HELP? Should I eat back my exercise calories?

No expert and knowing some of the know it all here i'll get flamed so take this with a grain of salt.
MFP automaticaly calculates your deficit which is below your Totaly Daily Energy not your BMR, if you put no activity you still expending daily energy and it works out a base dependant on your height, weight and age. when you set your goal the net calories includes the TDEE which is already higher then your BMR any exercise is a deficit on your deficit. understand?
which is great if you are fat and need to lose weight fast.

so you aren't eating below your BMR you are eating below your average Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE which is somewhere in the vacinity of 100+ calories an hour for a person that does absolutely nothing ontop of your BMR and MFP caculates this based on the average for your height weight and age bracket...

if you want to create muscle you have to re-eat to refuel the process and do strength training,
if you want to lose weight you just undersell your calories and either do nothing or do exercise aswell but the body will burn off fat and possibly lean muscle aswell since it doesn't care where the energy comes from and no way to tell it what to.

if you want to do both you need to do strength training, eat back atleast some of the calories burnt and ressuply protein and water which are the building/maintaining blocks of Muscles.

Personally i only eat the calories if im hungry or my muscles are aching which i the sign that the muscles are repairing or building. but more importantly if i'm correct you need protein and water to rebuild the muscies the calories are just the energy to help fuel the process

I've lost close to 5 kilos in 10days not eating back 90% of my calories burnt and i don't feel any worse off.
and my legs are more toned and my biceps have increased. lots of belly fat so can't tell whats going on under there

there's another alternative, from reading a book by a qualified dietician and personal trainer to shows like the Biggest Loser (Fat Loss show), if you are overweight it can be more beneficial to get rid of as much unwanted fat as possible to start with then tho you might still look flabby since you've burnt off muscle too you can then work on gaining muscle with a much healthier core to work on and more stamina etc. and then the real burn/toning starts happening and since your BMR/heart rate etc. will be subsequently lower it will be easier to manage calories since they will be lower even with exercise..

At the moment I am so confused as to whether I eat 500 calories below my BMR, and if i should eat back my calories that I burn. People say you should never eat less than your BMR but mine is like 1800 and I thought 1200 was the minimum you should eat. Any help would be appreciated. While I want the scales to move, the most important thing for me is fat loss and I'd like to gain muscle as well as I know it helps you burn more efficiently.

If you are on 1200 calories per day, always eat your exercise calories back so your NET on MFP is 1200 calories. So if you burn 500 cals you need to eat 1700 cals per day to hit 1200 net.
If you follow the TDEE method, then you do not eat your exercise calories back.
The difference is which method you used to calculate your calorie allowance for the day.

I would eat at least half of them.

At the moment I am so confused as to whether I eat 500 calories below my BMR, and if i should eat back my calories that I burn. People say you should never eat less than your BMR but mine is like 1800 and I thought 1200 was the minimum you should eat. Any help would be appreciated. While I want the scales to move, the most important thing for me is fat loss and I'd like to gain muscle as well as I know it helps you burn more efficiently.

If you are on 1200 calories per day, always eat your exercise calories back so your NET on MFP is 1200 calories. So if you burn 500 cals you need to eat 1700 cals per day to hit 1200 net.
If you follow the TDEE method, then you do not eat your exercise calories back.
The difference is which method you used to calculate your calorie allowance for the day.

this. try to eat them back if you are low, if you are eating higher calories try too, but if you do not no biggie. Protein is also a big part of building muscle (as someone already said) so eat plenty of it... I am no specialist but this is how I've gotten any where.

i always tried to stay at an exact 1200 cal. and i wasnt losing. once i started eating back my workout cals i lost 3 1/2 lbs in 2 weeks.