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Many people are asking questions about Noom. In this article, we will provide an in-depth review of Noom. Also, we will discuss their approach to dieting and weight loss. Let us be honest; not all can afford to have a personal trainer or nutritionist at speed dial. Plus, losing weight is not as easy as it may seem. Also, this is where Noom comes into the picture. It is one of the most prominent weight loss programs globally. Since its establishment, it has promptly grown to become the most sought-after diet plan.
Many users and readers of Noom reviews have adopted a healthy and fit lifestyle and have significantly shed extra body fat, experiencing no notable side effects. However, it’s hard to know whether NOOM is just another diet fad without a proper review. Some diets depend on pseudoscience, while others provide effective, stable, and healthy weight loss programs.
Noom is a website or online health-related application that offers readers an educational tool for tracking/monitoring their growth towards a weight loss journey. You can check your overall weight, see what you can/cannot eat, and connect with like-minded people for more benefits. However, Noom often claims itself as a lifestyle, not a diet, since it focuses primarily on behavioral changes.
Let’s Review What the Noom Diet Provides
With Noom, you get:
- Weekly health-related educational programs and challenges. Some topics include stress management, nutrition, goal settings, a healthy lifestyle, and healthy habits.
- Multiple tools to keep a check on your progress. You can easily log your meals, body weight, and workout regimens.
- Virtual, professional coaching team. With Noom, you can work under goal specialists, support groups, and group coaches to stay on track.
- The users can benefit from biometric tracking to observe blood pressure and blood sugar.
Noom’s Other Promises
Most diet plans require you to cut back on food items like calories, sugar, carbohydrates, or fat to shed extra weight. But, Noom differs from them all. It is a weight-loss application that uses a psychology-based approach to alter your lifestyle and eating habits. The information available on the website uses technology to help people change how they eat and think about food.
Though keeping track of eating habits is not new to fitness fanatics, the convenience of a website and smartphone application is the key here. This strategy is one of the many reasons Noom has gathered about 50 million downloads.
A Review Into How the Noom Diet Works
We now know through Noom reviews it is a paid mobile health application subscription service that inspires people to make some behavioral changes to live a healthy life. To get started with Noom, the users must answer some questions.
A Small Quiz to Get a Customized Plan
The first step to begin with the program is to take a 10-minute online quiz to answer standard questions regarding height, gender, weight, age, and the reason for losing weight. Next, Noom will ask you about your activity level, frequency of eating, and whether you are experiencing health problems like depression, diabetes, and heart diseases.
Some other questions include “Has A Life Events Led To Weight Gain In The Last Few Years?” and “Why Are You Unsure About Hitting Your Weight Loss Goals?”.
Payment Options and App Downloading
The Noom application is available for both iOS and Android smartphones. Once you make the payment, it is time to install the application and sign in via your email address.
Get Help From Coaches and Get Your Personal Calorie Budget
The application asks you to finish 10-mini lessons in behavioral changes and psychology in 16 weeks. You can spend 5-15 minutes a day on the lessons per your preference. After two days, Noom will connect you to a goal coach who will check in with you regarding your progress and motivation to reach your desired fitness goals.
A few days into the app, you will get redirected to a peer group and group coach for practical post weight loss tips and individual concerns regarding the program. Your personalized diet plan comprises a daily calorie budget, the minimum amount of calories your body needs to function every day. Noom will require you to record your meals and routine physical activities. You can also commit to 2-10 minutes a day to read articles about mindful eating, positive thinking, and stress relief.
Apart from all this, the application comes with a step counter, so as long as you have your phone with you all day, it will tell you the total number of steps taken. You can also log your blood glucose level, blood pressure readings, and water intake. Even though Noom lasts for 16 weeks, you can pay for up to 12 months at a time for weight management and weight loss.
A Review of the Evidence, Effectiveness, and Research Into the Noom Application
Noom is an application that helps people self-monitor their desired fitness goals constantly. Many scientific studies have found that people who consistently and regularly record their dietary habits achieve more long-term weight loss goals. However, it is imperative to remember that self-monitoring your weight loss is a practice that loses its charm. The application has specific features to keep people motivated toward their personalized plan.
These features include access to a health-related social platform and health coach where the reader can openly discuss weight loss challenges and achievements with other users.
As far as the research into the application, many researchers have conducted studies regarding its overall effectiveness. According to these studies, 77% of people experience reduced body weight while using the application. In addition, diabetic patients, either obese or overweight, also experienced significant weight loss by the end of their diet. We will discuss four research studies in much detail later on.
