Favao - Week 1

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Rachel Wittrock. Growing up, I was a full-time athlete, competing year-round in swimming and track, and later cross country, and even three years in marching band. When I graduated high school in 2005, I was 5’7’’ and 140 pounds. About my fourth year in college I started gaining weight, and when I graduated in 2010, I was 170 lbs.
 

Then I joined the workforce, working as a reporter for a weekly newspaper. I went from working out 25 hours a week to sitting at a desk for more than eight hours a day, five days a week. Within six months I had put on 20 more pounds, and for the last two years I have struggled to lose weight. The barbs were even more painful when people would ask me when my baby was due, not to be mean but because they honestly thought I was pregnant. Even though it was a mistake, it hurt.
 

A couple months ago, I attended a weight management program, where a registered dietician demonstrated how sugar is a huge culprit in preventing weight loss and how many people can consume more than 50 tablespoons in a day.
 

A couple ladies in my town then spoke to me about this weight management program, called Favao. It is not touted as a weight loss gimmick, but rather as a lifestyle reset. At the end of August, I called one of the women and said I wanted to sign up.
 

On Thursday, Sept. 6, I received my startup package, which came at a $260 price tag. Included were a month’s supplies of a body cleanse, metabolism booster, fiber and protein, as well as a 239 page booklet listing workouts to do and 12 weeks worth of grocery lists and meals to cook, as well as at what time to take them.
 

Every day I begin my day with a shake, which includes the protein and fiber powder, half a banana, oats, ice cubes and water. I also take two metabolism booster pills. I follow the morning regimen, while in a slightly different order.
 

Instead of having my shake at 7 and burrito at 9, I eat the burrito in the morning while I am home and then take the shake to work and sip on it until about 11. Closer to 12:30 I have a snack of string cheese and an apple. I usually eat my lunch around 3 at work, then finish the day with supper at 7. I end my day with an 8-oz. glass of water with my body cleanse mixed in.
 

My first week I didn’t follow the regimen exactly, I missed three days with the body cleanse and did not eat the specified meals for lunch and dinner because I was unsure of how to prepare the meals (I am cooking deficient).
 

However, on Thursday, Sept. 13 the lady I have begun to think of as my sponsor helped me with the food preparation for the next week, so I should have a much easier time of sticking to the meal plans for the next week.
 

I was also very sick the first day I took the body cleanse, when I used the full scoop. I have since learned that about 3/4 of a scoop is the right mixture for me, but I will skip it if I know that I will be rushing in the morning and don’t have time to ride out the minor stomach ache that I do encounter. (While a stomachache may seem like a bad thing, trust me, it means the product is doing its job. After just a week I find that the stomachaches are less severe and do not last as long.)
 

In spite of my ups and downs, the product and following the meals are working.
When I weighed in on Friday, Sept. 7, I weighed 190 lbs.
 

One week later, I have lost four pounds and weigh 186 lbs. (all measurements with clothes on) Not bad for one week.
 

As I continue on my 12-week journey with Favao, I will continue to blog about my experiences and results.
 

There will be one glitch in the system: From Sept. 23-28 I will be at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas for a media and the military workshop. While there I will not be able to control what I eat very much, but I can make smarter decisions about what I eat from the foods available and how much, and I am confident it will not throw off my journey too much.
 

To see what happens next week, check back on Sept. 21.