August 2018 Weight Loss Progress Update!

Hey everyone - just wanted to pop in really quick and give you an update on my summer weight loss results! ⚖ You can see the external progress from the pictures above, but the real exciting part is how much ENERGY I have now!! 😄 It's incredible. I just can't believe how much easier it is to do everything when I actually have the energy to do it!

I recorded a video this afternoon about my experience that I'm going to post tomorrow. So watch for that! I'll post a link to the video here as soon as I get it published!

I'm so grateful for my renewed energy and zest for life! I have always tried to be a positive person, even when life throws me lemons, but wow it's so much easier when you FEEL GOOD. So grateful for the new journey that I'm on!

~JS~ 🌞
#ThankfulThursday

#weightloss #weightlossjourney #lifelongtransformation #onehealthyhabitatatime #healthyhabits #yourbodyisatemple

Optavia First Delivery Unboxing

I'm so excited to get started on my new health and wellness program. Join me for #WellnessWednesday as I unbox my first food delivery!

Have a wonderful day!

~JS~ 🌞

#WellnessWednesday 

#healthylife #weightlossjourney #healthy #nutrition #healthylife #health #goals #determination 

How to Eat Healthy at a Mongolian Grill Restaurant

Want to know my strategy for eating healthy at HuHot Mongolian Grill?

Here ya go!


Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

~JS~ 🌞
#StrategySaturday

#healthy #eating #familyfun

Perfect Pitch vs Relative Pitch - This Five-Year-Old's Head is a Piece of Music Technology! IDP004

Today is #TechTuesday so it's time to post something fun about technology and how it helps us in our lives. But as I was trying to think of something to post, I was having another one of those not very motivated days, just like I had yesterday. Do you ever feel like that? You're just like, "Ugh, I cannot get motivated!" and other times you're just rippin' and rearin' and ready to go?

What I do when I get in that situation is I kind of force myself to do a little routine. For example, I will let myself sit down and do something I enjoy, but I'll set a timer. When the timer goes off, I have to go do something productive from my list or change it up somehow. 

Now, if you have little children, you don't necessarily need to always do this, because the children themselves ARE the little timers! I mean, if the baby starts crying, you gotta stop and do something productive by helping the baby stop crying. Or you know little toddlers and their incessant cries: "Mom! Mom! Mom!" They ARE your timers.  🤣🤣🤣

But as your children grow (my baby is 13) they sometimes enjoy being left alone so they can go off and do their own thing. So you have to be a little more purposeful if you don't have kids or if they are older. You have to get yourself to do stuff by being your own parent again haha!

So there's a little tip for you - use a timer and give yourself little rewards. Just treat yourself like you are your own little kid. That usually helps me and I hope it will help you! ❤

Anyway, so back to #TechTuesday . . . What I did this morning was that after I got myself dressed and ready for the day, I was like, "Okay, reward time!" So I decided to watch YouTube for a few minutes and got a little suggestion about another video, and you know how you get sucked in! But luckily I had my timer going, so I only watched a couple. It was a good distraction, too, because I found something I decided to talk about today in this post!

The video I wanted to share is called: PERFECT PITCH TEST! (5-YEAR-OLD CLAIRE VS DAD). This is on a channel called Claire and the Crosby's. I just found them the other day and they were singing some songs together, and the little girl is totally adorable and just sings beautifully. But the reason I was excited about it is because of this perfect pitch test.

If you are a musician, you probably know what perfect pitch is. It is when you can basically pick a note out of thin air and be able to sing the right note. For example, if I said, "Sing A above middle C" you would just go "Laaa!" and you'd get it right. It's something you have to be born with.

I don't have perfect pitch myself, but I do have what is known as good relative pitch, which most musicians have, and it can also be taught and improved over time. With relative pitch, basically, if you give me a note and tell me a song to sing, I can sing it in that key and it will sound correct. Then you can give me a different note and I can sing it in that key and it will sound right. But if you say "sing it in the key of C" or "starting on the note C," I won't be able to do that unless someone gives me the first pitch. Does that make sense? I explained it on the podcast HERE with a little bit of singing so it might make more sense if you listen to that. :)

So I know, you might be thinking, "Why are we talking about this?" But remember, Jumbled Sunshine is about making your life more successful, INTERESTING and FUN. And to me, this is super interesting, and here's why. This little girl is FIVE YEARS OLD, okay? And she has perfect pitch!

