Am I sabotaging myself?

I stay under my calorie goal almost everyday (bad weekend last week). I normally do this by exercising to get extra calories. MFP gives me 1620 calories a day but I like to burn from 400-600 on a workout day and 1000 on a day that I see the personal trainer. I tend to eat back these calories almost everyday. Is this going to slow my process or stall me out? I only want to lose 1-1.5 lbs. a week, I have 80 lbs. to go for my GW and I am 34. Also 5'3 if that matters.

My exercise includes upper and lower body workouts (squats, lunges, arm exercises with 5 lb., chest exercises and anything else my trainer taught me). I also walk on the treadmill, workout on the elliptical and use an exercise bike. I am averaging about 45 minutes a day, 5-6 times a week.

I'm a big fan of MFP but I see more people fail because of this "eat back my calories" idea. People under exercise and over eat and get consumed with thoughts of "eating back their calories". I would literally lose my mind if I dieted this way when I diet I'd be spinning my wheels constantly.

I am huge advocate of using the katch mccardle formula. Search it in Google and find an online calculator. As long as you accurately enter your bodyfat percent and your activity level it gives a pretty dang accurate calorie count. I like to start there and find "neutral".

This takes into account your normal activity level. it's not true for everyone but 99% of people I have helped in "real life" with diet/weight loss were failing because of what they were doing with this "eat back my calories" idea. It's not the idea of it is scientifically wrong people just inherently bastardize it and spin their wheels.

plus in the people I've worked with it's exasperated an already bad relationship with food.

If you are like for real hungry after working out try eating a fruit. This may help lower your calorie intake a tad bit

No, eating back your exercise calories will not stall your weight loss.

Assuming:
You do not underestimate the amount of calories you're consuming.
You do not overestimate the number of calories you're burning from exercise.

This ^^

Most of the listings on MFP do tend to give you an exaggerated calorie burn (as do many cardio machines if you go by their numbers) but I think you'd be safe with eating back at least half.

have you ever figured out how many calories your body needs on a daily basis? I like using a calorie deficit calculator (http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/caloriedeficitcalculator.php). It takes into account your gender, height, weight, age and activity level. Then to lose weight, you eat a deficit of what your body needs. I had been eating 1270 (MFP recommended) calories per day and upped it to 1560 (per fitwatch calculator) and am so much happier. I no longer "need" to eat back my exercise calories as I am completely satisfied. I try to eat between 1400 - 1600 calories each day. You may want to check the tool out!

Thanks. I do wear a HRM so I only ever use those numbers. I know not to trust MFP numbers.

Just remember that an HRM while more accurate than MFP is not completely 100%, it is still an estimation in itself.

As has been said, most people like to over estimate exercise and under estimate food. If what you're doing now is working stick with it but it may not work forever and as you get more fit and smaller those calorie burns are going to drop. This is a great time to develop a healthy relationship with food. Don't look at exercise as a way to gain more food. Exercise is for fitness and to maintain your lean muscle mass.

Try making your calorie budget nutritious foods that will keep you satiated and start cutting back on eating the exercise calories. Also keep in mind that a HRM is not accurate for strength training exercises so you may be getting inflated numbers for things other than steady state cardio.

I stay under my calorie goal almost everyday (bad weekend last week). I normally do this by exercising to get extra calories. MFP gives me 1620 calories a day but I like to burn from 400-600 on a workout day and 1000 on a day that I see the personal trainer. I tend to eat back these calories almost everyday. Is this going to slow my process or stall me out? I only want to lose 1-1.5 lbs. a week, I have 80 lbs. to go for my GW and I am 34. Also 5'3 if that matters.

My exercise includes upper and lower body workouts (squats, lunges, arm exercises with 5 lb., chest exercises and anything else my trainer taught me). I also walk on the treadmill, workout on the elliptical and use an exercise bike. I am averaging about 45 minutes a day, 5-6 times a week.

I'm a big fan of MFP but I see more people fail because of this "eat back my calories" idea. People under exercise and over eat and get consumed with thoughts of "eating back their calories". I would literally lose my mind if I dieted this way when I diet I'd be spinning my wheels constantly.

I am huge advocate of using the katch mccardle formula. Search it in Google and find an online calculator. As long as you accurately enter your bodyfat percent and your activity level it gives a pretty dang accurate calorie count. I like to start there and find "neutral".

This takes into account your normal activity level. it's not true for everyone but 99% of people I have helped in "real life" with diet/weight loss were failing because of what they were doing with this "eat back my calories" idea. It's not the idea of it is scientifically wrong people just inherently bastardize it and spin their wheels.

plus in the people I've worked with it's exasperated an already bad relationship with food.

I agree with the guy with the huge lats.

Don't look at exercise as a way to gain more food. Exercise is for fitness and to maintain your lean muscle mass.

That's how I approach it. I don't log exercise. The estimates are inaccurate. If it is helping, that's evident soon enough.