it is all trial and error darl, you do what's good for you. I find with my level of activity if i drop down to 1200 calories my weightloss slows, and i get head spins regularly when i'm doing intense workouts. So from advice of my gym i went back up to 1500 [and i lost 1.5 kilos that week haha], i find anywhere between 1350 and 1450 calories works for me. I'm 175cm tall, so my actual weight doesnt bother me so much, i try to do a fair bit of strength training and I'm in my healthy weight range as well. I know that i can drop a whole clothing size without actually affecting the figures on the scale by much. So i've learnt (personally) not to rely to heavily on them.
I think your activity levels affect how much you need to eat. I think as long as what you are doing
works for you you should do it, i mean if you look at sue for example, she has gotten below her goal weight, started eating more calories and lost 1.5 extra kilos. The body is an amazing thing. Like you though, if i'm not exercising i will eat less calories, unless its only my rest day - i mean if i take a whole week off training i'll be more careful.
anyway so much cleaning to do

take care sam