The Omron HEM 705 CP Auto Inflate Blood Pressure Monitor - a review

Just a reminder,

In my last annual checkup I was diagnosed developing a nice metabolic syndrome and in particular suffering from hypertension. I wrote about it here.

I needed a good blood pressure monitor. The one I already have was giving me all sorts of readings - I had to have a good quality blood pressure monitor. I couldn't rely on what Macabi (my health insurance company) are including in their basket.

I used this paper in order to find the best blood pressure monitor - the Omron HEM 705CP. In the paper they compared several brands and this one was 'recommended' while so many other devices got 'not recommended'. They also said that it passed the strict tests by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and of the British Hypertension Society (BHS) while other devices did not.

Here's table 4 from this paper:

I bought it in Amazon for 85$ + shipping - 536 IS in total...

It's a very simple monitor - even your grand mother can measure her blood pressure if she has any.

I measured here 123/55, 59 heart beat per second and it was 7:02 p.m.

It remembers the last 28 measurements - but it's also a problem because in a household where several people are suffering from hypertension and are also shouting on each other because of the stress... - you cannot say who measured what - you just see a bunch of 128 measures and you have to guess whose blood pressure was it.

The cuff that you are supposed to wrap around your hand it too small - it's for women, for old people but not for a REAL man like myself, so as long as I am not pumping my muscles I can still use it - but I mean - this is such a basic thing - to provide a wide enough cuff! duh !! 

So as you can see this issue is one more issue that only adds to my hypertension...

And then there's this printer gadget that you get together with the monitor. At first I thought - wow it's gonna record my heart beats - and there's gonna be a bunch of niddles writing down every pulse. Nada. All it does is print the history of 28 last measurements on a small stupid paper, a dedicated printer. Of course I would have preferred that the monitor shall connect through a usb to some software that runs on my computer and adds to my spreadsheet, but whoever are designing this thing thought it would be cool to have this printer. I think it's stupid.

And don't forget 4 AA batteries for the monitor and additional 4 AA batteries for the freaking printer which of course are not provided.

Regarding the accuracy of the measurements... - well I was under the impression that such a qualified device that passed the strict tests of AAMI & BHS would provide measurements with lower standard deviation - but what can I say? I get different readings, or let's put it this way - shockingly different readings even if I rest for only 2 minutes between two consecutive measurements... - oh well.

I read somewhere that it's important to measure where you arm is at the same height of your heart. I tried that - it didn't help.

Aviel.

Lost only 2.1 Kilograms this week

I am a bit disappointed.

I am comparing this second week vs. two previous diet with weight watchers. I think I lost 2.5 Kilograms on the first diet and 3 Kilograms. on the second one - on the same week - second week for the diet.

And here I am losing only 2.1 Kilograms.

How come?

Maybe I added lean muscle mass?

The first reaction of the gym coach was that this should be a result of me adding lean muscle. Oh really? Is that so? I remember that this was the excuse of my wife when she didn't lose weight on the second week of the first diet - 'I gained lean muscle mass' - yea right....

If you eat lots of healthy calories and you train like crazy then you will add between 7 and 12 Kilograms of lead body mass. That's 250 grams per week at most.  

But that's if you eat like a pro and train like a pro.

I don't eat much - I am on a diet remember so I would say that in one week I gain between 50 to 100 grams of lean muscle mass...

Maybe I was focusing too much on REAL healthy food?

While losing weight is important for me cause I want to get rid of the diabetes & hypertension risks, still - a very important goal that I have is to eat GOOD food, HEALTHY food. and it means instead of eating that diet bread, I eat whole wheat bread and instead of eating 0.5% yogurts - I eat 4.5% and I eat humus and tachini and nuts and almonds. Everything is measured yes - but I eat this stuff... Maybe weight watchers didn't take this into account? Maybe I eat too much fat after all?

Maybe.

Maybe weight watcher program is flawed?

Well maybe... - I mean I was told that at my weight, my height & my age I should eat 56 points per day. They have this table that explains how many points I can add provided that I do sports. Well every day I spend 40 minutes average intensity activity which gives me 5 points and I do 20 minutes of high intensity activity which credits me additional 7 points.

So in total I am supposed to eat 59 + 5 + 7 = 71 points.

And I eat only 42.1 points.

So how come I lose only 2.1 Kilograms on my second week?

I think that it's because of the weight watchers program. It's flawed! if you eat all your points then you are gonna find yourself stuck at the same weight.

In the future I intend to quantify this and really go into the details but right now this is the best answer I can give.

Aviel.

How many sets and how many reps

Sets & reps... - these are the most common words that you are going to hear in the Gym.

What are reps and what are sets?

