Noom Diet Review: Pros, Cons And How It Works What if the best diet isn’t a diet at all? What if the diet game changer is actually a psychology-based mobile app? That’s the daring promise by Noom—an app that encourages daily behavioral changes for long-term weight loss. I tried it for four weeks, not knowing colored-coded food and a daily dive into the psychology of eating would help me lose 7 pounds and teach me how to ride an elephant (more on that later).
What if the best diet isn’t a diet at all? What if the diet game-changer is
actually a psychology-based mobile app?
That’s the daring promise by Noom—an app that encourages daily behavioral
changes for long-term weight loss. I tried it for four weeks, not knowing
colored-coded food and a daily dive into the psychology of eating would help
me lose 7 pounds and teach me how to ride an elephant (more on that later).
Here’s everything you need to know about Noom—and whether the program
might be a good fit for you.
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Transcript
Noom Diet Review: Pros, Cons AndHow It Works
What if the best diet isn’t a diet at all? What if the diet game changer is
actually a psychology-based mobile app?
That’s the daring promise by Noom—an app that encourages daily behavioral
changes for long-term weight loss. I tried it for four weeks, not knowing
colored-coded food and a daily dive into the psychology of eating would help
me lose 7 pounds and teach me how to ride an elephant (more on that later).
Here’s everything you need to know about Noom—and whether the program
might be a good fit for you.
What Is the Noom Diet—and How Does it Work?
Let’s lose the word diet for a second. Unlike a traditional diet, Noom is a
mobile health app subscription service that encourages people to make
behavioral changes to live healthier.
Noom isn’t new. It actually debuted in 2008 as a simple fitness and calorie
tracker. But by 2016, the app had added a psychology and behavioral change
component, user support groups and personal coaches.
Noom boasts a team of behavioral health experts who’ve researched
oncology, diabetes prevention and management, hypertension and more to
design a curriculum that gets at the cause of weight loss struggles. Noom
dieters learn to focus on their mindset before they focus on meals. The app’s
philosophy is, “once you determine the things you’re ready to work on, your
mindset will help you form new neural connections over time to change your
habits.”
Today, losing weight the Noom way means examining eating behaviors,
managing emotions related to food, practicing accountability and making
lifestyle changes that can result in sustained weight loss.
How Does Noom Work?
Getting started with the Noom diet plan involves answering questions no diet
plan has ever asked me before.
1. Take a quiz for a customized plan.
The first step in the program is a 10-minute online quiz that asks typical
questions about your height, weight, gender, age and why you want to lose
weight. It also asks how active you are, how often you eat and whether you’re
at risk for certain health issues like diabetes, heart disease and depression.
Then questions like, “Have any life events led to weight gain in the last few
years?” and, “Why are you uncertain about hitting your weight loss goals?”
pop up to assess habits and behaviors.
2. Pay, then download the app to your smartphone and create a log-in.
Once you’ve decided to join the program and paid the fee, you must download
the Noom app. It’s currently only available on IOS (12.4 or later) and Android
(version 6 or later) smartphones. You can use it on iPad and Android tablets,
but the functionality will be limited because tablets don’t typically come with
motion sensors (Noom has a step counter). After you’ve installed the app,
you’ll be asked to sign in using the email address you used to join the
program.
3. Meet your coaches, commit to lessons and get your calorie budget.
Noom asks you to complete 10 mini-lessons in psychology and behavioral
change in 16 weeks. You decide immediately if you want to spend a minimum
of five minutes to a maximum of 16 minutes a day on the lessons. About two
days in, you’ll be connected with a goal coach who will personally reach out
about twice a week to check in, ask about your progress and send
motivational messages.
A few more days into the program, you’ll be assigned a group coach and a
peer group. The group coach moderates the peer group chat, posts weight
loss tips and sometimes responds to individual posts. Both the goal coach
and the group coach are trained in all things Noom and hold either a
bachelor’s or associate’s degree, plus 2,000 hours of wellness experience.
Your calorie restrictions are based your information. For some obese and
pre-diabetic people, Noom might recommend its diabetes prevention
program—the first mobile health program to be recognized by the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) for delivering an evidence-based type 2 diabetes