if you keep your cals too low, and you lose weight, your maintence changes along with how many you are burning etc...apparently, if you keep your cals too low for too long(which i did), your body goes into starvation mode - fight or flight syndrome- having your body retain water, fat and anything else it can hold onto as it thinks you are starving and in a 'bad situation'. therefore, adding calories, calms your system, and lets it know you arent starving yourself, and as long as you deduct enough w/ exercise and eating (500 is best) from maintenance then you SHOULD lose...eat more to lose more..it took me a lONG time to get that one in my brain. thanks for your help.