Hi MaroonMama: There are quite a few longterm maintainers... but they don't always post on the boards anymore, they have gotten on with their lives, lol. That's not to say that there aren't a few of us around on the boards still. Since NO ONE (even those who have always been slim) will stay at the exact same weight for the rest of their lives, maintenance should be considered a
weight range. The caution, of course, is to
keep it in that range and not start a slow, inexorable creep up. Those who are 'rebooting' know that it happened not because this way of eating failed, but because they decided or slipped into their old habits again. I know some in maintenance have gone Paleo-ish and others are mainly watching portions sizes while still keeping carbs low. Others have turned to a more keto lifestyle (high fat, mod protein, and <50 g carb). It all depends on what you find works best for your body. We are all individual and will not all have the same results from differing WOE.
Because we all have had disordered eating in our previous lives, we will
always need to pay attention. Usually it's good to stay within 10 lbs of your goal as your lifetime range although if you are quite small/short, it's probably best to lower that number a bit, lol. The point is, if we do start to slide back to old high carb, junk food, oversized portions, etc habits we know what to do AND we need to do it before it gets past our weight range.
That's the real normal. Lifetime slim people do this all the time. They just notice the gain, decide to cut back a bit until it's where they want to be, and move on.
Pop onto the IP maintainers boards and read up a bit and you will see that we are dealing with working on our exercise, hanging on through life stressors, and yes, getting rid of that
little bit of extra fluff that we may have put on due to inattention in the years after phasing into Maintenance. Just everyday life...
Liana