I was able to successfully maintain my goal weight last year for about 9 months before I started letting a few things back into the diet, thinking I might be OK to do so. Over the next 3 months I gained 12lb; guess that wasn't such a good idea after all. So I hit the reset button 2 months ago and have just lost the last of those 12lb again this week.

I like to look back on my experience like this: whatever I eat, I'm eating for a target weight. If I deviate then then deviation counts and so my target weight climbs and the body responds accordingly. But if I stick to eating for my target weight, I can both reach and stay at that weight. Effectively, eating for weight loss and maintenance are the same thing.

The only question then is, can you sustain the weight loss diet once in maintenance? If not, then perhaps the target weight was too low to begin with? For the change to be able to stick, sustainability is everything.