Maintaining

"Can't" is a very strong word!
There isn't a set of rules, you get to choose for yourself.

As long as over a period of time you get your average calories up to maintenance level the rest is personal preference. I chose to adjust straight to my self calculated maintenance and it worked fine - for me. But I don't have emotional issues with weight fluctuations which is one reason to avoid big adjustments in calorie balance.

Many prefer to do it in a series of steps and those steps can be small or large, weekly or some other time interval. e.g. If someone is losing at 2lbs a week then making a 100cal adjustment is nowhere near enough initially.

Some people start to adjust upwards before getting to goal weight range to get a "soft landing" to maintenance.......

Whatever method you pick there's every chance this won't be the last time you need to make adjustments (up or down) so try to avoid making it too big a deal.

ClockWorKitten wrote: »

Thanks. I hear a lot of things and it gets a bit confusing. thank you.

A big thing to remember is that in a few months time as long as you are in your desired weight and maintaining happily range it doesn't really matter how you get there.

I'm a data person so went one route, others see the transition as a big emotional hurdle and need/should manage it from that perspective.