If you’re searching for a quick, easy, and effortless way of losing weight or staying healthy, join the club. It’s something millions of people have tried in the past and also something thousands of weight loss programs, supplements, procedures, and diets promise daily.
A lot of these methods, techniques, and diet plans help you shed off a few pounds temporarily, but they rarely help you keep that weight off long-term. Many people obtain the figure they were hoping for, just to see it fade away once they return to their normal, everyday habits.
Accepting it isn’t easy, but it’s time we start realizing there’s no quick, easy, or effortless way of losing weight and maintaining it over a long period of time. It takes commitment, dedication, strong principles, knowledge, the right decisions, and healthy behaviors.
That’s where noom starts to separate itself from its competitors. Noom doesn’t focus on providing a quick solution, and they aren’t interested in helping you lose weight temporarily. Instead, noom wants to help you make smarter decisions when it comes to diet and exercise so you can improve your daily healthy habits to help you keep that weight off.
Noom is not like your normal weight loss program or wellness app. It will require some commitment, time, and effort, but it follows a unique model that personalizes a program to fit your specific needs and goals. It’s pretty clear that noom is starting to revolutionize how we view the mobile health and wellness industry. So, let’s take a closer look with this noom review.
What Is Noom?
Noom is a weight loss program designed to help people obtain the body they want — inside and outside. While there’s a level of dedication required (which will turn some people off), it’s much more robust and highly-valuable to anyone serious about losing weight.
You can think of noom as your personal trainer, health coach, nutritionist, and daily motivator. As long as you provide the information and data it needs, you’ll receive personalized recommendations based on your goals. The honest approach it takes when making recommendations is unmatched in the industry today.
They start by getting to know your body type and what you hope to accomplish with the program. Then they dive into an extensive psychology quiz to learn more about your daily behaviors, routines, and habits. This is where they can start to personalize their suggestions.
Once you complete the evaluation, you’re prompted to start a two-week free trial. Don’t worry; you can cancel at any time. They also have a free version that gives you several features for as long as you want — without paying a dime! The free version lets you log foot, track weight, and monitor your exercise.
If you’re looking for a more robust experience with the noom app, you can invest in the paid version. This gifts you a world of other options, which we’ll discuss in more detail below, including a personal health coach, articles to help you learn about your body, and more!
Getting Started With Noom
Getting started with noom is a bit of a process. It’s best to make sure you have some time to spare, that way you don’t rush yourself. This is important because you want to give accurate answers if you want accurate recommendations and effective results.
To start, you’ll need to either download the app on your mobile device or visit their website on an internet browser. Either way will work, and you’ll end up answering the same questions, but the flow of events will be a little different depending on your choice.
The first step in the process is completing a questionnaire. There are several different parts to the questionnaire, including your demographic profile, your habits and behaviors, and your activity and nutrition. Let’s take a closer look at each one below.
Demographic Profile
The demographic profile is designed to learn a little background behind your body type and what you hope to accomplish with noom. It’ll take a more general look at your life and your goals so it can create a custom weight loss plan to help you reach your goal weight. This is the same questionnaire most programs ask, but noom doesn’t stop there (where most programs do).
Here are some of the things they’ll ask you about in this section:
- Whether you want to lose weight for good, get fit for good, or both
- Height, current body weight, ideal weight, gender, and age
- Whether you have an event coming up that you’re preparing for (wedding, summer, party, etc.)
- The reason for wanting to lose this weight
- Whether or not you want to gain muscle as you lose weight
- Any back issues or health concerns you might have (diabetes, heart disease, depression, etc.)
- Whether you played sports or were active growing up
- The area you currently live in (city, suburbs, etc.)
Once you complete the demographic profile (on the web version), you’ll be prompted to enter your email to ‘receive your plan.’ Do this to move forward to the next step of the questionnaire.
They’ll also give you a brief estimate of how long it’ll take to reach your goals with the information you’ve already provided. This is subject to change as you complete the rest of the questionnaire. More questions are yet to come, so hang in there — it’s worth it!
Habits And Behaviors
The habits and behaviors section is designed to learn a little more about some of the things that might contribute to your current weight. They take a look at some of the things you’ve tried in the past, some of the things you’re currently trying, and how open you are to trying new things.
Here are some of the things they’ll ask you about in this section:
- Any events that might’ve led to your weight gain (injury, mental health, relationship, etc.)
