Heh, I do like my motivation. It keeps me moving. :)

The accuracy of BCA machines depends on how frequently they are calibrated and tested. I suspect many clinics may just plug them in and call it good. Could try asking. Best advice is to allow for a 3-5% margin of error though. This is why I like our home scales. I track with the same ones all the time so I can see the loss pattern, not the actual values.

Your base metabolic rate is how many calories your body burns when you are doing absolutely nothing. Sleeping. It's a baseline for all the processes your body does quietly in the background. On a conventional diet this is the barest minimum amount of calories you should be taking in or you risk disruption to essential functions. On top of that you add excess calories depending on your activity level. Builders and nurses are obviously very physical during the day so they will have more activity calories than, say, someone who works behind a desk.

I use Ankerl's Keto calculator to calculate where my base metabolism is (and it's pretty darned accurated based on today's testing). Although you could go further and enter your macros for post-IP keto-maintenance the BMR calculation doesn't require it.

It's through the Army Wellness Center. One of the "perks" available to veterans and their spouses (and, obviously, serving military and their family members). We didn't know anything about it until they had an exhibition of the fitness features offered when we were at the gym one day. A well kept secret.

The program seems to be pretty close to what my treadmill reads, but once I am finished the session and try to look back it reads: 6185171288064.00 calories and 101572124672.00km!! It's the same for both days so far. It's a nice feature to have, but I wear my phone on an arm band, it's not like I'm looking at the stats just as I'm finishing. It must be a programming error, I hope they fix it with an update soon :) The posting to myfitnesspal for pace and time is pretty good though.

It's OK, I don't really "run" more like a slow jog!! I don't even up the speed on the treadmill, I just jog at the same speed as I walk, for now to get my body used to moving!! lol

Finished week one! It's getting easier to get up earlier in the morning, and it's good feeling awake by the time I get to work. I've been adding an extra packet and I haven't felt weak or dizzy, or even hungry for the extra packet. I'm glad all this talk about it got me back into it and I hope to be done before I hit maintenance!

Keep running/jogging :)

Quick check in here on this lovely Friday! DeterminedDieter, Kelly and Amanda -- way to go! I'm into Week 2 now and feeling good. With the increased activity these past two weeks, my WI yesterday had me down just half a pound, but up 2 lbs of muscle mass (and down 2.5 in fat), so … all is good, I think. Heading in the right direction. The BCA form that my clinic's machine spits out says I still need to add 5 lbs of muscle mass to be at an "ideal" level, and I'd really like to do that.

I looked at the Keto calculator you recommended, Amanda, and it's just about the same number the BCA machine spits out for me (a Base Metobolic Rate of almost 1200). This info will be helpful once I start phasing off. Thank you for all the info you have put up. I hope your appointment today went well and look forward to hearing about it!

Not sure how scientific this info is, but… I asked my coach yesterday about when I actually need an extra packet after exercise (because sometimes it's not really an intense workout that I'm getting, e.g., walking with friends). She said to have the extra packet if the activity was intense enough to make me sweat. That sounds like a good general rule of thumb for me right now.

Everyone have great workouts this weekend!

Wonderful news on the 2 lb gain of lean muscle and the 2.5lb fat loss. It may not show a great net loss on the scale, but I'm betting you see some real inch changes this week!

Glad the keto-calc worked for you, too. I found it remarkably accurate as well. Hoping it serves us well once we get into maintenance! :)

With regard to the extra packet, I tend to go by how I feel. If I am flagging or feel like I'm tired and want to sit down then I have one. When my energy level is good and I can carry on my day as normal I either have the equivalent of half a packet, or just a sachet of salt and lots of water. I know this isn't very scientific, but it works for me as I know my body pretty well.

The Upping Your Metabolism class was pretty much as I expected. Aimed at people totally new to nutrition who don't understand macros and pushing the Standard American Diet based on a caloric intake that matches their overall daily metabolic rate with some exercise to offset it and lose weight.

They even gave out free step trackers, but didn't have enough so I volunteered to stick with my garmin.

Still, it was worth the hour of time just to be in the program and know that they will re-test us on the BodPod again every 30 days. They also had us set a goal to lose 1.5 to 2lbs a week - which should work just fine with IP. :)

Really enjoyed yesterday's Week 2 day 2. I am amazed at how much easier the 2nd and 3rd days are than the first. I guess this is how C25K works. Your body adapts. Very clever.

How's everyone else doing? Gone quiet in here!

Sluggish day for running intervals. Didn't sleep well and it showed in my C25K - slower speeds and felt like I was dragging myself around. It didn't help that I felt rushed with my protein shake for breakfast before racing out of the door, and that the track was absolutely full of REAL runners.

I got talking to a group who were working pacing intervals for their marathon, in hopes of improving their speeds. One of them was very clear that running is pyschological as much as physical, and that if you feel daunted at any time you should focus on shorter timespan or on getting through shorter distances many times. That made me smile because it's kind of like IP - focus on shorter goals to avoid being disheartened by having a long journey ahead. :)

Not looking forward to next week with it's 3 minute run intervals, but whatever .. it has to be done!

How is everyone?

Scoped out a new possible running route today. My neighborhood is a little isolated...where my house is is split from the rest of the "town" area by a very busy route that is scary to drive on, much less be a pedestrian on. So the only running option I've had so far is doing the 1 mile loop back around my neighborhood, but it's all uphill one way and down hill the other, which is tough and gets boring after awhile, and it only has sidewalk for part of the way. I get nervous about the cars, especially when it's getting dark out.

