I'm glad I seen some action in this thread, I missed this the last time I was through here.

I think it does come down to the daily habits that makes maintenence an "auto-pilot" kind of thing. After all, it was the daily habits that had me obese in the first place...eating out of the box o' carbs (does it matter what is actually was? The important thing was it was all carbs), lack of structure, lack of planning, lack of caring. Now I have a new set of daily habits. Call it a routine, call it a rut, call it mild ocd, but if I stick to the new daily habits, they will become as comfortable as all the other maintenence type things I do in my life, like balace a checkbook, brush my teeth, take my kids to school, it's just another part of life. And when the holidays roll around and if I deviate from the "routine" one day, I tell myself that "Christmas comes but once a year" (or insert holiday of choice), and the day after is right back to the real world. No, I'm not talking about total pig out on Christmas, it's more like, "hey, plum pudding with hard sauce comes into my life once a year. I'm having a serving."

With that said, I still struggle with image issues, some white-knuckle moments, those last few pesky pounds. But I am learning it's the days I string together like beads on a string that show how things really are. Just make sure there are far more regular days strung together than those "once a year" days! And no making up holidays, either!