I have always wondered, for those of you who have made it to your goal weight, how do you stop losing weight? I mean, why would you, if you're only eating 600-800 calories a day? That is still a deficit isn't it? So why wouldn't you just continue to lose?

I know the body will require less caloric intake at a much lower weight, but still...this doesn't make sense to me. If our tummys don't have room for extra calories, how do we maintain?

I am curious to know this as well, my mom keeps asking me and I have no idea! To be honest, I think I would want my tummy to stretch a wee bit so I could learn to live on small, but not minuscule portions someday (I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that!)

Talk about timing ... My husband asked the same thing last night.

I've always been "taught" to eat between 1200-1500 calories to lose weight. Sounds like I might not be able to get that in with 3 meals and 1 snack a day.

Any long-time sleevers have input?

You increase your calorie intake, and add more healthy carbs back into your diet. Instead of being in the "weight loss" mode, you switch over to maintaining mode.

I need to shoot for about 1000 calories a day now that I'm at goal. I'm still only hitting 850-900, but I am adding in more carbs. Some days, I don't hit my Protein goal of 60 grams, but other days I hit 80. I just started trying to maintain so it's hit or miss. I haven't lost any weight in a week, and actually have been bouncing up and down with this 1.5lbs on the scale for the last week. Some days it's there, the next day it will be gone.

Plus, I am back on track at the gym with my strength and weight training program. I should be able to burn the fat, and build muscle. Since a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weighs the same (it's a myth that muscle weighs more, a pound is a pound), I am hoping this will help me tone up, and get rid of the bulky belly fat I still have while helping me maintain my current weight.

I do weights 3 days a week, I bowl for 2-2.5 hours on Wednesday, and then I do 1 hour of cardio per week. I plan on starting back doing my Hip Hop Abs work out at home for my cardio because I do not have enough muscle tone for the spin class that I went to. I need to build some strength before I get back into spinning.