Well okay, her Dad's like, "I suspect that she has perfect pitch." So he does this little game with her. It takes less than seven minutes to watch this whole video. Warning: If you are a musician who is super jealous of people that have perfect pitch, maybe don't watch it! No, I'm just kidding, it is seriously amazing and worth watching! Here it is:

 

Oh my gosh, did that just blow your mind like it did mine?!? The reason this fits on #TechTuesday is because it's like this little girl's head is a piece of technology! I have to use technology to do what she does naturally. Most musicians are more like me in this way (with good relative pitch) and so it's worth explaining briefly.

For example, if I want to sing a song in the right key, I have to look at the sheet music to see what note it starts on, then go over to the piano and hit that note before I can sing the song. Even if I don't know the song at all, if I am given the first note, I can probably pick my way through the notes mostly by ear and figure it out fairly well while hitting a note on the piano here and there to keep myself on track. If I already know the song, just give me that first note and I'm good to go.

But this girl doesn't need anyone to remind her of the first note, or any of the notes for that matter. In fact, one of the songs she hadn't heard for months and she can sing it in the right key! How does your brain even do that?!?!? It blows my mind. 🤯

I don't even know these people so I guess I'm just doing free advertising for them. (Although they have like a million subscribers and I have like ten, so it's not like my advertising means a whole lot at this point haha). But I just had to share.

I also promised on the podcast that I would give you some resources to understand the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch. Whether you are a musician or not, this is something that is sort of interesting. So here is a link that explains it pretty well: Perfect Pitch vs. Relative Pitch How they work together to give you the complete musical picture.

You may also want to watch this video if you're still unsure of the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch. I think it explains it pretty well.

So that's today's way of making your life more interesting and fun! I hope you enjoyed the perfect pitch game with Claire and her Dad. And if you don't have perfect pitch or relative pitch or any pitch for that matter, don't give up! I had an enthusiastic church choir director once who had something she would tell people who said they couldn't join because they weren't good singers. She would just say, "All of God's children can sing!" If you don't want to sing in front of others, no problem, just go somewhere alone and sing to your hearts content! After all, "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

I invite you to join me every day (or ideally every day) as I share optimism and insight for everyday living. Have a wonderful day!
~JS~🌞

The Wisest Person I Ever Met - Inspiring Speech!

For #MotivationMonday today, I wanted to share with you this awesome video of a commencement speech that I came across last night. It is just so inspiring and I encourage you to watch the entire thing! There were so many amazing concepts presented in this speech that I'm not sure how I can narrow it down to the most impactful ones. But here are just a few, followed by the embedded video published by Goalcast on YouTube.

• The first one is the idea of combining knowledge and wisdom to make an impact. He calls his father a "simple cook" and refers to his father as a third grade dropout. I know he's using that term for impact, but I wouldn't use the term dropout to describe this incredible man who left third grade to help out on the family farm because he was needed. I would call that sacrificing oneself for the good of others, for the good of your family.

• I love the quote by Mark Twain: "I've never allowed my schooling to get in the way of my education." Despite being someone who has finished a college bachelor's degree myself, and though I have been married for nearly 27 years to someone who has two post-graduate degrees, I fully realize that formal education is not the only way to educate oneself. While it does provide a framework of stepping stones that can help you to "become educated" (whatever that really means) by those who have gone before you and know something about what types of things you need to learn to understand about the field you are going into, learning is not about attending classes per se, or getting a bunch of letters behind your name. Education is really more about having a thirst for knowledge and continually seeking it out each and every day. This small habit of being curious and exploring the world around you, and learning with an open mind about everything around you is how you will prepare yourself for everything that will come your way, and prepare you to teach the next generation.

• The next amazing principle in this speech is the idea of challenging oneself each and every day to be the best that you can be. This can be tough order to fill, because sometimes we just don't feel motivated to be motivated! This is part of why I created #MotivationMonday, because I need the motivation myself! But it's so important, in the word's of Dori from Finding Nemo, to just keep swimming! Never, ever give up is another lesson we learn from this speech in a very powerful way.

