Question about figuring out daily calorie goal

So, I'm new to this site. (Hello!)

I'm trying to figure out all the in's and out's so bare with me if this question has already been addressed.

Under the "Tools" section, there is the "Calorie Target" page. On this page, it has me list my height, weight, sex, goal weight.... and my "lifestyle."

I'm a little bit confused about this, because the calorie target says "light exercise" or "moderate" exercise (something like that anyway). So, okay, I am not sedentary, I am working out a little bit, so I am choosing "light exercise."

However, what do I do then when I want to actually log my exercise calories? If I am walking every day, and I say that I am in the "Light Exercise" category, and so I get an additional 200 calories a day for being in that category, then do I ALSO add any workout calories I get when I actually do my workout?  Or, should I make myself as "Sedentary" and then just give myself the extra calories through working out only?

Make sense to anyone? Sorry, this was tough to explain!

I think this is a really good question.  Honestly, I've never quite been able to figure it out.

If you are planning on logging your exercise calories, should you choose "Sedentary" and log them?  Conversely, if you don't want to bother logging each workout, should you choose "Light Exercise" and NOT log?

The other way of looking at it is that your metabolism is higher as a result of working out regularly... whether that means adding muscle mass or having an elevated heart rate or what have you.  So if that were true, you would log your workouts on top of selecting "Light Exercise".

I guess it would be a good question to the calorie count folks who wrote/selected the algorithm?

I think most people start with sedentary, and log all activities beyond sedentary.  So, you would log in a 30 minute walk, but you wouldn't log in walking from the bedroom to the kitchen.  After a few weeks, you could see how your average burn was shaping up, then select the appropriate level (i.e., "light" or "moderate" or whatever).  From that point forward, you would only add in activities beyond the norm you just set.

So,  if it works out you are at a "light" activity level, you wouldn't log your 30 minute walk, but you could log in a 10 mile hike.  If you did a 10 mile hike, you might "give" yourself a few more calories that day to keep your deficit in the proper range.

Personally, I try not to over think it.  I set myself on "light" activity, commit to moving at least 30 extra minutes a day, and I don't log any exercise at all.  I only aim for a 500 calorie deficit from the "light" activity burn,  so I am still in the safe range even if I have an extra active day.  So far it is working, because I am averaging about a 1.5 pound loss per week (750 calorie average deficit).  If my weight loss started exceeding 2 pounds a week (1000 cal deficit), I would bump up my activity to "moderate" and my calorie goal to maintain a 750 calorie deficit.