Day 17, Round 3- On the eleventh day of Christmas

... my true love gave to me a whopping 1.6 pound gain! Thanks a lot! :)
weigh in: 144.4 pounds
gain of: 1.6 pounds

OMG!!! You guys I am freaking! This sucks! Seriously, I had way too many carrots and crackers with spinach dip last night. :( I have no self control! We had friends over and it was so much fun, but I sure did pay for my insufficient will power. My body was not sensitive for the first 10 days, because I did eat off of protocol here and there around the Christmas party especially and still lost, but boy, oh boy is my body telling me to cut that out!

Dang, I am set back, but it is not the end of the world. I will still make my goal of 10 pounds in the next 12 days. I WILL! I WILL! I WILL!!! I am not backing down and even if my body doesn't allow me to lose that much in the next days, I will still be proud of myself- IF, and only if I put in the effort necessary to feel good about myself. That means no more cheating.

Got to keep going! I do feel better than last round though. I don't feel like quitting, which was exactly how I felt last round. I just feel disappointed in myself, but not to the point of punishing myself and getting completely down about it, but rather my disappointment feels like a motivator: I can and will do better!

Thanks again to you all for all your cheers! I really do dislike writing these setback posts, but I guess you can't have the glorious highs without these dips. I am glad that my last post has hopefully helped a few.

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree. We have a crazy house that looks straight out of the 70's or something, and we have done no remodeling in this part of the house so ignore the burnt orange and brown scheme. :) Oh, and you can kind of see the orb light fixture above our dining room table- real retro!
Oh, and just on a side note: I didn't realize that the 12 days of Christmas actually begin December 26th and go through January 6th. It is a misnomer that they are the 12 days before Christmas. But for my purposes I will start from yesterday and go through the 24th. :)

I would also like to initiate the beginning of a bit more information about myself. I am not a Christian. I am a Nichiren Diashonin Buddhist. I grew up Christian and about 5 years ago I started realizing I was taking an interest in my husband's faith. I started practicing and then studying and I converted. Now, I am sure among other questions you are wondering why we have a Christmas tree. We respect the dominant culture we find ourselves in and also respect our own personal desires. Both my husband and I grew up celebrating the winter season with decorations, gatherings and food (of course). I love this time of year! I love to decorate. I love that for centuries humans have used this time of year to have celebrations that warm the heart and which break up the winter months. Anyway, more to come on the topic and if some of you find that you are done following me, that is fine although I hope and am finding more and more that most people do judge a person on their character not the faith they have chosen for themselves.