• The speaker's father taught him, "I won't have a problem if you aim high and miss, but I'll have a real problem if you aim low and hit." What great advice! It's important to reach high enough to stretch yourself so that you can become a little bit better every single day. 

• Aristotle said, "You are what you repeatedly do." I learned this in another setting just yesterday when I heard a speaker explain how over time, all of the seemingly insignificant, private decisions that we make over and over, can shape our lives. Thousands of little positive habits, when made consistently over time, can lift us to great things.

• The next quote I really like is, "I know you're tough, but don't ever forget to be kind." It's one of those things you learn in primary school, "Remember this, kindness begins with me!"

There are so many more great quotes and principles in this talk that I just don't have time to share them all! I encourage you to watch it all the way through, think about the truths that speak to your heart, and resolve to take just one of them and integrate it into your day today.

Go make today a great one!
~JS~ 🌞

 

First Official Wellness Wednesday Video (Transcript)

This blog post is a (slightly edited) transcript from a video that I filmed in January 2018 as an introduction to what I was planning to call “Weight Loss Wednesday” which has now been updated to #WellnessWednesday. So it’s a little bit behind where I’m at now in my weight loss journey, but it has some good background information about my health history and methods that I’ve been using over the past year.

Image Credit: www.crazyfitmama.com

I'll be uploading the video to YouTube by the end of the day today and then I'll add the link to the bottom of this post. So without further ado, here’s the transcript of the video. Enjoy!!

* * * * *

Hey there everyone! Jumbled Sunshine here! I am going to do my first official Weight Loss Wednesday video right now. I just wanted to share with you a little bit of my weight loss journey so far, and kind of where I'm at, what I've done to get here, and where I’m going.

Background

Growing up I did not have a weight problem. I was a fairly small-sized person, I guess. I wasn't like Skinny Minnie, but I was just kind of an average kid growing up. In High school I started thinking I was really fat (you know as everybody probably thinks when they're in High School!) so for a while there I worked pretty hard to exercise and to try and stay at a decent weight. I probably even took it a little bit too far, as many of you may have been down that kind of a road before. But by the time I got through to college, I started being a little smarter about things, and I just pretty much did okay. I was just kind of an average weight, not super skinny, but not heavy.

It wasn't really until I started having my kids that, you know, I would gain weight, have a baby, then I'd lose most of it, but maybe not all. After my second baby, I was like, "Okay, if I gain 10 pounds with every baby, I'm in trouble!" So I worked really hard at it, and I remember after my third child was born, being super excited to be able to put my wedding dress back on. So that was like pretty awesome. I'm like, "I've had three babies and I'm wearing my wedding dress!" You know, I just remember that felt like a pretty awesome achievement! 💒

Anyway, I worked pretty hard on staying on shape throughout the years as my other children were born. But then, after my sixth baby was born, I started having some other health issues, and it just really started to take a toll on me, and I didn't have a lot of energy. Then, when I went through my seventh pregnancy, which was my last, that's when I just put on the weight and I didn't ever lose it. Not only did I not lose it, but I put on more weight after the baby was born.

So just for the last decade (baby number 7 is 13 now!) I've been just like heavier than I really feel like is good for me, and I've been wanting to make a change. I've done some things here and there, and I'd lose a little bit of weight, and then maybe maintain for awhile and then regain it. You know, just kind of that up-down that I'm sure some of you are familiar with!

Time for a Change!

In the meantime, a lot of my health problems had resolved for the most part, and I wasn’t having near the problems that I had had for awhile, so I decided that it was time to really buckle down and work on my health and weight loss.

So starting on April 20th of 2017, that was the day that I put my weight down on a chart and started charting it, and started following some plans to try and make a difference. My goal was to lose 50 pounds total.

Trim Healthy Mama

I started doing Trim Healthy Mama, which many of you might be familiar with. And that was kind of my main way that I lost probably the first 15 pounds. If you're not familiar with Trim Healthy Mama, you can look at their website: TrimHealthyMama.com. They've got some great stuff. There's a little bit of a learning curve, but once you start figuring it out, it's really a plan that can be a lifetime plan I think. At least for me, I was able to learn how to be in pretty much any situation, and stay pretty close to on-plan. I customized it for myself, as anyone should, and I saw really good results with that. Like I said, I lost about my first 18 pounds with that program.

