Calorie Zig Zag Question

I actually am quite passsionate about this topic, haha.

Basically, my exercise during the week is very predictable. I sat down and looked at how many calories I will burn during a given week. I divided that number by 7 and added that to my goal net calories. That's how many total calories I eat every single day.

For example:
My goal net calories -- 1,660 calories
My weekly exercise calories -- 3,500 calories
My average daily exercise calories -- 500 calories
Ergo, my daily intake = 1,660 + 500 = 2,160 calories.

However, if I eat 2,100-2,200 every day, invariably some days I will have calories left over some days and some days I will be way under depending on how much exercise I did. As long as my average meets up with my exercise, I am still losing weight. On days where I don't exercise, I basically end up eating my maintainance calories. On days where I have 1,000+ calorie workouts I have a huge deficit to make up for it.

For me, eating the same amount of calories every day is just nice because I get used to my portion sizes and diet. There's no scaling up and down several hundred calories every day based on my activity level. Something to think about!

How do you take into account your exercise calories when you are doing the calorie zig zag

I am setting up myself at a 1.5lb loss per week...it says I need to eat 1320 calories for this. So I would assume I do 2 days at 1320 calories and one day at 2040(maintenance) and same for the other days. My question is do I then eat back some or all of my exercise calories to have a NET instead of being under the caloric goal. I usually exercise 6 days a week, so I can make sure I eat a NET of my maintenance calories on the day I exercise, will this defeat the purpose. Overall I'm confused so any help will be appreciated. Thanks

I've been using the zig zag method for a few weeks now and it really has worked for me!
I used this calorie calculator to give me some parameters... http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
Once you enter your info, if you scroll down you'll find the 7-Day Zig Zag... it suggests to you what you should do per day. Of course, you can make your own pattern which might better suit your lifestyle (ex: I'm busiest on Wednesdays BUT eat out that day so it works that that is my "high cal" day). Remember also that the zig zag method is more about the total amount consumed per week...

As far as exercise goes, I almost always eat back my calories.

MFP set me up with 1511 cals per day based on my activity level and pounds loss goal. According to my zig zag calculator, on Wednesdays I am to eat 1800 cals and on Saturday 1600... this means of course I go over my goal. But on other days like Tuesdays, I'm set to eat 1330.. If i exercise I eat those calories back because I will be in too much of a deficit.. maybe not for the day but for the week. Remember that MFP creates a healthy deficit for you... if you exercise, you create more of a deficit. It's important to give back to your body the calories it needs.