When did you decide you were out of loss and into maintenance mode?

...I ask because I have now grazed past my goal weight twice in the last two weeks and have hovered just above it in the interim. At what point do I need to reevaluate my strategy? I am almost the size I want to be-- I have a little more fat burn to work on where I hold it the most greedily: hips and thighs-- and believe that if things continue to progress the way they have been doing, I'll be there in 3-4 more weeks. (I'd be there sooner but for an overtraining injury on the old knee that a physical therapist is about to start work on.) I guess I just wanted to see when some of you called your goal attained and when you shifted into maintenance mode.

I also have no clue about how to actually go about living in maintenance mode-- my first guess will be to maintain my current activity levels because they are rewarding for me and allow me to eat stuff I couldn't even think about if I sat on the couch, and to eat more calories in general. In loss mode I shoot for about a 300-350 calorie daily deficit, so I was thinking that initially I'd take that back to 200-250, then back to a "safety net" of about a 100-200 calorie deficit and stay there as long as I am not losing weight/muscle/boobs. :) But please let me know if this is an insane approach. The above was a stab in the dark.

For me, maintainence has been about trial and error.  Like you, I know that I wanted to continue to keep very active so that I could keep my cals up and enjoy dessert, wine and other great things fairly regularly.  I also knew I didn't want to count calories daily. I focus on staying in a weight range (140-145 for me) and only weigh myself about once a month to "check in".  I can tell when I am in the upper or lower end of that range by how my clothes fit in the interim.

I think your thoughts sound right on.  1. Just stay at maintainence or just slightly below, counting cals if you feel you need to. 2. Continue exercising and challenging yourself and reevaluate when necessary.  3. Enjoy it! 

For me the real reward has been knowing that even if I do get above my range, I have skills and I have options. I can either cut back cals OR increase exercise for a few weeks. Depending on what is going on in my life, sometimes one is a better choice than the other. I have been maintaining for 3 years now, and have only had to do that twice(right after the holidays both times, HA!) It is so empowering to know that you now have the skills to outsmart the weight before it gets out of hand. Not to mention all the other benefits that come with being active and eating well!

Congrats!

Beautifully worded by HILARY!! You want to live your life now, so don't focus on a rigid number but instead define a range that you'd like to be in. don't weigh yourself too often, maybe every other week or so to see if you're on track. at first you might want to continue counting just to see how your body adjusts to the increased calories and then stop counting once you're actually maintaining. the 100-200 calorie deficit is actually a great idea. it isn't necessary but it's "safe" while trying to determine where maintenance is for you!! Great job on reaching your goal!! keep up your healthy lifestyle!! you seem to have an amzing outlook on the whole thing so congrats!! 

I lost the weight I wanted, but am still doing a slow approach to maintenance levels..we always want to be sure we lost 'real' weight, you know? Extending the loss phase by a week or so is probably okay, then slowly upping it to see how your body reacts.

It's easier to increase slowly so that if you reach a point where you seem to gain, you'll know when that began, and how many extra calories you'd added.

Everyone is so different when it comes to their physical activity, body composition etc that I think those calculators, while probably close to hitting things on the nose, are still a best estimate, since of course..none of us can know our exact, precise BMR without having it checked by a doctor with those specialized tests.

Just add slowly, and try to relax, and see what happens! If you reach a point where you've been on certain calories for say, a week or two and you've gained something that seems more than water, it will be easy enough then to back it up by 100 calories or however many you feel are 'excess' for you.

And likewise, if you find yourself losing when you don't want to, it's easy to increase intake.

Good luck!