Fit Bit Logging Question

what about treadmill, how do you guys use it ?

I have found with my Flex that as long as I'm walking normally (hands swinging down by my sides) it catches my "steps" pretty accurately. If I hold onto the rails, it doesn't and I end up having to the extra minutes.

I let my fitbit calculate all my step based activity - I never log it separately. That it's job!

I do manually add my swimming (because I take it off), pilates and now my lifting - it doesn't know what to make of them

This. I don't log any step based activities. Will add in lifting and swimming.

I just let the Fitbit estimate most everything. It is good to get an idea of what Fitbit is estimating though ... it's a little harder with the Zip, as it doesn't have a "timer" function like the One and Flex, but you can still add an "activity record" manually on the website to get the exact steps/calories for a specific amount of time.

As I've done this, and compared my Fitbit to other estimations (machine readouts, HRM, MFP estimates) it's been interesting. My Fitbit estimates are usually very close to the HRM for jogging (my treadmill overestimates) and close to the basic "one mile is about 100 calories" thought. I wore both for tennis yesterday and they were within two calories of each other. For soccer, my HRM was MUCH higher, but for most other activities (elliptical, walking, Zumba) my Fitbit is usually higher than the HRM by a little bit. I do log my bike rides manually, but I don't bother adding extra calories for weight workouts.

I do feel my Fitbit calorie estimate is coming in a little high, so I try to only eat back about half my exercise calories, and not just assume that as Fitbit has said they are there that I can really eat that much

I let the FitBit log all steps for any exercise....only log in strength training and cycling separately....have fun!