Getting Fit: Instagram Photo a Day and My Fitness Pal

I'm so excited that other bloggers, Instagrammers, teachers and TpT sellers are as excited as I am to get fit this summer! Together I think we've created a fun and motivating course of action: 

1. An Instagram "Photo A Day" challenge {more details below}

2. My Fitness Pal app and web site {more detail below} 

Instagram Challenge: I've participated in a PAD (photo a day) challenge before, and it was super fun. All you do is post a picture along a certain theme or prompt every day and add a hashtag so people can see who's participating. {Ours is #PADfitness} Not only are you thinking about the topic, you're spreading the word to friends about how you're staying healthy and they can join in! Plus, Instagram is just fun. {My addiction detailed here and here.} Without further ado ... the challenge! Feel free to copy this image and post it yourself, and while I'm going to try and post every day, don't feel like you HAVE to do so. Jump in any time. :) 

My Fitness Pal: As I mentioned here, MFP is an awesome tool that you can use online or as an app on your phone. You plug in your height, weight and activity level, then pick whether you want to lose, maintain or gain {HAHA} weight. It tells you how many calories you should net each day. That "net" is a great word, because it means that if you exercise and plug it in, MFP will take it away from your total eaten calories and you get to eat MOREEEEEE. {Is that horrible? It's honestly a very motivating factor for me. More working out = more brownies and I can SEE it on my phone!!}

From the iPhone app - this is what your diary looks like.  At the top you can see that it adds your calories from food and subtracts calories from working out. I didn't really eat a sausage patty for lunch, but the pasta sauce had sausage in it and I couldn't figure out how to key that in, so I just roughly estimated, lol. 

This is what it looks like on the online site when you add your food. 

This is what it looks like on the online site when you log your exercise... or not, as was the case today. :)  

Plus, it's an awesome way to check about how much fat, trans fats, vitamins, carbs, etc. that you're consuming each day and try to get more of the "good" stuff in. It even has a place to add in the amount of water you're drinking. It really is an overall fitness app, not just for losing weight. 

This is a really cool feature that lets you see how you're doing in terms of nutrition, not JUST calories - I think I ate eggs for dinner that day so my cholesterol is high and I ate a TON of protein {not typical}. I also ate a lot of sugars {VERY typical}. 

The other cool part about it is that you "follow" each other and can see when someone works out or if they come in under their calorie goal. No worries, it doesn't say how much you weigh or what exactly you eat, it just posts when you burn calories or when you come in under your net goal. Then you can comment on others' status and cheer them on, or get motivated to go workout yourself! 

This is what it looks like when you're adding friends on the online site. 

This is what your "newsfeed" looks like on the iPhone app. Ms. Price (kindergator) is WORKING IT!! #soproud

The online tool has a TON of cool options for reports, community boards and other things, but I'm more likely to check my phone. :) 

SO if you want to follow me or anyone else, check this post, or find me on Instagram or My Fitness Pal {ashleybbz in both places}.  Can't wait to "see" y'all and get FIT!