Periodic Fasting (AKA Intermittent Fasting)

Then I kind of hit a plateau, and nothing was happening, and I got thinking, "Okay, I need to do something a little bit different now." So that's when I decided to try some periodic fasting. So with that, what you do, at least the way [I was doing it in January] is that you fast for 14 hours and then you eat for 10 hours. So out of every 24 hour day, you're only eating 10 hours of it. (The resources I initially used actually suggested that men fast 16 hours and then follow with eight hours of eating.)

It sounds like it would be really hard, but really what it kind of came down to for me was cutting off my eating after a certain time in the evening, and then just counting 14 hours forward, and not eating until that time the next morning. I would kind of start to get hungry toward the end of that 14 hour period, but not bad. And it really kind of jump-started me, and I was able to go past the 25 pound loss, which was super exciting!

2017 Results

I got all the way to 27 pounds lost, which was a little more than half of my goal of 50 pound weight loss. So to recap, mostly I did Trim Healthy Mama, then I started doing some periodic fasting, but I would still eat pretty Trim Healthy Mama-ish during my actual eating hours. And that's pretty much what I did through most of 2017. That's not super specific, but I can go into more details on other Weight Loss Wednesdays.

I hadn't really done a lot with exercise, I mostly just adapted my eating. During this time, I was still recuperating from the shoulder surgery that I had on February 28, 2018, so the exercise I did do was mostly just my shoulder physical therapy exercises. This weight loss journey was over a period of about seven months, from April 2017 to November 2017. I think I did it wisely, where I'd drop a few pounds, and then I'd maintain for awhile, and I'd drop a few pounds, maintain for awhile, and so on.

Holiday Blues

Things went really well until the holidays came. In November and December of 2017, my eating habits were pretty sketchy, so I did gain some of my weight back. I was mostly off-plan over the holidays, although I did do pretty well with the periodic fasting, but then as soon as I was eating, I ate terrible for all my eating hours. And then I would fast again, and then I would eat terrible. I probably would have gained more weight back if it weren’t for the periodic fasting. I mean, I only gained about four pounds over the holidays, which isn't too bad for being pretty off-plan for nearly two months.

January 2018 Progress Update

So right now [as of January 2018] I am at about 23 pounds down from where I started. No biggie, I'm gonna get right back on the wagon! I wanted to let you know what I'm doing right now, currently. What I decided to do, starting January 2nd (because January 1st was still kind of a holiday around my house) I thought to myself, "Okay, I gotta get some motivation to get back into this." So starting January 2nd, I'm doing one rule: no treats, no sweets for the whole month of January.

I'm also doing some periodic fasting, so I'll usually stop eating maybe like 8:00 at night, and then I'll go to like 10:00 in the morning before I eat. I'll go into it in another video, because I know that you think, "Well, isn't it better to not eat in the evenings, and then to eat breakfast?" Because you always hear eating breakfast is important. But actually some of the research I did actually kind of showed the opposite. And it was sort of interesting, and it's been really successful for me. Like I said, I was able to lose an additional 10 pounds doing that periodic fasting, even when I wasn't eating perfectly in the other 10 hours of the day.

January 2018 Goals

Anyway, so going forward in January, my current goal is basically just don't eat sugar. I mean, there might be a little bit of sugar in stuff. I'm not gonna be like crazy hyper-vigilant about it. But I'm not gonna be eating candy, and cookies, and ice cream and all this stuff that's been dropped off at my house for the whole month of December! So none of that.

Basically, the idea in my head is that if it could be a Trim Healthy Mama “S Meal”, then it's good to go. So just no sweets. I'm not gonna necessarily be trying to be super vigilant yet on the Trim Healthy Mama stuff, because I kind of need to do it one step at a time. But that's my plan, and I'll be able to get back on track here.

So that's my updated progress. If you have any questions about specifics, let me know! I'll put some links below that link to some of these sources that I've talked about, and where I learned what I learned about the Trim Healthy Mama and the Periodic Fasting.

So anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for joining me for Weight Loss Wednesday and I will talk to you again soon!

