The part of FitDay that I question is also the cals per serving/food. It's hard to enter the right thing there... so maybe you are eating more calories than it is saying you are?

I am not sure how accurate the cals burned thing is, but I've never completely trusted it. It has some pretty large boxes to put activities into (ie wide range of speeds on the bike that go to a single value), and speed doesn't always for me say how hard I'm working.

No, it's 3046 for the whole day, including those activities. Not 3046 just for the hours of exercise. Looking at the specifics, it gave me 211 calories burned for 1:20 of yoga (WTF? They certainly haven't met MY yoga instructor. I probably burn that in one of his 5-minute plank holds, LOL) and 612 calories burned for an hour of biking on my trainer (moderate). On the day before, it was 792 for 1:15 of swimming hard intervals, and 633 for an hour of karate.

I tend to err on the higher calorie side when entering what I eat to make sure i account for all of what I am eating (and maybe a little more sometimes), and to account for what I feel are overestimations of calorie burn often.

However, in your case 3046 for 2:20 of exercise + basal seems pretty close to accurate for a female from what I can tell.

I take the whole thing with a grain of salt and use it more as round numbers to make sure I'm eating enough/not too much instead of exact science to balance.

FWIW, I've been using it since November, have lost 13+ lbs so far with my normal day on there being about 300-700 cals in deficit (shooting for ~500/day)...that comes out to ~13lbs/12weeks, where my 3500cal/week deficit would be 1lb wieghtloss per week...so pretty close on my end. I do definately have bad days where I gain some, but they tend to be offset by days I do longer rides and can't even come close to making up the calories it calculates w/o my stomach exploding.

You can also just enter the raw foods/ingredients you use. I've done that before, but it takes a long time. Or make custom foods for the ones you make a lot.

Thanks for the recommends. I'll have to check out my heart rate monitor (ironman timex) and see if it does that. I hardly ever use it, LOL.

No I don't mind you bringing it up, but thank you for being sensitive about it and asking. It's one reason in fact that I've never ever tracked what I ate or ever counted calories before! I don't want to get obsessive about it, and other than my pregnancies I've managed to keep my weight completely stable in the 20+ years since recovering from eating disorders. So in general I'm inclined to not want to rock that particular boat.

Well, for me it's really a triathlon thing. It's not really an appearance thing. My hubby things I look great with a few curves here and there, LOL. But really for me it comes down to running. I'm already a big boned and muscular person. At my lightest, I go about 157 lbs for 5'7". I've never not been a Clydesdale. As that weight goes over 160 and edging over 165, I can really feel it in my knees and ankles when I run, especially at the HIM distance training that I like to do best. And at almost 43, knees and ankles have started being a big priority for me, keeping them intact that is :-)
Also, I'm fairly competitive and for me the run is always my limiter. Adding 8 pounds adds time to the run, that's just the way it is. It doesn't really affect swimming or biking that much. If I'm going to stay competitive, I really don't want to be getting slower on the run, grrrrrr....

Yeah, anywhere between 2400 and 2800 usually, it seems (this is all new to me so I've only been tracking it for a week). It's odd, but it seems that I pretty much consistently (at least according to Fit Day) eat about 500 less than it thinks I'm burning. Since I'm neither gaining nor losing weight, that's why I wondered if FitDay's calculations were just off.

Thanks. Yes, that's what I do in general anyways. I've always just exercised because I love all of those sports, not in order to look a certain way. It's just frustrating because whenever I've had thyroid issues in the past, I've been able to re-lose the weight pretty easily once my medicine/levels got straightened out. This time it just hasn't happened. Might be hitting closer to the mid-40's that does that, or maybe I'm not eating right. I'm just trying to figure it all out and get back to my regular (which is not small, but just right for me) shape for Tri season.

Thank you so much for saying that. I appreciate it! You look fabulous and I'm sure you will have a lifetime of being wonderfully fit. And I appreciate what you said here and will be thinking it all over. Thanks.

yes, they're monitored by my doctor. I had a tumor removed along with half of my thyroid a few years back, so they keep a close eye on it.

I tried fitday too for the last 5lbs and found pretty much the same things. It was a big pain to enter my food accurately and it really didn't work for my activity very well. I have gone to daily weighing and just basically aiming for my 2000cals a day (my weight of 140 x 10 plus 200 for metabolic rate compensation, so 1600, which would be my inactive weight loss intake, plus a 400 cushion. If I burn 1500 a day, then the 400 cushion takes me to a deficit of around 500-700. On big training days I increase based on my burn). I use the calorie counts on my hrm and base my little "formula" on an exercise program my partner uses to lose weight from (can't believe I am admitting this) Turbo Jam....sigh...I did lose the 5lbs, but have gained it back since starting to increase my swimming time. Seems I carry an extra 5lbs in my shoulders and upper back when I swim four times a week. I gave up on it since my percentage is good and my performances are on the upswing. I hear ya though. I keep thinking if I was 130lbs I would be a rocket, but I keep reminding myself I need to keep the power output I have right now.
Don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone but me! Good luck Ironmom and keep updating on what works/doesn't work. I agree with cogirl3 - you are a role model for women everywhere and your honesty just ups that for me! Good luck and I can't wait for the day we end up a race together (for the race and the beer together after!)