Classification and Review of Foods You Can Eat on the Noom Diet
The best thing about this diet is that it does not prohibit any food items but motivates you towards options that are low in terms of calories and higher in terms of nutrition. The application has color-coded the foods into green, yellow, and red depending on their overall nutrition count to simplify your eating plan. You can still consume red-labeled foods in moderation, whereas the foods included in other groups have more convenient options on what a person can eat while on the Noom diet.
A Description of the Food Labels:
Green Label Foods
This category includes nutritious vegetables, for example, carrots, spinach, and broccoli. These vegetables get the green light for maximum consumption on the Noom diet. Apart from these items, this category also includes fruits like oranges, bananas, apples, berries, and tomatoes. Also, some non-fat dairy products like yogurt and grains like brown rice make the label.
Yellow Label Foods
You should consume these food items with caution and less frequently than green-labeled foods. Some examples are lean proteins like turkey breast, grilled chicken, and salmon. Some low-fat dairy goods, including cheeses, milk, and eggs, are also a part of the category. The diet also considers healthy fats like olives, avocado, and legumes like quinoa, beans, and chickpeas as a part of yellow-labeled foods.
Red Label Foods
Noom does not prohibit these food items entirely, but you must consume them with a minor frequency. Examples include processed meat, nut butter, sugar, and fried items.
A Cost Review of the Noom Diet
Noom grants a two-week introductory period for all users, after which you have to pay $150 for a 6-month subscription. You can enter your credit card information upfront to gain an entrée in the introductory period. However, while that accounts for $25 a month, you still have to pay a deposit of $150 in advance. Therefore, we recommend you set a calendar reminder to cancel your subscription at the end of two weeks if the app is not for you. Also, this will keep you from wasting your hard-earned money.
For more money, some add-on options are also available for the users. For example, you can get a customized workout plan, customized meal plan, and even weight loss and test for an extra fee. The prices for these services are somewhere between $80 – $100, but they vary for promotions and other times of the year.
As far as customer support, you will get daily encouragement and guidance from several coaches. Remember, they are not nutritionists but behavior-changing experts available at all times to support you on your weight loss journey.
A Review of the Noom Diet’s Benefits
Before going for a diet plan like Noom, you must consider the benefits and issues of the program. Some significant benefits of the diet plan are:
Positive Psychological Approach
The Noom diet works on the principle of cognitive-behavioral therapy. This method is a proven psychological tactic that helps people understand their behavior, feelings, and thoughts.
This type of therapy also helps identify feelings regarding fitness, wellness, and food. You get to know how such feelings can influence your thinking and turn those thoughts into action. By learning and understanding this relationship, you can take charge of your health to achieve your desired fitness goals.
Expert Health Coaches
All the coaches at Noom have to go through a 1-month training program to become experts in cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Consumption of Whole Foods
Once you follow the diet, you will feel no need to buy pre-made shakes, frozen food items, and protein bars. Instead, your focus becomes healthy eating. Healthy eating satisfies your taste buds and your body. The color labels also help you select nutrient-rich items without compromising your health.
Long Time Results
Thanks to Noom’s psychological approach, your lifestyle and habits change positively, which helps you lose weight in the long term. Instead of causing rapid weight loss in the first few weeks, the application helps you make a stable mindset around fitness and wellbeing.
All-In-One Program
Noom serves as a nutritionist, health coach, accountability companion, and personal trainer.
A Review of the Documented Noom Diet Issues
Expensive
The users pay a minimum of $59 a month. However, you can hire a nutrition or fitness coach to build a meal plan or workout program for $50 – $125 on fiver.com. Also, you can do your research or use free applications like MyFitnessPal. While the cost is not a burden for middle-class families, a budget person will struggle to pay this amount every month. If you can’t afford the program, we suggest trying it for a couple of months and taking good notes, screenshots, and recordings. Then, after you cancel, continue to follow the same principles, and you will get the same results for free.
No Face To Face Communication
Noom is not suitable for people who prefer face-to-face coaching. There is no in-person or video coaching involved. Instead, Noom provides everything through chat services, including conversations with the health coaches.
A Look Into the Reviews and Reputation of the Noom Diet?
Many people have lost significant weight while following the Noom diet. It isn’t easy, but it will be the most educational and exciting diet journey of your life. Of course, this application is not for everyone, especially those who do not want to be glued to their phone. Also, it is not for those who are on a tight budget or those who have experienced weight loss in the past. Still, it has worked for many people!
One of the many lessons you will learn from this diet plan is that everyone has an irrational and emotional side. By tapping into that analytical and controlled side, it becomes easier to get better results.
