How do you maintain?

I agree that you need to count for at least several months. You have built good habits. Now they need to become ingrained.

When you hit your goal weight up your calories by, say, 100 or so a day. Try that for a week (you may gain a few pounds immediately, but it hsould stabilize.) Then up again if you're still losing. Keep on until you are stable.

Keep exercising. Don't forget to eat your exercise calories back or you will continue to lose, which is not your goal.

I am very close to maintenance as well and it is very much on my mind. I know I am planning on continuing to log, probably forever. It's something relatively easy to do and it has been probably the single most important reason behind the weight loss I have had. Keep logging. That would be my advice. Also, weigh every day, knowing that there might be a couple pounds fluctuation....

I started the program in 2010 and got to my goal in 2011. I've maintained since then by keeping at the logging and exercise... I've been at my goal weight now for almost 2 years. Counting is what got me here... no reason to stop now!

Motivation changes over time. The main thing is to always have goals beyond weight loss. Goals like exercise achievements (I want to ride my bike X miles in a day, for example), or strength (lift X weight), or muscle development (tone, trim, core, arms, legs, chest, etc).

It helps me to flex my calories in a weekly instead of a daily budget. So I can splurge one day and make it up later or I can save some for the weekend. This lets me have some fun foods I normally deny myself, but still keep control.

I've been maintaining for approx. 2 years and still log most days - I set my calories based on losing 1lb per week and this allows me to be over without gaining. Having weighed and logged religiously when I was serious about losing the weight in the first place I believe I can now judge portion sizes and make sensible choices. I have noticed that my tastes have changed over time to prefer the lighter options.

I am 4lb from my goal and have just started using MFP - I think I will always need something like this to keep me on the straight and narrow but I definitely don't want to be obsessive - even to the point of just logging what I eat, not looking at the daily result and checking once a week as to how I did and how it affected the scales.

Set yourself a routine and net of calories and if you gain weight 2 weeks in a row give your self a decrease of 200 call's but if you lose give your self a increase of 100 cals

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I faithfully weigh myself when home everyday the first thing in the morning. While water gain can be an issue, I find that if I am gaining weight, I am eating too much. My rule, five pounds and you got to kick your butt in gear and lose it. That may happen during the holidays or when I am away and I am forced to eat out a lot. I have lost and have kept the weight off for over five years. As others have said, you will actually get a sense for portions and how much you can eat. Also, clothes are always an indication more so then weighing. If its getting snug your gaining and if it is getting too loose, you are losing. Despite all that, I still like seeing my calorie consumption and so I log it. It keeps me honest too.

What I am doing right now is weighing myself daily. I record my weight and plot it on a line graph. I know my weight will fluctuate and so I don't freak out if it goes up. I have loosened the reigns on my eating so to speak. I am running regularly and doing strength training. With that, it seems I can eat quite a bit and maintain. Right now, its kinda blowing my mind how much I can eat. My plan is to continue weighing myself because that is the only way to keep my "honest" so to speak. I do journal but right now I honestly don't journal everything. I am really trying to control portions and eat real food. I stay away from "diet food." I eat plenty of vegetables, some fruit and try to eat more protein than carbs. I eat full fat dairy(except for milk) but I do limit myself on bread, white flour, potatoes and sugar. I do allow myself a "splurge" meal right now but really its after I just ran a 5k so it fits into my plan. I have maintained within a few lbs since August 1st doing this.

Keep going, enjoy yourself, and if you are trying to lose weight, add another form of exercise and watch your diet. Good luck.

I track during the week & the week only, along with moderate exercise every day.

I don't track at weekends & eat what I want to an extent.

Probably not the preferred method, but it's worked for me.

I summarized as follows:
     1, eat some breakfast, and I do not eat breakfast one, at noon hungry, eat always particularly high.
     2, eat some lunch, lunch eat well at night hungry faster and eat more than that.
     3, eat dinner, or eat an apple, OK.
     4, do not always eat snacks, watch TV or the Internet, a cup of boiled water drink ~
     5, after dinner to sit, not fat not work - I now regard the housework in the evening, one hour Guarantee will not have time to clean of flesh!
     6, leftovers are still reluctant to it ~ finally into his belly is still full, poor Oh, and finally had to spend money to lose weight, not worth!
     7, early to bed early, very important, the early time, then finally running exercise!
     8, buy a weight scale, no fixed time week weigh and effective weight control!

this is amazing

anyway I just wing it.

I dont' know if it's from my past "failures" at crash dieting where i could never eat at those crash levels and so never "broke" my metabolism but then only when doing diets that allowed actual food and so lost weight little by little (and cursed it while my friends lost fast and "succeeded" at dieting) but I am able to stop dieting and fly solo and maintain whatever weight I was at provided I don't go nutsbonkers and eat all teh foodz.

Apply the lessons you learned in the dieting phase of your weight loss: portion control, balanced diet, reasonable amounts of exercise, suitable measurements at periodic intervals and see how you go.

You need to trust in the process and if your habits have become ingrained then you will maintain unconsciously as your calorie intake matches your calorie expenditure.

If you feel the need to continue tracking as it forces accountability then do so for a while but always keep in mind what you want to achieve - which I presume is weight maintenance without tracking - and how you can do exactly that in the long term.

Personally, a life time of counting calories sounds dire to me...

Normally I eat at a slight deficit Sunday - Thursday. Friday and Saturday are my relaxed days so when I eat over maintenance it all balances out and i don't gain weight. If I go out to eat I usually gain temporary water weight but if I drink extra water for the next day or two it goes away.

I continue to write down everything I eat and drink in my notebook and I pre-plan my meals the night before. The writing helps me to see trends and get food ideas and the pre-planing saves me lots of time.

No restrictions! I find ways to substitute ingredients, make the food myself or work it into my calories.

I have a +/- 5lb range I stick to and I try to stay closer to the - weight. If I start getting closer to the + weight I start working on getting back to the lower number so 5 lbs don't turn into 10 lbs, 10 lbs turn into 15 lbs etc.

Working out is a high priority for me. It helps me feel good, I like what is does for my body aesthetically and it allows me to eat more.

Also I have an eating window where I start eating and stop eating. No grazing all day, that can set me up to overeat. I eat all of my food then I close the kitchen until the next day.

Doing all of this consistently has worked extremely well for me. I don't gain weight and I don't lose weight, although I am still losing inches, but that's more of a workout thing.