Is there a difference between calories in and out...

What I mean is is there a difference between eating 4000 caloies and burning off 1000 or just eating 3000 cals.

"In heaven, all the interesting people are missing." Friedrich Nietzsche

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted" John Lennon

well you can control what types of calories you ingest while its much harder to specifically burn 1000 calories of just fat

it depends really, personally i'd rather eat more and exercise more and i've always heard "exercise efficiency, not calorie deficiency"

i would prefer eating more and working out more as well. generally speaking, people tend to lower calories too low and workout too much, which is sort of what is commonly associated with dieting, etc.
 
dont forget, you get a lot out of the food you eat besides calories. eating more increases your metabolism, such that your body simply needs to digest the food you ate, etc.
 
as you bring up, there is a difference between eating less (or more) and exercising more (or less) to affect activity level. its a good idea to not lower both simultaneously wihtout thinking it through. adding exercise that burns 2-300 calories might allow you to leave calories where they were at rather than lowering them. this can be advantagous because its inevitable that you will plateau, and having not previosly lowered calories, its a good opportunity to then change things up without worrying about going too low calorie or too high cardio right away.
 
in addition, like i mentioned, if you eat 4000 calories it takes x calories to digest that amount. if you burn calories exercising, say 1000 (from your example), it is different than eating 1000 less due to the above x calories that are used merely to break down what you ate. also, dont forget that you will be getting less nutrients from eating less.
 
overall, the two work together to lead to weight gain or loss. using some of each is a key way to manipulate it, especialy at plateaus.
 

bulking/strength training

soon to begin bill starr's 5X5

current maxes: 
squats: 255
deadlifts: 300
bench: 185
oh press: 125
goals for jan 1:
squats: 300
deadlifts: 350
bench: 210
oh pressL 145