Product Review: MyFitnessPal (app and website)

I've been super busy these last few weeks as work came to end along with my Rose Bowl water polo career.  We won bronze medals at the Junior Olympics which was exciting, and before I went there I dip dyed my hair bright pink! (Pictures of both of these events can be found on my instagram (and twitter): @hannahgrotz).

So now that water polo is over (and swimming doesn't start until November 1 for Midd), I have to seriously watch my health and fitness.  This means planning daily aerobic workouts for at lead 30 minutes and strength workouts at least three times a week.  Stretching is also very important for being a healthy athlete.  So is nutrition...

During water polo it could be really hard at times to watch what I was eating because we ate out as a team a lot and trust me, water polo players certainly work up an appetite! So while I struggled to find healthy items that would conquer my hunger without busting my diet, I also consumed more than I should now that the season is over.  This means I have to cut down on the amount I'm used to eating because now my workouts are less intense.

I recently discovered this free app, MyFitnessPal, for all Apple products, Android phones, Blackberry phones, and Windows phones that is basically a calorie counter.  I'm used to writing down what I've eaten in my journal, but it's so much easier (and accurate!!) to use this app.  It has a ton of different foods from different brands and restaurants, therefore I'm very happy with it so far.  You can also track how much water you're drinking and how much aerobic exercise and strength training you do daily, and subtracts calories burned from your total intake.

One of the features I really like is a chart that shows how much fat, carbs, protein, sodium, and various vitamins you have consumed and compares it to how much you should be consuming.

Over all, I'm very satisfied with the product!



Here's one of my favorite songs at the moment:

Summer Rain

Today's weather was so New England! Cloudy but humid and 86 degrees outside with the demeanor of a thunderstorm.  Which actually seems to be brewing fairly near my house.  Unless I'm actually listening to an airplane....either way I'm so excited for practice tonight! Playing water polo in the rain is sooo much fun!!

I wore my hair down for work today (which is a first...I usually wear it up to keep it out of the bunsen burner....haha....) but to avoid constantly tucking it behind my ears I did a little side braid and clipped my hair to the side of head.  It was pretty cute if I do say so myself.

I absolutely love braids! I'm constantly looking to add new braiding techniques to my repertoire, but so far I know how to do a normal braid (duh), fishtail, side braids, and a twirl braid (I forget what it's actually called).  I keep meaning to try a french braid on someone but I keep forgetting to try it out.

I had a delicious lunch today, still following the guidelines given by The Program.  I had some plain (boring) cereal for breakfast today, so I brought a decent sized lunch.

PB&Banana sandwich, pita chips, strawberries, and mache salad with ranch dressing

This little ziploc tupperware containers are super helpful! For lunches and for the environment...

I chose leftover salad from dinner last night instead of my usual carrots I pack in my lunch.

Trader Joe's always has the best snack foods everything.

To keep track of what I'm eating, count calories, and see how many servings I've eaten of a food group daily, I keep my special journal thing with me wherever I go.  I also use it for random doodling, lists of various things, and whatever comes to my mind.  It's actually a lab notebook, but it was a pretty color and I liked how the pages were numbered so I bought it for my own personal non-lab use.

In other news, I'm so excited for the weekend!  One of my teammates has a beach house (it is California) so the whole 18U team is going there for the whole weekend! We'll leave Friday after practice and get back Sunday afternoon.  I'm so ready to get rid of my horrible swim suit tan, but mostly my cap tan which has progressively been getting worse.

And with that, I'll leave you with my favorite song from last summer which I heard on the radio today for the first time in a while:

Hannah Marie