- When was the last time you were your ideal weight?
- Any weight loss programs or techniques you’ve tried in the past, with or without success
- Any subscriptions you’re subscribed to (BetterHelp, Calm, Headspace, etc.)
- How flexible you are when changing certain habits and behaviors for the better
- Whether your weight gets in the way of your ability to socialize or enjoy life
- Whether you give up easily or stay committed for the long haul
As you move through the questionnaire, you’ll notice they give you tiny updates on where your current plan is at. The more answers you give, the more accurate their plan is. You might find that it’ll take less time — or more time — to reach your goal than originally imagined.
Activity And Nutrition
They’ve already asked you a wide range of different questions up to this point, but they’re not done yet. Noom wants to know even more about your potential, and they’re determined to make this the last weight loss program you ever need.
In the activity and nutrition section, they ask a lot about the things you eat, when you eat, how much you eat, and why you eat to better help identify your eating habits. They also want to understand your exercise habits and what type of workouts you prefer to do.
Here’s a quick look at some of the questions found in this section:
- Whether you want to start by focusing on habits, nutrition, or physical activity (or other)
- Whether you want a plan that involves working out or no working out
- Any allergies or dietary restrictions you have
- How much you know about cognitive behavioral therapy
- How motivated and confident you are to lose weight
- When you generally feel the urge to snack or eat unhealthy
- What triggers you to overindulge and snack throughout the day
- Anything else you’re interested in learning while with noom (brain, behavior, digestion, sleep, stress, energy, nutrition)
- Whether you currently go to a gym, use a fitness app, or order meal preps
- How busy you are daily
- How much alcohol you drink
- Your relationship status
- What pace you prefer when losing weight
The final thing they have you do is set your first goal. You can choose to run a 5k, increase outdoor activity, feel more confident in your body, or choose your own! Once you complete this section, they’ll start to build your customized plan.
They take all your answers into account, that way you receive the best possible recommendations for you and your body. They’ll also share a crazy statistic with you (they’ve helped over 1.5 million people successfully lose weight), but I’m not sure how accurate it is.
Features Available With Noom
Getting through the questionnaire is certainly a process, but it all translates to a better user experience and improved results when taken seriously. Once you gain access to the noom app and all of its features, prepare for a bit of a learning curve as you navigate the environment.
Everything is laid out in a clean and uniform fashion, which is nice, but there’s so much going on that it’s difficult to follow. Noom isn’t just a weight loss app; with it, you have a ton of different tracking options, a vast amount of information available, recipes, and even a personal coach to keep you on track.
Don’t worry; we’ll detail some of the most important features and components available with noom.
Tracking Progress
One of the cool features of noom is the ability to track your progress in a wide range of areas using the app or website. It comes free with the app, which means you don’t have to pay for the tracking capability. If that’s what you’re looking for out of this app, you’ve come to the right place.
With noom, you can log your meals for the day, log any exercise you completed, log your current weight each day, log your blood pressure, and log your blood glucose levels. The more information you provide, the more they can help you understand your body.
It should be noted that all of the logging is done by you. Obviously, electronics can help — especially if you have devices to take your blood pressure and blood glucose. It might take you a few minutes each day, but it’s worth it in the end.
They also make it rather easy to log meals. Noom isn’t your ordinary food logging app; it does much more. With it, you can search for a certain food in their database, save certain foods, so they’re easy to find later, and scan the barcode of the item you’re eating, allowing you to better track your eating habits. Logging your exercise is also just a few clicks away, limiting the time spent on the app.
Articles And Information
One thing that separates noom from other weight loss programs is their extreme focus on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ you’re eating daily — not so much the ‘what’ you’re eating. They also go out of their way to educate noom users about the different behaviors they must adopt as habits.
They do so with the use of mini-articles and bits of information that are released daily. The content of these articles focuses mainly on ways to keep you motivated and information about nutrition, fitness, diet, and wellness habits. The goal is to make you a smarter individual when it comes to your own health.
As you use the noom app and continue tracking progress, more and more articles will be added to your library. You’re responsible for reading these daily, but they’ll only take a few minutes out of your day.
The articles and bits of information aren’t free, and you must be paying for the service to have access to them. It’s one of the perks of signing up.
