Aerobic exercise (probably above a certain intensity threshold; walking like some pussy is likely not enough) will "rev up" (oh brother) your rate of energy expenditure when you are not exercising (in other words you will burn more calories sitting on the couch than you would otherwise if you hadn't exercised).
So for example if you eat 3000 kcal a day and burn 1000 with exercise, over time I would expect this to lead to greater weightloss than eating 2000 a day and burning nothing, if everything else is equal.
That said I still think re-feeding is stupid and counterproductive most of the time.