I need to get back into this frame of mind.

Yes! Habit forming was crucial to my staying in Maintenance. Habits, when repeated, become comfortable, even when it's a bif change at first. Consistency in following through with the healthy habits is so important, and does allow a peace of mind. I do feel like I still make decisions and practice self control though, but it is positive and validating, not something I need to be freed from. Decision making is important to me because it keeps my head in the game, as opposed to, for example, following a pre-packaged plan that involves no decision making.

Thanks for this, Anna! It really is interesting and thought provoking.

Oh this is one of my favorite topics and there are so many aspects to it but I'll try to stick to just one of them here:

I think the 2 go hand in hand especially when you are trying to create new habits.

There's a school of thought that we have a finite number of decision "points" per day.

Let's say you have 100 for each day and you have a goal to eat healthier.

I'm dramatizing a bit here...
So deciding what to wear in the morning maybe deducts 5 points, deciding to brush teeth first or make the bed - 3 points, deciding what to eat for breakfast on the day 10 points, Deciding whether to order takeout with the rest of the gang at work because it's someone's birthday but you'd promised yourself you'd be "good today" 25 points, actual work decisions 45 points. Getting home and finding you forgot to defrost the chicken you had planned to make for dinner and what about that workout you had planned to do? You are so depleted at this point so you just default to the tried and tested "I'm too tired, I had a hard day, I deserve ice cream and I'll start fresh tomorrow"

I'll use myself as an example of how I'm working to overcome this
To combat this I make the decision of how I'm going to eat for the day and what 1 action I'm going to take relating to my goal in the morning when my decision pot is still full and it goes into my journal
The practice for me now is that once it's in the journal it's gospel. The habit I'm wanting to create then is to write in the journal every morning and then honoring what is in there.
I will still be making decisions every day because no 2 days are the same.

Dismantling old habits...now that's another kettle of fish altogether

I want to get back to where I was last year. I did my workout in the morning before I really thought about it. It was my habit... not a choice I was making.

I remember reading somewhere that when we are talking to ourselves we should frame it as...I am a person who works out every morning (or whatever it is you want to become a habit). When you catch yourself saying...I should be working out each morning reframe it as...I am a person who works out every morning. I never miss it because that's just who I am.

My father always says about quitting smoking and drinking that you have to say to yourself that "I don't smoke or I don't drink". No in between. Basically telling yourself what is what...

So interesting topic!
In the year that has just ended, I managed to set some habits of which I am very proud today (clean perfectly the Kitchen after dinner, skin care before bed, not overdo with household tasks). For other good practices unfortunately I have not been able to make habits of them.
Like Sandy, I've noticed that what you do very early in the morning when you wake up easily becomes a habit because you don't have time to think about it, you get up and do it.
Yes it's a sacrifice, but doing gymnastics as soon as you get up, when you get up early on purpose, isn't even a decision but a consequence.
This year I had the ambition to do gymnastics in the afternoon, but I see that a thousand other priorities take over that get in my way, in addition to the tiredness that appears as the hours go by. Then gymnastics becomes a decision that is hard to make.
Have to work on this ...