Recipes And Meals
If you’re interested in learning more about what to eat on the noom diet, what ingredients to use, and how to make delicious foods, then you’ll quickly fall in love with their recipes and meals. These are often a big hit with noom and give the user a detailed look at what they’re consuming daily — or even hourly!
One of the cool things with noom is they don’t force you to eliminate food from your diet. In fact, they encourage a well-rounded diet that allows you to eat the things you enjoy eating. After all, we should each have a smile on our face when we eat!
Instead of eliminating foods, they help educate people on why certain foods should be limited and portioned. You can still eat certain unhealthy foods, but if losing weight is your goal, it’s important you understand when you’re eating too much and when it starts to have negative effects on your body.
To help educate people, noom uses a color code system with red, yellow, and green. As you look at the recipe, they’ll group the ingredients into one of the three color codes:
- Green Foods – these foods and ingredients are good for you and you won’t have to limit portions or find any substitutes.
- Yellow Foods – these foods and ingredients aren’t bad for you, but they aren’t good for you. You should only eat moderate portions of these.
- Red Foods – these foods and ingredients aren’t that good for you and should be avoided when possible. If you can’t avoid it or don’t feel like it, you should at least limit your portion to a minimum.
Noom uses the color system of green, yellow, and red to help make people more aware of what’s good, what’s bad, and how they can personalize each recipe to meet their weight loss goals and diet plan. Not to mention, there are thousands of recipes to choose from, and you can save them for later.
They also do a great job of making it easy to search for certain recipes. In addition to the search bar, they have recipes grouped into several categories, including favorites, all, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Many people can get lost in this ever-growing list of recipes!
Noom Course
You can think of the noom course as an extension to the ‘Getting Started’ phase of the onboarding process. It’s a 16-week course that teaches you everything you need to know about the app, your body, your habits, your routines, your goals, and so much more.
Here’s a more detailed look at things you’ll go over throughout the noom course:
- noom 101 – Intro to the Psychology of Weight Loss
- noom 102 – Food Fundamentals
- noom 201 – Mastering Motivation
- noom 202 – The Only 7 Habits You Need
- noom 203 – Food Fundamentals II
- noom 204 – Beyond Food: Sleep, Stress, & You
- noom 301 – Matters of the Mind
- noom 302 – Embrace the Journey
- noom 303 – Food Fundamentals III
- noom 304 – Inside Your Intuition
As you complete the course, you’ll become a more educated individual, develop a better understanding and approach to weight loss, and spark a new fire in your journey to lose weight. You’ll be more motivated than ever before, and your body will finally start to see the results. This course does a lot to bring you closer to yourself.
While it’s marketed as a 16-week course, you can go through it as quickly as you’d like.
Personal Health Coach
Part of the noom experience includes having access to a personal health coach that’s available whenever you need them. With noom’s health coaching, you can get assistance with any questions you might have, recommendations you’re looking for, tips for reaching your health goals, and motivation.
The personal health coach doesn’t have the same qualifications and certifications as a registered dietician (RD), but they’re supposed to be passionate about what they do and knowledgeable about the various components to noom.
While their team of health coaches is always growing, the one knock many users have is that some health coaches are overwhelmed with users. Since they’re each assigned a user, things can get hectic, which often means responses can be a little slow. This is something they’re always working to fix.
Custom Meal And Workout Plan
In addition to the personal health coach, you can also get a customized meal plan and workout plan at an extra cost. These give you a little more guidance as you navigate your way through the weight loss program. It takes your profile and health goals into account when building the plans.
Normally, the custom workout plan and custom meal plan are $100 each — a steep price for most people. While you can purchase them as a bundle, they normally don’t come with a discount. With that said, you will be met with a special offer after completing the questionnaire.
The special offer brings the custom meal plan down to $49 and the custom workout plan down to $29. If you’re interested in bundling them together, it’ll only cost $49. You can add these to your program at any time, but there’s no guarantee that the offer remains.
If you’re interested in the workout and meal plan, we suggest going after the deal while you can. There have been complaints that they aren’t as extensive as some people were hoping for, so paying full price isn’t necessarily a good idea.
Does Noom Work?
Noom works, but you have to be willing to put in the work. As with most weight loss programs, Noom helps you focus on becoming a healthier individual, but whether or not you follow through with it is up to you.
