First of all, I am SO glad to have found this forum. I've lost 102 pounds and have 15 or so to go but felt like a maintainer since pretty much the first pounds I lost - I've regained so many times that I put off dieting for years until I was pretty sure I could keep whatever I lost off, even if it wasn't much.
However, and I feel kind of bad posting this, I seem to lose on more calories than a lot of you eat to maintain. I currently weigh 169 pounds and have been losing 1.75 pounds a week eating 1900 calories a day and exercising for 45 minutes or so 5-6 times a week on my exercise bike (average for the last several weeks). I use the Lose It iPhone app and it says I'm netting about 1500 calories a day (it subtracts the exercise).
I've been tracking everything since June and I burn 13 calories per day per pound of body weight, which means that in the mid 150s I could eat 2000 calories, and then also what I burn (who knew I'd love exercising?!). I'm 5'8" and am pretty muscular by nature. I know my math is right because I already eat just under that and lose with the exercise. What I'm wondering is if there's some sort of drop off when you stop losing and start maintaining, the "reduced obese" problem. I do lead a pretty active life in addition to the exercise, I'm usually on my feet several hours a day. And they never hurt anymore!
Thanks to everyone who posts, I'm a lurker at heart but will make myself post because it's so helpful to see what works for different people. As soon as I found this forum I knew I would keep the weight off because I was already thinking like all you successful maintainers!
In my case, I lost most of my weight on such low cal that my metabolism was a bit messed up. My maintenance calories are creeping upward as I become more active and eat more (odd, I know). 1500 was my original count, but I started losing again, so am increasing gradually to 1600-1700.
