I don't consider myself a true veteran since I'm only 2.5 years out, but I'll respond since this website considers those with more than 1 year of bariatric surgery experience 'vets.'
I maintain with the following phrases repeating themselves in the crevices of my brain: "Obesity isn't curable, ever. Obesity is incurable. Obesity can't be cured."
Let me explain...while obesity can be placed into remission by achieving a normal weight, the formerly fat person's internal biochemistry will always favor fat storage.
There's a reason so many bariatric surgery patients regain some or all of their lost weight: we can't ever eat like our naturally thin counterparts who can eat junk and stay at low body weights.
The formerly fat person's body is in the weight-reduced state. A naturally thin woman who has been 130 lbs her entire adult life maintains far easier than a 130-lb woman who once weighed 300 lbs.
The weight-reduced, formerly fat 130-lb woman's metabolic rate is slower than that of the naturally thin woman, burning on average 300 to 500 less calories daily even though both ladies have the same heights, weights, and body fat percentages. This is why formerly fat people are primed to regain.
In essence, I'll always need to be vigilant. I exercise. I have no forbidden foods. I try to avoid the slippery slope of eating junk and crap because staying on track is easier than getting back on track.
Good luck to everyone who fights the battle of the bulge. The battle is lifelong.