On Maintenance, your goal isn't to continue losing weight. Your goal is to learn to "maintain" the weight you are at. Adding in new foods etc....That is why they want you to get all the weight lost that you want by the time you start this...
Stabilization lasts for 6-weeks and that comes BEFORE Maintenance. During this time, they are just trying to get your weight stable, and you could during this time lose up to 5 more lbs. They have told me to adjust my goal accordingly...I can start Stabilization when I am within 3-5lbs of my goal weight. Some of the ladies want there to be more wiggle room for weight fluctuations, so whatever works for you
My understanding also is that after Maintenance, if you want to lose more weight, you start over again with Pre-conditioning...and menus, etc...so you really don't want to depend on Maintenance time to lose more weight.
Hope this helps!