I am 42 and just going through a rough period. Trying JC and have lost 11.5 lbs since Nov. 18,2008. Not great but not bad either. Only have 20 to go. But my modivation is gone, am perimenaposal and just blue. Anyone going or have gone through this in there 40's have any advice?

Don't feel bad... you only have 20 to lose! I have lost 35 and have 50 to go and am unmotivated and burnt out for the last eight months and have not lost. I think I am going in to the center tonight and starting afresh/anew.... I'm 48 and never had this much weight to lose in my 20s and 30s... maybe 10 or 20 pounds at most... read all the posts ...it has been helpful to me today... hope you find a way to get remotivated. It's great that you've lost 11.5 pounds too!

Not to be negative but..I can relate I have just joined JC again !!-every year(last 3 years) at this time I have 15 to 20 to loss-and yes this year it's 20! I'm 49 and eating like football player!! I'm scared that this time I'm not going to be able to put the breaks on the eating. The thing that helps me is remembering how my clothes felt on and having control over what I was putting in my mouth-that is a great feeling!! I say chin up and think warm thoughts -skinny chic thoughts! Let's get skinny!!! Joy

I have to correct myself-I'm 47 not 49 ! Joy

Oh man! I hear you! I too have been struggling for the past 7 months. I'm 47, had 80 to lose, perimenopausal, in a boring job, etc, etc. Started out great, dropped 35 pounds in 6 months, then bam, hit a wall of blah. Kinda followed the program, but not as closely as I should. Didn't gain, didn't lose... perfect example of "limbo." And I have to tell you, I hate it here! I want action, but, well, I don't want to put out the effort. Sigh.

So, what am I doing? Well, I'm putting my head down, giving myself pep talks ("Really, will that commercially-produced muffin top taste better than the muffin top that will appear on your jeans look?") I'm very carefully, very faithfully, writing everything I eat down, and (here comes the heresy), I stopped "volumizing" my Jenny entrees. Yes, I just eat them plain from the box now. Well, not quite plain. I do add extra garlic and spices, but I've stopped trying to figure out how to make them taste like home-made. Not that their bad tasting, but I figured out that the thing I miss the most from my "former life" is cooking. So, I've moved my interest from the entree to the veggie sides, and I've been playing with them instead.

Has it worked? Well, dropped two pounds in the past week and a half! Surprised the heck out of me!

Was it hard work? Well, yes and no. The internal conversations are starting to feel like nagging, but with a true loss that didn't involve the letting of any blood, I'm thinking this next week won't be so bad.

Do I stray and eat off the plan? Yes, of course! I'm not perfect. But it seems to be getting easier to get back on track. I'm sure there will be times when I take a really wide detour in to the land of "not now" food, but, I think I'll be able to find my way back again, and hopefuly quicker than this last time!

Will this work for you? Don't know. I think we each have to find our own inner voice. Often times a lack of motivation isn't, but is rather covering a need for something else. In my case, the lack of motivation covered the fact that I was longing to get back to my cooking. So, I did, in a way that lets me lose, forces me to try new cooking ways to keep me interested, and is ultimately so good for me that I'll continue cooking this way even after I'm done with the program.

So - long answer to a short question, but there you have it.

Best of luck - You can do it, you just don't know it yet.

Here's the sad part, as we enter the 40s, we are supposed to drop the number of calories we consumer because our bodies aren't burning as fast. True or not, our previous devil-may-care lifestyle starts catching up with us.

I'm seeing that I'm not losing as quickly, as I used to. So the few pounds that I have lost, I'm sure as heck not trying to put it back on because I feel as if I have to work out twice as hard for the slow drip, drip of fat loss.

A friend told me that, when she was younger, her friends did the pencil test with their breasts. So it was a good thing if your breast was big enough for a pencil to be tucked and held. I remember laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Now in the 40s, that methodology comes back to haunt us. Between the breast and stomach - whoa doggy.

Again, I don't care if this weight has to slowly melt like the last Ice Age, it's coming off.
Valerie B is my SHEro.

I know where you are coming from, I am 45 and peri menopausal, sometimes I just want to cry and eat chocolate. The best way I have to deal with it is go outside and talk a walk. If the weather is not cooperating then I start cleaning my home, moving the furniture around, anything to get my butt in gear, I find physical activity gets me out of that down feeling and keeps me from reaching for food for comfort. I have been on Jenny since last June and have lost 61lbs to date I am nearly at my half way mark.