This is somewhat in response to a post that called Noom a “Scam” a couple weeks ago. I respect that it's not for everyone, and nothing wrong with having that opinion validated. I think calling it a Scam was wrong and misleading, and somewhat hurtful to people using and liking it. I have no relationship with Noom except that I am using it. I will detail the things I like about it, as well as some I think could be improved.
I hope this post will provide an honest look at Noom, and show you if it might work for you or not. For the most part, I do like it, so this is mostly positive.
Quick about me: I initially lost about 80 pounds on Weight Watchers, but a series of things led to me gaining 30 back over a couple years, and after a couple more years of trying and failing over and over to lose that weight again, I have lost a little over 20 lbs so far on Noom this year.
Anyway, what I like about Noom:
Food Logging and Color System
Calorie Count is de-emphasized: Most calorie counting apps display your calories remaining bold and front and center. Noom doesn’t. You have to go into the logging screen and then tap “Analysis” to even see it. I like this, as it keeps me from being overly focused on it. I have a tendency to get into all-or-nothing thinking, and if I go over budget I can have a tendency to just stop logging and blow my budget. Noom helps me avoid that by giving me a “range” of calories to eat, and de-emphasizing it.
Logging: At first I didn’t like the search based logging, but it’s fast, and it is smart to suggest things you are likely to add based on past habits. It also has lots of generics for foods & meals so you can estimate when you really have no idea. This is another thing that helps to keep me from giving up on logging.
Color System: The color system basically divides food by calorie density, and it is helpful. It’s much easier for me to stay in calorie budget when I eat more green foods, and it’s no doubt healthier. But the app emphasizes multiple times that red foods are not “bad,” and that you should eat all your red budget, you need fat, etc.
Articles & Personal Coach
Coach: I can’t say enough good things about my personal coach. She’s been fantastic. The hardest part about weight loss is persistence. Having a cheerleader to encourage you when you fail, praise you for success, and prod you to think about your habits and behaviors is awesome.
It’s true, a lot of what they do is just asking you questions, but there’s a lot of value in being able to express frustrations and failures to someone non-judgmental, and introspectively looking at why I have some of my bad habits has been really helpful.
Particularly when I’ve been at low points (really struggled in February, felt like I was getting no where and wanted to give up), my coach helped me push through and just keep going.
Articles: Yes, they are kinda cheesy, there’s lots of hashtags and it tries too hard to be cute. I don’t find value in every one, and don’t agree with every single thing. But lots of it has been helpful. After 3 months of doing lessons every day, I’ve learned a lot and it has helped me form better habits, both related to weight loss, and just in general. I also like that reading them every day helps remind me of my long term goal, and what I’m working toward—keeping me in the right mindset.
Weighing In
Last thing for me, is that the app encourages you to weigh in every day. This was a hard one for me, because weight fluctuates so much, and I can get really discouraged when my weight goes up by 3 pounds for seemingly no reason, or I have a bad day and suddenly weigh many pounds less. But, Noom cites a study that showed people who weighed daily lost more. They also point out that exposing yourself to something that causes anxiety generally reduces the anxiety over time with repeated exposures.
So I’ve been doing it. My weight graph is all over the place, up and down constantly. But the trend has been down over time. If I can figure out how to add picture of it, I will. And it really has gotten me used to the fluctuations. I no longer get discouraged when my weight goes up for no reason, I just know it means someday soon it will suddenly plummet 2-3 pounds for no reason!
Cons
Logging: The biggest thing I have a problem with is in the logging, there are a number of restaurant and store items that just aren’t quite right. A lot of times I will double check and find restaurant or label listing is different. You can report wrong items but it’s not obvious and a hassle. Sometimes, the suggested units for a thing also make no sense. I can’t think of a real example right now, but sometimes you get something like “Eggs” and suggested portions are in tablespoons or something like that, and you have to dive deeper to log correct amount.
Group: There’s a group, but honestly I never really use it. It feels impersonal, and nothing really happens there. Maybe other groups are better, but it’s so many people, I know none of them, and most posts just get very little interaction.
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I hope that was helpful. My goal isn't to persuade you to like Noom if you don't. I know it won't work for everyone. But I wanted to share my experience as a counterpoint to the other post, both for people who are using it now, and for people who might be interested.
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