~JS~ 🌞
#WellnessWednesday

___________________________________________________________

 [JS here on 5/23/18: Apparently I never uploaded this video to YouTube!! 🙄 Unfortunately, I'm noticing this oversight on a day when I'm not in the right place to find and upload the old video, so just wanted you to know that I'll try to add it soon! Let me know if you're one of the people waiting on it and I'll move it to the top of my very long to-do list. Otherwise it may be awhile. 😉] 

What Beauty Advice will you be Sharing when you're 100 Years Old?

For #MotivationMonday I wanted to remind everybody that you are never too old to take care of yourself!

(Image credit: Allure Magazine YouTube Channel)

Did you spend the weekend taking care of other people? Be sure to do something special for yourself today! 🌞

Watch this video of several sweet 100-plus-year-old ladies sharing their beauty advice below. You'll be motivated to take care of yourself so you can age as well as these beautiful women!

What beauty advice will you be sharing when you're 100 years old? 

Happy #MotivationMonday!

(Image credit: Allure Magazine YouTube Channel)

What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate!

This meme made me laugh!! 😂

[Photo credit: www.facebook.com/MyHusbandIsMyBestFriend]

Okay so we all know that this picture is exaggerating... but it's true that husbands and wives need to realize that their brains may process things differently! In my personal experience, I've found that my husband will focus on one idea at a time and I'll be bouncing all over, making connections, seeing a big grand picture in my mind. And it's so exciting! (so I go on...) "And this! And that! And the other!!"

But then I suddenly realize that he hasn't said anything for awhile and stop to ask him what he thinks. Turns out that he had formulated a response for the first thing I brought up and was waiting to say that, but it was now irrelevant because I have gone through ten more subjects since then. 🤣 So at this point he has ten different possible responses, and he's trying to decide which one to comment on. (silence... thinking... silence...)

In my excited enthusiasm (and lack of patience) I see his hesitancy as not having a response at all, so I start up again to fill the void... and leave him in the dust again! And the cycle repeats. Or at some point I may stop and be like, "How come you're not interested? This is exciting!!" But the poor man is just trying to keep up with the topic changes!!

As Jed Clampett once said on the Beverly Hillbillies, "What we have here is a failure to communicate!!" (This is one of my husband's favorite quotes. For context, just watch this funny video clip from 1:00 to 2:30. )

When communicating with my husband, no matter how enthusiastic I am, if I want him to participate in the conversation, I have had to learn to slow down and WAIT (and even count to ten in my head!) and patiently give him time to comment, one subject at a time. (It's so hard!!!) But it's amazing how much better we communicate when I do this! And he has had to learn to comment OUT LOUD, not just in his head haha. 🤔

It's a process! But it's worth it to take the time to learn how your spouse communicates and help him understand how you communicate, and then work hard on improving your interactions. Mostly it just takes understanding, love and patience. 💖

What can you do to better understand your spouse today?
Make it a priority for #FamilyFriday!
~JS~ 🌞

My Miracle Morning Journey and A New Vlog Channel!

Hey there everyone, long time no see!

Wow I have not written in FOREVER. Life just seems to have a way of getting ahead of me, and I have found myself doing life updates on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but nothing much on this blog (er, nothing AT ALL on my blog, let's be honest here!) So I thought I'd just check in to let any readers who happen to stumble upon this neglected blog know what I am up to and and where you can follow Jumbled Sunshine on the web!

Shoulder Surgery

Currently, I am recovering from shoulder surgery, and I'll tell you, it has been a SLOG! It's my second one in two years, this time on my right shoulder, last time on my left. NOT FUN, I'll tell you! If you've ever had rotator cuff surgery or bicep tendon repair, you have total understanding of how LONG it takes to recuperate from this crazy surgery. But it will all be worth it, because I was constantly dealing with daily pain due to four tears in my right shoulder (yes, you read that right - FOUR - I never do anything half-way, haha) and so it was just time to take care of it and get back on the road to recovery!

The Miracle Morning: A Life-Changing Book

ANYWAY - I haven't been completely absent from internet-land, even though I've neglected my blog. In fact, in February I started a new program called "The Miracle Morning" which is detailed in a book you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Morning. It is one of those amazing, it-can-change-your-life books that I highly, highly recommend!

