Category: love

It all starts With a change of Mindset

For this post I would like to talk about mindset and choices, we are presented with choices everyday whether it is what we eat or how we decide to spend our free time. Usually we are so busy everyday that we always choose to sit around watching tv or play video games but it these same types of choices that have us wanting more or something different. We live in what seems to be an endless cycle of boring with nothing to look forward to but the weekend, even then we overextend ourselves by trying to make the “most” of our days off. At the ends of each weekend we go back to work just as or more tired than when we started. I too used to live with this type of mentality and I felt like it was draining me instead of helping me live better. This is where mindset comes in I decided to make a change and try to change the way my days went I started to plan something that I looked forward to doing everyday and eventually I started adding more things.
The key to changing the way I lived making my days more enjoyable, was to add one thing at a time I didn’t try to make any drastic changes it was slow change for bettering the way I lived my week.
Tips for a better week

  1. Make a list of things you like to do and help you relieve some stress.
    A.meditation’
    B. Exercise
    C. Reading
  2. Start one of the thing do not try to add all of these things to your day at once
  3. Once you have a routine you are comfortable with try to find something that will help you improve as a person and learn.

Serene Quarantine

Hello, it has been a while since I have posted anything but that does not mean I have been sitting around doing nothing. The fact that I had nowhere to go allowed me to pick up on a few old hobbies, I started with the ones that helped me relax (aside from meditation), art and gardening. I was able to draw, this hobby allows me to both relax and learn. How is that possible? you might ask, well it allows me to relax by making me focus on what’s in front of me and also through trial and error I learn new techniques that work for my style. When I sit down to work on a project hours feel like minutes.

Another one of my hobbies is gardening and during this stay at home time I was able to start my garden with seeds, this is something I have not been able to do for a very long time due to apartment living. Last year we moved into our house and I started late so I just transplanted some plants. My favorite part about planting a garden from seeds and watching them grow is the fact that there is no hurry, all you have to do is water them make sure they get enough sunlight and then just wait. During this time I have realized that I need some type of activity or hobby that allows me to just slow down my busy mind, I know that not everyone has the patience to plant, water and wait but finding hobbies that help you slow down are a great break to the busy lifestyles we all live.

Bring back your energy

On my 100 day journey I have done some research on new meditation methods and I have found one that has been incredibly helpful it has helped me regain some of that positive energy from some of my happiest times. The best part of this method takes no longer than 2-5 minutes so it is the best one for when people are busy.

Step one- find a comfortable place to sit. sitting on the floor is my preference a pillow or cushion can be used or for a beginner, sitting in a chair is perfect as long as proper posture is preserved (no slouching)

Step two- make sure you control your breathing, close your eyes and think of the time when you felt that you were the most at peace and happy with your life, make sure you focused what routines or what you did that made you happy, now imaging that feeling is a big ball of energy floating above you.

Step three- accept that energy to come back into you as if you were in the shower but instead of water you feel the energy run down and through your body.

Step 4- take a deep breath and relax for 30 seconds.

This method of meditation has helped me keep a positive attitude and realize that happy times do not have to be something that comes and goes but something that we constantly work on and change just like our lives change.

You can do this everyday, once a week, once a month or whenever you feel like you are lacking a positive attitude.

I hope this is helpful for you

Enjoy! 😊

Reset button day 47 of 100

Have you every felt like there needs to be a reset button on our life? No I do not mean like start over from the birth, what I mean is maybe you feel like you have too much going on in your life and you are starting to feel burned out. With our very hectic and busy lifestyles now a days it is very easy to get burned out and become a sad tired person. I for sure have times when I am in desperate need of a mental vacation, or at least one hour to myself away from everything that makes me so busy. As I have mentioned in my last posts I have started a 100 day journey to create better habits and I have focused on trying to find some type of routines that will help me improve in more than one aspect of my life.

Aspects such as:

🌞 Positivity
✏️ Creativity
🏋🏽‍♂️ Exercise
📖 knowledge
🛏 Relaxation
These are a must:
☀️ Sunlight
💧hydration

In this journey I have found that there are more than one way to do something, I already knew that there were different methods to meditation and exercise but that is it. I have truly realized that there are more than one method to vacation, be creative, learn and stay positive and yes I understand that there are some of these that are obvious. Won’t go into all of them but I will go into the vacationing method that has really helped me and that is taking time off of work and staying home (Staycation) although there were some boring days i really enjoyed staying home and doing nothing. I didn’t have to worry about breaking the budget by having to spend on a bunch of activities or following a schedule to get these activities done I just worked on myself.

