Getting a new body

[Peter B]

I am 66 now and for the last 30 years I have been overweight, up to a total of 60 kg extra.
With it came diabetes, high bloodpressure, cholesterol and a defunct gallbladder.

When my children started work last year and got beginning salaries bigger then my final one, I decided to spend my savings on me.

I got myself a Roux en Y stomach bypass operation; it did cost 16.000 NZ and was over and done in 4 days as it was done with keyhole surgery, hence a quick and painless recovery.
It reduces the stomach to a little pouch and thus it takes half a teacup of solid food to fill it up.

It is now 2 months ago and I have gone down by 20 kg, with 40 more to go, which will take about 10 months from now on.

The diabetes is gone, while the bloodpressure and the cholesterol are trending down.

The potbelly is gone, while the spare tire and the roll of fat in the groin are loose and shrinking and so are my upper legs.

While I know that what I look like is of no interest to nudists it makes living in this body a lot more comfortable.
The permanent nature of this also means I will have to take iron and vitamin pills every day for the rest of my life; a good exchange as I can let go of the other pills for the other ills!

With the summer coming up in a few months I look forward to being a comfortable nude rather than a plodding one.

[Peter B]

I am 66 now and for the last 30 years I have been overweight, up to a total of 60 kg extra.
With it came diabetes, high bloodpressure, cholesterol and a defunct gallbladder.

When my children started work last year and got beginning salaries bigger then my final one, I decided to spend my savings on me.

I got myself a Roux en Y stomach bypass operation; it did cost 16.000 NZ and was over and done in 4 days as it was done with keyhole surgery, hence a quick and painless recovery.
It reduces the stomach to a little pouch and thus it takes half a teacup of solid food to fill it up.

It is now 2 months ago and I have gone down by 20 kg, with 40 more to go, which will take about 10 months from now on.

The diabetes is gone, while the bloodpressure and the cholesterol are trending down.

The potbelly is gone, while the spare tire and the roll of fat in the groin are loose and shrinking and so are my upper legs.

While I know that what I look like is of no interest to nudists it makes living in this body a lot more comfortable.
The permanent nature of this also means I will have to take iron and vitamin pills every day for the rest of my life; a good exchange as I can let go of the other pills for the other ills!

With the summer coming up in a few months I look forward to being a comfortable nude rather than a plodding one.

[OZJames]

I think happiness and succes in life has a lot to do with self esteem or lack thereof. Lack of self esteem would be the major reason many people, especially women have for not going nude.

Congratulations Peter on taking a positive step, one which many peole would not have the guts (skuse the pun) to do. You now have a second chance - GO FOR IT.

It took most of the first 50 years of my life to become confident and happy with myself and my achievements.

I wish I had taken control of my life a lot earlier.

JAMES

[Rabid_Clam]

People are creatures of habit by our basic nature and habits grow into mild to severe obsessive behavior.

Some behavior include over eating, over drinking of alcohol, smoking and a hugely wide variety of other behavior.

Becoming overweight and being overweight are usually results of such obsessive habits and those are extremely difficult to change or break.

For those who are able to do so I bow in honor of your hard effort and good work. Your life will be much more rewarding and full for what you have done for yourself. To loose weight is as difficult as to stop smoking or for a heavy drinker to slow down or quit. The successful people are models of what others can follow.

[nudenwv]

glad you feel comfortable in your new skin! also glad you took over some other debilitating diseases that could be more harmful later in life. maybe being a nudist was the edge you needed to make the turn around.

[garbo]

Peter, I offer my congratulations as well for recognizing the harmful effects of obesity and doing something about it. My understanding is that bypass surgery is still a risky procedure but the successful results are worth taking such risks for those who are unsuccessful in other means. How nice that some of your issues are correcting themselves which undoutedly will provide a higher quality of life from this point on.

Taking control is not an easy thing to do and bad habits are hard to break. Fortunately, we have more information about nutrition and exercise today than ever before. Perhaps your post and the inspiration it provides, will encourage me to lose the 30 or so pounds that I need to lose!

[Peter B]

Thanks to all who replied.

The worst case scenario for diabetes is grim; blindness, gangrene, kidney trouble of the worst kind and impotence. It also enhances anything that old age or just living brings in the form of disease.

It was not only for me; I married a much younger wife.
If statistics are right then she could be a widow for 27 years; I aim to shorten those odds.

Overweight is now a world wide fact. From what I see on photos on this site and what I see on the beach and the swimming pool, a large percentage should shed weight.

But the failure rate after a diet is very high; I attempted 3 or 4 times, so a drastic and permanent solution was necessary.

It is not a dangerous operation any more-at least not to the surgeon who dealt with me. The odds were 1 in 200.

[naturalmanwa]

My wife was on the list for this type of surgery a few years ago and backed out at the last minute due to fear of a bad surgery and the consequences of it. She also has diet controlled diabetes, along with a reflux problem. I am glad this surgery worked for you and perhaps others will be inspired to do so for their health.

[Peter B]

Whether or not you choose to have any surgery is , I guess , determined by your own mind. If you are a risk taker and favour drastic solutions, like I am, then drastic measure in the form of invasive surgery is not a problem.

There are 2 forms for Roux en Y; open or laparoscopic;i.e. keyhole surgery.
The open surgery, which results in a big scar can be undertaken on just about anybody, bar the grossly morbidly obese.

I have seen a few people in the nudist clubs who had an overwhelming weight problem, which limited their enjoyment of living, either naked or clothed, severely.

For me there was really no choice, the main point was the elimination of the direct and indirect ills associated with diabetes.

Dieting had no results and the only succesful approach was surgical......for me

[Rabid_Clam]

It sounds like you had a very genuine strong desire to loose that weight. Is sad you had to opt for the surgery and not be able to overcome all that with proper mind set and self discipline but if it works great !!!

Loosing weight is like an alcoholic stopping the drinking, one has to WANT to change before any change sill take place. You had that, just not the discipline.

Your life will be longer and for sure much healtheier. I am happy you have found at least this way to fix a problem that was killing you.