I'm following a diet that creates a calorie deficit to lose 1.5 lb per week on average (about 1800 calories).

If I burn more calories through exercise would it be best to replace them or as long as I've consumed the total calories throughout the day is it OK?

IOW, I eat 1800 but burn 500 running. Should I consume an additional 500 calories or is the 1300 net calories OK?

I understand that additional calories burned is "icing on the cake" so-to-speak but have been dialing in my eating recently and was wondering about this. I don't want to counteract my metabolism.

At the end of the day, if my net calories is 1800 I should still be set for a 1.5 lb loss right?

I guess to simplify my question, should I be concerned with GROSS or NET calories?

whoa, 1800 calories is all you are eating? how'd you come up with that figure?

remember if you are calculating your BMR, that's 'resting metabolic rate'. Assuming you move around during the day you need to multiply by 1.x (probably 1.3) to get an estimate of caloric needs, then reduce by 10% to lose bodyfat.

in simple math, my BMR is 1900, with an activity multiplier, 2,800 cals, and then reduced to 2,200 cals to try to shed bodyfat.

if you undereat you tend to lose muscle, and possibly store fat while also feeling less energetic.

Well that's really what and why I'm asking.

I'm using a program that takes age, height, current weight and goal weight as well as desired loss rate into account. It supposedly plugs age, height, weight into the Harris-Benedict formula and then takes the current and goal weights and comes up with a calorie "budget." The program does not use an activity adjustment though.

On a sedentary day, my NET calories would be 1800 as calculated by the program. I know that's a low number and toying with the "bottom" of where metabolism starts to "scavenge and store" and what got me asking because I am burning an extra 350-500 calories per day (5 days out of the week) and was basically wondering if my GROSS calories should be 2150-2300 because that would put me back in the right areas using an activity adjustment.

Remember, I'm trying to lose weight. And it's been working. I'm down 10 lbs in 6 weeks and my BF% has dropped 2% as well. The crazy thing is I thought I would, but I haven't been tired and my activity level and intensity of training has really picked up.