My staycation went like this:

  • Exercised twice a day
  • Watched tv
  • Worked on trying new vegetarian recipes
  • And my favorite spend time talking, reconnecting and spending time with my wife
  • And obviously play with my puppies

This was my biggest reset button that I have ever experienced at the end of my time off I was recharged and ready to go back to my busy life.

Don’t let the pressure of having to go out to have a “fun time” prevent you from enjoying the ability to do nothing and just truly relax.

100 days to better habits

Today is the 34th day of my journey to a better me, where I challenged myself to improve by creating better habits. The reason for me challenging myself is because I would like to become a better person in the sense of productivity and the efficiency, I have learned that the only way that I my happiness lies in the type of habits I practice. Which means better me equals happier me, I am not saying that once I accomplish my goal I am done there is not even a end goal this is something that I am going to have to work on everyday progress means moving forward.

“If you’re not learning you’re dying”- Albert Einstein

this is a quote I strongly believe in because there is only one way to become wise is by learning.

Now on to my update like I mentioned at the beginning of this post today marks the 25th day of my challenge I must say that it has been challenging trying to get rid of some old self destructive habits such as procrastinating and overthinking which apparently according to my wife I seem to be an expert at.

I have worked on having a positive mentality every day, the way that I have been working on this is by starting off my day by thinking of something that I am thankful for such as being lucky enough to have my wonderful wife in my life, waking up, my puppies, my house anything to start off my day in a positive way.

in my 100 day journey I have realized that there is something else to add to my list and that is positivity I am sure that the more I get into my 100 days I will find something else that can help me become a better me.

🌞 Positivity

✏️ Creativity

🏋🏽‍♂️ Exercise

📖 knowledge

🛏 Relaxation

These are a must:

☀️ Sunlight

💧hydration

100 days of improvement

I enjoy improving myself whether it is living healthier, learning something new or finding a new way to relax and unwind. I cannot say that I am the most consistent person when it comes to reading a book every week or working out everyday but I do enjoy the times I get to dedicate on bettering myself. One of my goals is to become more self reliant and be able to trust that I can dedicate more time of the week to improving myself this has led me to challenge myself to a 100 days to a better me, I plan on working on creating better habits in order to make myself a better person whether it is knowledge, physical or emotional. My goal is to everyday at least do two things that help me improve myself using my personal good day checklist

My 100 days started on January 6 and will end on April 15

✏️ Creativity

🏋🏽‍♂️ Exercise

📖 knowledge

🛏 Relaxation

These are a must:

☀️ Sunlight

💧hydration

This is to help me creat better habits and I will work my hardest to journal every other day and I will keep posting on my instagram @alejandro.gets.fit @blankstare_blog

Happy new year (2020)

Happy New Year’s Day hopefully everyone had fun and safe holidays, now it is time to start working on our goals for the year. Not only are we are welcoming a new year but also a new decade, as I sat down to work on my 2020 vision board I cannot help but to think about everything that I have learned and how much I have grown in the last decade . Before I start working on my goals I would like to list everything that this last decade has taught me.

I have learned to be a much more grateful person and look at my accomplishments whether I view them as big or small. I want to start with one accomplishment that I am the most proud of which, getting to know and marrying my best friend.

I lost 120 pounds (even though I gained them in the same decade 😂😒) 350 lbs to 230 lbs this one a been my favorite learning experiences it has taught me so much more than just about fitness.

I learned about working on myself found life long hobbies such as Jiu-jitsu

I have learned that reading and the search for self-improvement is just as important as resting and eating right.

Now let us bring in this new decade with strong goals not just for the year

The way that I like writing out my goals is by creating a vision board, I like adding pictures or things that make it more pleasing to look at rather than just a board on the wall with a bunch of writing.

Tips on how to create a vision board:

1. clear goals- I prefer it to be in my own hand writing but it is completely up to you.

Instead of lose weight put lose 14lbs

Make more money- work harder

Travel-specific destination and date

Be a better person-volunteer, listen to family members.

2. Categorize your goals

For example financial, travel, physical, growth

3. If I don’t meet a goal for the last year I added onto the new vision board until in meet it.

4. Just enjoy the process

Make sure you treat them as promises to yourself and keep yourself accountable.

Make sure to follow me on instagram @alejandro.gets.fit and Twitter @blankstare_blog

Personal Good day checklist

If you are like me I you strive to have a good day everyday, instead we start our day with the dreaded to do list that hold us back from truly doing what we want to on our days off. Unlike my everyday checklists this checklist is made to help improve my day and allow me to get a short break from everyday chores and keep me healthy.

