possible new spin on the age old question of "burn meter"

ok, i get the whole burn meter,eat meter thing. it's a piece of cake when i don't exercise BUT...one tiny thing...KEEP IN MIND THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE TO DO THE MATH EASIER....my daily goal eat calories are set to 1300.  burn meter is usually 1800, gives me a daily calorie deficit of 500.  today for example, i took an aerobics class, therefore upping my burn meter to 2300. today i ate 1500 cals. ( over my "limit of 1300", i know...however...) when i take into account my deficit for the day, it adds up to a deficit of 800 , in my opinion still pretty good,decent range. my question is if i take 1500(my cals ate today), subtracted my exercise calories of 500 calories, i would be left with 1000 calories. now correct me if i'm wrong, but we arent supposed to go under 1200 calories a day,right? or do i just count my real calories eaten of 1500? make any sense to anyone out there? am i putting too much thought into this? i just want to get it correct!! thanks for your help!

Welcome to CC.  Everyone likes to use the burn meter differently.  Some people like to log each exercise session, others like to use the activity level.  A minimum of 1200 calories per day is the recommendation for adult women.  Teenagers have a higher minimum, so definitely eat enough calories to cover your exercise.  This doesn't make the exercise useless, it still does wonderful things for your body and your overall health. 

Given your age, I'd err on the side of caution and aim for no more than a 500 calorie deficit until you find out how your body reacts.  This translates into ~1 lb per week.  Bear in mind that the tools on this website are designed for adult women.  As a teenager, you use and need several hundred more calories a day in order for your body to develop properly.  Below are some links especially for teens, I hope they'll be useful for you.

Especially for Teens

calculator and calorie information for Teens 
Nutrition, Exercise & Weight Management for Teens
More Nutrition & Health for Teens
Weight Management for Kids/Teens

Sara

Volunteer Moderator