MyFitnessPal

Sidney, Rachael C, & Tianna

A Health and Fitness App

MyFitnessPal is revolutionizing how we track out health and fitness goals.
 A Guide to MyFitnessPal: for Teachers

What the app has to offer

My fitness pal is an app run by UnderArmour that helps users achieve their healthy lifestyle goals through
tracking daily consumption of nutrients, calories, vitamins and exercise. In the process of logging, the user is
able to better understand the importance of balanced lifestyles and receive tips that aid in reaching personal
goals. In the context of classroom use, the app allows students to join together in a health and fitness
community that shares new information on the complexity of wellbeing and allows for peer interaction.
Students can set challenges and goals to achieve together as a class which fosters skills they can use outside of
the classroom context.

Start up:
à Go to https://www.myfitnesspal.com/ 1. Select start for free
or download the MyFitnesssPal app to your 2. Insert email and a password
personal device 3. Follow questions

Strengths

1. Pre-set reminders for food consumption and portions

2. Students can create blogs, write in the community forum, create challenges, and set goals
3. Ability for students to scan barcodes on their food items allows for easy use
4. Students can opt to track their progress through a photo diary
5. A community of like-minded individuals is created when students work towards similar goals
6. The newsfeed includes mental, emotional, and spiritual health in addition to physical fitness
7. Addresses goal setting and other healthy habits that extend beyond the scope of the classroom

Weaknesses

1. Potential for user to focus on calories over other components of the app
2. Some pre-set reminders emphasize a number, rather than how the student is feeling (i.e. “step on the
scale”)
3. Medical conditions and restrictions are not factored into the logging system, which has potential equity
issues within the class (As the facilitator, consider everyone’s abilities in the community)
4. Some students may not have access to technology, this application requires a personal device or
computer

Hints for Preparation and Tips for Use in the Classroom

1. The teacher must emphasize that this is just ONE tool that can be used to help students achieve a goal
2. Need to coach students to use the app effectively: to be able to track their progress without feeling that
they constantly need to log information
3. Teacher must monitor community forums to ensure that the communication between students is
appropriate and productive
4. Teacher must monitor goals and blogs of individual students to ensure healthy and well-balanced goal
setting behaviors