Does Noom work for weight loss?

[Anonymous]

I'm looking into trying it, so is DH. Has anyone else given it a shot?

[Anonymous]

It’s gimmicky. Just eat at a deficit and move your body consistently.

[Anonymous]

I had success with it last year, lapsed, and am trying again. It's just another way to motivate you to eat better and move more: if it motivates you then it works. There is a coach who pings you when you don't sign on, which helps.

I'm on the fence about how they code food. They use a color system and try to do the no bad foods, eat till you're satisfied thing. I think that's healthy but if you are trying to lose significant weight you may need a stricter approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had success with it last year, lapsed, and am trying again. It's just another way to motivate you to eat better and move more: if it motivates you then it works. There is a coach who pings you when you don't sign on, which helps.

I'm on the fence about how they code food. They use a color system and try to do the no bad foods, eat till you're satisfied thing. I think that's healthy but if you are trying to lose significant weight you may need a stricter approach.

I prefer MyFitnessPal for tracking food. It’ll even track macros if you’re going that route.

I agree, unless it’s green vegetables, you need to be tracking your food for calories.

[Anonymous]

I have nothing to compare it to because I haven't used any other weight loss tools/programs other than Noom. That said, I've been using it for the past couple of months and it's been helpful; I've lost more weight than I thought I would/could and am feeling like I've really accomplished something. It's definitely not a perfect product and I agree, the calorie calculator is often inaccurate, but generally I like it. I can definitely see where it wouldn't be a fit for every personality type; it's probably worth doing the free trial to see if you like it enough to keep paying for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking into trying it, so is DH. Has anyone else given it a shot?

I did the free trial. Given that it’s the time they should be most helpful to win a sale, I would say it’s abysmally bad. All weight loss ads are fake but every time I see a Noom ad I just laugh.

YMMV

[Anonymous]

I really like it. On my 3rd week. I've lost 8 pounds. I used to love WW, but this is working better for me. I don't actually find it gimmicky. It has really helped me think about the food that I am eating and why.

[Anonymous]

I’ve subscribed to Noom twice. Neither time was I ever actually added to a group or given a coach. I have found that MFP has better/larger food and exercise databases. I’m a social worker and I found the written material to be pretty basic CBT skills applied to diet and fitness.

Both times I used Noom, I was able to lose weight. The first time as fall 2019 and I gained all the weight back during quarantine last year. I started using Noom again last fall and lost 26 pounds. I liked that it was a naggy daily reminder. I was less thrilled that I paid for a service I never received.

[Anonymous]

I tried it but hated all the personal contact from my coach or whatever their title was. Not my style to talk about my challenges with a total stranger. I like loseit for tracking things.

[Anonymous]

I loved it. I lost 20 pounds in 3-4 months. There are a few threads in diet/exercise. It's corny at times, but it helped me address some bigger issues about my eating habits. I liked how the weight loss predictor helped keep me on track. It's more than just a food log - the food log is the worst part IMO. But it helped me learn what was good and what was bad and how much to eat of each. It helped me recognize when to stop eating. I also tried MFP and didn't like it. WW is okay but it's really just a food log. Noom is more than both of them.

[Anonymous]

I'm on it and ike others said, it really depends on what you need. If you simply need a calorie counter, you're probably better off with MFP. But for someone like me, the daily little reminders or articles are a good reminder to be mindful of what I'm eating.

My DH pointed something out about the inaccurate calorie counter part. I have a substantial amount of weight to lose so obviously, I was eating thousands of calories. When I told him the calories were off, he pointed out that because I was going from eating 2500 or 3000 calories a day (or whatever I was eating) to a much lower amount, a few hundred calories here or there isn't going to matter. It just matters that I'm being mindful and staying in the lower calorie range.

[Anonymous]

Ive been using it for about 2 months and have lost about 9 lbs. I am quite happy with it. Yes, there are some dumb things like cheesy things they ask you to read or write to yourself (e.g. what's your TRUE motivation behind wanting to lose weight) or strange "coach" person sending you random inspirational messages. But, all in all, I am happy because I am in fact losing weight and that is what matters to me!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, my sister tried it and lost a bunch of weight.

[Anonymous]

At 1,200 calories of course you're going to lose weight ~ no magic there

[Anonymous]

I’m currently doing Noom. What I like about it is that while it recognizes that calories are calories, it also gets you to see food in various ways. They have three types of food- green, yellow, and red. The green foods are the whole grains, more whole foods, etc. Reds are the calorie-dense foods, etc. You have a set number of daily calories and then your food log will analyze your meals to see if you’re eating enough green foods or too many red.

I like the articles that really delve into the psychology and biology of eating; it’s helpful to understand the science behind weight loss. Ideally you’d read about 9 mins of articles a day, but I often skip them.

What I don’t like is the food log (though that’s the same about any tracker I’ve tried), especially as I feel the actual functions of it are a pain in the ass. For instance, if I’m creating a recipe, I can’t scan a package for the nutritional info, even though you can scan it if you were just adding an item to your food log. You have to manually look up the item and then try to duplicate it as best as possible with a different item if it’s not in their database. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I find it super cumbersome and annoying.