Here are some honest reviews of the Noom program, pulled from the Google Play App Store:
The Noom App on Google Play received a 4.4 rating out of 5 from 261,623 customers, a statistically appropriate sample size.
Here are some of the positive reviews of the Noom Application from satisfied customers:
- This app is an integral part of my weight loss process. The app can be a little glitchy, and it doesn’t sync with Samsung smartwatches (weird), but I have found a way around it. The app content is excellent. There are many ways to monitor changing your habits, and they aren’t pushy about anything. You log your weight, food/ calories/meals, snacks, exercise, steps, heart rate, etc. It makes it interesting to spend 10 minutes seeing the trends (especially the weight loss).
- Early days, but I like this approach to weight loss. For me, much preferable to real-life classes, which I hate. Noom consults you on how you want to approach things and sends daily stuff to help you make excellent choices. As a result, I don’t feel judged or preached at, despaired, or laughed at.
- Rather than simply counting calories, this app is a complete program that focuses on changing your eating habits. It includes very informative daily lessons and counts your steps and water intake. Since starting (less than two months ago), I have lost over 20 pounds! With the extra features, I have focused on drinking more water than soda (because who could ever give up soda completely?). I’ve also started eating planned meals to spread out my calories evenly throughout the day.
- Worth it. I have been thinking of trying this for a while. Nothing else has worked for me, and from the start, it’s easy to use and gives encouragement. The other programs I have used were lacking. It pairs perfectly with my Fitbit. I have learned a lot about food and what to eat. The significant part is it doesn’t limit me from eating the foods I love in moderation either.
- It takes a novel approach to weight management. It’s customizable to your needs and teaches you so much about hunger, foods, psychological reasons we eat, and when, what, and how much it teaches you on different levels. There are no “points” to count for purchasing pre-packaged meals—no “good foods vs. ‘bad’ foods” approach. Do not use an “all or nothing” approach. There is no shaming, dramatic unsustainable life-shifting expectations, just the support and tools needed to make healthy decisions.
Here are some of the negative reviews of the Noom Application from dissatisfied customers:
- I like this program. It helps me track food and gives great tips to keep going and stay motivated. But, I’m giving it one star because I’m having such a hard time with the app. Suddenly it is taking forever to input my food, not counting my steps or letting me count my water. I hope they can fix it. But, if this is how it will run for the rest of my weight loss journey, I will stop using it and cancel my subscription.
- As valuable as the program is, it’s let down by an app that constantly crashes and refuses to load! It makes for an exasperating experience, especially considering how much it costs. It would be helpful to have an option to type manually in weights when recording food rather than spinning a number’ carousel,’ plus I’d love to see some recipes in metric too. Last, the illustrations used throughout desperately need updating to be more diverse and inclusive. There’s no excuse in this day and age!
- The app is pretty unstable – it freezes and kicks me out, which is annoying because you have to be on it all the time. The step count takes too long to update. Some of the nutritional information is wrong, and the stuff you can don’t save wastes time every time you add it. Finally, I don’t think the service is all that good. Maybe I’m waiting to feel the love, but 5-6 weeks in, I’m left unimpressed by the price. Oh! And do not get the additional plans! So lacking.
- Meh. I like the psychological aspect of this app. However, the free two weeks were better. Once I paid for the two months, the narration ended. And the support group/person doesn’t exist. I have lost weight, so I’m not mad. The food logging is not nearly as good as My Fitness Pal. I probably won’t renew as I think there is a lot of false advertising with this app.
- Noom claims they help fit losing weight and feeling better about yourself into your schedule, or so I’ve heard. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to get a subscription because there isn’t a cost-friendly option. When I was looking into subscribing, I was EXTREMELY excited and motivated until I found out I had to spend $179 all at once. The site says, “$179 (which equals about $5.19 a week)” I’d be willing to pay $20 every two weeks to have this opportunity!! But poor people don’t get to feel good!!
Here Are Four Scientific Studies Regarding the Noom Program You Can Review:
Relationship Between Age and Weight Loss in Noom: Quasi-Experimental Study
The research goal was to analyze the engagement of middle-aged and older adults using a mobile lifestyle or diabetes prevention intervention.
A sample size of 14,767 adults (aged 35 to 85 years) received one of two curricula via Noom in a quasi-experimental study: the Noom Healthy Weight Program (HW) or the Noom-developed Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), recognized by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The key outcome measure was weight over time, observed at baseline and weeks 16 and 52.
Conclusion: Age and engagement are significant predictors of weight. Despite their engagement, older adults lost more weight using Noom than younger adults.
