Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

a mile a day in March RECAP

For the month of March, I made it my goal to carve some time out each day to walk/jog/run/bike/move for at least one mile, take a picture of myself in motion, and post it to instagram with the hashtag #amileadayinMarch.

I even created a webpage for it, to record things like how far I moved and where, the story behind the day's movement, and what got me through it.

Midway through, I reflected on my progress commenting that I was proud of the 13 miles I accumulated, despot missing a few days. I made sure to remind myself midway through that this movement challenge is not about doing it perfectly, but about carving a small, manageable amount of time out in your day to do something good for your mind and your body, now that the holidays are over, the weather is warming, and summer days are drawing near.

Now that it's done, I can say I'm grateful for what it did for me. (1) It gave a physical focus everyday, getting my mind off of work and stressful things, and (2) got me through what always ends up being a tough month for me. March always seemslong...and still so dreary and wintery, when I've HAD IT UP TO HERE with coldness!

I accumulated 42.939 miles (!!!) of movement in the month of March, only skipping 10 of the 31 days. That's friggin' awesome. I plan to break that record in May by most probably participating and hosting 'a mile a day in May.' Consider this your pre-invite invite. ;)

#amileadayinMarch so far

I've been participating in A Mile a Day in March for eleven days, and so far I've accumulated 13.721 miles, even though there were some days I skipped. I'm pretty proud of that. This movement challenge is not about doing it perfectly, but about carving a small, manageable amount of time out in your day to do something good for your mind and your body, now that the holidays are over, the weather is warming, and summer days are drawing near.

As you can see in my mile-a-day pictures above, most of my miles have been done on the dreadmill -  which is what I call the treadmill because I dread it so badly. I had no choice to do my miles on it in the beginning because our streets were still covered in snow and slush and ice here in New York. However, I learned two ways that help me dread the treadmill LESS in my days having to do my miles upon it. The first way I've learned to overcome boring walks on the treadmill is to have a distraction. My distractions have been music, podcasts, or a notebook and writing utensil for writing down ideas I got while moving. The second way the treadmill has become more fun is by acting like a completely DIVA on it! This happened on day 5 : something came over me and I was my own one-woman show: belting Christina Perri lyrics, working my booty to Britney Spears, and praticing my Beyoncé strut! I must've been filled with the Holy Spirit or something because it came on all of a sudden and learned how to completely enjoy the dreadmill: act a fool! (Note: you might want to refrain from this suggestion if on a treadmill at a gym -- or any public arena.)

he past three days I've participated, it was warm enough to take my miles outside. You can read about my progress so far on my A Mile a Day in March webpage, or follow me on instagram @amandarosezamp. If you're participating, tag any pictures you upload to instagram with the hashtag #amileadayinMarch. I'd love to give you a pound 👊 for your awesome efforts & see how you're spending your miles!

a mile a day in March

With this weekend comes March, and in my opinion, the perfect opportunity to begin a movement challenge.  I'm calling this movement challenge 'A Mile a Day in March' and will be documenting with the hashtag #amileadayinMarch, much like I did back in 2012 with this movement challenge.

I don't know what it is about March that makes me want to put down the doughnut and pick up the sweatband. Actually, I DO: it's the longer days and the warmer weather and the promise of my favorite season of Summer to come. I also feel March is long and tough (being 31 days and all) and to get me through, I need some sort of daily driving force. 

This challenge is it, and I invite you to join me! To participate, carve some time out each day to walk/jog/run/bike/move for at least one mile (walking a mile takes approx. 15 minutes). Take a picture of yourself in motion, and post it to instagram with the hashtag #amileadayinMarch. It's that simple! 

You can download an app on your smartphone to track your milage. My favorite is the RunKeeper app.

Share this photo on your social media sites to spread the word! I'd love for us to keep each other motivated and accountable, and love to see how everyone spends their miles! 

Follow my instagram and twitter @amandarosezamp for real-time updates, head to my 'A Mile a Day in March' webpage to see my progress so far, or join me back here April 1st for a total challenge recap!

 

getting back in shape

Hi, friends. Let's talk getting back in shape. Over the past two years, a number of things have contributed to my feeling out of shape. The first thing was changing careers from teaching to graphic design. I swapped rushing around in the morning to make it to school on time and walking up and down three flights of stairs to pick up kids everyday, for working from home and sitting on my butt in front of a computer for hours. The booty suffered.

The second thing was moving to Texas. Big, meat and mac&Cheese loving, barbecuing Texas. I stress-ate because the change was a lot for me to handle, plus I work from home on my computer and sat on my butt all day (did I mention that?). I ate often and a lot, and Texan. Oh boy.

The third thing undoubtedly has been turning 30. Holy metabolism slow down! I feel heavier (I am) and I feel like I have to work harder (I do) than I ever did before.

