How Do You Maintain?

 I am nearing the finish line.  Well, I would be if I ran or anything.  Like I say, you won't catch me running unless someone with a knife is chasing me.
Anyway, I only have a pound left to go.  Maybe a week or two?  If I know my luck I will hit a stall and not lose anything for a month.  I just want to see the scale say 120.  I don't know why.
I have already started increasing my intake in preparation of maintenance.  I am using full fat things and adding more meat and cottage cheese and Greek yogurt.  If I continue to lose I will have to add more I guess.
I don't remember it being this hard.  In the past when I have lost weight it just seemed that I hit a weight and then stayed there.  I don't remember really making an effort to eat more to stop losing.  It has been over 20 years so it's hard to remember.  What used to work for me was eating 3 meals a day and no refined carbs at all.  I ate a lot of meat and vegetables and salads.  I just avoided bread and sugar and snacking.  Maybe I am just making this too hard on myself.

Congrats.  I'm right behind you and interested in what folks answer.

I still have a few lbs that I would like to lose, even though I have reached my 'official' goal.

I pretty much eat normally, with a focus on protein of course, and small portions.  I do not dump, so the occasional treat works it's way into my diet and the extra calories seem to do the trick. 

I also eat mostly full fat products, because low fat ones gross me out. (cheese and mayonnaise).

Breakfast might be Greek yogurt (Chobani blueberry) or a protein bar.  Sometimes whole wheat english muffin with PB
Mid morning - hot tea
Lunch - salad greens with 3 oz chicken or tuna, 1-2 Tbls pasta salad or artichoke hearts or olives, full fat balsamic vinaigrette.  Maybe some sunflower seeds on top.
afternoon snack - cheese stick, some nuts, maybe 1X a wk I will buy a cookie in the cafe
Dinner - meat with veg, sometimes pasta or rice with it.
After dinner snack - cheese and crackers, maybe an Edy's fruit bar.

I have been maintaining within 2 lbs of goal now for about 8 wks.

 I'll tell you when I do officially start maintaining I am going to count the days like it was my sobriety date.  Every day that I stay the same weight and not regain will be like Christmas.

Unfortunately, my body just quit losing without me doing anything at all...

Lora

I used to flip out about losing too much

Now I realize that it's just going to do what it wants, and in the end, your body will have a bounce back, so it's not worthwhile to worry about losing too much and try to stop it until/unless it becomes a serious problem. Usually the body is pretty self-correcting.

Now.... I just eat what I want, and I weight three or four times a week, and I keep hoping I don't gain any more weight. My weight has been fluctuating around 152 - 154 for a while.

To me maintenance is all about being reactionary......I eat what I want, and if I gain weight, I react to that by trying to alter my routine.

I follow what my friend Yvonne McCarthy advised me to do. You may know her as bariatricgirl or wlssuccess channel.

Weigh every day. If you are above goal, then fix it that day. By always fixing the small mistakes you will never have a big one to worry about.

 I know in my case whenever I knew I was regaining weight I avoided the scale like the plague.  I knew it wouldn't be pretty and I didn't want to stop what I was doing.  When I am eating healthy I have no problem getting weighed.
I know for me, my history has invariably been that I will be doing good, eating right and staying the same weight and then at some point I decide for whatever reason that eating refined carbs would really be a good idea.  At first, maybe for a day or week or so, I manage to eat them (usually bread or things with sugar) moderately and my weight stays stable but gradually, or sometimes quickly, my ability to moderate becomes less and just one becomes just one more.  At that point I realize that the weight will start inching up so what does a normal, healthy minded person do?  I avoid all contact with any weighing mechanism.  If I don't see the weight going up then it isn't really happening, right?
The problem I am having now is that I still seem to be losing about a pound a week.  While I'm not complaining because I still have a bit to go, what happens when I get to that place?  Will the weight loss stop?  Do I need to add more calories, in a healthy way, until I stop losing?  I guess that is my answer.  Just like I have an upper limit to how much weight I would want to gain, which for me is 5lbs, I guess I need a lower limit, probably 5lbs too, where if my weight goes below that I need a plan of action.  I'm just not sure what that will be.  I don't want to go back to refined carbs and I don't want to overeat.  The only things I can think of is eating things like peanut butter or nuts to add fat.

I set my origional goal weight at 191. That's exactly minus 250 lbs from my highest. When I started dipping in the 180's I kept overeating to get back to 191, because I didn't want to get too skinny. All that did was lead to bad habits, so I realized I had to cut it out. I just let my body lose to where it wanted to stop, which was 169. I rebounded to the mid 180's where I feel comfortable. In fact I like 180 now as my goal weight, so you never know if you will want 120 to be your long term goal weight. Over time you may decide a bit lower, or even a bit higher.

Don't worry about losing too much. Your weight loss will stop at some point, and you will go through a little rebound, so it's not a bad thing to get a bit too skinny at first. I think this is a hard thing for most of us to grasp when we get to goal during our honeymoon phase.

About the scale relationship: When I don't want to weigh is when I need to weigh the most. It means reality check and knock it off punk. Put the carbs down. lol.

 I'm not really too worried about losing too much.  I just don't want to start overeating again.  That is my real fear, that I will need to gain weight and use that has an excuse to start overeating again or eating refined carbs.
I am more worried that other people will think I am losing too much and pressure me to eat more.  My boyfriend has already told me I need to gain 10lbs.  Tell a compulsive overeat they need to gain weight.  I'll show you.
I need to just stay the course and not worry about it.  Even if I lose too much I am sure it will bounce back.
You are right about the scale.  The day I avoid the scale is when I know I am in trouble.  The problem is by the time I get to that point it is already too late.