Everyone says it's harder once you hit 40-It's only been 6 days for me so I don't know yet whether this is true or not.

Well, it depends. I think you can eat more and move less to lose weight faster when you are younger. But it's also easier to eat less as you are older as your metabolism has slowed down. I'm losing at the same pace I was 15 years ago, 3 years ago and now, but I'm eating less now. But it doesn't feel as hard to do that either.

I'm surprised to say I'm finding it much easier. I turned 41 this March and I began my latest and hopefully last weight loss attempt in April. I've never lost this easily before. That said, I can also say I've never been on plan as much as I am now. I'd like to think that because I'm older and wiser, I'm taking a much healthier approach.

My last serious attempt started at 36. I lost 70 lbs over 2 years. I think the difference wasn't so much my age as my mindset. I was still overeating on " clean " foods and using exercise to counteract my eating habits. I calorie counted, but I didn't weigh and measure my foods. I didn't really have a plan, as such. Consequently, it didn't last.

I'll take the benefit of experience over a faster metabolism any day.

Thank you both-that's very helpful

No not for me. All the other times except this time i took up an intensive exercise program - usually running or cycling. This time i went four months before starting to exercise but still found it easy.

The losing weight part is easy, the hard part is doing the things required to make sure that happens, though that part is easier now too I think, but then I don't have a ton of experience with it, since I never really tried to lose weight before I turned 40. I have been "overweight" for a while now, just not uncomfortably enough to do something about it until the last couple of years.

This is kind of encouraging.

I've been reading so many things lately about how much HARDER it is to lose weight after 40 because we're starting to hit menopause (or are post-menopausal like me), and I hadn't really taken the time to think that it might be easier in many ways due to the benefit of experience and added wisdom and possibly patience.

I had been thinking that so far (about a month) it's been awfully easy to stick with my eating habits and workouts, and that was kind of scaring me, because....what's the catch?, you know?

Now I'm realizing that maybe it's easy because I'm taking a smarter approach, I have more realistic ideas, and I'm just better able to deal with the change.

And not necessarily slower either. I've lost more weight this month than I have ever lost in a month ever before. And i KNOW I'm in perimenopause and I KNOW my metabolism has slowed way down. But... eating less is relative. if I had a revved up metabolism, eating 1700 calories a day might feel might hard! But with a slowed down metabolism, eating 1200 calories a day feels relatively easy. I just don't feel the same HUNGER.

I am 39 and I think it is easier. Maturity helps. Not caring what other people think so much really really helps. More income helps. Caring more about your health helps. It's a different game to when I lost weight in my late teens.

The mental side to weight loss is the real issue unless you have serious physical disabilities that can come with age and prevent exercise.

I lost the bulk (heh) of my weight over 40. It wasn't easy by any means, but it was easier than it was when I tried in my 20s & 30s, because I was more prepared mentally in my 40s to face reality

There's a huge difference between having to lose 20 lbs from middle aged spread, and the metric $hit ton of weight I had to lose LOL it was clearly a mental problem, not a slow metabolism. I did the work I needed to do in my mind, let go of things I couldn't seem to in my 20s (the notion that I'd be Christie Brinkly if I lost 30 lbs) etc., got myself sorted out and the weight came off easier than I ever thought it would

so it all depends on your perspective I guess, what's easier or harder. Off is Off in my mind

I've always had a handle on my weight. I guess because the only thing I could ever control was what I put in my mouth and how much time I dedicated to exercise.

But I've noticed in the last 10 or 11 months, I've gained 18 pounds even while I'm on WW or some other healthy-eating lifestyle and exercising at least 5 days a week for 45 mins each session. The weight just keeps piling on. There's no way on God's green earth I've eaten an additional 63,000 calories over and above what I basically need to maintain. No way.

I blame it on pre-menopause. The only thing that's changed with me is my age in the past year. I'm 46. It's so frustrating. Does anyone have any suggestions? I very well could be missing something that someone else does that helps them.

Thanks in advance