Average activity level on "non-active" days? Ideas?

I'm curious and would love to hear your thoughts:

If I list myself as lightly active in CC (I'm always on the move between biking everywhere and running after the kids) and then add my workouts on top of it . On my day off, I am careful to eat based on my "lightly active" burn rate. But today I'm a bit sick to my stomach. Which leads to a curiosity question. If on a given day someome is less active than normal, do they burn significantly less calories or is their metabolism pumped enough that the difference is minimal and the average that CC calculates a fairly good guide?

I'm very active and work out vigorously 6 days a week -- burning on average between 500 and 1000 calories a day in exercise. I would think that on the rare day that I am more sedentary than lightly active, my metabolism would still be higher than someone who is usually sedentary. Or am I looking at it wrong.

ok, I know the elections are keeping everyone busy. Am I the only one who is curious about just how efficient our bodies are at using, burning and storing calories?  ANYONE??????

Good question!  I'm very curious about this too and I wish I had an answer for you!  I stay very active as well, and have been logging myself as sedentary with whatever activity I do added in.  When I don't do any exercise, CC tells me to eat about 1600 calories, but I can't help thinking that my body should be burning more than that.  I actually seem to have done better and lost a few pounds when I've eaten more and ignored what CC says that I burn.  It seems very confusing though!  I look forward to reading people's replies after the election is over and people are around again.

I think you burn more than 1600 calories too, based on what you wrote and based on my personal experience. I typcially list my self as "lightly active" in which CC says I burn 1700, if I list myself as "sedentary" CC says I burn 1500 calories as a base.

Since no one answered our posts, and I am really curious, I asked Melkor for his two cents. My thoughts are that our bodies burn more than a non-athlete's body would -- even on a sedentary day. Here's what he has to say:

"Yup, that's exactly right - your body works on calendar time for the most part, not clock time. And the bulk of your calories burned (60-70%) come from your resting metabolic rate, with voluntary exercise accounting for 20-30% of your energy expenditure. So even on non-workout days you're going to have a metabolism that's more active than the average persons' ;)