is 1200 enough?

i know when you work out you need to eat more calories but that doesnt make sence to me becuase isnt that the point? to burn more calories, anyway tho what i am wondering is if 1200 is enough when i work out on the elliptical everyday for 3 minutes at a speed of around 4.5. i also heard that you have to eat back the calories you burn.  i dont know tho so help me out if you can! thanks.

Yes if you only do 3 minutes. If you do 30 minutes you may need more. Was that a typo?

oh yeah i meant 30 sorry.

OK I'm going to be completely honest with you. I do not eat back calories. I never have. Some people prefer to. I'm 5'9" 207 and eat 1500 calories. I exercise for 30 minutes at a moderate-intense pace on the elliptical. Some people eat 1200 plus what they burn in exercise. It all comes down to what you prefer to do. Sorry I wish I had more but its all up to you.

The point of exercise it to make your body healthier and sometimes pure enjoyment.  Eating back calories depends on how your body reacts.  I increased my exercise about 6 weeks ago and found that I had to increase my calorie intake in order to continue losing weight.

I was eating between 1200 and 1400 but I was EXHAUSTED all the time.  I've started eating 1400 on non-workout days and 1700 on workout days and I feel much, much better.  1200 is not enough.  Unless you plan to sit on your couch all day. 

I definately recommend eating back calories, as it enables you to keep up your energy and continue to regularly exercise, whereas if not I tend to dread exercising because of how draining it becomes.  Plus, it helps you build muscle, which requires extra calories, and toning is always a plus!

how much would you suggest i have a day then?

im 5'3 weigh like 127 ish and like i said work out 30 minutes a day.

I eat back every single calorie I burn by exercising, at least to bring my net up to 1300. It just makes sense to me, because I'm already creating a deficit by eating less [1300 if I DON'T exercise].

in 30 min you probably burn between 200 and 300 cals. So eat that much back in order to not go into starvation mode.

you probably shouldn't eat back all the calories you burn, just some.  Most experts say that if you want to lose weight you should eliminate a certain amount of calories from your diet by both cutting the food you eat and excercise. 

 Say you are cutting 500 calories from what you normally eat.  You should actually try to cut 250 calories and burn 250 calories.  So if you excercise really hard one day and burn 500 instead of 250 plus you cut calories, then you should eat some of them back or you won't have enough energy for you body to work well and you'll be tired and you may not lose the weight as it may slow your metobolism.

I really think it kind of depends on what you eat on a regular basis. If you have a super-healthy diet, you could probably stand to eat back some, if not all, the calories burned from exercising. If you don't eat quite as well, perhaps you should let it be, or atleast make sure anything you eat back is healthy, like fruits or veggies

The whole eating back the calories you burn makes no sense to me. I have never went out and burned 300 calories and came back inside and ate that 300 back. Seems counter-productive to me. But that maybe because I don't fully understand that whole concept. When I exercise I may get back some of those calories (maybe half) but not the whole 9-yards I just burned.

Do you even break a sweat at that pace? 

Anyway like everyone has said you need to respond to what your body wants and needs.  I don't mean give into a craving.  If you feel tired and lethargic then you need to eat otherwise your body will start to take protien from healthy muscle and use it to repair damaged muscle.

The basic rule is the more you work out the more you can eat. 

I'm on a 1200 cal a day diet but I'm also traing for a 1/2 marathon so on the days I run I eat more because otherwise i can't run, on my 'days off' I eat 1200 calories.  When you work out how many calories you need to eat to mainatin weight then -500 it's if you don't do ANY exercise at all.  The more exercise you do the more you need to eat to be able to do it.