Need help- calories+ exercise = net calories HOW DO I BALANCE?

  I have recently started working out in the last few weeks.  I keep track on thedailyplate and my target is 1200 calories.  So my question is, when I am supposed to take in 1200 calories, is that NET calories or gross?  If I burn 500-1000 or more calories, should I be eating more than 1200 calories in a day?  I am not sure how to balance this whole thing and I wanna make sure I am doing this right because I still have at least 30 more lbs to lose and I don't want to hang in starvation mode.  So if you know anything about this at all, PLEASE let me know.  I think I will repost this on the food board too.  Thank you in advance!

Good question. I've been wondering the same thing and just never asked. lol

 I can only tell you what I did.. I stayed on gross calories (for me around 1200****il I was within 25 pounds or so of my goal, and started to do more than 45 min of cardio 4 days a week.  At that point I switched to net, but still keep a 500-700 deficit.  If you're adding in weight training, chances are the  pounds lost will slow down a lot, but you have to start looking at how the clothes fit and how you feel.

This is what worked best for me. I googled my BMR as a sedetary person and made sure I ate that many calories. I let my workouts create the defecit. Any defecit over 500 to 700 cals for a woman or 1000 to 1200 for a man could do more harm than good. Just as an example at 1 point my bmr was around 1800 cals x 1.2 for a sedetary person put me at 2160 cals and I would shoot for 1000 cals burned in my workouts. In theory that would put me at 1 pound of fat loss every 3.5 days. Just remember the scale won't always show that due to water retention and lean muscle gains.

 Just so I understand....  My BMR is 1699.  Multiply by 1.2 = 2038.  Then I should burn how many calories per workout?  What would my target net calories be?  I wanna make sure I do this right.

I would suggest eating 2000 cals and let the workouts put you in the negative for the day.

 So this whole "not netting any calories some days" that have been doing is no good? Great. lol

 This sounds like a great plan, but I'm not sure if/how it would work for me.  Being a DSer I only absorb half the calories I get from proteins and 20% of my fats so I've been told its relatively impossible for me to count calories.  I know I tend to get about 200calories [50g] carbs in a day .. I shoot for right around 100g protein .. and I don't even bother checking fat content because its pretty much a free food with this surgery so .... I don't know how to do this .. assuming that health class was right with 4calories/carb and protein and 9calories/fat .. I should be way under any recommended amount .. especially considering my bmr comes out to 1673.

Maybe this plan just doesn't work for me  which is a shame ....

Nate & All,

Your Basal Metabolism is a powerful thing. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the MINIMUM number of calories your body needs a day to keep functioning properly. Your Resting Metabolic Rate (The rate of calories your body metabolizes or burns at rest), depending on fitness, will typically burn 60%-80% of your BMR calories. So with that being said, If your BMR is 2500 and you only consume 1200 and you naturally burn off 60% via Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) which leaves you with a net of -300 calories for a day. If you burn 1000 calories during a workout, your net caloric deficit is now -1300 calories. 3300 Calories is what approximately equates to 1 pound of body fat, so if this was your daily regimen you would lose roughly 2.75 pounds a week.

Think in terms of maintaining as well. If your BMR is 2700 (Which mine is) and your RMR is about 2200 (Which mine is) if I eat 2700 cals a day I net 500 cals. I train 2-3 hours a day and burn between 2000-3000 cals a day. So, if I consume 4000-5000 cals a day at my currnt status, I maintain forever.... If you backoff in one area, you need to back off in all the others to maintain. Simple Science really...

 Thanks Nate, I think I might try that.  Sounds very scientific!! LOL!