I've started logging my food on the daily plate and my exercise. To lose 2 lbs at the sedentary activity level I should take in 1255 cals/day. I aim for 1400 cals intake but my exercise is really intense and my heart rate monitor says that I burn 800 cals, leaving my net intake yesterday at 400 cals! So should I aim for 1255 NET or total cals???? It seems like I am staying here but I've lost pretty well at 1400 cals and my exercise level..... Does anyone have experience with this?

Wow! What kind of exercise do you do? I typically don't get better than 450-500 burned, 600 once on a long run! I'm jealous!

I've heard different opinions on this question - some say eat back some or all of your calories burned to keep yourself at the 1255 loss goal, some say don't. I did up my protein on days of heavy exercise and typically kept my net calories around the 750-800 range. Found that if I got way low I felt worn down and tired. I didn't eat back all the calories from the exercise.

For the most part, when my target was 1300 I ate 1300 calories and any exercise was just extra, but i didn't own an HRM until recently so didn't know for sure how many calories I was burning....

Well maybe you should try putting in the fact you do work in your dailyplate so it can recalculate for you- the calories will be much different. If you are exercising that hard you should up the intake to much more than 1400 calories a day.

If losing 2 pounds a week puts you at 1200 calories for the day, I'd definitely eat more than 1200 if you're burning 800 at exercise. (Lord, what are you doing? Its a good day when I hit 300!)

I'd probably be eating closer to 1500 or 1600 if I was burning that much in exercise.

I use exercise calories as a just-in-case buffer but usually only eat the same calories each day (1400-1500)

I keep my calories eaten totally separate from my calories burned. I eat what I eat and I burn what I burn.

I am looking to create a calorie deficit. Exercise adds to that deficit. Any calories burned through exercise and activity, I look at as a bonus! Adding back calories would seem counter productive to me. Unless of course I was running marathons all day. Then I'm thinking, I just might need to up my calories. But that's not happening any time soon.

Besides, I find those calories burned calculators to be very "off". HIGHLY inaccurate.

rockinrobin said it all for me.

you need to eat 1200 cal just to live (so i don't think your daily plate thing is particularly accurate btw) so you have to make sure you get that.

any exercise is over that for me. so i eat what i eat and then exercise is a bonus.

Good ideas... I think I will give 1400 cals and just workout another week. Btw i do an hour of spin or high intensity interval training- it usually keeps my heart rate in the 170s