Why I Love "Reading" Books on Audible

What makes the book even better is the fact that you can purchase it in all sorts of formats, paperback, kindle, and my favorite, Audible format. I have found my reading has increased dramatically since I started listening to audiobooks on the Audible app. I am able to read nearly every single day now, thanks to my subscription, which I've had for about 3 years.

You can buy Audible books without a subscription too, so no worries if you don't want a commitment. But if you get the monthly subscription (I do the one that's $14.95 each month and gives me one free book per month) you will also get a discount on all purchases on their site. And if you watch for sales (including the deal-of-the-day email, which I keep my eye on faithfully) you can just get dozens and dozens of classics and best-sellers for great prices.

It's sooooo much cheaper than the days of buying audiobooks on CD!! (or borrowing from the library and dealing with scratches and/or paying for it when you lose a CD or have one melt in the car.... not that I would know anything about that, cough, cough....)

But this post is not supposed to be about being an advertisement for Audible! I am off-track as usual... but I just truly love listening to my audiobooks everywhere I go! I will add a disclaimer here that I have an affiliate account with Amazon, so if you click on any of my Amazon links (including Audible books) I will get a small commission (like really, really small, pennies in fact) if you end up purchasing though that link. And just FYI, it won't cost you any more than if you just purchase something regularly on Amazon. BUT ANYWAY, I DIGRESS....

My Miracle Morning Journey and Vlog

Back to the point ... I started doing this Miracle Morning thing in January, and decided to vlog about it, kind of out of the blue. Yeah, honestly, I just turned on my camera on the first day and recorded my thoughts, not sure if it would be just for myself, or if I would actually share it on YouTube. But after recording for several days, I found that I was getting so much out of the process of doing a Miracle Morning Routine, that I wanted to share it with others. So... I have a full 30-Day vlog journey recorded, all about trying out a Miracle Morning routine for myself!!

As of the date of this blog post, only about half of my journey is published online, as I've had to take a break from editing and uploading videos, due to my shoulder surgery and recuperation, but I do have the rest of the days recorded and I will finish posting them again soon, as soon as I have the ability to sit and my desk and work without a ton of pain. So.... that's the main thing I've been up to online so far in 2017, besides finally joining Instagram! Yep, I finally gave in. :)

Subscribe to my Jumbled Sunshine YouTube Channel!

You can see all of the videos about my Miracle Morning Journey on my fairly-new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFNBr4E2jhzSky2kDQr3q0A And in fact, if you could take just an eensy-teensy second to visit my channel and click the SUBSCRIBE button, it would help me out a ton!! Why? Because I have to have 100 subscribers before I can have a customized URL, and you have to agree that UCFHBr-blah-blah-blah is not an easy-to-remember link!! So, if you can help me get to 100 subscribers, I can change my channel URL to something like youtube.com/channel/jumbledsunshine and that would be SO MUCH BETTER, don't you think??

Subscribing to my channel doesn't mean you'll get annoying emails or anything, it just means that when you login to YouTube, my channel will be listed under the "Subscription" section, and you will get suggestions of videos by me when you are browsing YouTube. If you have the YouTube app, it sends occasional notifications about your subscriptions to your phone, but you can totally turn them off if you don't like them. So what are you waiting for?? I promise that if you learn about this Miracle Morning thing and find a way to get yourself to actually do it, you will be SO BLESSED and it will make a huge difference in your life! I know this because it helped me so much.

Jumbled Sunshine Vlog Sample

Here's a little sample from Day 9, the day after I found out about needing shoulder surgery. The summary as published on YouTube reads as follows: "On Day 9 of my Miracle Morning 30-Day Challenge, I talk about the importance of facing our fears when we have hard things going on in our lives. Also, what fun things do you do with your family when there’s a 4-day weekend? Share in the comments below! :) Thanks for watching! ~JS~ "

Well, that's about it for today's post, because I need to get some ice on my shoulder, have a mid-morning snack, and go watch some of my favorite YouTubers to help motivate me to get back to posting on my channel as soon as physically possible. :) I'm super excited about it, and I hope you decide to join me for the journey!

Thanks for stopping by! See you again soon!

~ JS ~