Please share your number one strategy for maintaining

Continued logging- Food, weight & exercise.

Meal planning, ahead of time, helps me stay on track. Logging my food keeps me honest with myself.

I've only been in maintenance mode for a couple of months - and I now keep my calories at a 1/2 pound deficit per week since I could still lose a handful more pounds. Here's what I've learned and how I've changed my lifestyle over the past 12 months to lose 55+ pounds.

1. I've paid much more attention to portion sizes - especially when it comes to cheese and chips;
2. I exercise just about every early morning on the elliptical while working my way through various Netflix / TV Series;
3. Although I never gave up beer, I have certainly changed the way I drink beer - I start with a great micro-brew, but then move to much lighter beers or wine.
4. I eat healthier foods, healthier chips and dips, vegetables and dips, and healthier meals;
5. I eat a great breakfast sandwich every morning full of eggs, sausage, ham, and various cheeses - starts my day off right;
6. I use a FitBit and try to get at least 17,000 steps per day (elliptical included) and get outdoors much more often to walk for the enjoyment of it;
7. I still log everything on MFP - I've been doing everything on MFP for about a year, and yes, logging gets old, but it keeps me honest and keeps my input / output in check.

For me its continue to set new fitness goals for myself.

Some hard, some easy, some fun, some weird.

For example:
Run a race I have never entered in before
Ride bikes/play hard at park with kids until they want to stop (not me)
Dance every chance I get-at home, in car, with kid watching christmas light show
Take a Trapeze class (thank you Groupon)
Try freerunning with local specialized gym
Relearn to Jump rope, then learn tricks
ETC.

Eat only when you are hungry and make it a point to become more active whether it's just a walk a day or joining a gym Good luck!

My # 1 strategy was to shift my focus from weight loss/diet to fitness. I had already been exercising throughout my weight loss journey, but I decided to venture into the world of strength training in order to really challenge myself and to hopefully get better definition. It was a good way to channel all of that determination and charge-ahead energy that I used to lose the weight into something equally constructive and healthy.

I absolutely agree with this. Plus, continuing to log calories until you are really sure you know what you're eating

Bumping to read later....I'll be maintaining soon and would love some tips as well thanks for posting OP

This thread has been interesting - I have been in maintenance (aka plateau!!) for about 15 months but not actually "quite" where I wanted / aiming to be. I have eased back on the exercise and given in to temptation too often - so I am still aiming to lose weight; but when I do get to my goal, I will be considering the ideas here. I quite like the idea of NOT maintaining but always having a goal ... off to check my TDEE as well!

Avoid high-fructose corn syrup. Completely. Which means I make my own desserts and buy good chocolate I eat a lot of chocolate and I was fine in maintenance and have been having an easy time gaining weight very slowly with this pregnancy.

There was a study done by researchers at Princeton where they found that mice processed HFCS differently than other sugars and they stored an alarming amount of fat in their abdomen over the duration of the project. That was enough for me. It's in so much processed food from bagels, tomato soup and cheap protein powders to Yoplait yogurt and ketchup. Fast food restaurants love it because it's such a cheap sweetener. It's ubiquitous but it's not that hard to avoid once you start looking. Read labels.

Avoid high-fructose corn syrup. Completely. Which means I make my own desserts and buy good chocolate I eat a lot of chocolate and I was fine in maintenance and have been having an easy time gaining weight very slowly with this pregnancy.

There was a study done by researchers at Princeton where they found that mice processed HFCS differently than other sugars and they stored an alarming amount of fat in their abdomen over the duration of the project. That was enough for me. It's in so much processed food from bagels, tomato soup and cheap protein powders to Yoplait yogurt and ketchup. Fast food restaurants love it because it's such a cheap sweetener. It's ubiquitous but it's not that hard to avoid once you start looking. Read labels.

Stories like this make me glad I'm not a mouse.

Bump for future reference!

Why it's So Difficult For Some to Maintain Weight...

Watch this excerpt from the HBO documentary series, "The Weight Of A Nation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

Also bumping for future reference.

I was hesitant to go on maintenance, but I continued to lose on maintenance, and had to increase my calories, so I wouldn't lose too much. Logging accurately & honestly is most important. That, and maintaining a consistent workout schedule. I've had no problems whatsoever maintaining, and I even take a break with logging on Sundays & all holidays (and I'm sure I over eat on those days). It's not as scary as it seems....you can do it!

This was me, too. I continued to lose at the calories that MFP said was my maintenance goal. I figured out my TDEE and tried that. I initially gained about 3 pounds, which I expected (glycogen stores replenishing), but I was a bit edgy about it, thinking that it may be weight gain, not glycogen gain. But my weight gain stopped and I've been a steady weight since.
I only weigh myself once a month. I still log everyday and have averaged out my daily calorie goal to include exercise (meaning that each day's calories are roughly the same and I do not eat back my exercise calories as they are included in my daily calories already).
I pay attention to how hungry I am and don't worry about whether I reach my daily calorie goal or go over it. I look at a weekly average and find that it works out well.