The word rep is a short for repetition and one rep is one complete movements of a particular excersise. For example in this picture I am doing flat bench press, that's the exercise, yes, yes - not FAT bench press - FLAT bench press and stop looking at my belly. 

ok so the movements that I am doing are... reps. For example I do 10 reps till I can't life no more, then I take a rest and then I do the whole thing again, and then I take another rest and I do the whole thing again. So we are talking about 3 sets x 10 reps. OK?

How many Reps?

So Question #1 that I was always asked in the gym was - 'how many reps?'.

There are three types here:

• those for strength.
• those for building muscle mass
• those for muscular shape and definition

If you want strength then go for low number of reps - say 3-6.

If you want muscle mass, you know to have nice big muscles - then do 7-10 

if you want to be lean such that people will see your muscles then either diet or do 15-25 reps...

I am going for the mass - as I explained - I want to be big and 'strong'... - so I am doing 10 reps. I select the weight such that I can do 10 reps for each and every set. I have a spotter such that in case I can't finish - the spotter helps me a little bit so I can squeeze a little bit more. Also the spotter is for safety - imagine what happens when you want to lift the barbell but you are exhausted... - it happend to me 25 years ago when I worked out in the Gym alone - there was no one there to spot me and I had to roll the heavy barbell over my chest to get rid of it.

How many Sets?

I am on the low side here - I do 3 high intensity sets per muscle group and then I move on. In 30-60 minutes I am out of the Gym and on with my life.

(please don't look at my belly)

Now there are many body builders, and I mean champion body builders that are exhausting their body with a system of 20 sets... - that's too much for me, I am not here to bloat my muscles out of proportion and I don't have time to spend in the Gym. I come to the Gym and I know that within an hour at most I am in the shower and I know I can have 2-3 such sessions per week and my body won't be depleted.

OK, one last picture - barbell curl - Actually I still have those muscles beneath the fat - don't you agree?

Aviel.

Why do I lift heavy weights if I want to lose weight?

Hi there,

Here's everything you wanted to know about Strength & Muscles.

The first question - 

Why?

Because on previous diets I avoided training for Strenght & Muscles and this is how I ended...

Terrible.... absolutely horrible - what a wreck of a man.

Here, take this one - 

 I look old, I look sick...

And this - 

 A man that can lean and rest his head on his wife... 

No!

This is not what I want!!

I am going to lose weight yes - but it's gonna be mainly fat, not muscles! A man should have muscles, a man should be big, thick, strong, intimidating, not a yellowish, vegetarian, skinny, glass wearing, intelligent wussy pussy.

And I am not going to train like a girl. That is I am not going to do the high-reps, low-weight deal - standing there like a shmock with 3 Kgs barbels in my hand and throwing it around - No! Not me!!

Seriously now, and girls - you better listen cause you have to follow the same routine, believe it or not.

When dieting our body has limited capacity to recover because it doesn't have enough calories to do so. If you do a light weights exercise then that's just like cardio for your body, it's an additional same-same attack on your body. Our body is a fascinating machine, when you throw at it a change it will try to slow down and if you don't need your muscles then it's going to be on the expense of your muscles.

You need to give your body a good reason to maintain the muscles and it means - you have to hit the gym and lift those weights.

One thing to remember though - I am on a restricted calorie diet, I can't add much muscles, the best I can hope for is preserving muscles. I am not going to become arnold schwarzenegger here - I am on a calorie restricted diet so my expectations are set accordingly - I am merely preserving my muscles here. If I start training for huge muscles then my body is going to collapse, it's gonna be injured, it's going to resist my efforts.

That's it,

Aviel. 

big men clothing

My lovely daughter Donna (yes, the one who lost her phone), sent me a picture yesterday of the only store where I can comfortably buy my shirts - the big men clothing store in Nahalat Yitzhak Tel Aviv (under lev tel-aviv towers).

Take a look - 

It was one of those frustrating days. I *HATE* shopping but I had to buy shirts. I went to Hanger and starting looking for the biggest shirts. I took XXXL and went into the tiny fitting room where you have to stand like a huge elephant in a small cage. I put it on - too small. I tried XXXXL, or in short 4XL - too small. 5XL - they don't have....

Then I had this bright idea. My mother already told me about this big men store. I hurried there - and it was AMAZING - all of a sudden you discover big men like you. Everything is big. Even the fitting room - is a REAL room - you can sit comfortably, you have a room to run to measure. I asked them for 4XL shirt - they brought me a huge one. for them 4XL is on a different scale than for me. The shirt was way way too big so I tried 2XL - bingo. Almost all of my shirts (6 in total) are the same shirt - but different colors - pastel colors - so simple.

They told me that I fit their baby department.... Geeeez.

