How Close Do you Go on Allowed Calories?

I don't go off of what MFP says because I use a bodymedia armband that tells me exactly how many calories I burned vs consumed. This way I always know to stay 250-500 calories under to continue to lose weight at a steady pace. S basically i just use this site to keep a detailed account of my food intake. On days where I am more active I *obviously* get to eat more and some days, like break days, I eat less to maintain the deficit. It can be confusing to my friends on here because it looks like I ate too little but on the bodymedia readout I'm usually right within target. My problem is finding calorie heavy foods with out resorting to eating multiple avocados and mounds of almonds. Haha!

I've been over twice by like 20-40, I'm usually under by 50-100. After that, it just depends. Today I wasn't very hungry so I am under by 250, two days ago I was starving and counting how many crackers I could eat to stay under my goal, lol (and one day I just went over).

These days I'm always extremely close to my net goal, I just add on a few grams of veg here and there to creep up to the number if needs be. I find it satisfying to see I'm within 1 or 2 calories (don't like seeing that number turn red though!). Must be a psychological thing.

+/- 50 is what I aim for. Results may vary, up to thousands over.

This on a day that I don't exercise - like today because I have caught my husband's cold and it's hard to even walk the dog when your throat hurts and you can't breathe. On a day that I do exercise I aim for about 100 calories under and on a day that I hike (every other weekend) I end up 750-1000 calories under. I just can't eat that much because my husband and I go a LONG way on technical trails. In October, I am going as an adult leader with Boy Scouts doing a 1000 ft elevation change 10 mile hike for a merit badge. God knows what I'll take in my pack to eat...but I'll figure it out.

I am on `1200 calories a day.. I find it hard to eat my 1200, I don't eat pre-made foods, I cook from scratch and can control the calories in dishes better, I have been finding myself eating in the evening just to bring my intake to 1200... And I rarely eat back my exercise calories.. some days that would be an extra 900 plus calories, I would burst if I ate any more.. so i try to get with-in 50 of the 1200, and if i do go over 1200 its usually under 25 over... I have been loosing roughly 2- 2.4 pounds a week.. I was on another program but switched to MFP a bit over 2 weeks ago.. more friends on this site... If anyone needs more friends I am on daily fell free to add me

You might need to check that you're eating enough good fats. Avocado and nuts will bring you nearer goal on days that you're struggling. The 1200 bare minimum is there to help prevent malnutrition and if you are exercising a lot you're using up nutrients that your body actually needs.

It's a calorie GOAL, it's what you SHOULD be aiming for, not aim to be under that

I always try to get as close to my base goal as possible because of this reason ^^. However I did try and stay under my goal when working on net calories based on MFP exercise calories because of the amount of posts claiming they are over estimates. I eat more back now that I am using a HRM but still stay a little low if I can

I try to reach my minimum goal at least, but I'm usually 200-300 under. With exercise calories I'm usually more like 500 under. It kind of sucks, but I'm struggling with time/energy constraints right now.

I tend to aim to undershoot my calorie goal. This is because I'm quite paranoid of underestimating my calorie intake and overestimating my exercise effects!

My daily limit before exercise is about 1200, I have been doing a minimum of around 200-400cal exercise each day and I try to aim for around 1300 calories. But when I eat my full calories (I have never overshot though, always under by at least 50!) I am not too bothered - when I know I'm going to come very close I make sure to use my leftover days calories on something like fish or a big veg stir fry .

I don't even get close to the allotted calorie count. I also don't really trust the exercise amounts so I try to have at least a 100 to 200 deficit at night.

I am never but NEVER close to my stated calories. I also never eat BACK the exercise calories. What is the point--you are doing this to lose weight!

Because MFP already puts your daily goal at a deficit, so you should eat some, if not all of those exercise calories back, otherwise you're not eating enough to sustain your weight loss and working out.