieve weight loss at the same time.
Take a look here:
https://www.cardiachealth.org/app/risk-assessment.php
https://www.cardiachealth.org/heart-disease-treatment/what-you-can-do
https://www.cardiachealth.org/patients
https://www.cardiachealth.org/heart-healthy-recipes
We are trying to make dieting but healthy but also delicious, and I have now a nutritionist as well as a culinary chef associated with this website:
https://www.cardiachealth.org/ca-blog/new-partners/
Hope this helps and good luck,
Dr T
https://www.cardiachealth.org/

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