Flatlined for over a month, what should I do?
 

Hey all!
So I'm a freshman off at college now, after losing 40+ lbs from March-September this year. After a short adjustment cycle upon first arriving here where my weight went into freefall, bounced back up, and then gradually fell down again, my weight has settled at a steady 158 lbs for over a month.
Thing is, I'd still like to lose more weight - it's pretty much just vanity pounds at this point, but 10-15 more pounds, ideally. While it's great that I've been maintaining successfully at a healthy weight, I'm a bit disappointed in myself because I can't seem to get things together enough to lose again. I'm not mystified why I'm not losing weight; I know I'm eating larger portions, treating myself more often, not running daily anymore, etc. I'm simply lacking the willpower to do it. Maintaining hasn't been terribly stressful for me, and I'm not excessively paranoid of a regain (though I do keep an eye on my weight). But attempts at going back to restricting in order to lose more weight have been going badly. It seems like my mind/body/both just isn't happy until I've eaten what I assume to be approximately maintenance calories (I don't know exact calories; it's virtually impossible to accurately count at the dining halls.) Doesn't seem to matter whether the calories come from piles of veggies or small dishes of desserts, it appears that I get that "stop" signal when the calories are up to par and no sooner. But I freely admit that there's room for improvement on my part and could probably be do better if I really put my mind to it. I'll just need to use a different plan than I did to lose weight previously.
Outside of weight loss, I must admit life's been stressful but I'm finally getting through the learning curve. I've been far more devoted to that than weight loss, obviously, but now that's beginning to settle down I'm thinking about whether I want to redirect any of my mental resources yet.
What are your thoughts - should I put more effort into developing strategies to start losing again immediately, or should I graciously accept my maintenance period and wait for an easier time to start losing again? What would you do?

I think I'd probably just work on maintaining and wait until I had that first semester of finals under my belt before I started trying to lose weight. :)

My daughter just started college, and even second hand it is a stressful time. You should congratulate yourself that you are able to maintain at a crazy time like this, and with dining hall food! I think I would focus on school and other health habits (like maybe taking a vitamin and getting some regular exercise, getting enough sleep, etc.) and be proud of maintaining for now.

Personally, I'd focus on maintaining for now. Maybe choose one day a week to eat whatever you want and try to make healthy choices during the rest of the week. If you college offers a free gym, you should try to go a couple days a week. Take your textbooks with you and read while on the treadmill.