let's hear it for maintainenance

I've been brave enough to net around 2600 calories for about 2 months and have not gained. I have been learning to maintain my size since July and had some accidental losses while getting my intake right. It all makes sense now why I lost the weight so fast, I must have been eating at a much larger deficit than was necessary.

I've been lifting 3-4 days per week, not much cardio because I like to get it from outdoor sports and it's cold and creepy outside now.

I actually stared out here with maintenance as my goal. My dad was using MFP for his weight loss and I liked how easy it was for him to track his calories. For years I've relied on using a notebook to plan my calories but I had no way to really log calories at restaurants or in scenarios where I didn't have a "nutritional information" block on the packaging. When it came to exercise, I couldn't really estimate how much I burned.

I like maintaining. I actually have lost a little weight, probably because "maintenance" allows me to take in more calories than I tend to get around to actually eating. And when I have times where my caloric intake / output balance is off, I know about it. Maintaining on MFP gives me a much better way to judge where I am than basing my assessment on how hungry I feel or what I simply guess I should eat or do.

I like this thread already! We need more of these. Any tips you all have learned about tweaking your maintenance? How long do you wait until you tweak, how do you know you need to tweak, etc... just things you all may have picked up on the way that might be useful to us losers ( WEIGHT losers ) when we get to the maintenance point!!

I hit my goal on December 6th of 2011. After I hit my goal, I lost 8 to 10 more lbs as I figured out how many calories I need per day to maintain.

Right now my BMI is anywhere from 18.5 to 19. I eat around 2000 calories a day with a little more on the weekends. I continue exercise 4 to 5x a week with cardio and weights.

I am finding it a bit hard to maintain. Easy to put weight back on. I gained 4 lbs over thanksgiving. I have lost 1 1/2 back off that. I use the elliptical 5 times a week for 40 minutes. Keep my calories around 1600. If I change that routine I start to gain again. I am 5 61/2 and weigh 148 with the gain from thanksgiving week.

I've been maintaining my 200 pound loss for over 3 years now. I track about half the time, but I watch what I eat and make healthy choices 90% of the time even when I do not track. I weigh myself everyday and have given myself a 3 pound limit. If I reach this, I track religiously and cut back a little until they are gone. I stay diligent because I will not return to where I was.

Edited to add: I'm 46 years old, 5'7" tall, and eat 1700-2000 calories a day.

I've been maintaining since September - although trying to regain some muscle so happy for the scale to go up and inches go down! Personally I find maintenance harder than losing - I still haven't found my exact calories so working on increasing my intake and upping strength training in order to achieve this.

Would love other maintenance friends - I still find it hard getting my head around the fact that I can be at my goal everyday not have to be under it and having friends with the same goals is great motivation

I'm 2 pounds away from my goal. I am losing very very slowly . I like the way things are going now, since I am practically maintaining anyway I may just set my calories at a little more than my average is right now.

I have been maintaining for two years now. I eat a zig-zag calorie amount which is dependant on how much I run or exercise.

I am about at my weight loss goal. I only had <10 # to lose. I notice I lose slowly,,which is fine, but each times go down a couple pounds, my weight waffles back and forth for a week or so.
I was half a pound away from my goal last week, so I have upped my calories a bit, to not lose as fast and be able to maintain.
We are going on a two week vacation to Florida, so it mabe a month before I actualy get that last half pound off.

I would like to hear some maintenance success stories, too.

I'm attempting to maintain...trying to find my magic number... I'm still losing, slowly.... but I'm eating like a horse.

This was fairly accurate for me:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

this makes me want waffles.

Great info.... bumping for tracking.. I know I have a ways to go for my goal but, I'm interested to see others..

Am in maintenance...and to tell you the truth..I think it's a bit tougher than losing the weight. I've been on maintenance since about Sept/Oct.

I am starting to have fun with it now though. Doing unorthodox things to see if I can maintain...things I would have never tried when I was trying to lose a bunch of weight. Plus searching for different goals than the number on the scale. THat's what I still have to wrap my head around.