It's really helped me this time to compare my weightloss to someone training to become a professional or olympic athlete, to be honest. Sure, everyone notices the "big event" but behind the big event were years of every day training and decisions (and injuries and setbacks along the way).
Maybe this line of thinking is too overwhelming for some. But when I am tempted to blow off my exercise time, or the 15 minutes of planning or extra shopping or if I have a bad day and think I might as well throw in the towel...I remind myself that what I am working for, in my world, is just as hard as someone who is in hard core training to become a professional athlete.
At least this time around, it's really given me strength to NOT rely on "snapshot" moments (weight on any given day, an overindulgence, illness, ect) but on needing to keep on training to get to my goal and beyond. It's also given me permission to guard my time for exercise and food shopping/prep/planning. When I was "just" dieting, it was easy for me to just toss that aside to take care of someone else. But now I am training my body, and working towards my health.
Even the most talented natural athletes still need to practice and train. It's just how it is. In order to make and keep my body fit, I'm going to need to do the same too. Even after I get to "goal weight", I know that I'm not "done". But that's okay with me now, and I understand that, I've made peace with the process. I'm sure I'll have total freakouts every once in awhile, that's who I am too.
But that image is really helping me.