Eat More to Weigh Less

It may seem counter-intuitive, but I recently discovered that I need to be eating more than I am to weigh less than I do. MFP always talks about eating back the calories you burned during exercise. I didn't see the point. Weren't you SUPPOSED to burn calories?
Not exactly. The light bulb finally came on on Sunday when I really sat down to think about it. I was eating 1200 calories a day, and burning 500 of those in workouts. If I didn't eat back my cals, that would be a 500 calorie deficit, putting me well below 1200 calories. You're not supposed to do that. Your body will go into survival mode if you go any lower than 1200. It's just not a good idea. To make sure I had this right, I posted my question on MFP. Several people confirmed my notion, and I upped my daily calorie intake to 1400. I had been feeling exceptionally hungry lately, especially since I started spacing my 3 meals out into 6 very small meals, since that's supposed to rev up your metabolism.
Well, this morning I did my daily weigh in on Wii Fit Plus. My wii scale is only a pound off from my real scale, and it said I was at 222. So I get on my real scale, and sure enough-- 223.4! I was 225.8 on Friday. That's a 2.4 lb weight loss in 4 days. THAT'S AMAZING! I hope my body does that again when I officially weigh in with a few of my MFP groups on Friday. Can't wait to see Clarene on February 3rd. Hoping to be at 30 lb weight loss when I see her. 35 lbs would be even better. If I can get to 35 by the 3rd, I'll have gotten down to my pre-baby weight in 3 months.
She'll be floored!