How to get the correct calorie deficit

Yes, that's what I mean, but say I burn enough calories in exercise to total 1950 calories, MyFitnessPal does not say to eat 1200. It just adds the exercise calories to 1200 and tells me to eat that.

In actuality my total daily burn without exercise would be my BMR of 1395 * 1.2 to account for the sedentary activity level above my BMR. So without exercise my total calorie burn would be around 1674/day. So my deficit at 1200 would be just 474 calories, just under 1 lb a week.

But even if I burn 1000 calories in exercise on that day, MFP will simply add the 1000 calories to 1200, and so my deficit would STILL be just the 474 calories if I ate the amount MFP told me.

I have been manually calculating how much I eat daily but it sort of defeats the purpose.

Really my daily burn is so high I can afford that deficit. As an example today I burned around 2,724 calories. A 750 calorie deficit would put me at around 1,974 calories per day. A person really isn't supposed to eat below 1200-1600 calories a day because it is difficult to get enough nutrients at that level. But at almost 2,000 calories per day that isn't really an issue.

I've also read you're pretty safe in losing around 1% of your weight per week. That for me is ~1.4 lbs per week, which isn't far off from my target, and is in the safe weight loss range of 1-2 lbs per week.

I really just want to know if there is a way around the miscalculation of MFP for the desired calorie deficit, or not.

StaciMarie1974 thank you, I calculate my TDEE daily, because it changes so often. Some days I can burn just a few hundred calories in training and then others I can burn a couple thousand. You can see if I averaged that out... some days I'd be way overeating other days starving... LOL

I am targeting 1.5 but it may not be that because on the rare day I do not exercise, for example, I wouldn't have the 750 calorie deficit - I would go to 1200 and so it could be as little as the 460 on those days. Plus, I do calorie cycle so have the periodic high calorie day thrown in every 7-10 days as well.

I am going for the Master's National Championships in the Marathon this fall. I've been running a long time and am very serious about it. I was very sick with a couple non-running related injuries that kept me out of continuous training for almost six months. I need the weight off for running at the level I compete at. 130's might not be very heavy for some but it is for _me_ as I was in my off-season weight before I left and so even then was about 5 lbs over what I normally weigh. I just want to get back to where I was before I left, then the remaining 5 or so lbs I can lose at a slower rate since my bodyfat will be lower and I will be in the midst of heavier/more serious training at that point. My bodyfat now is high because all the weight gained was fat (as well as lean mass lost) so, that's also how I know I have leeway as well. If I was in the 130's and my bodyfat was in the teens of course it would be a different story.

gothicfires, yes, I know this, as I posted I run 6-10 miles a day so the deficit is not a problem for me, even with that counted in I am never eating less than 1200 calories per day, in fact most days I am eating much more, closer to 1800-2000++.

If you look at it in percentages as well, someone who burns say 3,000 calories - 750 calories is a 25% (reasonable) deficit. Obviously someone who is only burning 1300 calories a day would be at a 50% deficit with 750 calories, which would be unsafe, and is not the category I am in nor am talking about. If I wanted to lose weight and didn't exercise or just walked a mile a day, of course that would not be a reasonable amount.