exercise verus calories

Margiewar

I've had a sudden realization, that although I have lost 7 lbs in twenty days, I've been cheating myself. The more I exercise the more calories I've been eating. I will now resolve to eat only the calories allotted and exercise to burn them off.::flowerforyou:

mangorabbit

It is not entirely 'cheating yourself', though if you feel fine doing the exercise and not eating the extra calories granted, by all means go for it! Everyone's bodies will react differently to things, finding the balance between eating all, some or none of the exercise calories seems to be a pretty common theme amongst posters and inquiries. (I still have not sorted out what I should be doing in that regard!)

Best wishes in the continuing journey, and congrats on the weight you have already shed!

bronze60

Marglewar, one thing to keep in mind is that you need to eat enough to fuel your exercise or your body will go into starvation mode and stop losing so easily. The calories that MFP has alloted you is already less than you need to just get through your normal day without exercise. Even if you didn't do any exercise, you would presumably still lose weight at that calorie intake.
If you exercise and burn, say and extra 400 kcals, you need to give your body at least some of them in order to do the extra work of repairing muscle and tissues after the workout. The basic calories alloted are already being used in walking, breathing, eating, etc. It's not true that the lower your intake, the better, we need fuel for our bodies to stay strong. You need to find a balance and, from your post (7 lbs in 20 days) it looks like you may be doing exactly the right thing for your body.
If you are going to eat less, keep a close watch on how you feel and whether your weight loss slows down. If you start feeling sluggish, you won't burn as well when you exercise. If you stop losing, you may be eating too few calories and messing with your metabolism.