Do you eat back your exercise calories?

Yes. I also try to account for error. But with only 1290 cals to work with- you're damn right I eat those back, otherwise I might feel dizzy and my stomach lurches. In the beginning, I didn't, but I had 1600+ calories and did very light exercise. I do much more intense/longer exercise now.

When I first started logging food, I was doing it through weight watchers. There, I didn't log exercise and never ate my exercise back.

When I switched to MFP and read the introductory guides, I began to understand the way the deficit was built into calorie goals. WW doesn't explain that to users very well and is one of several reasons I recommend MFP to people over WW.

Since I started MFP, I've been losing at the same rate as or better than WW. Here is what I do:

I set my exercise default to sedentary. I have a desk job and if I don't do much, sedentary is pretty accurate. My exercise is almost exclusively walking or running, so I invested in a fitbit. When synced to MFP, it will track your calories burned and adjust the burn that had been built in for the sedentary lifestyle. I've found that anything over about 3,000-4,000 steps in a day gets me a calorie adjustment. Typically, a 10,000 step day will get me 300-500 extra calories, depending on how much of it was "very active minutes." Ideally, I'd know what my adjustment will be so I can spread them through the day better, but that is not usually the case. So, if I'm hungry at the end of the day, I will eat them back via dinner or evening snacks and feel no guilt. If I'm not, I don't force them into me just because. Its worked wonderfully for me and I average about 1.5 lbs per week. I've never once felt my exercise was for nothing.

I think this might be my recent problem.

I've lost 60 pounds over the last five years, and I've been pretty successful at keeping it off...except for recently. I've gained about 10 pounds in three months, which is not normal for me. This is the most that I've weighed in a year and a half.

I've tracked everything I've eaten (with the exception of a couple of days) and I've not been eating badly. I'm starting the Feed the Muscle Burn the Fat workout plan in order to focus on reducing my body fat %.

I generally have trouble eating more than 1200 calories a day. And I think this is my issue. I do not eat back the calories I burn exercising - around 400 a day. So I think I'm starving my body, which is why I've been gaining weight. What I do eat is very healthy, non-processed foods.

I'm hoping that if I eat enough (1800, with 400 calories of exercise) the weight will come back off.

Any thoughts?

Absolutely. My "diet" is already modified for a calorie reduction in order to lose weight. I see an extra snack as the reward. I'm already building muscle mass (by exercising) and reducing caloric intake for weight loss... I say "carpe diem".

I'm currently only allotted 1200 calories a day. And I'm hungry most of the time... lol

I don't. I used to but wasn't losing, just staying the same. I asked a trainer and she said it sort of puts you back where you started before you worked out. So, I stopped and am finally seeing some progress. I suppose it would be different for me if I were doing some major workouts ...like some serious cross fit or marathon running, but since I am just working out like the average mom, it didn't seem to be helping me.