Adherence as a predictor of weight loss in a commonly used smartphone application
The research aimed to investigate adherence to weight loss interventions for individuals attempting to lose weight using smartphone applications.
Empirical data from a sample of 7633 overweight men and women using Noom, a smartphone-based behavioral weight loss program, were used to test the goal. The participants used the Noom application for three months. The average person lost 1.92 BMI points after using Noom for three months, and for every 10% increase in adherence, there was a decrease of 2.59 BMI points.
Conclusion: the results provide preliminary evidence suggesting that Noom application use is linked to significant short-term weight loss. Also, the results revealed the association between weight loss and adherence.
The research goal was to investigate the effectiveness of a smartphone app on weight reduction in obese or overweight individuals.
The study used empirical data from a complete enumeration study that used the clinical and logging data entered by Noom Coach app users between October 2012 and April 2014. A total of 35,921 participants were included in the analysis. From the sample, 77.9% reported a decrease in body weight while using the Noom app. Baseline BMI was men 30.2 ± 0.1 kg/m2 and women 28.0 ± 0.0 kg/m2. Among the participants, 22.7% reported a decrease of over 10% in weight loss than the baseline. A higher weight loss success rate in males (83.9 vs. 76.1%) resulted in final BMIs of 28.1 ± 0.1 kg/m2 for males and 26.5 ± 0.0 kg/m2 for females.
Conclusion: the clinical utility of a smartphone app was successful for weight reduction in most Noom app users, which was more significant for individuals who monitored their weight and diet more frequently.
AN INVESTIGATION OF DIET APPS FOR ENHANCING PEOPLE’S HEALTH AND WELLBEING
The research goal was to examine mobile diet apps in design for wellbeing.
Fifteen participants interested in healthy eating or weight loss for one week used three mobile diet apps. Researchers conducted a three-phased study to learn about the users’ before and after weight control preferences and the strengths and weaknesses of the diet control apps. In addition, users presented suggestions for improving weight control body monitoring apps to enhance people’s wellbeing. The three apps chosen for the study were MyFitnessPal, Noom Coach, and Calorie Count.
MyFitnessPal outperformed Noom Coach and Calorie Count in every mood and feeling category, according to the participants. However, Noom Coach outperformed Calorie Count in every mood and feeling category except motivation. The categories used for feeling and mood frequency were:
- social
- challenged
- surprised
- creative
- skillful
- self-confident
- satisfied
- curious
- focused
- engaged
- in control
- motivated
In addition, the study researched general assessments of the application. However, the results were mixed, similar to MyFitnessPal outperforming Noom Coach while Noom Coach outperformed the Calorie Count. MyFitnessPal outperformed in getting clear feedback, finding features quickly, and contentment with the awards and offerings. Noom Coach outperformed in using easily. Calorie Count outperformed in completing tasks quickly. MyFitnessPal and Calorie Count outperformed Noom Coach in the category of contentment about interface elements.
Conclusion: the study revealed several issues with the apps. The apps needed to develop positive feedback to achieve specific aims. Also, the manual food log and the unappealing social network connections were noticeable weaknesses. Finally, the personalized daily aims, nutritional information, and reminders for body monitoring were definite strengths. The study pointed out that MyFitnessPal, a cheaper app with a free version, provided a viable alternative to Noom. Although the Calorie Count lagged, it more than held its own against Noom as a viable alternative.
The Last Word on the Noom Diet
The scientific research data and anecdotal evidence support NOOM’s weight-loss claims. However, some users reported concerns about the application based on cost and technology. We suspect those who had technology issues used older devices or lacked the technological proficiency to master and troubleshoot hardware problems. Many customers shared the same technology and cost concerns in their reviews. Those who can not afford the membership fees probably used the older devices that presented the most issues while using the Noom application.
The data shows that adherence to the program is the key to success. If you do not have the time to follow the diet and prepare the desired healthy food options, the application is useless. Overall, it is a well-made application that can help you shed weight most healthily, but know that it will only work if you follow your advice and decide.
Before opting for the long-term commitment, make sure that you are mentally ready to learn healthy habits and make a realistic plan about your diet, health, and lifestyle. In the end, compliance and consistency trump bold claims and novel approaches. Thankfully, it is not a fad diet with many bizarre claims and recommendations. But if you are looking for extra support, encouragement, and motivation a coach brings, Noom is worth the investment. A more experienced dieter looking to save a few dollars or spend the dollars elsewhere should opt for MyFitnessPal. Those on a tight budget can find a viable alternative in MyFitnessPal. Also, using an intelligent device such as a breath meter can help you track your results better.
