From Winnemucca, Nevada

One of our fellow participants, Mrs. Dixie Southwick of Winnemucca, Nevada, was kind enough to take the time to write and tell us of her experiences in this challenge. She asked that we post it to the Facebook page, but because of it's length, we felt a blog post would be more appropriate.

From Dixie...

Wahoo! is right!! I've had to use every Sunday to keep up on this challenge and today I ate my first sugared product in 8 weeks, an eskimo pie. I savored every bite. It was a relief to be done. But, now I miss it.

Congratulations to all the perfect scorers. I applaud you. We all did it, but you stayed the course!!

This time was much tougher than the October challenge. I think we came into it healthier. After Christmas, it seems is a time when everyone is sick. I had sinus/ear infections for 6 of the 8 weeks. I did notice that drinking the water and exercising (10 minutes at a time) helped me so much. This healthier lifestyle was a blessing and, I'm sure, helped us.

I did discover the art of negotiating. At one point, early on, I had to deviate from eating white flour because my husband and I were both sick. All we had that I could think of to cook was canned chicken noodle soup. Ahhh. I after eating it, I realized couldn't have a perfect score anymore. Actually, it was a relief. After that, I thought, ok, I can miss a point here and there and still survive. So, I started thinking, it's late or I don't feel well, I just cannot keep up. It really did help me at least stay in the challenge. And, don't think that thought didn't occur to me.

It was a pretty rough road, folks, but it was well worth it. I'm hearing some of you had some of the same challenges. Power to you. I'm looking forward to reading some of your posts on your journeys.

We did it!!! As Karli & Trish said, we can do hard things. What will be strange is NOT to be in the challenge. Can I stay on the path? How can I not???

One thing is, I'm going to drink 36 ounces of water a day. Sorry folks, that was an awful lot of water for me.

Anyway, over and out. Bless each one of you.

Dixie Southwick

Dixie, thank you so much for your comments. It has been a joy to have you here for both of our challenges, and we look forward to seeing you for #3!!

If anyone else would like to have comments or experiences published, please email them to us!!