Every winter, I make a decision that during the running off-season I'm going to focus on strength training, something I sorely neglect every other time of year.


I've been semi-successful with my lifting goals in the past. In fact, last year I was meeting with a personal trainer and my friend Emily and I were lifting twice a week during our lunch breaks at work.

I was always pretty excited when I was able to bump up my weights and after a few regular sessions, I was creeping up from 10 lbs. to 15 lbs. and even 25 lbs. for some things. Three cheers for not using wimpy weights!


But then the break up happened and I fell off the workout wagon hard. I eventually got my running mojo back, but I haven't picked up a weight since.


Until last night.

I was out running with a friend and he mentioned he was planning to hit the gym for a lifting session afterward and asked if I was interested in joining.

I have a policy that I don't say no to workouts if I'm invited by other people.

So that's how I found myself in a gym last night lifting weights again.

We did a pretty solid upper body workout and I'm happy to report, I was still able to use pretty heavy weights:

• 10 lbs. for overhead press
• 15 lbs. for bicep curls
• 25 lbs. for rows

Oh and I can still hold a plank for a solid minute!


The workout was fun and it made me miss my regular lifting sessions that I was doing so religiously last year. Maybe it's time to find some room in my training plan to work them back in.

Jammed my finger yesterday at volleyball trying to jump and hit a ball that was over my head. Turns out I jumped just high enough to jam my finger into the bottom of the ball.


Now I have a beautifully swollen finger that hurts to bend.

I haven't had one of these bad boys since my middle school basketball days.

The swelling will go down eventually. Until then, I'm off to find some frozen peas.

Four weeks down, two to go! I can hardly believe we're in the second half of the BodyMedia FITness challenge already!


Previous Weeks:

Week One
Week Two
Week Three

This Week:

One of the questions I've been getting from a lot of people about the BodyMedia FITness challenge is whether or not wearing the armband is causing me to change my normal habits or behavior.

The answer is yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that I am a million times more conscious of what I'm eating.


Writing down everything I eat is not something I normally do, and usually it drives me nuts. For this challenge, writing things down hasn't been that much of a problem, but it does make me pay attention to what I'm eating, and I definitely think twice before eating snacks and sweets. I'm sure my chocolate intake is drastically lower than it normally is.

I'm also making an extra effort to work in more fruits, vegetables and protein. I wouldn't be paying close attention to any of that if it weren't for this challenge, having to record everything I eat and seeing the break down of my nutrition intake in the daily and weekly charts.


In the workout aspect, I don't think the challenge has caused me to drastically change any of my behavior. I've always been a pretty active person and I would be sticking to my training plan for my upcoming 10 miler and triathlons whether or not I was using the BodyMedia Fit armband.


Sure, there have been a couple times where I've walked the 11 flights of stairs to my office at work just to sneak in a little more activity during my more sedentary days, but other than that, my activity level has stayed about the same. Side note: Walking 11 flights of steps is no joke.

This Week's Stats:


I should point out first off that these stats aren't perfectly accurate because I didn't record my food all weekend. (Update: Victoria just reminded me in the comments that I forgot to record Friday's dinner too. So the first three rows of that chart and pretty inaccurate.)

On Saturday I was busy and ate every single meal out of the house. Sunday was much of the same. I had no idea how many calories were in half of the things I ate, so I didn't even bother guesstimating.

Although, I'm thinking that plate of nachos I ate while watching the Terps basketball game probably had more calories in it than I eat in a typical day.

After falling off the food-recording wagon over the weekend, I plan to get back on track today.

How I'm Doing on My Goals So Far:

Seven-eight hours of sleep each night: Fail! I didn't pretty well during the work week, but this weekend I was out late with friends and up early to run, which really threw off my sleep numbers.


Track my food: I was doing awesome with this until the weekend, then things got a little crazy.


Lose five pounds: Doing OK here. Despite my crappy weekend nutrition, I still managed to lose 1.4 pounds this week, bringing me to a total of 2.6 pounds lost for the challenge.

If you're interested in learning more about the BodyMedia FITness challenge, check out the details on EmpowHER.

About the BodyMedia Fit Band:
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)

Standard Legal Disclaimer:
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.