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With summer only a few short months away, people are already starting to think about slimming down for beach season. While exercising is critical to shedding a few extra pounds, dieting can help you go the extra mile. Luckily for ������ý���� students, Aramark and ������ý���� dining have collaborated with the popular calorie counting app MyFitnessPal to help those who are watching what they eat.

The free app, which is available for iPhones and Androids, helps users track the nutritional facts of all the food they eat in a given day. The app asks for the height and weight of the user and his or her desired weight, and gives a daily goal for calorie consumption. The app has a database that includes over five million foods and even lets you create your own personal recipes.

Even though ������ý���� dining has been partnered with MyFitnessPal since the fall of 2013, Aramark employee Kayla Bauer feels that many members of the ������ý���� community are unaware that all food served on campus are included in the MyFitnessPal database.

“I definitely would like to raise awareness of it. We did a campaign last year, but I don’t feel like many students on campus know about the benefits,” she said. “It’s a great way for students to watch what they eat. Any food served on campus — Daly’s, Subway, Cranberry’s — can be found and tracked on MyFitnessPal. For students trying to be health conscious and count calories, it’s an extremely helpful tool.”

In addition, for diners trying to find their favorite foods from Daly’s, they simply enter the name of the food followed by, “Aramark on Campus” or “Cranberry’s” to see where the food might be served. 

������ý���� sophomore Thomas Regan was a frequent user of the calorie counting app, but had difficulty entering what he ate in the dining hall. Now that he is aware of the partnership between Aramark and MyFitnessPal, he feels the app will be much more beneficial.

“MyFitnessPal is incredibly helpful in maintaining a balanced diet, but Daly's and Cranberry's food is really difficult to log into the app without knowing the portion sizes and nutrition facts,” he said. “So, having the ability to log Aramark meals will help students keep track of what they are eating. Hopefully, more students use the app and take advantage of the health benefits that come with it.”