I got below my surgeon's goal (154), but wanted to get below 140 as my personal goal. I got within a couple of pounds of that, but I've basically been off track for close to a year. I look back at my MFP entries from a year ago, and I see cookies, and brownies and such, and that was on the days when I was at least entering my food - really bad days I didn't track. I've known since before surgery I was an emotional eater and borderline binge eater, but the first 9 months went really well. Then I got sloppy, bounced around within an 8 - 10 pound range for about 6 months, and then started to gain - by which I mean I was up and down, but the lowest weights were climbing.
After the holidays, I finally got my head back in the right place, banished the crap from my diet, and got back on track. I lost 12 pounds in the first couple of weeks, since then it's been more like 1 or 2, but at least things are heading in the right direction. I've been eating right,exercising, and tracking for 5 solid weeks, and this morning I was back to a weight I haven't seen since October (or September?)

Here are my strategies:
(1) Focus on the goal. For the first few weeks I journaled, every day if I could find the time. I needed to get my goals back front and center of my mind. That was crucial for me for motivation, and made me really stop and think about my choices.
(2) Get the crap carbs out of my diet. I'm a carb and sugar addict. I can't stop at a little. I have a lot of trigger foods that are best avoided entirely. Some things I simply eliminate and don't really honestly miss. Other things I find substitutes for. I also added L-Glutamine to my diet which got me past the worst of the carb cravings in the first weeks. Now I often forget to take it, but I'm not sure I would have made it through the first week without it.
(3) Logging my food, even the bad choices. Interestingly I found that logging a bad choice helped me see that it wasn't as bad as I thought, that my day had not suddenly become unredeemable. That short-circuited my temptation to use one bad choice as an excuse to eat all the "bad" foods I've been avoiding, acting like a food maniac for the rest of my day.
(4) Setting short, achievable goals. I can't control what the scale does (dammit!), but I can control me. I started out just aiming to stay on track for an entire week - I'd gotten so far off track that that alone was a huge achievement. Once I'd gotten to a week, then I aimed for two, then for a month. The scale hasn't always cooperated, but I know I'm doing what I need to, and that's all I can control.
So, I'm down 15 pounds of my regain (I'd say 10 of those were carb / water bloat), and I have about 9.5 to goal. I hope I'm past the worst part, which was detoxing from all the crap I'd let creep back into my diet. At least for the moment, I don't crave it, and I'm pretty happy with what I do eat. I'll be two years post-op the end of June, and I so want to crush my goal by then!

I was one of the VERY lucky ones and lost 30 pounds lower than my surgeon's goal. It was so easy for me ... the weight just came off & I didn't have to religiously follow ALL the rules except for monitoring my protein.

Well, 3 years later, that "EASY ROAD" was a bad deal. I didn't learn anything about eating slow, choosing healthy foods, etc. I'm up 17.1 pounds from my "I feel AWESOME weight:" I totally let things slide during the holidays and put on 8 of those since November 2012. I'm really trying to get back on track, but it is so hard. My head screams "SNACK ATTACK" in the evening!

While I can definitely eat more than 6 months post op, I definitely still have restriction. Of course, the restriction is the best when I eat my protein first. But man, carbs taste good! I'd also gotten into a habit of a glass (or two) of wine in the evenings. Trying to restrict that & only have wine on the weekends. I've just started that this week, so time will tell if that strategy works for me.

Any suggestions for dealing with the Snack Monster? I think if I can overcome that, I can get back to my desired weight & not hate looking in the mirror so much.

Thanks for your help and comments.