calorie intake and exercise

Well...if you are using MFP the way it's set up (which I assume you are because your calorie goal is 1200, right?) then yes, you are supposed to "eat back" the calories you burn by exercising. Are you logging and weighing/measuring ALL of your food and drinks? How accurate do you feel your entries for exercise calories are (do you have a HRM?)?

you're supposed to use them...or some of them? but honestly...not that im complaining, cause this site rocks, but it really isn't the best way to determine how many calories you need in a day...reason being is, everyone metabolism is different (and what with it not giving you any calories burned for weight training ???!?!?! you burn calories brushing your teeth lol) This site has it set up so its easy and there is no thinking and no waiting to get right onto loosing weight...but really i should take everyone a few weeks to get their calorie amounts down. Whatever you eat during the whole week and remain at a static weight is your maintenance calories requirements for the week...mine is 3700 calories...that's what the site told me i needed for weight gain...it marks everyone as having a slow metabolism. Now 3700 calories is fine for weight gain on days i dont work out or do anything...but on the average week...i need to either add or subtract up to 20% of that to either gain ro loose weight...so basically people would need to find their individual maintenance calories and then slowly add or subtract cals each week untll they came on a pound of weight lose or gain steady each week... sound more complicated than it is...its simple...but MFP does it the easiest way for everyone....but eventually, i think everyone should get their "real" number. (perhaps when gains or loses slow)

but anyways...what this site does is it figures your approx. cals you need to go nothing (or hard labour) depending on your regular daily activity level) and then give you more if you input that you burned more and you should try and eat some of them....cause if you're too far in a deficit, you may experience either more muscle loss than fat loss, or weight gain?!?! :S as your body could store...but if your loosing weight consistently and its not too much at a time, you're probably good for now to keep doing what your doing, and if there are any changes, then try eating more lol...sounds funny doesn't eat..."not loosing weight? EAT MORE!" lol

lol the 500 calorie deficit meaning approx 500 (upto 20% like i said, usually around 500) under maintenance to loose wight and 500 over to gain...but if you burn more...thats not maintenance...thats over and above what you body needs to run its organs and do its day to day...there is a difference...don't worry your good

i got my info on finding your my maintenance for a week then dividing it by 7 to figure out what i need to gain or loose from Dorian Yates years ago....amazing bodybuilder...not that i want to be that big lol

I actually was having this same problem. I was eating back the calories I was burning through excercise, so I wasn't creating enough of a difference to see any noticeable weight loss. In working with my trainer at the gym, I've decided NOT to eat back those calories and to stick with the 1200 calories a day. We're going to see how it works and see if I can maintain my energy level. I'm also aiming for about 100-110g of protein with approx the same in net carbs. I think things work differently for men and women. Particularly as you get older and closer to your weight goal.

Good luck!

Here are a couple good links for you. Some people do need to actually eat MORE than the generic 1200 calories that MFP gives you because you deficit may be too large.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/447397-my-plateau-nutrition-story-learn-from-my-mistakes

And I agree that people eventually will need to find their own numbers. The optimal way to lose body fat would be to figure out your maintenance (and not just what MFP tells you) and subtract 20% to create a deficit.

My personal way of doing it since MFP can't agree on the subject, I eat half of mine back *IF* I need them. If I don't need them, then I don't eat them. It's like, if I had a big lunch (like today) and I know dinner is going to be biggish, then I'll use my workout calories as a cushion...

I feel like that was really confusing