If you have never heard of FLO, it is a women’s health and wellness app that tracks your period and ovulation every month. This app allows you to log in your menstrual flow, symptoms, activity, water intake, sex life, and mood to help you understand your body better.

Some of the girls at Gynie have been raving over this tracker for a while now because of the amazing insights that it gives.

What is appreciated most about the FLO tracker is how much information it gives you! Not only is it a tracker but it also gives you deeper insights on why you may be experiencing a heavier flow this month, or even why your sex drive has decreased. All of this helps us learn more about our body and the way that it functions.

Who is Flo best for?

At Gynie, we are all in different stages in life. Some are moms, some just graduated from college, and some of us are broadening our knowledge before starting a family! Either way, after using this app for 6 months we all loved FLO and found it convenient and easy to use.

About the Period Tracking Calendar

The monthly calendar looks like this. You see the red line for when you are on your period and the dotted red line when it predicts you will be on your period. Based on your previous month’s cycle the app can determine your ovulation day and notifies you about days that are high and low for getting pregnant.

About Ovulation

Most women ovulate every month. It is a process where one of your ovaries releases an egg. During this time, if the egg that was released meets with sperm than it may fertilize the egg which results in pregnancy.  If there isn’t a sperm cell to fertilize the egg then it eventually disintegrates and your body sheds the uterine lining, which we as women know as our “period”.

If you want to learn more about how ovulation works and the effects that it has on your body the Flo website is a great source!

Overall, keeping track of your ovulation schedule is great if you are trying to get pregnant or trying to avoid pregnancy. However, if neither of these is a concern for you – it is always beneficial to know what is happening inside your body, so you can easily detect when something is off.

When to worry about a Late Period

It is fast and simple to log when you have had sex in the app. You can log in protected sex, unprotected sex, high sex drive, and masturbation. You don’t have to do it the same day either, so if you remember that you had sex last Friday – no problem just go back to that date and enter it in.  It is always good to keep track if you are trying to get pregnant or if you had unprotected sex and you want to analyze your chance of pregnancy.

Other things that cause a late period are in the “other” section of the app. These things include travel, stress, disease, injury, and alcohol.

Many times, during college or a tough work week you may notice that you are a few days late on your period even though you have had protected sex (or no sex with a partner at all).

In the Flo app, when we logged in “stress” or that we were traveling all day we got great short articles on how these things can play a factor in a delay in our periods.

This can help give yourself more peace of mind and to be more mindful to relax and keep your stress levels low.

Managing PMS

 

PMS symptoms can be stronger for some of us in comparison to others.  You know, the tender breasts, cravings, mood swings, and fatigue? Yup, mother nature is not always shy in letting us know that something is on the way. But you may be wondering what exactly is PMS, and why does it happen?

Well, according to Flo “PMS is a combination of physical, behavioral, and emotional symptoms that occur in a woman during the premenstrual phase of her menstrual cycle.”

In the Flo app, anytime during the month, you are able to enter in your current mood, symptoms, or write in any notes on things that you find a bit unusual.

Based on some of the symptoms that you enter, Flo may send you some insights on why that may be and how you change your moods.

Activity level, Weight, Sleep and Water? How these affect our periods and symptoms

To get even better results in the Flo app, you have the option to allow Flo to track your activity levels. It is possible that you are experiencing severe PMS symptoms because you are not active enough. In the app at first glance, it will show you how many steps and miles you have done so far to help you stay mindful in maintaining active throughout the day.

Inside the + screen you will see that you have the option to enter in your weight, sleep schedule, and water intake.

The weight section allows you to enter it in anytime, and you can see how your weight fluctuations over a period of time through their chart view.

Within the app, you also get the option to use the sleep tracker. Every night before bed, you can click the “I’m off to sleep” tab, enter in your sleep hours manually, or allow the app to track your sleep schedule automatically.

Tracking these levels is important because it can have an effect on our periods and the symptoms that we experience. Having a well-rested, hydrated body allows it to function more easily!

Final Verdict

We love data and we love understanding why our bodies work the way that they do. At Gynie, we believe in the power of knowledge about a woman’s anatomy and health. We enjoyed using Flo to get a better insight into our bodies and our health based on real information that we input.

For the first few months, trying Flo was great! The app was getting used to understanding our cycle, so we found entering in the little details really made the difference in terms of accuracy. After a while, you can also begin to see patterns by looking at the charts and graphs section.

Plus, we really enjoy reading the articles in the insights section. Within a quick couple minutes, you can learn about how to control anxiety, toxic shock syndrome causes and prevention, how to get rid of ovarian cysts, sleep patterns, how to choose menstrual products, and so much more.

Since we have now been using it for a while, we find it to be either spot on accurate or off by just a day or two.

Pro Tip: Now, when you plan your vacations you can make sure to always check your Flo app to make sure you’re off your period during that time. You can thank us later!