switching from losing to maintaining

i've reached my goal weight (yay!) and i'm ready to start maintaining.

i've been eating 1200-1300 calories a day for almost six months now and on normal days (when i prepare all my own food), i do this easily without much thought. i'm a person who likes routines and i'm finding it hard to up my calories.

to those of you who've already done this: did you up it all at once or gradually? if gradually, how so? like add 100 calories a week or what? did you switch to more caloric food or eating more of low calorie items? did you distribute your extra calories evenly between all your meals or add in an extra meal or many extra snacks?

basically i'm just looking for any advice about switching to maintenance... or any relevant experience, stories, whatever. thanks!

ps. stats: f, age 23, 5'4", 125 lbs (down from 160!)

My weight control strategy is to stick to the same size meals (because I also like a good routine) but to increase/decrease the size and number of extra snacks.  My maintenance intake is 1900-2000 and my weight-loss intake is 1400-1500 so it's not a big leap from one to the other.

I'd suggest you first increase your main meals so that you're also getting 1500 average and then work out how to top up the rest in snacks.  There's a bit of an art to getting it right but don't be frightened to get your full energy needs.

Good for you!!  You did it.  I cannot tell you how glad I was to get to the maintenance part of my weight loss.  Here's what I did when I got to maintenance.  I just increased my calories 100 calories per month and weighed once a week.  If I didn't gain anything that month, I increased the calories another 100.  I was on a 1500 calorie food plan for a year before starting maintenance.  What you don't want to do is go back to the old habits.  If you do, you will gain.  You need at least 3 years to change all those bad eating habits.  I got that fact off one of the weight loss shows on TV.  So I'm taking it very slow.  Now I eat anywhere from 1700-2000 calories per day depending on the amount of exercise I get that day.  I didn't get much exercise in January and February and maintained on 1700.  So with additional exercise I can eat a few more calories. 

Each person is different.  Don't be afraid, just increase your calories a little at a time and exercise three times per week.  You can maintain with very little effort actually.