I think it depends on how much emphasis you place on loosing fat versus building muscle. I know that I've adopted a less then 2 pound loss a week, more like one pound a week until I reached my goal, but didn't stop any heavy weight-lifting, just added more cardio and shook up my weight lifting schedule and how I lifted. What I'm trying to say is if you want to lose fat and maintain or build muscle you can't lower your caloric intake past a certain amount based on your height and weight, etc. For me, I'm supposed to take in 2,100 calories a day, so instead of taking it down to 1,400 or 1,500 I hover around 1,700 to 1,800 and continue on with my activities. I know I'm successful when the scale doesn't budge, but my measurements are going down all over. In effect I'm losing the fat and replacing it with lean muscle. I would lower my carb-intake, but not too much because you need carbs to grow muscle too.