So, there is a cross walk right near my house to cross the busy route, or I can just drive to park across the road and then I have a good 3-mile loop to do. Not quite ready to shell out the bucks for a gym, so I hope can do this regularly when it starts warming up. Living here really makes me appreciate the importance of having walkable communities!

Anyway, keep up the good work everyone, you guys are so inspiring with your progress!

I was very unhappy to get out of bed this morning, especially early, but as usual I never regret my "run". Started week 2 and feel good about it, I guess I still have a little conditioning left over from my previous training(I stopped in November).

I'm trying to work on my form and breathing, but I find I am constantly spacing out :)

Keep "running" and have a great week!

Glad to hear that you have a safe option, Pishposh. Especially in dark and miserable weather. Hopefully we'll get a nice spring and long summer so you can enjoy some great runs. :)

The NHS choices one I use gives tips for breathing and for pacing. She suggests breathe on a left foot and count four lefts, then breathe out on four lefts. For pace she said if someone watches you from the other side of a hedge they shouldn't be able to tell if you are walking or running. It makes sense, because we're supposed to be conserving energy during the run intervals.

Week 3 Day 1 for me tomorrow. I volunteered to go to a free spin/cycling class with hubs tonight (as he prefers that to running) so I'm wondering if I can sneak out halfway through so my legs aren't too worn out.

Everyone ready for this week ahead? :)

Thanks Briael, I will have to try to remember those tips :) This week has been going great for me, I feel really good after the sessions. I don't know that I would like a spin class, but I enjoy riding my bike to work on nice days, it's only 4 or so km with a steady low grade incline going to work that makes you work for it a bit :)

Keep moving everyone :)

Love spinning, though, if I don't go for a while, it hurts my tush even with my own padded seat. I took a few days off the running, because of so many other exercise activities, but I will start Week 3 tomorrow. I like how my knees don't seem to care at all that I'm doing this, as they did when I was 20 pounds heavier. My WI showed my lean body mass has increased over 2 more pounds, and fat decreased about 2.5 (for a very measly half pound drop in weight).

Am about to move more toward alternative products, so I will be looking into everyone's suggestions for protein powders and RTDs, etc. Have been going through the zillions of posts/threads and taking notes, but happy to hear here about any that are particularly good pre/post workout. Amanda, I have down the name of the one you have mentioned before (with caffeine).

Glad to hear you're loving it and feeling good, too! I get a real buzz after my "run" days. :) Spinning isn't for me .. I like the freedom of movement too much for that, but hubby's really taken to it (minus the sore butt) and we can synch my running days with his spinning days next week.

Nice going on the increase of lean mass and drop of body fat. Have you noticed inches melting off you, too?

Just bought the Peanut butter and the multi-purpose mix Quest protein powder today (after reading rave reviews about how good it is for pancakes and waffles) and I love love love that the Quest website has a massive Cookbook that uses their products - both bars and powders.

Did a little research into it, and it's a combination of whey (@80%) and casein (@20%). This is significant, because whey is considered a fast release protein and casein is a slow release one. Major benefit of casein is overnight, as you want a controlled release of proteins to keep the blood sugar level steady and reduce the likelihood of insulin being released. In many of the bodybuilding programs they suggest using whey/casein combination pre workout, whey post workout, casein again between meals (although in tiny amounts) and before bed for repairing muscle overnight. Will be trying these in conjunction with my much loved ChocoLite powders AND the Syntrax.

Hubby also bought me the non-soy BCAA powder today (grape flavour). Been doing some research on these and it would appear that they are recommended pre-exercise as they often stimulate insulin production (and who wants that AFTER a workout???). I know it's beneficial to muscle repair and development so I intend to start very slowly with these, as I gain muscle very easily, and don't want to start looking like Arnie! ha!

Will let you know what it's like (planning on mixing the syntrax cappuccino with the unflavoured multi-purpose Quest for some tasty waffles!). Have to wait til tomorrow now as I'm pushing my carb limits for the day when I account for dinner and snack! :)

Week 3 Day 2 .... was easy peasy after a good night's rest. I was so happy when I finished that I just carried on, walked another lap, ran another lap .. repeated 3 times. Was waiting for hubby to finish his weight routine and figured it wasn't going to kill me to keep going. I intentionally brought my running speed down to over 12 min/mile and felt WAY better for it. I am loving C25K ... and I'm amazed at how quickly the body adapts to increased distance intervals. My gosh, aren't bodies clever? Who knew? :)

Hope the program's going well for everyone. Anyone struggling? Anything we can do to help?

I have the Quest peanut butter protein powder sitting in my cart right now as well, along with sample sizes of some of the other flavors. Thank you for mentioning the cookbook on their website -- maybe I'll just go ahead and get the unflavored jug now as well!

And, speaking of spinning, that's what my head is doing with all this info -- whey, casein, gluconeogenesis, oh my!

I've had to miss some runs, I aggravated my healing leg muscle, and then I got stuck at the cabin and took 4 hours to travel the 27Km from cabin to nearest town where we had to dig our machine out of waist deep snow multiple times, so I need to give my muscles a break. I am hoping to pick it up again on Friday.

How's everyone else doing?