THIS IS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read this entire thread and I understand and sypothize with all of it because it is so much a big part of me too.  I fight the food monster everyday.  I have not given up my food addiction, I have not transfered it either.  I am still obsessed.  But I thought I would post a few of the things that help me.  I am only 17 months out so I am not quite as far as some of you, but so far i have been maintaining for 8 months.

1. I plan all of my meals in advance.  I pack my lunch and snacks everyday to bring to work and I eat on a schedule and I watch the clock, always looking forward to the next eating time.  But because I have thought out my daily intake I do not over indulge but my twice a week.  I also walk during my breaks at work.  So I get in another 30 minutes of just walking in addition to my gym workouts.

2. I pre pack all of my snacks in easy single serve containers.  Like if I am having a meat roll up I will throw it together and place it in a zip loc bags so I can just grab it from the fridge.  That way the good stuff is just as easy and accesable as the "bad" stuff. 3. I give myself 2 days a week to splurge.  I eat out every friday, and usualy one day on the weekend.  I don't make healthy choices usually, but I do choose in moderation and I do NOT bring home the left overs. 4. I did not cut anything out of my diet.  I have found with my previous failures that if I "give up" something I just want it more because I "can't" have it.  So i still eat carbs.  But because I never cut them out of my diet, they do not make me gain weight and I can control my intake of them much more easily.  ( this one is a HUGE mental thing for me and was a huge help in getting the weight off initially) I am planning on re-joining Weigh****chers.  I am at my goal, but have decided that I am going to go for my doctors goal which is another 10 pounds.  And I am having a hard time getting off of the maintanance eating mentality and back on the losing eating mentality.  So I will join WW again once I get paid.  They are who I used in conjuction with my WLS and they were what enabled me to keep all of the foods I loved in my diet and still lose weight.  So I am going to give them another shot.