I've been maintaining for almost 6 months now...except that isn't totally true. I'm now at 129, which is only one lb under my maintenance range. BUT I wasn't trying to lose any more weight. I started dating my boyfriend shortly after I reached my goal weight and have unintentionally lost 6 more lbs. He eats very healthily and is active and I think I'd have to deliberately eat more than I'd like to stop losing weight.

So here's my dilemma and question: I don't have any problems being at a lower weight as long as it's not under 120, but I don't know if I should lower my maintenance range OR say that my weight is fine as long as it stays under 135. Any advice, or has anyone been in this situation before? I know some maintainers are very strict about their maintenance weight range, but I'm still a little new to this and not sure what to do.

I don't see anything wrong with the weight you are at now, given your increased activity and your height. Your BMI is still in the normal range. As long as you are making sure that you're getting good nutrition and you are not either trying to skimp on food or overeating, I wouldn't worry.

Jay

This happens to me quite frequently. When it first occured I wondered about upping my calories/carbs. For me, regardless of the scale, my weight will require ongoing daily attention. I will not need to stop weighing myself or my food if I weigh 5-10# more. My appetite will adjust upwards and the monitoring will continue.

The question then becomes, what weight do I want to be at and am willing to maintain? That is a powerful question that no one else can answer.

I have also found that enough life events occur, that my momentary low does not last for very long. I enjoy having the room to bounce up and still have my wardrobe fit and not be too tight.

Finally, I enjoy my meal plan. My foods are beautiful, delicious, satisfying. I like trying new recipes, especially from diethobby.com. I like going to see medical personnel and have them postively remark on my body. There is no deprivation.

Will it always stay this easy? Who knows. I do not know nor does anyone else. But for today, coupled with my well honed habits, I will not slide back into being fat. It will be a conscious choice. I always recommend journaling. It has helped me see these and other patterns.

You're still in the healthy bmi range, so I don't see a problem with it. If you drop into underweight, of course it would be time to do something about it- but in the meantime I think it's healthy for you to let your weight adjust to your life naturally and see if it balances out.

I wouldn't worry about it. Weight is flexible, not fixed. Sometimes it goes down, sometimes it goes up. I don't think it's reasonable to expect your weight to stay the same all the time unless you eat exactly the same things and do exactly the same things every day. Personally, I just made myself a "weight ceiling" that if I hit it, I go to calorie counting the next day. I've hit it twice in 6 months of maintaining.
If I was worried about my weight being too low, I might make a "weight basement" as well. But I'm not worried about that as I think I could lose about 10 more pounds & be healthy. But I'm not a bikini model, just an average woman. So I don't really feel the need to shed every last pound of bodyfat. If I do lose 5 pounds or something, that would be fine too, but I'm not really worried about it.