Eating exercise calories.

Ok so eating the exercise calories back would stabilize to the "safe" deficit of 500cal a day specifically for weight loss, not maintenance or gains. So your TDEE essentially changes daily based on what you did that day. That seems exhausting. In the long term is counting calories burned and eating them back to hit that 500 cal deficit a sustainable practice for most, either in weight loss mode or maintenance mode? Also where in the heck is this 1200cal minimum a day thing coming from? 1200 seems awfully low for anyone performing exercise on the regular. Is 1200 calories sustainable for a prolonged time frame? Also fasting is a thing, a lot of people do it, is consuming zero calories a day harmful? The science is still out for prolonged fasting techniques (not eating for 7 plus days) but for short term fasting (ADF,20/4,16/8, etc) there has been shown to be huge benefits both to HGH and a plethora of other health benefits for weight loss.

My TDEE is only about 2380, due to my age, height and activity (not sedentary). I started 2 months ago needing to lose 100 lbs. and for health reasons, the sooner I lose the first 40-50, the better, which is why I picked 2 lbs. per month. I need a 1000 cal. deficit to lose 2 lbs. per week. (2380-1000=1280) I've lost 13.5 lbs. in 8 weeks, which is close enough for me. I eat back my exercise calories on most days.

Try eating just 1280 calories and exercising and see if you like it. I doubt it. On a couple of days a week I walk 80 minutes and then swim 25 minutes. Even considering that it might not be accurate, for my weight it comes out to approx. 600 calories and days that I do zumba, apparently 800-900 calories. If I did not eat back some of the calories on those days I'd eat 1280 and then burn off over half of them! Besides being very hungry that would just be dangerous and unsustainable on 300-600 calories each day.

In general I prefer eating at 1500-1900 calories. I could do that and not exercise if I made my goal just 1 lb. a week, but I don't want to. I would rather work out (for its own benefits) and eat the exercise calories. I will continue to do so as long as I am losing. To me it is the best of all words--exercising, eating more and losing weight.

I do. I use that to be flexible with how I eat. If I want to eat more or higher calorie foods, I exercise more. If I don't want to exercise more, then I choose to eat lighter.

I have a lot of weight to lose, so as I get closer to my goal weight, I may choose to eat back less. We'll see.

The more accurate your logging, the more essential it is to comply with the program and eat those exercise calories back IF YOU'RE USING MFP'S CALORIE GOALS and IF YOU'VE SET YOUR ACTIVITY LEVELS CORRECTLY.

Unless you're weighing your food, your logging's going to be prone to significant error, although very consistent measuring can compensate to a degree. Now, regarding exercise calories, there's a few ways to approach this, none is really superior to another but they aren't all equally easy for all situations.

(1) You set as sedentary, and log all activities that require physical effort

This is a VERY good approach for people who do not have a step counter or activity tracker, and who have wildly erratic daily exertion or are exceptionally sedentary (people with autoimmune disorders or other physical handicaps, for example). This is the method I used my first 2.5 years on MFP, and it worked pretty well, although I only ate 1/2 exercise calories, I wasn't weighing food, and wound up losing at the expected and target rate for me.

(2) You set as sedentary, and use a pedometer or activity tracker to adjust calories automatically

This is pretty accurate if your activity tracker/pedometer is giving a realistic adjustment. This is the method I use right now. It seems to work pretty well.

(3) You set as a higher level of activity, and log all activities that are truly exercise

You're not logging those extra flights of stairs or housework & gardening here, because they're rolled into your daily activity level; instead you're logging that 45 minute walk at night or your 30 minute workout. You eat both the higher base calories allotted by the higher activity setting AND the exercise, but keep in mind that machines frequently overestimate calories burned. You may use negative adjustments if synced to an activity tracker in case some days you're a little less active. These activities may be logged via pedometer/activity tracker or manually.

I've tried this method, it doesn't really work very well with my particular activity tracker (SHealth) so I don't use it, but I've seen others find great success with it with other trackers that are less persnickety.

In all situations, MFP tells you your baseline calories: the MINIMUM you will need for the day, given you do no more than the base for which you've set it.

People get their egos all up in this stuff. Don't. As long as you're consistent with tracking, you can see your experience pretty quickly (over about a month) and adjust. Losing too fast is not a healthy thing, and its not a competition to lose faster than anyone else. Eating back exercise calories is good, it keeps your nutrient levels in balance and weight loss in line with your goals. This is how MFP works.

I eat as many of my exercise calories as possible. My aim has never been to be skinny it's to be fit and strong. I'm not saying I always manage to eat them all, I struggle on Tuesdays which are my crazy active days. But as I've kept my weight stable +/-1lb for the last 10 days I must be doing a pretty good job of it.

Kind of. I'm more of a banking person. I tend to do my runs in the evening, and my long runs end short before going to bed. I'm not eating more then, but I have more calories over the coming days.

It really is very simple.
1. Work out your calorie deficit to lose weight. (e.g 1200) Low I know, but a popular number on these forums..
2. Work out how many calories you're burning, preferably using a heart rate monitor to get a more accurate idea. (e.g 600)
* Eat 1800
* 1800 - 600 = 1200 (still at deficit)

Or you burn 400 calories then you would eat 1600
* 1600 - 400 = 1200 (deficit)
As long as you're always back at 1200, you're still at your deficit.

For a long time, I had my app set to 1200 calories and wouldn't eat my exercise calories. I plateaud for ages and never had any energy. I worked out that some days I would only be functioning on 700 calories or less which is just not sustainable long term.