How Close Do you Go on Allowed Calories?

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!

The exercise helps you look better as you lose weight. More muscle=less saggy body.

And you get to feel pretty badass when you realize how much stronger you are and how much more endurance you have.

I try to stay -100/+300 because I set a reasonable goal, not a flaming limbo bar to go under.

Ha!

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

Agreed.

I usually leave between 100-300 calories a day. Mainly because I do a few little things that don't make it onto my diary. Mainly at work if someone bring in homemade bread or treats, I'll take a little piece or my coffee (I don't count how much creamer I put in). But I also walk 10 minutes to and from my car at work, and then another 10 min to and from my car on campus which might be a little something but whatever. I just leave the 100-300 calories to play it safe for days like that.
The whole eating your exercise calories back vs. not eating them back is one of those topics that will stir up arguments and such. Honestly, I think both sides have good points. If you eat them back, you are sticking the the deficit you committed to by joining the site, ex: mine is 1 lb a week, so by eating back my exercise calories it doesn't change that I'm still sticking to that deficit I set it for. I've seen many sites that emphasize that the diet is honestly the biggest part to losing the weight. Someone could get on here and not exercise at all but do the dieting and still reach their goal weight. Just that deficit alone, you'll still lose the weight. But those who choose NOT to eat back the calories- they will either just lose faster or, if they don't eat enough, their body will resist losing. But if it works for them and they lose faster, I don't think people should start insulting them and calling them names (aka: "rabbits") if it works for them. I, personally, am already struggling with a plateau since it's my last 10 lbs so I eat back my calories because I don't want my body to start resisting the weight loss by not having enough calories. I've always eaten my exercise calories back and I've lost 44 lbs- it's stayed off too. But some things work for others.

Usually, +/-50. Some days though I try to exact, down to manipulating grams off my chicken to meet it. But, not because I think you have to be that exact, but because I get really excited when I hit 1800 even.

I'm generally netting 200 calories under my daily goal during the week, but I always go way over on Saturday/Sunday.

My weekly goal is usually within 200 calories +/-.

I tend to be fairly far under, but I know on the weekends I'm going to be pretty far *over*. I used to keep track on a spreadsheet and found that it was all balancing out and averaging around my calorie goal for the course of a week. That's what works best for me.

I think it's a bit strange for me. Typically most days I go about 400-500 under and some days I've been as much as 700 under, but I set my target as 0.5kg a week so I like to think I'm just hitting the next target up.

Typically it'll be between 1300-1500 calories a day for me. I suffer from CFS so exercise is out of the question (before anyone says, I've tried, I try a couple of times every 5-6 months on average and the post exertion malaise usually puts me out of work for 2-3 days) and I try to ensure that I've got enough of a deficit to cover the fact that I do next to no exercise and my days usually consist of working and sleeping.

It's strange, and probably the wrong way to do things but I've lost 9lbs in 4 weeks and my body is no longer feeling the need for a big McDonalds for breakfast or takeaway for dinner, even with the odd cheat day allowed.

I've been pretty bad lately because on working days I can only sync my fitbit when I get home, so can often end up with an extra 600 cals to try and fit in before bed. I'm making an effort to get within 100cals of my goal now though.

I Set The"Slowest" Rate In MFP And I Try To Eat About Goal -50 To 100 Calories If I Don't Work Out.
If I Do Work Out And I Am Sure Of The Burns I Try To Eat 50-75% Of Those Calories Back.
At The ENd of The month I Want To Show That I Am Averaging Right Between My BMR And My TDEE.

Slow And Steady Wins The Race!

My allowance is set at maintenance, even though I'm not done with loosing weight yet!!
I still log everything I eat, and aim to be around 500 calories under every day, but it changes. I set it at maintenance so that I know that anything I eat under that means I'm still loosing. Sometimes I eat at maintenance level and sometimes I'm 700-800 calories under, might sound odd but I've found that it really works for me. If I'm hungrier, I eat more, and I'm always under, even if by 100