I think I've been doing this all wrong.

I don't weigh things, but I do make sure to eat the servings of everything as closly as I can.

I use a HRM to calculate, and I burn between 800-900 per class. It's intense.

HRM usually only measure accurately during aerobic exercise. Kickboxing will usually go beyond aerobic so your counts may not be completely accurate.

you should definatly eat more, with that kind of burn you should aim for at least 2000-2300 cals a day

I don't weigh things, but I do make sure to eat the servings of everything as closly as I can.

I use a HRM to calculate, and I burn between 800-900 per class. It's intense.

HRM usually only measure accurately during aerobic exercise. Kickboxing will usually go beyond aerobic so your counts may not be completely accurate.

it's very possible, but it's all i have to go off of.

I calculate calorie burns from my HRM as well, but I only eat back 50% or less because I'm not doing steady-state cardio. I also second weighing and measuring all your food, it's when I started weighing food that the weight started to move.

You're going to want to knock off at least 20% of your burn from your HRM just to account for your basal calories and some estimation error. A HRM is more accurate than other methods of estimating your calorie burn, but it's still an estimate and your basal calories are included in that burn at minimum.

Also, while it may be a cardio kickboxing class, it's not a steady state cardio event which is what a HRM is most accurate for in RE to estimating calorie burn. The further you get from a steady state aerobic event, the less accurate a HRM is. Your calorie burn is not directly attributable to your HR...your HR is just used by the HRM to estimate at what level of VO2 max you might be working at.

A good reasonableness for calorie burn is to cap it at 10 calories per minute...it's pretty hard to burn more than 10 additional (above and beyond your basal calories) per minute...essentially a 10 calorie per minute workout would be one that you really couldn't hold a conversation and really just had to focus on your workout and not much else. You may indeed burn slightly more than that, but when you're doing this it is best to be conservative in your estimates. I generally used a factor of 5 - 10 with a 5 being roughly a 3 MPH walk and a 10 being a pretty intense workout.

I'm 5'7", also 200 lbs. I do Stronglifts 3 times a week and have added in 30-45 minutes of moderate cardio at least twice a week. I use the TDEE-20% method and my cals are set to 1897.

Thanks for all the responses. I changed my goal to 1 pound a week, and now MFP is wanting my goal to be 2180. So, this is what my intake should be including food & exercise? I have had 500 or more calories "left" over, after exercise, that I have just left be.

And I should get a food scale. I measure out everything dry and wet, but I don't weight stuff. I for sure could be off.

For example, last thursday said:
GOAL 2180 FOOD 1793 EX 908 NET 885 REMAIN 1295

That was all for the day.

I'm guessing I need to change my habit so that my net is much closer to 2180.

Right. Get your "Remaining" as close to ZERO as possible.

The bottom line of your Food Diary should be zero as well.

I've been reading through all the forums and I'm thinking I'm either not eating enough or have my calories set wrong.

I'm 5'8", 29, and weigh 200lbs. I'm a pretty solid gal, but am a size 14 jean. I would like to get down to around 160lbs.

Right now, I kickbox for a very long, crazy hour 5 days a week. I have been counting calories and working out for about a month and a half and have seen nothing but a couple pound weight gain. My husband says it's muscle gain, but I'm not so sure. I have not been taping myself.

I've been eating well (I used to be carb obsessed) and have upped my protein increase (shake after a workout).

My calorie goal that MFP set for me was 1680, to lose 2 pounds a week. I am eating that amount in good food, but my kickboxing class torches about 900 calories a day, so it's leaving my NET calories around 500-800 less than my goal.

Example:
Goal: 1680 Food 1920 Exercise 997 Net 923 Remaining 757
Goal: 1680 Food 2159 exercise 908 net 1251 remaining 429


Am I not eating enough? Should I be eating back the calories I burn so that my net and goal match as much as possible?

Thanks in advance!

You (and women in general) won't put on pounds of muscle in a month, particularly from just cardio kickboxing. Nope.
Even eating at a surplus AND lifting heavy weights 5x a week, women won't gain pounds of muscle in a month. Your husband is being very sweet to say that, but it's not accurate for your fat loss goals.