When I was younger I could eat pretty much everything -- in moderation, of course, and still lose weight. Now that I'm older, many foods bother me, so I've eliminated them from my diet. These foods include dairy products, sugary stuff and virtually all processed foods. I feel better, but I am still not losing weight.

I've tried counting calories, counting carbs, and doing both at the same time with little result.

What gives?! Any advice?

I had a stage in my young adult life I tried to GAIN weight, really frustrating

Calorie counting is fairly easy but it depends what you are eating and not just how many calories you are consuming in one day. Can you give an idea of your typical day eating, what kind of foods/meals you eat.

I've never done carb counting but I did reduce how much I ate certain foods, reduced portion sizes when I did and now I try to eat mostly complex carbs ...vegetables, whole-meal breads, pasta, rice, porridge, etc.

If you really want to lose weight I think you should just cut out all the useless carbohydrates. That is mainly the awful white bread that we all eat. I know they taste good but if you just switch to eating tortilla wraps, and whole grain breads if you want to eat bread, you will see a nice reduction in your weight.

I find that my age has greatly influenced how (or IF) I lose weight. I have also cut out the foods that bother me, which never did in the past. It seems to have helped, but I also am going through perimenopause, so they say your body changes in that period of time too, so I just have to find the "new balance".

Age is probably our worst enemy(( After 25 years i started to gain weight! Just really almost in one day after turning 25;-)) i know that after 25 women's metabolism slows down up to 25%((( for men almost the same number. You need to accelerate your metabolism. I use lots of cinnamon, ginger (make hot drink). these are said to be good accelerators for metabolism

I agree the age factor is highly relevant. I keep searching for diet tips that actually work for "older" women, but so far, I've found nothing particularly helpful. What's most depressing of all is that the extra weight is mostly in my midsection, which makes me feel very self conscious.