Living Maintenance - Fluctuation in Maintenance?

Do you give any fluctuations in your weight in maintenance? For example, like give yourself extra 5 lbs to gain and get back on the wagon until you hit your goal weight again, etc?

I think everyone fluctuates, so some degree of flexibility is necessary. So many reasons for scales going up and down - exercise changes, water retention, on and on. So some fluctuations are just part of being human.

A lot of maintainers establish a "red line" weight that they allow themselves to be under, and if they go over, they immediately move back to losing behaviors until they are at goal or back under that line.

I have a top and a bottom redline, from 120-125. If I get too low I tend to start getting crazy "I could cut a few calories and lose a little more..." thoughts and I think below 120 is too low for me. Hitting my topline signals when I need to cut back a little, though I do set that I have to be above it for two days before I change anything. I tend to hang onto 4-6 pounds of water pretty easily after a poor diet choice or heavy workout and that puts me just over redline occasionally.

I try to stay within a couple pounds of my goal. I can usually tell when I'm up by my pants' fit before I even weigh myself, which I do once a week. I also find it helpful to measure my waist. This is a great way to tell if the scale is reflecting water weight gain vs. true pounds.

I usually fluctuate 2-3 pounds, many factors can cause this as mandlinn has pointed out. I do not allow myself "wiggle room". I never want to go over my goal weight. Right now I average between 117 and 120.

I should say that the 125 of my top redline is 2 pounds under my original goal. I originally had it set at 123 but then I got breast implants that added 2 pounds to me artificially, so I moved the redline up to account for those...

What will truly drive you crazy is using more than one scale! I have declared the gym scale to be the "official" one. My doctor's scale weighs me higher, my home scale is all over the place. I don't go to the doctor often enough to call it official; I'm at the gym 4-5 days a week. My weight varies within a three pound range, though it's slowly going lower :)

I also have red lines: 117-122. I'm usually right around 118-119. But, I'm 50+ and thus don't have TOM issues ;)

Eating out will usually add a lb of water weight, but it always goes within a day or two.