Here's their web site :  http://www.bigmen2002.co.il/

What can I say - they are losing a customer but I am winning my life,

Aviel.

Yayyy weight watchers gave me a star !!!

Now this feaking unbelivable,

According to weight watchers I lost 5Kg !!  And therefore I deserve a star !!!

Here's the proof

But reality is that I measured myself

Last week I was 139.6

This week I am 135.4

I lost 4.2 Kg

But since weight watchers couldn't measure me last week  - it was decided to stick to my measurement and to give me a star.

Aviel.

Monitoring the total Glycemic load

Each food type we eat has its own glycemic index (GI) which indicates how fast blood sugar levels rise after eating it. We are comparing that food against pure glucose. Glucose has a glycemic index of 100.

GI < 55 is considered low, 55<=GI<70 is moderate and 70<=GI is high.

• Most vegetables have low GI - except for potatoes, beets that have moderate GI . Carrots have high GI !!! Surprise surprise...
• Most fruits have low GI, however conserved fruits have moderate GI and beware of water melons - they have high GI.
• Alcoholic beverages have low GI, however beer has moderate GI.
• Nuts, seeds, almonds and such have low GI.
• Meat, eggs and such have low GI.
• Pasta has low GI however rise has moderate GI.

People who maintain low GI diet have much lower probability to suffer from diabetes and hard disease. High GI contribute to obesity. 

The GI itself is not enough - it's just an index! We need to multiply it by how much we eat - right? I mean if we eat tons of moderate GI sweet potatoe then that's gonna cause a higher insulin spike than if we eat one tablet of chocolate...

nutriditiondata.self.com has the GL value for any food you can think of. They define Glycemic Load as a way of expressing the food effect on blood-sugar levels. They say that if you sum up all the GL of all the foods that you eat per day then you shouldn't exceed 100. Those suffering from diabetes - should aim lower.

Now that's something that I can use!! I mean - I can add up the GL of my planned diet and make sure it doesn't exceet 100, or better yet... say 80 ??

So first of all let's measure the GL of the typical day that I described here.

• 50 grams of Beigalach/Pretzels - GL=32
• I can't find burekas so let's move on
• freshely brewed filtered coffee - GL = 0
• 2 pieces of Baguette - GL = 44
• 1 piece of Croissant - GL = 15
• 200 grams Salad - GL = 4
• Oil- GL = 0
• Shakshuka using 2 eggs - GL = 6
• 4 pieces of yellow/cheddar cheese - GL = 0
• 10 grams of butter - GL = 0
• 2 Falafels are composed of
•     12 falafel balls - GL = 36
•     2 pita breads - GL = 42
•     salad - GL = ~0
•     6 tbsp Humus - GL = 6
•     tahini - GL = 0
• 330 ml cock - GL = 9
• grapefruit juice - GL = ~10
• Omelette w/o butter - GL = 0
• Yogurt - GL = 11
• 1 cup grapes - GL = 5
• 2 cups water melons - GL = 6

The total GL for one day before starting the diet was an amazing 226 !!!

I have no idea how my body could have avoided diabetes all these years and only now after 50 years it gave up (or hopefully not?) - I was eating more than double the daily target for GL !!




Now let's go over my diet plan and see what's going on with the GL -

• 2 loaded tbsp of OAT cooked in hot water - GL = 1
• 1 slice of whole wheat bread - GL = 5
• 1 cooked egg - GL = 0.5
• 200 grams of 3% Yogurt - GL = 11
• 100 grams of 3-5% Cottage Cheese - GL = 3.5
• Big Salad - GL = ~0
• 10 olives - GL = 1
• 1 slice of whole wheat bread - GL = 5
• one cup of cooked whole rice - GL = 24
• one cup of cooked lentils - GL = 13
• 10 grams walnuts - GL = 0
• 1 cooked egg - GL = 0.5
• Big Salad - GL = ~0
• 3 apples - GL = 15
• 1 big salad - GL = ~0
• 1 tbsp olive oil - GL = 0
• 1 cooked egg - GL = 0.5
• 1 slice of whole wheat bread - GL = 5
• 200 mg 0.5% cottage cheese - GL = 6

The Total GL for my typical diet day is thus - 91

It is more or less the recommended amount. Remember, as I said, 100 is the limit per day and for those  of us with risk of diabetes - they should eat a little less.

Nevertheless - I think people should maintain even lower GL. I know that calorie restriction (CR) society are trying to maintain Glucose levels of 80 for most of the day in order to activate life extending genes. So I think I shall have to reconsider what carbs I eat for lunch - maybe rice shouldn't be in my list of carbs and also I think that I should find a replacement for the Yogurt that I so much like.


Aviel.