does age make this worse?

[zzzjoy]

So I went and read the article and to help leptin resistance I need to avoid high density foods, eat more often to avoid chronic hunger, balance fats and sugars and lose weight.
I'm just wondering if age makes this harder to 'fix' and if it can really be reversed?

[ozzie]

I'm betting that age will make it harder. Age seems to make most everything harder because of the decreased metabolism. It has taken me over a year to lost 10 pounds! I am a senior citizen so maybe it won't be as hard for you.

[joel]

It's not clear right now the impact aging will have on the hypothalamus sensitivity to Leptin

It may be that it's more an issue of total bodyfat than age. The more body fat you have the more circulating Leptin in the blood. The more circulating leptin in the blood the more likely you are to damage the hypothalamus sensitivity to leptin.

[zzzjoy]

But is the damage to the hypothalamus reversable? There do seem to be some people who no matter how much they struggle can't lose weight and then resort to stomach surgery or just give up.

[joel]

Early research indicates damage to the hypothalamus is this manner may be permanent.

As for people who can't lose weight or seem to have difficulty with it, in my experience most of the time there are numerous changes that can be easily made that make a dramatic impact. I cover this in depth in Free of Fat Forever, but basically you have to start with the fact excess bodyfat on its own creates a hormonal state that predisposes you to continual weight gain. There are a number of steps that can and do address this so you can start dropping weight