Checklist:

  • Creativity-
    • I enjoy doodling or painting, basically anything that involve the creation of something from a creative standpoint
  • Exercise
    • One of my favorites forms of relaxation is exercise
  • Relaxation-
    • Aside from exercise one of my two favorite forms of relaxation are reading and play video games
  • Sunlight –
    • I try to make sure I get some type of exposure to sunlight it makes my mood throughout the day more pleasant
      • I take my puppy to the dog park or even just for a walk
      • Summer time is when I get the most sunlight making it my favorite season because I spend so much time outside my mood is always a pleasant and happy one.
      • Winter, even though there is not much visible sunlight during the winter, outside exposure seems to help improve my mood.
  • Hydration-
    • HYDRATE!! The normal amount of water a person is supposed to drink per day is (1 oz water per 1 lbs) I weigh 230 lbs so I must drink 230oz one gallon of water is equal to 128 oz, but let’s face it I’m not going to drink almost two gallons of water everyday but I do make it a goal to drink one gallon per day

The struggles are real: Nightshift (Repost)

For this week I have decided to repost something from last November, Why? Well because just like taking care of ourselves emotionally and intellectually I strongly believe that we should be taking care of our body and having a schedule that is somewhat consistent is something that helps with keeping healthy. Based on my experience having a schedule that doesn’t change very much has helped me with managing stress.

Having a nine to five job and trying to stay healthy can be difficult trust me I say this based on my past experience. When I was between the ages of 20-22 I had an office job and yes I do understand that it can be draining because even though you are not very physically active, stress and a busy day schedule can lead to making not very good food choices. I do understand that at the end of the day all you want to do is go home relax and forget about work for a few hours before you have to get up and it all over again the next day. I look back to those days when I weighed 350lbs and to be honest I am embarrassed at the fact that I had all of this free time before and after work and I still refused to make any healthy choices. I would wake up at 7 in the morning and get ready for work without eating breakfast at home but I wouldn’t completely skip breakfast because on the way to the office I would stop and get myself a monster with a muffin every morning. If I would’ve made a better healthier breakfast at home I would not have gained so much weight and my other meal choices were not any healthier. I realize now that if I would have actually sat down and made a schedule for myself that included healthier food choices and waking up earlier to get at least 30 minutes of working out, my life would have been better. The crazy thing was that the time that I decided to make these changes in my life was when I started a different job where I had less free time in my day. I realized that the only way that I was going to start feeling better about myself was by making a lifestyle and yes it was hard at first because I was not very educated in this health and fitness world but all it took was doing some research to get started. Today I still am learning everyday obviously it is not the same as when I started because my endurance, strength and most importantly my goals have changed, now I feel like my situation is what most people would call odd because I work 12 hour night shifts and well the way I see it my day is backwards and it is does take a bit of work to get it right but it is possible to reach your fitness goals and still hold a job Night or Day.

Here are some tips that I use on how to make it so that you don’t overeat while working night shift or any shift:

1. Make sure your first meal is at a scheduled time for example on my days of work I eat my first meal 5:30pm make sure that is is filling and healthy

2. Make sure you carry a snack with you or make sure it is easily accessible during your shift for whenever you start feeling a bit of hunger. I like carrying around a granola bar from hidden valley it is 180 calories per pack I love them.

3. Make sure that you eat your second meal at the same time everyday or at least within the hour (I like my lunch between 1:30 am and 2:30 am) that way you get your body used to the idea that there will be food coming at a specific time and trust me it is easier to control hunger once you get in a routine.

4. If you are still hungry and don’t go over your calories you can have a snack 11/2 to 2 hours before you shift ends and not right before you go to bed let it settle a bit. I have got to the point to where I just consume the majority of my calories with my meals so they are pretty big but they are healthy choices.

I get seven hours of sleep everyday and I am able to make it to the gym for one hour

• Wake up 3pm

• Brush teeth and do my morning stuff 3-3:30pm

• Meditate and take pre-workout 3:30pm-3:45pm

• Gym 3:45pm-5pm

• Eat 5:30pm

• Get ready and leave for work 6pm

So all it takes is some scheduling and you too are able to achieve your health goals.

At first it seemed like a burden but once I got used to it this became something I did without putting too much thought into it.

Room for improvement

Self improvement, comes in many forms such as art, exercise, traveling but in my personal opinion it starts in the form of words whether it is books, articles or captions on social media it is just up to us to find what subject or activities spark our interest. For this post I would like to share some books that I have personally have enjoyed.

Here is the list of my top 5 books:

1.How to Win Friends and Influence People

Book by Dale Carnegie

2.You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting You

Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

Book by Jen Sincero

3.You Can Heal Your Life

Book by Louise Hay

4. Striking Thoughts

Book by Bruce Lee

5. Six great dialogues

Book by Plato

I chose these books as my top 5 because I feel like they have helped me find a better understanding of myself. Yes, two of these Books deal with philosophy but I feel like these help me improve as a person as well, they give me a different perspective of life based on ideas that other people throughout history have had. It was difficult to chose just five books because I have read so many that are great and would recommend to everyone, but I feel like these books have really made an impact on the way I see myself.

