I think losing the last few pounds slowly is the best way to approach maintenance. Eating fairly normal meals that don't quite total to enough calories so that when you reach goal you don't have to learn an entirely different way to eat. You just make some adjustments to how you have been eating. In the past, I have lost a lot of weight fairly quickly and was still in full on restricted diet mode when I hit goal. Then I tried to start eating like I had been before, but watching portions and not bingeing. When I started gaining again, I figured I would give myself a range and just go into diet mode again when I hit the top of the range, but I would let it slip. I only knew two ways to eat - to excess or practically starving myself. I did not know where between those extremes my daily burn was. This time I have a pretty good idea. I will keep tracking calories and watching the scale. I hope to be able to stop tracking every day before too long, but I definitely won't push to make it happen right away.

I am less than 10 pounds from goal. There are no smaller clothes to fit into; it is mostly for the sense of accomplishment that I keep going. Besides, I am making BMI < 25 my line in the sand. Anyway, there isn't a reason to rush now. I am being successful at losing slowly.