New to maintaining - how to get back down 3#'s?

Well maybe I overestimated my workouts, underestimated my calories . . . but it happened - 3#'s right here (my butt). 

I really noticed on Monday.  I've been upping the H2O and dropping the sodium to 2000m.  I'm watching what I'm eating, I'm vegan.  I also do 3x60 cardio, 3x45 strength a week and am active in work.  I haven't been doing as much walking as usual, due to the weather.  I used to do about an hour a day.

I'm pretty new to maintaining and I am curious to those who have been here for a while - how do you nip these situations in the bud?

Drink water, count the calories again for a few days, eat lots of fruits and veggies, and homemade soup because it doesn't have much sodium. Also I make sure I kick up the exercise minutes.

Ha, that said I'm sitting at 112 and had been down to 107! That was possibly too low though; I'd be good at 110 but weight never just stays the same, it's always up or down a pound or two.

You're so right!  I tracked this weekend and it's gone. I really didn't obsess, I even had a few treats, but not in addition to my maintenance calories (which may have got me where I was in the first place . . . )

One question though - as a newbie maintainer - I now weigh the same as I did when I entered maintenance now but I've been strength training.  Today I noticed that these pants (wearing them now) barely fit when they used to be a bit loose.  Any ideas?

Again, I've had a few treats but I've kept my schedule of working out and being overall "good" about my food.  Soy ice cream sundae on Saturday and some of Dad's M&M's yesterday were just screaming my name!  Chocolate, you devil you!

Technically speaking, the strength training shouldn't affect the way your clothes fit, at least not that way. You may gain a few lbs, but your clothes should fit better. UNLESS...

Unless you're actually getting slimmer, and your pants are slinking down lower on your body, lower than were you usually wear them. I have had this happen! This is one of the reasons I track measurements with a tape measure, and don't just rely on how clothes fit.

As for newbie maintenance experience, I can tell you this:

1) When I first went on maintenance - at 105 - I didn't stay there. I shot back up to around 107-108. I do think this is quite normal, to gain back a few lbs before settling in.

2) Choose a range, not a number. So for example, your range could be whatever you were when you started maintenance, +/-5 lbs on either side. In my case, my range is 103-113. This gives you some room to play, and not freak out when TTOM comes around, or it's your bday and you want cake. My range is based a lot on clothing sizes, to be honest. I know that below 103 I'll be shopping in the children's section because I'll lose my bust. From around 105-110 I'm in a size 0 which is just fine and looks good on my 5' frame. From 110-113 the size 0's might be getting tight, but I do have a certain amount of size 2's in my closet that also look just fine, so all is not lost. But 110 is my "better look at my diet and exercise a bit closer" trigger.

3) After shooting up 2 lbs from 105, I settled in comfortably at around 107ish and have stayed there since around October, through major holidays, without counting calories anymore, and also recently with some major slacking off in the exercise department (due to the weather.... ahem, that's my excuse). The most I've seen on the scale is 109, but it's always been temporary due to TTOM or too much sodium or what-not. And in all honesty... I have not even been 100% good ... more like only 80% good!

I did find that strength training temporarily gave me a bigger size in the bottom. Adding muscle did expand the size; more mass is more mass, even if it is muscle. But eventually it toned up. Maybe during initial muscle gain, the muscle is a bit swollen because it's not used to the exercise?!