I have read other people on here saying that it is the maintaining that is the real work, and I am inclined to agree. When you are really focussed on getting to target, that supercedes all your little cravings and passing fancies because you know that if you indulge them too much you are in danger of losing the self-control of the plan.
When you hit target, and you are in the process of maintaining, it is very easy to just have something because "it wont make a difference". As long as its just the something, then thats great, but when you dont have the focus on losing any more, then all those things that you could cheerfully ignore before start yelling at you from the supermarket shelves and saying "You did it, you can have me now!! HAVE FIVE OF ME!! HAVE TEN!!".
I cant imagine many of us got to the point where we ended up here because willpower and self-control were our strongest qualities. Emotional eating doesnt suddenly stop happening, it just gets over-ridden by the need to lose while you are losing. The need to maintain is a much more vague entity, and it takes some doing to still stick to doing stuff in moderation and within reason.
I have long held the opinion that in my case, certainly, my weight gain was a symptom of a deeper root cause. That root cause has not gone away. However I do seem to be developing the skill of self-reminding - and prompting myself to just stay a little bit in control. It doesnt always happen, and certainly not in the last week!! But I have been able to switch back into losing mode pretty easily today, so the christmas gain will soon take a beating, but then I have to readjust my mind to being a little bit more focussed on naughty stuff being "in moderation".