Noom Overview
If you’re constantly losing weight with weight loss programs only to see that weight pile back on when you stop dieting, you’re not alone. This yo-yo effect when dieting is commonplace.
Today, though, you can find plenty of online diet resources claiming to help not just to lose weight, but also to keep that weight gone for good.
Some companies provide pre-prepared meal plans combined with counseling, while others simply offer meals delivered to your door. Some online companies promise to help you change your relationship with food.
Losing weight and getting healthy means shifting your mindset so you are naturally drawn to healthier food choices.
It also means understanding why you might emotionally eat. Some of us eat more or less than normal when we feel down. Getting to grips with the thought patterns behind overeating can help you approach food in a much healthier way.
Weight loss isn’t necessarily just about counting calories and portion control, though. Our psychology and personalities drive our daily diet choices. How we think and feel can impact what we feel like eating.
If you’ve lost weight before only to regain the weight when you stop a weight loss diet, it’s most likely because you haven’t changed your mindset about food.
Long-term weight loss is about educating your brain so you’re naturally inclined to eat a balanced diet. This means not restricting yourself too much and letting yourself eat a bit of what you fancy. Depriving yourself is the key to giving up and binge eating. Be sure to allow yourself the occasional treat.
So, can an online resource really help you to transform your relationship to food?
Noom claims to help you learn healthy eating habits using cognitive behavioral therapy via an app. We’ve checked it out to see how it shapes up compared to other online weight loss resources. You can then find the right diet plan for you the easy way.
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Features
Noom is a weight loss coaching app based on cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a psychotherapy that gets you to identify and question your negative core beliefs driving your eating habits.
The app encourages you to lead a healthy lifestyle and eat healthful food by getting you to track your food intake, blood sugar, blood pressure, and fitness levels in-app.
There are notes and quizzes designed to help you keep on track with your exercise and food choices.
The program is designed by scientists and psychologists, and it’s scientifically proven to help people lose weight. A particular bonus of this diet plan is that no food is considered completely off-limits. Instead, you’ll be encouraged to limit your intake of these unhealthy options.
The app also features chat rooms you can join to give or receive emotional support.
How It Works
When you sign up, you are taken through an extensive series of questions to establish your current health situation, eating habits, exercise habits, and lifestyle.
When the questionnaire is complete, the site invites you to try the plan at a discounted rate. You have 15 minutes to agree to this trial at a discounted rate. To us, this feels like a cheap pressurizing tactic that there’s no need for.
Once you’ve signed up, you track everything you eat along with any exercise you do. The app grades foods as green for healthy, amber for foods neither good nor bad and red for the least healthy options.
If you exceed the recommended number of red foods, the app will notify you immediately so you can take action.
After signing up, you get assigned a “coach.” This is not a registered dietician, though. Some reviews have complained that when they talk with their “coach”, it feels more like talking to a chatbot.
Foods Included In The Plan
There’s no meal plan as such with Noom. Instead, they advise you to follow what appears to be a typical Mediterranean diet.
The app urges you to eat mainly healthy vegetables and fruits with plenty of healthy proteins like dairy and lots of whole grains.
Foods are graded as mentioned above with no foods blanketly forbidden.
You don’t follow a plan as such, but the app educates you about portion control, calorie intake, and carb intake.
Pricing
Noom costs $150 for 6 months.
The app offers an introductory discounted fee for two weeks. After this point, you enter your credit card details and the full amount is deducted when the trial is over.
Pros
- Online coaching
- Non-restrictive diet
- Goals are all achievable
- Scientifically proven to help you lose weight
Cons
- You must enter an email address even to view the site
- Tedious set-up process
- App grades healthy fats like those found in avocado in the red zone
- Incomplete food database
- Inconsistent coaching
- Tracking everything you eat and do can get tiresome
Verdict
Many people have achieved their weight loss goals using the Noom app. Its unique cognitive-behavioral approach certainly sets it apart from other online weight loss resources.
It does have its limitations, though. The coaching isn’t delivered by registered dieticians, and the response you get from them can be patchy.
Some consumers find tracking food and exercise all day long is tiresome. The app itself can be equally worn as you’re continuously bombarded by quizzes and questions.
On the whole, the Noom app is effective, but the lack of formal structure is not for everyone. Let us know your thoughts if you’ve tried the Noom diet plan.
Compare Noom to the Best Weight Loss Plans
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Noom Review
Noom – finally a weight loss plan that works with a free trial to back it up! Many people have achieved their weight loss goals using the Noom app. Its unique cognitive-behavioral approach certainly sets it apart from other online weight loss resources