Adjusting calories to maintain

If your deficit is only 250 calories, it would be fine doing it at once. Many people will just maintain the 250 or 1/2 lb deficit due to possible errors in measuring.

CONGRATULATIONS ON MEETING YOUR GOAL!!!

I met my goal last spring and decided to go ahead and lose a little more, but once I decided not to lose anymore and start to maintain, I eased into it. Like you, I set it to 0.5 lb per week loss goal for about a month and continued losing, so I changed to manual 100 calorie per day deficit to account for under-estimation of food or over-estimation of exercise calories. And, finally after about a month or two of successful maintenance, I stopped logging everyday because I eat a lot of the same foods, so I "know" my regular menu and how many

Now, I just log when I want to "check" calories on something new; when I notice a change in my habits such as snacking more, or when I see an extra pound or two on the scale. Otherwise, I just enjoy my new body by sticking with my new lifestyle choices that helped me earn it.

Congrats on reaching your goal! I reached my (initial) goal in December. Since I was only netting 1350 calories after exercise (I eat back all of my exercise calories), I bumped up my calories by about 100 per week for a month until I was up to 1820. I figured an increase of 500 or so all at once would be too great of a change and would cause me to gain several pounds all at once before re-losing it as my body adjusted. That would have been de-motivating for me. I continued to lose during that month, fractions of a pound per week. By bumping it up a little at a time, it's easier to see when you stop losing, and therefore find your true maintenance calorie goal. Mine is quite a bit higher than MFP would have calculated for a 5'5.5" 48-year-old woman moderately active before exercise. Bonus: if your weight stabilizes a couple of pounds below goal, you have a little wiggle room for water fluctuations.