I realize many of us have burn rate frustration. How do we determine how many calories we're burning? And if you have more muscle mass than normal, does your burn rate increase? By how much?
My dilemma, I work out in the gym 5x a week. High intense cardio 30 min, twice with weight training after. The remaining workouts are 45 min of high intense cardio with stretching, no weights. I also figure skate a total of 3hrs a week, either 30min or 60min sessions. I dance (west coast swing) approximately 2 - 4 hours on the weekend. And then there's the usual 20min walks to work, housework, walking to the grocery store, etc. However, I work at a desk job in front of a computer. But when I'm not working, I'm on my feet doing something.
When I first joined CC I tried the sedentary activity level and then adding all the activities, and I mean all the activities, to figure out my burn rate. That didn't work so well and I ended up in starvation mode. Now I've upped my activity level to moderate and log the skating and dance. But still have no idea if that's right and still feel fatigued half the time. Anyone have suggestions on what my burn rate is? Should probably mention, I'm a 38y.o. woman currently weighing in at 144 lbs.
Side note, why is the burn rate for in-line skating so much higher than ice skating? I would think that ice skating has the same balance issues but also has an additional burn rate for being in a cold environment.
Hi! 
I was VERY Frustrated in 'guessing' my calorie burns with various activities... 
I LOVED variety, with short endurance, as in adding stair climbing, sprinting, etc. to basic walking... HOW to measure? 
I needed to lose about 100 lbs, and wanted accurate help on my long Journey...
FIRST, I invested in a quality Heart Rate Monitor-- a Polar 11... THAT helped IMMENSELY! I could do whatever I wanted, never worrying about how to measure it, and post it's info into my CC exercise log.
I also enjoyed my Omron Pedometer as a GREAT exercise motivator, with its wonderful software program I could upload to daily-- it had a Daily set of Goals, and Sad, Ok, and Happy Smileys in it that REALLY Motivated me to walk till I reached my Daily Goals-- and Extra! 
Recently, due to selling something to a Daughter, I upgraded my Gadgets completely to the Best-est Ever Gadget I could find... It meant I didn't need the pedometer or HRM anymore, as it did what they did and more, but I can still use the Polar HRM as a Heart Rate check if I'm possibly exerting myself a bit too hard... THAT was the FIRST Benefit my HRM gave me-- I was exerting too hard as a newbie, and the Polar was a safety device as well as a Great calorie burning tool...
My newest device is Identical to what the Biggest Loser Show uses-- the BodyBugg and the GoWear Fit are made by the same company, but the GoWear Fit always added sleep efficiency, while the BodyBugg didn't till recently... They are identical in appearance, in the newest versions, and the GoWear Fit is less expensive-- so I bought it. It measures 24/7 basically and is the more accurate Gadget known at this time...
It requires a monthly online fee to upload it, but I'm ok with that-- it's rather Fantastic to see all it measures each day-- and night! Also, with the added display/watch, I can easily judge how many calories per minute I'm burning as I exercise in various ways-- and was very surprised that my 'Hardest' exercises were actually burning as little as 3 cals a min. while basic moderate, (indoor), walking burned 5 or more! 
And my lowly rebounder consistently burned 7-- and went to around 10/11 with higher effort! NOT very hard effort! 
By exertion alone, I would have never guessed the Truth and continued using my lovely Nordic Skier at 3 cals a min... and parking stuff on my neglected Rebounder, lol! (I increased the resistance to Achieve 5 cals a min, but it whups me too hard to last long-- and causes a fast headache, too-- without actually burning nearly as many calories as I'd thought! Even with my Polar 11, I'd missed this somehow...
I have found the GoWear Fit to be an awesome device, which measures everything for me constantly-- and really motivates me to MOVE, lol.
Hope that helps-- I couldn't be sure of why my losses were sooo slow, till I got the help of these various gadgets to help guide me in accurate calorie burning measurements... If you want variety in your daily life, it helps to have something reliable to do all the measuring for you...
P.S.-- My measurements at sedentary level, 169.5, 5'1", 47 years old, F. at CC are 1610 cals a day-- with around 60 lbs to go-- and my present in-the-bed-sick-state this week has matched CC's number within about 50 cals! That was reassuring! CC was pretty good in their sedentary number for me...
It's sounds like you are pretty dern active to me! Try upping your activity level for a week and see how it goes. Since you are so active after work, your body may just be burning more throughout the day. Lucky you!
Are you trying to lose or maintain? That makes a difference as well.
