Each month iVillage poses a different question to our Dream Team of experts. Here's what we asked this month: Keeping it off ‑- if you lost a few pounds, what are the best ways to keep the weight off?

Lynn Grieger, RD, CDE

The big three for weight maintenance are keeping a food journal, getting regular exercise and activity, and monitoring your progress. A daily food journal helps keep us focused on healthier food choices and on track with our goals. Keep a log of portion sizes, meal times, hunger and fullness ratings for each time you eat, calories, grams of carbohydrate or fat ‑- the choice is yours. Just be sure to write down what's really most important to you personally, and not what someone else tells you to do.

The new dietary guidelines recommend 60 to 90 minutes of moderate to intense exercise every day for people to maintain weight loss. Don't be afraid to try a different exercise or really branch out into something new and exciting like belly dancing, clogging or rock climbing! Continue to set goals and monitor your progress, and not just with your weight on the scale. Focus on other more tangible goals to keep the weight off. For example, set goals for the number of servings of vegetables you plan to eat each day, or the number of desserts you'll eat per week, or even the number of times you eat fast food for lunch. Stay focused on your goals, and you'll keep the weight off.