Earlier this month, I was chosen as one of six bloggers to take part in the EmpowHER BodyMedia FITness challenge. The challenge will track six bloggers over a six week period as we try to reach our fitness goals.

If you were paying really close attention, you might remember back around the holidays when I included the BodyMedia Fit band in my gift guide.

The BodyMedia Fit band is a really cool tool that captures all sorts of information about your fitness like calories burned, number of steps taken each day and how much deep sleep you're getting each night.

Here's a look, straight from the source, at what the BodyMedia Fit bands can do:

BodyMedia FIT automatically tracks the calories burned during your daily activities — from pumping iron to using an iron — and monitors the quality of your sleep, an important factor in weight loss. Add in the easy-to-use food log and you have the information you need to improve your weight loss. The 3 part system includes:
1. An Armband that automatically captures data
2. An optional Display device or free downloadable mobile apps that give you up-to-the-minute readings throughout the day
3. An online Activity Manager* that analyzes raw data, allows you to log food and presents info in an easy-to-understand way (*subscription required)

As a fitness metrics nerd, I'm really excited to take part in this challenge and get a better idea of how much I actually move and burn throughout the day. This challenge is six weeks long and I'll be updating you on my progress once each week.

I've been wearing the armband for just about a week now doing my normal activities, and I have some baseline metrics to work with.


On an average day:

• I get about 7 hours and ten minutes of sleep
• I burn about 1879 calories
• I take 5590 steps

Based on what I've learned this week, I've decided to set some mini-goals for the remainder of this challenge.

Track what I eat each day: Yes I'm absolutely terrible about tracking food and I despise doing it, but for the sake of this challenge, I think it will be really enlightening. Plus the BodyMedia Fit system actually makes it pretty easy to do, so we'll see if I stick with it.

Stay on top of my sleep: Averaging around 7 hours and ten minutes of sleep each night is great, but I'd love to be able to bump that to a solid 8 hours each night during the work week. During the weekend, all bets are off.

Drop five pounds: Yep, I put on a little bit of weight during the off-season, and by the end of this six week challenge, I'd like to be back to my normal racing/training weight. With training starting up again and tracking what I'm eating, I'm hoping this won't be too much of a problem.

I'm really excited about this challenge and I think it will be a ton of fun. I can't wait to see the kinds of numbers my armband gives me once training is happening in full force.

If you're curious you can check out the other bloggers participating in the challenge and read about their experiences. If you want to get involved and take the challenge with us you can find out more from BodyMedia.

And per the FTC regulations, here's the standard legal language about how I got my armband for free:

Disclosure: Device and accompanying online Activity Manager subscription was provided by BodyMedia via EmpowHER. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of BodyMedia or EmpowHER.