1600 calorie meal plan?!?!!

Can you make a sandwich to take to work the night before? Like a regular deli meat sandwich or PB&J with some fresh veggies and a piece of fruit? Or maybe a pot of yogurt and a granola bar?

I typically eat around 1600, and my diary is open if you'd like to check it out (although I have been eating weird this past week or so). A typical day for me is...
Oatmeal with fruit and honey or a smoothie with protein.
Snack of Greek yogurt and almonds or fruit
Lunch of soup and crackers, salad or yesterday's leftovers
Small snack after work - an apple or something.
Dinner of some sort of grain, protein and veggies. Tonight I am making a big pot of beans and cornbread, tomorrow is chicken, rice and broccoli.

Exercise calories are just replacing the energy you used to workout.
You're just basically giving yourself more "free" calories to work with in a day. Burn 300 calories on a 40 minute bike ride? You get another 300 calories in your daily goal and end up with the same "net" calories.

The reason some people DONT eat back exercise calories: keeping in mind that MFP tends to overestimate how many calories you burn by a significant amount, and most people underestimate at least a little of how much they're eating, I don't think it's good to eat back ALL of the calories unless you're really sure about the accuracy of your numbers. Some people are also in the mindset that you shouldn't be eating as much as possible if you're trying to lose weight, or whatever. I say, if you're hungry, eat!

My go-to rule is that I eat back up to half my exercise calories IF i feel super hungry, which I often do after burning so much!
My goal is set to 1800 calories (custom, I just couldn't keep up with the 1600 MFP told me) and I often eat about 2000 because of exercise. My macros are set to 40 C, 30 F, 30 P, which has been working pretty well for me.

Different ratios work better for some people, find what you like the best.

You'll know if you gain or lose weight, if it's the right amount of calories or not.

People are different, my husband needs to stay away from fats (cholesterol), I don't have that problem. I need to stay away from starches (cravings), he doesn't have that problem. He can't put on weight, I just have to look at it to gain. We're opposites.

But here's what works for me:

- 60-90 gm protein daily minimum
- 8 glasses of water daily minimum
- 2 multivitamins daily
- 2-3 Citrical
- Use nuts, olive (oil), avocado, seeds, etc. to get enough fats to process vitamins (peanut butter, guacamole, olive-oil mayo, Lite olive-oil to cook with) - careful lots of calories here (avoid saturated fats)
- Vegetables daily
- Fresh fruits (num num - this can be better than candy!)
- Less-processed carbs preferably, and higher-fiber (oats, rice, whole wheat, quinoa, corn, bean, etc.)

For lots of flavor with less calories: tomato sauces, salsa, hummus.
For lots of protein: lean meats, fish, poultry, almond milk or dairy (milk cheese yogurt etc), protein shakes, eggs, beans, nuts, soy.

Yeah if you're super positive about how much you're eating and that you're burning that much for real (not the MFP estimate), then sure. If it was me then I would eat about 1850 on a day like that, but only if I wasn't feeling satisfied enough on 1600 calories. This is totally up to the individual!