Inconsistencies

I think that people on here have it right. I have been doing reading on it as well (because I am loosing very slowly 1/2 lb a week, I know it is because I don't have as much to loose though so I am okay with it).

Make sure that you eat over 1200. If you are hungry one day then eat your exercise calories... if you arn't then don't. It basically gives you some wiggle room for days that you are hungrier. What I do is aim to eat 1400 calories a day even though mine is set on 1260. I work out every day so usually I am eating about 1/3 of my calories back. I found for me 1200 was too little to eat, I was still hungry and then I ATE way too much. 1400 is perfect. Find what works for you

When I didn't eat my exercise calories, I lost weight-but it was slow and grudgingly.

When I ate my exercise calories, it came off so much more easily and I felt so much happier with more in my stomach!

There is a logical progression to eating exercise calories.

Things to remember about this concept.

1st, you can't compare your calorie consumption to others. Not unless all (or almost all) of the variables are the same. I.E. weight, height, age, sex, % body fat, lbs of muscle, health condition, lifestyle, types of food eaten, exercise performed, hormone levels, bone density...etc.

there's just way to many factors to compare your weight loss to anyone else's and come up with a meaningful comparison. So asking others if eating exercise calories works, can be nothing more than a proof of concept, not an argument that it will or will not work for you. You can't just say, eating them worked for me, so it will work for you. That's not how the game is played.

2nd what people fail to remember is that the higher the percentage of body fat, the larger the deficit you can create (usually) without drastically changing the metabolism (slowing down calorie burn). So in other words, Joe schmoe has 18% body fat, and he's losing 1 lb a weeks while eating his exercise calories,
yet Jane Doe has 17% body fat and is only losing 1/4 lb a week doing the same exact thing. This is because there are many many factors involved, you have to look at them all and make educated judgments on them in order to make the right choices. And most importantly, you have to analyze YOUR own eating habits, looking at what someone else does, probably won't help you in this way.

3rd, be wary of people not aware of MFP's program saying that eating exercise calories doesn't work, they aren't privy to the techniques used here. First thing someone needs to know is that MFP generates a pre-exercise deficit, that has nothing to do with exercise, once someone wraps their head around this concept, the idea of eating exercise calories becomes a lot more understandable.

I'd like to make it known that for the most part, saying "eating your exercise calories doesn't work" it true for most people NOT on MFP and creating a deficit. You can't have a zero sum and expect weight loss, that's not how the body works.

Sometimes I eat them (reluctantly) and sometimes I do not and have lost weight regardless of whether I eat them or not.
I just have this mindframe that I just worked my butt off at the gym and do not want to eat more calories...argh!