Those who maintain without exercising...

dogWalkerTX

A friend of mine lost about 70 pounds when he was in high school. He's in his 40s now and he hasn't regained. He never exercises. Ever. He eats 2 meals a day. Snacks rarely. If he eats a heavy meal, he skips the next meal or makes it pretty light.

It's weird. But that's what he does.

jrwms714

Exercise, for me, is essential to maintenance, but life comes around sometimes and stops it, i.e., when you are having surgery or when something unforeseen happens and you aren't able to exercise for a while. For me, I have always loved any form of exercise, even at my top weight, and also avoid things like escalators or elevators when I can walk instead. Parking far away from wherever I'm going is a favorite trick, as well. But exercise is about more than weight ... it's about health, all kinds of health, and I think it's a part of building a healthy lifestyle.

Momjogger

You’d have to workout for an hour every day to maintain at your original calorie intake and that’s if you don’t go over at all. You should try varying your calorie intake - look at your week instead of a day, so one day you might eat 1500 calories and The weekends eat more, etc. I dont know anyone who is at maintenance without exercise.

paperpudding

I have maitained for over 5 years doing little excercise. I walk, on average, about 20 minutes per day and I do have a job where I am lightly moving.

The calorie restriction is not onerous - I maintain on net of 1710 with a few extra calories for the little bit of exercise I do.
Fairly easy to keep to average of slightly above 1710 per day.