When I went into the Activities tab, I chose the activity Sleeping and logged in however many hours I had slept the previous night. If, say, I played tennis for an hour, I would log that in under Activities, also, or did a DVD or got on the treadmill. But I didn't log in all the other stuff, like picking up after my son, driving to the dentist, doing dishes...it was too time consuming.
Someone posted once whether sleep should be logged and the moderator responded no, that it was already taken into account. However, if I didn't log it, I felt that the calories FitDay gave me were too high...I'm 5'2" if I stand up really straight, have a small bone structure, and am 42 years old, so I knew there was no way I was needing 2000 calories a day. Entering sleep knocked off a couple, three hundred. In truth, I think adding sleep just compensates for not putting in the other daily activities. I put sedentary just to be conservative, because my job is basically seated.
I also used this site to have an idea of calories burned:
Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs. Once I entered sleep in FitDay, that number was pretty close. Then I just tried to shoot for eating 500 less than I burned every day (for a pound a week). I logged everything (even the naughty stuff) and compensated for it later in the week if I went over. I exercised daily, or almost daily...something, even if not a hard workout. And I posted a lot, asked for a lot of help, and probably whined a lot
. I learned that my body works best on 50% carbs, 25-30% protein, and 20-25% fat, but everyone is different. The more you do, the better you learn about what works and what doesn't. Just be patient and you will do great!