100+lbs and kept it off success stories?

I don't know if I'm a success story - more like a success story in progress. But this may be what you're looking for.

June 2011 - joined MFP and started losing
September 2012 - hit goal weight

Since then, I've been maintaining within a 5 pound range of that goal weight. I've been above it a few times, and below it a few times too, but for the most part, this is where I stay.

"Did you get the appetite cravings and metabolic slow down that I've been reading about?"

Cravings? No. If I want something, I eat it - usually a weighed and measured single portion of that something. Cravings come with deprivation in my experience.
Metabolic slowdown? I sure don't think so. I eat *a lot* of food. My predicted maintenance calories are 2600-2700, and though I don't log my calories every day, I'm sure I'm right around there on a weekly basis, possibly above that, yet I maintain.

The whole "losing is easy, but maintaining is near impossible" thing is scary. I recall reading Tara Pope's NYT article, in which she appears to only seek scientific backing for the excuses she makes for her own inaction regarding losing weight, and wondering if there wasn't something to it. But look at who she is profiling in that article: people who lost weight on Medifast, eating 700 calories a day, who now have to vacation with a scale to maintain their losses.

I was not a dieter. Instead, my weight loss plan was to simply live my life like a healthy-weight, fit person. It was hard at first, but then it became second nature. I pre-planned (and packed) my meals every weekday. I ate plenty of food. I worked treats in every day. I took days "off" for celebrations or events or special occasions or just because I wanted to. I exercised - I learned to absolutely love it. I worked more activity into my daily life, tracking steps with a fitbit. Why drive if I can bike or walk? I got enough sleep and drank enough water and if I had a bad day and ate more than I needed, I didn't give up...I did what my healthy friends do. I went back to normal the next day.

Like magic, by living like a healthy weight person, I became one.

When it came time to switch from losing to maintaining, not much changed...I just started eating a bit more. I still exercise, I still pre-plan my day, I still enjoy holidays and celebrations and eat what I choose. The next day, I get back to the gym and normal eating.

Is it hard? Honestly, no. And I have been tested - I changed jobs from a lower stress to higher stress environment. I had to change gyms, which may not seem like a big deal but my gym was my second home. I've had health issues and vacations and stress and I've had bad weeks.

But here I am. Still maintaining for now. We'll see what the future brings.

My advice to you: As you lose weight, don't do anything you're not willing to do forever. Instead, make new habits you'll keep with you always. Lose weight so that when the time comes to maintain, the only thing you change is adding a few more hundred calories a day on average. Don't cut out food groups, don't starve yourself on 700 calories a day, don't deprive yourself of a daily treat. Don't be a killjoy who lectures others about calories on Christmas; enjoy your life and the food lovingly prepared for you....but then go back to your regular habits the next day. Make exercise and activity a priority; it changes your relationship with your body, I promise.

Willpower is worthless; it's a finite pool. But habits? That's your key.

@ShannonMpls also. So +2 :-)