Any advice?

The calorie goal given is the amount of NET claories you should consume in order to lose wight at the amount/speed (ie 2lbs/wk) you enetered into MFP. For example if your calorie goal is 1200 and you work out and burn 500 calories then your calorie intake should increase to 1700 in order for your NET cals to be 1200. Not everyone eats their exercise cals and some eat only half. Personally, I have a 1200 goal. If I work out and burn 500 cals then my body only has 700 to function off of. Given that my BMR (cals neede to basically exist in a coma) is over 1400 cals then 700 just is not enough for me.

Lea - it depends. I have my calories set at 1800 per day. My BMR is 1530 a day, so I am eating more than I would need if I were just in bed all day. I enter my exercise (well cardio, not strength training) that I do on P90X 6 days a week, but I don't ever eat those calories. I just try to stick as close to 1800 as I can. I have been losing about 2 lbs a week, which is great. How many calories do you have your log set for?

i don't know exactly why but it is healthy and a lot of people actually have more of an appetite when they workout

but on a personal level- i have been eating my extra calories this week (its that time if you know what i mean) but normally, i don't eat mine- usually the harder the workout the less hungry i am. i fill up on veggies mostly (not this week lol) so that helps keep my cals low and if i'm hungry i'll eat more brocolli or brussel sprouts because those tend to fill me up the most.

I think your able to eat your calories that you exercise.. but not to go crazy! for me i try to stay within my cals, but i love this site so much that i actually realize that i am sometimes UNDER calorie even though i'll eat my normal calories and have something like 750 cals exercised! as long as you stay in the green numbers.. your totally fine!

Not quite accurate, MFP sets you up in a caloric deficit to achieve your goal i.e. 2 pounds per week. When you exercise you increase that deficit to more than 1000 calories in the 2 pound per week goal. if you burn 500 calories your new deficit would be 1500 calories, which is larger than what is healthy. MFP suggests you eat those calories so you achieve your goal of i.e 2 pounds per week. If you don't eat your exercise calories a few things can happen:
- you may lose weight faster
- your metabolism may slow down causing you to loose weight slower
- You may have no energy and your body may not just burn body fat but also start burning muscle off.

The best be is to eat most of the extra calories especially if you are set up to loose 2 pounds per week or are set at 1200 calories.