My maintenance calorie intake is 2,700 from most calculators I've checked averaged. So in order to maintain I have to eat that.
I exercise five times a week. Lets say each session I burn 300 calories. Does that mean I should eat 300 calories more to keep up with the 2,700, or eat 2,700 and burn 300 to maintain?
I've looked around and can't find a yes or no answer to this.
So, in order to MAINTAIN (not lose) should I eat 2,700, burn 300, and do nothing? Or should I eat 2,700, burn 300, then eat 300 back to add back up to 2,700?
You have to remember to maintain, it's calories in vs. calories out. You have to keep in mind that even if you work out, you may burn 300 calories, but you also burn calories throughout the day just by doing your normal routine. Even if you exercise, that does not necessarily mean you will lose weight, you could build muscle that would maintain your weight but give you more muscle mass (fat weighing less than muscle, etc).
If you want to maintain, I would just try eating the 2700 calories for a week or so and see if that helps you to maintain. If you are losing, you can then "up" the amout of calories you are consuming.
Every number there is, at best, a very rough estimate. Even the data particular to you--how much you eat, and how much you lose--is very imprecise, because however carefully you measure, calorie data isn't perfect and food varies, and when you look at how your weight has changed, that's not the same as fat burned--water fluctuates.
This doesn't mean you should throw up your hands and give up. It just means that you can't expect that much precision out of it. Pick ANY calorie number and exercise level, stick to it for three full weeks (to see the real trend), and see what happens.
Right, but technically speaking if all were right - IF I ate 2,700 cals and burned 300, leaving me with 2,400 - could I re-eat those 300 in order to stay at the maintaining calorie intake of 2,700.
Most calorie estimators include your activity level.. so you can put that you're sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, whatever and it factors that in to the number of calories you burn every day. If you put that were were active and it gave you ~2700, then it's probably already taking those ~300 calories burned by exercise into consideration. If you put that you were sedentary and it gave you ~2700, but then you exercised and burned ~300 calories.. you could eat ~3000 that day and probably not gain. If you just did a BMR estimator, it most likely doesn't factor in anything extra you do via exercise either.
Like everyone else said though, those estimators are just that...an estimation. Eat 2700 calories a day and monitor your weight for a couple weeks to see if you've gained, lost or maintained. If you've gained or lost, you'll have to adjust above or below that number to find out what your maintenance level really is.
Question on eating and exercise calorie loss
