eating burnt calories

I do.

You are supposed to. The 1200 calories that MFP tells you to eat are NET calories (calories eaten - calories burned). Depending on your activity level beyond exercise, 1200 may not be enough calories. Check out www.fitnessfrog.com to calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). It's recommended you eat your TDEE less 20% to lose weight.

Yes - I did to lose my weight! That's the way the site is designed.

Now expect a load of replies from people who don't, mainly because they either have a fearful attitude to food, don't understand how this site works or "don't see the point of exercise if you then eat the calories back".....

Yes Yes Yes Yes!

Likely, Yes. But, it depends... where did you come up with the goal of 1,200?

Below is an EXAMPLE of how you might calculate a calorie target, using the Harris Benedict Equation:

According to that equation you start with your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is calculated as follows:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Then you determine your activity level:
Sedentary = little or no exercise
Lightly Active = light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week
Moderatetely Active = moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week
Very Active = hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week
Extra Active = very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training

To calculate your daily calorie goal you use the following:
Sedentary = BMR x 1.2
Lightly active = BMR x 1.375
Moderatetely active = BMR x 1.55
Very active = BMR x 1.725
Extra active = BMR x 1.9

So, again, as an example. I am a 155lb, 5'3", 24 y/o female. My BMR is 1,513 calories per day. I have a desk job, and exercise 3 times per week, most weeks...

So, to calculate my caloric need I have 2 options:
Sedentary = 1513 x 1.2 = 1,816
Lightly active = 1513 x 1.375 = 2,080

You then calculate the rate at which you want to lose. On average, a deficit of 500 calories per day is going to equal 1 lb of weight loss per week.Which would put my calorie targets at:

Sedentary = 1513 x 1.2 = 1,816 - 500 = 1,316
Lightly active = 1513 x 1.375 = 2,080 - 500 = 1,580

Depending on my choice, I will determine if I eat back my calories or not. I am "lightly active" but not ALL the time... So, for me, I would choose the Sedentary total of ~1,300 calories per day, and when I exercise I will eat them back, for a NET of ~1,300 per day.

BUT, if I ever got to the point where I KNOW I'm going to exercise those 3x per week, I'd probably switch to the Lightly Active choice, and NOT eat back my calories, because that burn is factored into my daily goal.

Hope that helps to clarify things.

A side not however is that this math isn't perfect, and the human body is a VERY complex machine. So, if you find yourself sticking to one routine for a solid month and it's just not working, try tweaking things a bit. For example, I know that if I net 1,300 calories per day, I really struggle to lose weight, but if I keep my target between 1400-1500, the lbs melt off ( I lost 25 lbs relatively easily before I joined this site that way). Mathematically, I should still lose at 1,300, and eventually I likely would, but it's more than just about being thinner, it's about being healthy and happy along the way.

You will get a lot of different opinions on this one! This gets asked a lot. I say, if you are hungry, eat the extra calories that you *earn*. If not, don't worry about it. After a while, you will figure what's right for you. I guarantee it. All the best.

Possibly. It depends on how accurately you estimate your calories expended and your calories taken in. Net calorie game seems to be risky to me. When I increase my activity through exercise consistently, I increase my activity level to give myself a larger "pool" of calories for the day and never eat back my exercise calories. Down 108 lbs, and working out about 10 hours per week.

Of course. 1200 is eating at a pretty serious deficit unless you're Barbie Doll size and never move.