If you’re looking to drop some pounds, as long as you’re willing to stick to it, follow a healthy lifestyle, and commit to your weight loss journey, noom can help. With the knowledge noom provides when it comes to a healthy diet and exercise, and the ability to track your goals and progress, it can definitely help keep you on track. If you put in the work and follow the program, noom will work for you!
Is Noom Worth It?
There’s a lot to like about the noom app, but it also comes up short in several areas. We wouldn’t say it’s a total lost cause. In fact, we think it has much more potential than most of the other weight loss, health, and wellness programs/apps out there — which promote restrictive dieting instead of behavioral changes.
The main reason we say this is because of the principles it relies on. They’re unique when compared to other programs and focus on the actual habits and behaviors that cause the weight gain. By improving the body at its core, users can effectively lose weight and maintain it over time.
Other things we like about noom is the fact that they use psychology when creating custom plans, users aren’t required to eliminate foods from their diet, exercise isn’t required, they care more about why and how you’re eating (not so much ‘what’ you’re eating), and they take into account the outside factors to your weight.
At the same time, noom has its flaws. The Red-Yellow-Green food scale makes it easy, but it isn’t as accurate as you’d like. The custom meal plans and workout plans are a bit vague, general, and basic. The health coaches aren’t always available, and it seems more like a copy/paste conversation.
These are all things that will improve over time, especially as noom uncovers more effective ways of doing things. Having more health coaches will certainly help, but so will having more qualified and certified health coaches that bring more value.
The good news is all the free features are excellent. If you’re using it for the free features, you’ll get a lot of use out of this app. You can easily track your weight, blood pressure, blood glucose, nutrition, and exercises to keep track of your weight loss journey. Unfortunately, you won’t get the recipes, articles, or noom course.
Noom Alternatives
You may be familiar with other popular diet and weight loss programs, such as Weight Watchers, or fitness and health apps, like Aaptiv. As technology finds its way into every single industry you can think of, though, we’re starting to see more and more of these mobile apps that promise effective results with nutrition, diet, fitness, and wellness. Some are better than others, but none are perfect, and they aren’t built for everyone.
Noom comes with a lot of benefits, especially when taking advantage of the free features, but there are definitely some better options out there that are worth checking out — including MyFitnessPal and LifeSum.
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal has become the No. 1 most popular mobile app in the fitness, health, and wellness space. It was acquired by Under Armour in 2015, which sparked the rise in users. With that said, it was originally released in 2005 and already had 80 million users by the time UA stepped in.
The app comes with two versions — a free version with limited features and a premium version that costs $49.99 per year or $9.99 per month. The free version allows you to track food and calories, fitness activity, weight, and several other key factors when losing weight.
The premium version is a little more robust and gives you a full breakdown of the macronutrients you’re consuming daily — carbs, protein, and fats — as well as other nutritional information. It also removes ads and gives the user more customizable options.
LifeSum
LifeSum was created in 2013 by Tove Westlund and Martin Wählby, but two executives later stepped in to help take the company to another level. Marcus Gners, formerly with Stardoll, and Henrik Torstensson, formerly with Spotify, joined shortly after.
Much like MyFitnessPal and noom, LifeSum has both a free and paid version. The free version allows you to keep track of calories and meals, but puts a limit on what you can save and how many diets you have to choose from. It also won’t track macronutrients.
LifeSum is best for those with dietary restrictions, even better than MyFitnessPal. With that said, it doesn’t offer any personal coaching or one-on-one assistance, which might turn some people away. If you’re looking for help with nutrition or a specific diet, this is a good choice.
Final Verdict: Noom Weight Loss Program And App
There are plenty of fad diets and health apps out there, but Noom has a lot of potential and stacks up rather well with its competitors. In fact, there aren’t many weight loss programs and health/wellness apps out there that are better than this one. MyFitnessPal and LifeSum are two of the only ones.
With that being said, every app has its pros and cons. These concepts are still rather new and immature. They’ll improve as time goes on, but they aren’t quite worth the money as they stand right now. If you’re going to spend money, you’re better off with the other two choices instead of noom.
If you’re trying out noom for its free features, you’ll likely be happy with what you get. Of course, that’s only reserved for people that need an interface to help them track their various health and wellness habits or behaviors.
As time goes on, this is certainly an app to keep an eye on. It’s a few improvements away from being the best in the game — they’re just not there yet.