I have a question for anyone who might be a nutritionist or have a medical background.

For my weight, I need to eat between 1200-1500 calories a day to lose 1 lb a week. I am comfortable eating that amount and generally stick to it so when I exercise, theoretically, I will lose more.

HOWEVER, in the past 5 weeks, I have been riding and running a LOT. On an average week, I can easily burn in the 5000 calorie range. This past week, I burned 9500 calories. As you can see, that is more than what I'm supposed to be eating (7 X 1200= 8400). To compensate, I have been eating more, probably in the 1800-2000 calorie range.

I know that if you eat less than 1200 calories a day, your body can be tricked into thinking you ae starving and start to hoard calories so you don't lose weight. Is that 1200 calories a day gross, or 1200 calories net? In other words, should I being eat 1200 calories a day PLUS an additional 5000-9000 calories a week to make up for all the ones I burn off?

Merci.