If you go under the daily calorie intake minimum, by only, s

For a low cal snack I like to have cucmbers or carrots and dip them in salsa, or a few pretzels with low fat yogurt.

You could always eat some fruit. If I don't have fruit I may get a Special K cereal bar, they are 90 calories. That'll help close up that gap some. If those aren't options, drinking milk is a good way as well!

are you talking before exercise under 1200 or after exercise?

The difference would be say you ate 1200 calories but burned 500 through exercise...your body is then only getting about 700 calories from the food you ate.

No, your body will not go into starvation mode, but you should be eating back your exercise calories. Example, you are on a 1200 calorie limit, but you exercise and burn 500 calories, you should eat back those 500 calories, or close to it. If you don't you will have only eaten a NET of 700 calories, which is a good way to go into starvation mode. If you eat back your exercise calories, but only eat back, say 440, you will have consumed 1640 calories for the day, but your NET calorie intake will be 1140, which is closer to your actual calorie limit.

To Eryndil

If you consistently only take in about 900-1000 calories a day, your body won't be able to get the proper nutrients it needs, and your body will definitely experience a negative impact. I work at an eating disorders organization, and you'd be surprised at how quickly your body will start breaking down your own muscles in an attempt to get enough nutrients to sustain itself. After even a month of that you will begin to experience a very noticeable drop in your energy levels and your strength levels. I would be very cautious taking in anything less than 1200 calories a day.

You wouldn't go into starvation mode right away, but you are suppose to consume no less than 1200 calories a day for health reasons. If you exercise, you are not suppose to "eat back" those calories per say. You can if you want to, but then you just negated your exercise. So if you exercise and don't eat it back, your body still got the nutrients it needed and then shrunk some of those fat cells.

What i dont understand and ive asked and asked.. What is the point of burning calories if you have to eat them back? wouldnt it just be the same as eatin your calories with no excercise at all? that confuses me sooo much

The difference between exercising and eating the calories back vs. just eating a set number of calories is the change in your metabolic rate. When you start burning the calories from exercise your metabolism sets itself to a faster level. So even though you eat the calories back, your metabolism is now working at a faster pace than before, so you are burning calories more quickly and more easily. If you just ate a set limit of calories without the exercise, you could still lose weight but not nearly as quickly, and you would hit a plateau. But its good to "eat the calories back" because your body still needs the nutrients. Also, usually when people recommend you eat the calories back they mean that you should be hitting your daily caloric limit. So if you eat extra food, THEN workout, you definitely wouldn't need to eat it back. Does that make sense?

Ok, so I'm new here and there's something I don't quite "get."

My allotted daily calories are 1200. I receive 400 exercise calories, so that gives me a daily calorie allowance of 1600. Since you need to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound, I have been trying to "save" 500 calories a day (i.e. having them left over). I am getting a message at the bottom saying my body may go into starvation. How am I supposed to lose weight then if I don't "save" any calories (i.e. don't eat them).

So, my question....Does MFP already calculate how much I want to lose (with my goal) and make the caloric calculations accordingly? So I can eat 1600 calories each day (provided I work out) and still lose weight?

The point is to cut calories. If your daily calorie intake is 1200, all you consume is 1200. But if your exercising, you need to calculate calories burned. And you still have to total 1200. So you burn 500 calories, but have only consumed 1200 then that puts you at a deficit of 500. If you are consuming 1700 calories, you need to burn 500 calories to be at your daily caloric intake.