I'm a bit late to the conversation, but here's my two cents:

--Weight loss and maintenance are two different things. I realize this more and more as time goes on. Women who are younger tend to have an easier time losing weight, but maintenance is a whole other ballgame. Maintenance really boils down to having the right long-term attitude, which sometimes includes dealing honestly with issues that may have caused emotional eating. People who want instant gratification won't have the attitude necessary for long-term weight maintenance, and these people tend to be younger though that's not always true.
--The doctor who wrote the article did not speak in terms of absolutes. He wrote that in his experience, it is USUALLY the case that older women are more likely to have the right attitude. His statements are generalizations. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule; I like to think of myself as an exception
--This article was about maintaining weight loss specifically, not about other life experiences. I think in many cases, experience is what matters. People who are older tend to have had more experiences...but this is only valuable if they've actually been able to learn from them. As cnmlisa said, some people repeat the same mistakes over and over because they have not learned from their experiences. Some people are old souls who may be young but have learned well from their experiences and the experiences of those around them.

--Melissa

Nicely articulated Melissa

Thanks. I usually prefer not to generalize too much since we are all different. We've had different life experiences (both good and bad) and we also have different health issues. What I took from this article is really the point that having the right attitude is of paramount importance for long-term maintenance. This isn't necessarily true for weight loss, but maintaining loss requires truly embracing a lifestyle change in every sense of the phrase. Not everyone is prepared to wrap their head around this since it requires making tough choices for life.

--Melissa

Age does bring wisdom sometimes. When you are young, you see your whole life spread out before you and think there will always be plenty of time to lose weight and do better at taking care of yourself.
By the time you reach 40, you see the hands of time ticking away and get more serious about it and you might have already developed complications from your weight. We didn't get serious about our bad heath until DH was diagnosed with diabetes. We got the right attitude in a hurry when that happened. We realized this is a way of life that we must follow not a diet.

YES! and YES! And I think the older you get the more apt you are to wrap your head around it.

As Eve said.....when we are young we feel that we are invincible....at least I did...but the older I get the more I feel that I am <not> invincible. I need to take care of myself....have fun, but take care.

I am happy to say that I have learned from my many experiences....and I am healthier, wealthier and wiser from it....praying the trend continues!!!

Yes, that was my thinking too... and sometimes, getting that perspective is the result of trying the alternatives, and discovering they don't work!

Perhaps because the twenties are closer to the teenage years, when peer acceptance is so important; perhaps it's more of an individual personality thing. But I think people would have an easier time of it if low carbing were not so "outside the norm" of our society.

Being odd man out ALL THE TIME requires a level of self confidence that is more easily acquired with age; and we come to understand that "being like other people" means nothing; our compliance in this matter only undermines us.

It's funny, I decided at some point in my twenties that I really just didn't care what other people thought of me. I was already so "outside the norm" anyway with my weight that ignoring people's disdain was very freeing. I think it helped that I had to start with my family--I came to realization when I was about 24 that I needed to make myself happy and that I should worry about pleasing myself, not pleasing my parents. I like to think that this helped immensely when I started on this WOE a few years later.

--Melissa

I love the sentiment!