With these three things contributing to my feeling out of shape, I decided to set a goal (#17 on my 30 in 30 list) to get back down to my magic weight number. My magic weight number is flexible and has changed over the years, but it's a number on the scale that:

1. I can achieve
2. I can maintain
3. makes me feel good in my clothes
4. makes me feel physically capable and strong 

Those four components are crucial, and what make it magic. Striving to 'have a belly like JLo or a something like someone else' or 'be a certain number because you were once that number in high school' is not doing you and your body any service. Your body knows what feels good. Listen to it, and it'll tell you your magic weight number.

So I'm getting back in shape, and I created a hashtag #ARZ_backinshape to document my working to get myself back down to my magic weight number. I wanted to get a personal trainer, but I found the next best thing (maybe better thing) in the gym I've been going to since I got back to New York in December. It's a bootcamp workout - with stations of strength training - and works like a session with a personal trainer, except you're in a group of people and all the attention is not on you. 

I'm excited to continue my gym classes. I'm excited for the weather to warm, so I can start jogging again. I'm excited to share my progress with you all. I'm excited to continue to get stronger, physically and emotionally, and mend my brokenheart one healthy choice at a time.

How do you maintain excitement to get back in shape?
What activities contribute to your magic weight number?

Oprah & Deepak's 21-Day Meditation Experience

At the beginning of August, I saw a post on loveMaegan (one of my favorite blog reads) entitled LET'S MEDITATE! // OPRAH & DEEPAK'S MEDITATION EXPERIENCE. I read the post and thought about my month of May 2013 when I made it a goal to meditate. When I recapped at the end of the month, I noted times when I did meditative-like activities, but felt like I failed at actual meditation overall. 

Then a few days ago, I posted about anxiety, therapy, zen habits, and my initial thoughts on meditation.  The one 20-minute sample meditation exercise I completed with Oprah & Deepak was eye and soul-opening for me and I decided it was the right time and just the kick-in-the-butt I needed to really attempt this.

Enter August 11th, and the start of Oprah & Deepak's 21-Day Meditation Experience.

 

From then until yesterday, every day for the past 21 days, I made sure to sit with one of my apple devices and headphones and listen to that day's 20 minute recording. Every day for the past 21 days, I listened to Oprah and Deepak share their thoughts on happiness, play, peace, kindness, contentment, gratitude, compassion, serenity, and other components of full, happy life.  Every day for the past 21 days, I've set aside time to relax, to be quiet, to focus on a mantra and release my brain from worry a tiny bit.

Oprah said it all in yesterday's meditation when she said, "This is what YOU did for YOU these past three weeks."  It's all been good. Really good stuff.

However, I would have to say most notably: two of meditation's 'really good stuff' has been the best for me. The first thing is that every day for the past 21 days I felt myself become aware of my core state -- that silent, still, safe place inside that knows I am okay.  Secondly, this meditation experience has given me a greater understanding of mindfulness, or registering mindfully what is going on around you at the very moment in which you are, not dwelling on the past or ruminating about the future. 

For someone like me who often worries incessantly and struggles with bouts of anxiety, these two things have been miracle discoveries. When I'm in that anxious state of mind, I have been able to realize through meditation, that that's not at all my core state of being.  Each and every one of us has a core state of being that is one of smiling calm contentedness that -- and here's the most beautiful part -- can always be accessed! Furthermore, through meditation I've learned how to access it -- through a practice of mindfulness: being in a state of being.

Am I talking trippy dippy hippie lingo? Okay, I'll stop.  But stemming from these past 21 days, I've invested in an another 21-Day Meditation Experience with Oprah and Deepak called Finding Your Flow, and starting today, am going to be doing 21 more days of meditation with those crazy guys. Haa haa! 

In addition, I've started reading the book The Mindful Way through Depression.  It sounds dramatic, but it's actually been everything but. It's a straight-forward read that talks about how the mind gets stuck in negative patterns of thinking and how our instictive way to deal with 'getting stuck' doesn't work when dealing in matters of the mind. It's been very interesting and right on point, and I look forward to finishing it and giving a full report.

In conclusion, some final words:

"The spirtual path unfolds a strange journey because you don't travel any distance.  You begin where you started: with yourself.  But the self you knew at the start isn't the self you know at the end.  Your self at the end is fullfilled.  It has learned life requires no struggle, fear, or resistance.  You only need to be." -- Deepak Chopra, in yesterday's Day 21 meditation

tracking my workouts in my life planner

Happy start to a brand new week, all.  Hope you had a relaxing and happy weekend. 

Today I'm posting about how I started tracking my workouts last month in my Erin Condren Life Planner. There's a "goals & notes" column on the far left hand side of each weekly spread where I started tracking my workouts each week.

