Philadelphia Magazine’s Fitness Challenge 2010: Jessica Aiken

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30
Went skiing today with a good friend I hadn’t seen in a while and had a blast while getting a decent workout. Got on the slopes by 9:30am and skied through most of the day until about 3pm. You don’t realize how hard you’re working when you ski until later when you can hardly keep your eyes open. Even though I managed to stick with a grilled chicken sandwich over the chicken fingers and fries that I desperately wanted at lunch in the lodge, things weren’t so easy when my friend and I got back to her grandmother’s house (where we stayed for the weekend) and she was determined to give us a nice, hardy meal. She also plopped one of the biggest pieces of homemade apple pie on my plate after dinner that I would have felt just plain rude not to eat. I did indulge a bit in the pie but didn’t finish it.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 31
Today I headed to the gym since yesterday was technically my day off from working out. Meg gave me a workout plan that involved 30 minutes on the treadmill and several reps on the weight machines. I felt like I actually knew what I was doing which was one of my main goals in this competition so that was pretty exciting.

WEEK 2
Monday, February 1st – February 7th

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1
Today I took Meg’s spin class. It was really upbeat and intense… and of course, it kicked my butt (this seems to be happening a lot). I was pretty tired after the workout and all I wanted to do was pick up some fast food but I managed to steer clear of the 3 fast food joints on my way home and make myself a healthy dinner. I have to get a good night’s rest tonight since I have an early A.M. training session with Meg.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2
I met Meg at 5:45 this morning for my training session. We worked on strength circuits and did some work on the treadmill. I’m not going to lie; I’m not a fan of the treadmill. But I felt great when I got into work today. I felt like I had a lot more energy and was really ready for the day. I also met with the dietician, Brittany, after work. She had a lot of helpful ideas for me to keep a healthy diet going.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3
I took a spin class today and I started feeling comfortable with the class and was really able to actually challenge myself. You can take this class at your own pace and even if you were to take it easy it would still be a workout but it’s so much more worth it to really push yourself. I took an abs class after and I have never felt my abs burn like that before in my life. I felt really good after and I also did well on my diet today.