Bigger, better, more

Hello everybody and welcome back to my blog. I have been gone for a few weeks not because I didn’t want to post but because I have been working on expanding my topics. After a few weeks of self reflection and much thought into this I have decided to change up the content on this page from health and wellness to self improvement. I will still be posting workout tips and recipes and more on fitness and dieting, which in itself is a form of self improvement. Any tips that I post will be something that I have personally tried, of course with some added research.

Here are some of the topics I will be posting about:

1. Health and wellness tips that work for me

2. Self improvement book, that I would recommend

3. My stress management techniques

4. Journaling

5. What keeps me motivated

And many more great topics that I really enjoy learning about, these topics because it helps me learn a bit more about myself and find more things that challenge me.

I will be moving my post days back to Fridays so make sure to check in for more great content.

Meditate on this

By: Alejandro R.

Do you practice meditation? I haven’t always, let me tell you about my experience with meditation. When I was told about meditation I though it was a religious act like praying, I was wrong my lack of knowledge kept me from even trying it. As time passed my curiosity towards meditation began to grow, the more I heard people tell me about it the more intrigued I became. I did my research and I learned that meditation was not a religious act but a method used to relieve stress and how effective it is in the society we live in. A society filled with sensory over-stimulation that comes with the use of phones, watching television and our everyday busy schedules. When I decided to give it a try it was a bit difficult because I was not able to clear my mind, there was too much going on up there. I tried videos, music and a few podcasts but nothing helped I thought that meditation was not for me. I did not give up on it instead I continued to do more research and I found some information that stated that I should let all of my thoughts flow. The key was to let myself engage in the thinking process but not to judge the thoughts that were flowing through my mind. The way that I saw it was that it was a type of purge and that I was letting all of my negative thoughts out. I started to feel a difference in my energy level and in my thought process, through out the day I felt amazing. With the success I was having in the way that I meditated I felt like I had it all figured out, that is until I sat down with my sister-in-law and had a “conversation.” (More like an argument) Her claim was that the correct way to meditate was to completely clear your mind, of course I told her that it was impossible to and argued that we have to allow all of our thoughts to flow. This conversation made me question my methods, so I did some more research and I found out that she was right! And so was I, at this point I realized that I had just began to scratch the surface of meditation and that I knew nothing about the subject. It turns out that there are different types of meditation and that the one that a person does totally depends on them and what methods work for them. Meditation is in my opinion an amazing way to not only get rid of stress, but a way to get to know yourself, and a way to get closer to nature and yes I know that it makes me sound like a hippie, but it is true. I have tried a few different types of meditation other than letting my thoughts flow, I have tried a method where I focus on sounds of nature and my surrounding which is why I said that it helps you get closer to nature.

Here are some types of meditation that I have tried:

1. Letting yourself engage in the thought process- this allows me to watch myself engage in the process. I just let my thoughts flow without judging myself for having any types of thoughts.

2. Focusing on the sounds of nature-this allows me to forget about anything and everything that might be going on in my life and return to basics, this allows me to attack any issue with an open and fresh mind.

3. Picturing myself in a calm place-in other words go to my happy place, this allows me to escape my current reality and recharge. This method always has me feeling fully energized and ready to tackle any issue with a clear mind (this one is my personal favorite.)

There are so many types that I have yet to try but as I continue to create a meditation routine I plan on exploring other methods.

I think that everyone should meditate and yes I do understand that we all live very busy lives but all I takes is 5 minutes and trust me the difference will be felt immediately. I encourage you to do your research and find the method that works best for you.

Please enjoy the step by step list I have created for you it is simple and it takes 5-10 minutes the length is completely up to you. The method I share with you is the mental imagery method in other words, the one where you picture yourself in a calm place.

Meditation for beginners:

1. Find a comfortable place to sit I recommend a chair or you can sit on the floor (make sure you are not too comfortable so that you don’t fall asleep)

2. Set a timer for the desired amount of time you wish to meditate (I recommend 5 minutes to start with)

3. Close your eyes and picture yourself on a quiet mountain top on a warm day, feel the breeze softly hit your cheek, let the sound of it soothe you as you stare into the horizon now let your imagination start filling in the surroundings allow yourself to hear the birds chirping or the sound of the rushing water of a nearby river. Enjoy the scenery use this time to recharge and clear your mind.

Please leave me your feedback on here and on my instagram page @blankstare_blog all comments are appreciated.