Philadelphia Magazine’s Fitness Challenge 2010: Devon Montgomery-Bender

A 25-year-old just-married caterer who wants to begin the greatest adventure of her life looking good and feeling great. “I don't feel beautiful because I know I'm not healthy. I want to start my married life as a healthy, beautiful woman.”

WEEK 2
Monday, February 1st – February 7th

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1

 Better today, but still going through a box of tissues. My poor nose is so raw. Bummer. Anyway, I decided even in all this cold to go power walking with the dog. He loved it, especially trying to catch me running up the Art Museum stairs. He stayed at the top for the next set. Poor thing, I think I wore him out because I pretty much had to carry him home. Does carrying a 13lb dog half a mile count as weight lifting? For dinner I made a Cajun pasta dish with pepper, onions, chicken sausage, and shrimp. All in all a pretty low cal dish since I used fake butter and only ate about ½ cup of actual pasta. Mmm spicy!

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2

 Water aerobics this morning, plus extra laps because I had time. I love that class. I feel like I can really give my all without hurting my joints. It rocks. The best part is I’m not as sore, which is a good thing. I also think it must be working because from the gym to the car (Arch to Vine st) three different men stopped and ‘hollad’ at my booty. I don’t care what anyone says it feels good when you’re getting cat calls on the street. I could get used to this.
French [cooking] class tonight means drinking a lot of water so as not to be tempted by cream sauces and rich preparations. I think I did alright, only a few bites here and there but that Coq au Vin was hard to resist….

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3

 Workout with Holly today…and I thought the first one was bad. She really made me work it today. We did boxing and a lot of work with something called a kettle bell. It was brutal and I think I scared some guy in the workout room because I was grunting and screaming so loud. Everything hurts. I can’t wait for a nice hot shower tonight. I will say that my arms are starting to develop some muscle…..might be selling tickets to the gun show soon.