I label Monday through Sunday on the side.  Bright green is my workout marker color, so any day that I completed an intentional workout, I highlight the day in green, and write in green the workout and duration.

This neon green makes it easy to spot and tally how many days I worked out.  In May, I worked out a total of 15/31 days. In June, I'll goal for a lot more.

I've been enojying using my Erin Condren Life Planner since I got it over a year ago. I usually print photos of the week and stick them in my planner, write down what blog posts are coming on what days, and track major events in my life planner. See that process here. ♥

scaling the incline

Here I am scaling the incline at Alley Pond Park.

What does this mean to me?
It means that the weather had finally warmed.
It means I'm getting my body happily moving again.
It means I'm allowing myself to get out my head.
It means I'm feeling better. Ah, to feel better. 
I have a long way to go,
    but I am wide, ascending strides from the sad state I was in a couple of months ago. 

Here's to it keeping up. Cheers! ♥ Happy Sunday.

my (new??) morning walk routine

If you've been a reader of my blog for a while, then you know morning walks are NOT a new routine for me.  I've been neighborhood walk/jog/running for years now, and even wrote a poem and a little list of 'essentials' about the activity.

However, this winter was brutal (for me).  During winter months, I can't even walk to my car without distress from the cold, let alone go for an actual neighborhood stroll.  Not to mention that this winter, the snow seemed like it was forever on the ground. BOO x10.

So these past few mornings -- with the flowers in full bloom, and the sun finally feeling like sun (not just looking like it), and it being sooo long since I intentionally walked, and not having to layer under my Northface coat -- my walks have felt 'new' to me...felt fresh and foreign and exciting.

Remember this?! Oh, you like this.

...and I'll be keeping it up as long as I can. ♥ 

indoor exercise

Hey, guys.  I'm coming to you today from a cold and snowy, sedentary, northeastern region of the U.S. asking for your help.

Although I am a person who loves physical movement, I usually give myself a four-month 'off' period from November to February - knowing how cold and miserable those months become, and how centered around rest, recharge, and food-indulgence they are.  I don't completely neglect my healthy habits, but I certainly am not as diligent about them during those 16 weeks.

However, February is coming to a close, and like every year around this time: I cannot take my inactive self any longer.

My activities of choice are always outdoor ones: walking my neighborhood, jogging my trail, bicycling, swimming, rolling around the grass, uhhhhhh...summer things.  Thus is my dilemma: it's still very much winter. I still can't step foot outside because I freeze.  I literally freeze - like a statue - with my shoulders tense to my ears, not wanting any frigid air to chokehold my neck. Anything below 50 is too cold for me...heck, 60!

I'm looking for indoor exercise ideas.  I figure we still have a good 4 to 6 weeks before it starts becoming spring 'round these parts and I need to start being active now. Like, yesterday.

My favorite one, and what I've started up again this week: ZUMBA on wii.

I talked a bit about it last year in this post, and as far as indoor workouts go, I think it's probably the best.  Firstly, you can choose to do a quick class (20-30 minutes), a mid-length class (approx. 45 minutes), or a full-length class (approx. 1 hour).  Second: the music is good, and the moves are fun. Third: the "people" you follow are computerized, and therefore don't say a gosh darn word.  THAT, to me, is such an undervalued aspect of 'workout tapes'.  I don't want some overly-buff instructor yelling at me or telling me to 'breathe' or 'keep going' or talk me through stuff I already know.  The ZUMBA cartoons are silent and just do the moves computer-perfect as if to say, "I'm gonna rock this next song, and you can either join me or sucker out." I love it.

Although I love it, I'm wondering what else there is to do.  I don't want to overuse my ZUMBA on wii and get bored of it.  I want to switch it up.  I sometimes hop on the dreadmill, but ick.

Do you indoor exercise at all?  If you do, how do you? ♥ Let's discuss in the comments.

5K Electric Run

Friday evening, two of my girlfriends, my sister, and myself participated in the ELECTRIC RUN. Danielle -- the same friend of mine who got me to do the Mud Run last year -- invited me to go early on in the summer, and after imagining completing a 5K at night...with lights and lasers and electronica blaring...plus crazy colored wigs and tutus are the norm attire? SIGN. ME. UP.  I take advantange of any and all opportunities to dress like a drag queen, please and thank you!

So, Friday, after leaving design school a bit early (so bad, I know) I got home just in time to meet Jamina and start get ready for the race. Me, in my aqua blue wig and Jamina in her sassy purple:

Danielle picked us up shortly after, and off we went. Jamina and sister in the back.

to get a real feel for how the run looked and sounded, see video of the start here

The night was just the right temperature, and as fun as it was, by the end we were glad it was over and ready for burgers.

...so that's what we did at 11:15pm at night:

Friday night was fun.  Fun, and unusual. :)

Wishing you a NEONMONDAY, readers & peepers!

On to design school, week 2!