on the fit day site, where you put in your activities for the day, wouldn't the lifestyle part take care of the daily stuff? or do you need to go back and put in every little thing you did for the day, like cooking, light cleaning. im not sure if i need to put all that on there or not? thanks

I'm sure everyone does it different but here's what I do. I set my lifestyle at seated with some movement because I don't want it to over judge. Then I only add in things over and above my daily routine. Like the gym, a long beach or mall walk, etc. And make sure to put in sleep because it brings the calories down a lot. It is better to underestimate calories burned and overestimate calories eaten then the other way around.

I use nutridiary, but the issues are similar. I say I'm "lightly active" (the one above sedentary) and then only add in my actual exercise (as much to keep track as anything else). I can't speak for anyone else, but overall it has been very accurate for me. When I checked over a 10 week stretch, my calories eaten vs. burned suggested I should have lost 14.5 pounds, and in actuality I lost 15.

I let my lifestyle take care of stuff I already do regularly, like walking to school and gardening and stuff, and only record actual exercise - and something qualifies as exercise if i whine about it!

I find that tracking activity in any of the software I've tried (Fitday, Dietpower, Trainers Edge, etc.) is fairly useless. It doesn't seem to matter what I log, my body burns calories differently from whatever these packages state. I use fitday to log my food, but don't bother with the activities. I know that I'm going to lift weights for about 45 minutes to an hour 4 days a week and do 35-55 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week. Does it really matter whether I also vacuumed the family room? Or whether I used a treadmill or the elliptical? For me, what really matters is that I do it, and that I eat correctly.

Mel