If you’re reading this, you’re likely in the market for a weight loss program. More specifically, you’re likely considering trying Noom, but want to be sure it’s the right fit for you.
It’s also likely that you’ve tried a diet or a few in the past. One poll found that the average person tries 126 fad diets over the course of their lifetime.
The more diets you try, the more time, money, and effort you invest—or should we say waste— because the sad truth is that most diets will fail you.
Fad diets don’t work.
So here you are, hoping to find the solution that will work once and for all.
Here at OnPoint Nutrition, we don’t believe in fad diets. Instead, we believe in finding a realistic, sustainable way of eating that allows you to reach your goals and become the healthiest version of yourself.
While our team of dietitians and nutritionists has helped over 3,000 people do just that, we know we aren’t the only reliable option. So is Noom a reliable approach?
In this article, we’ll discuss what Noom is, as well as the pros and cons of its weight loss program. Finally, we’ll give you the verdict on if in fact, Noom is a solid choice for you.
What Is Noom?
Noom is a digital health company that helps people live healthier, happier lives. It uses a combination of psychology, technology, and human coaching to help users achieve their personal health and wellness goals.
Noom integrates psychology, specifically cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), to help people build long-lasting, sustainable habits.
The Noom app technology is constantly updated to ensure it is up to date and effective.
Noom has thousands of trained coaches who help guide users along their health journey while providing support to achieve their goals.
Noom started as a weight management tool but has since expanded into a behavior change tool to help with chronic and non-chronic conditions including:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
Noom’s Program
The Noom weight loss program is designed to help users better understand their relationship with food, how to be more mindful of their habits, and provide the knowledge and support necessary for long-lasting change.
Noom offers a few features to facilitate these changes including:
- Daily tracking tools for food, exercise, and other goals
- Personalized daily lessons
- Individual and group coaching
Tracking Tools
Noom does not believe in good or bad foods and will not tell you what you can or cannot eat. Instead, it helps you make more informed food choices that fit into your lifestyle.
The goal of food tracking with Noom is to learn which foods help you feel full while staying in your daily calorie range.
Noom uses a color system for food to stress the importance of balance. Their colors include:
- Green foods include most vegetables, some fruits, and whole grains. These foods fill you up while keeping your calorie intake low.
- Yellow foods include lean meats, low-fat dairy, and legumes. These foods have more calories and fewer nutrients than green foods.
- Red foods include red meats, processed foods, and full-fat cheese. These foods are the most calorie dense with the fewest nutrients.
Noom stresses that no foods are off-limits. Instead, it gives you a suggested daily allotment for total intake and for each color of food and guides you to strike a balance between them.
Noom also offers daily weight tracking so you can keep track of your progress regularly. Additionally, you can track your exercise, water intake, glucose levels, and blood pressure within the Noom app.
Daily Lessons
Noom provides daily, bite-size lessons that are personalized, fun, and easy to follow. Lessons range from 5-15 minutes, and as a user, you determine how much time you spend on each lesson, which helps Noom easily fit into your schedule.
The goal of the lessons is to provide insight into the root cause of your eating habits and behaviors.
The Price
Noom offers a tiered pricing plan where the longer your commitment, the lower your price per month is.
Noom’s current pricing is:
- 1-month auto-renewing plan: $60
- 2-month auto-renewing plan: $119
- 3-month auto-renewing plan: $149
- 4-month auto-renewing plan: $159
- 5-month auto-renewing plan: $164
- 6-month auto-renewing plan: $169
- 7-month auto-renewing plan: $174
- 8-month auto-renewing plan: $179
- 9-month auto-renewing plan: $185
- 10-month auto-renewing plan: $189
- 11-month auto-renewing plan: $195
- 1-year auto-renewing plan: $199
Their most popular plan for new users is the 4-month subscription, which costs $39.75 per month, but is billed up-front for a total of $159 at sign-up.
Continue Learning: How Much Do Personalized Nutrition Programs Cost?
Pros and Cons of Noom
Like every weight loss program, there are some positives and some negatives with Noom. To help you better assess if it’s the right program for you, we’ll discuss some of these.
Pros
Simple System
The red, yellow, and green system simplifies eating and takes some of the focus off of simply counting calories.
The focus on nutrient density also helps users prioritize foods that will give them the nutrients they need daily.
Focus On Behavior Change
Noom’s focus on identifying the root cause of your behaviors and changing your eating behaviors over time will help build healthy, sustainable habits in the long run.
Cons
Low-Calorie Recommendations
When setting up the program, users take a quiz to estimate their daily calorie needs. This goal is based on age, height, weight gender, and other lifestyle factors.
Each individual’s weight loss goal is also taken into account when determining their daily calorie goal. However, Noom will recommend calorie intakes as low as 1,200 calories per day, which is considered to be a very restricted daily intake.
Some Red Foods Are Healthy
The color system is based on both nutrient and calorie density but seems to allow calories to take precedent.
Nuts and nut butters are nutrient-dense foods, but high in healthy fats, which makes them high in calories.
These foods are marked as red foods and users are suggested to limit them although most nutrition coaches would consider them healthy foods to include in your diet.
Significant Drop in Human Coaches
They have dropped about 70% of their live coaches in 2022. They are transitioning into an AI driven model rather than speaking with a person, which may be prone to errors.
Overall Impression of Noom’s Weight Loss Program
Noom has a lot of great features. Their simple tracking system is great for users who are motivated to track their food daily. Their focus on behavior change can create meaningful shifts in users' lives. Their coaching feature allows the experience to be more personalized to each individual user.
However, with fairly strict calorie goals, and the suggestion to limit some foods that are generally considered to be healthy, it may be too restrictive for anyone who suffers from disordered eating or a poor relationship with food.
While Noom isn’t a fad diet and doesn’t suggest removing any food from your diet, their focus on calories and limiting foods does err more to the side of a diet than a non-diet approach.
Is OnPoint Nutrition The Nutrition Coaching Service For You?
While Noom may be a great fit for some individuals looking for nutrition coaching, we truly believe in the effectiveness of our non-diet approach to holistic nutrition counseling.
Our team of highly qualified dietitians and nutritionists personally develops a nutrition plan for each individual who joins our program. Whether you are looking for weight loss, to manage your IBS, to have a healthy pregnancy, or to eat more intuitively, we are there to personally walk you through each and every step of your journey.
We truly take an all-foods fit mentality and work with your tastes and preferences to design a nutrition plan and build healthy habits that work for you.
If this has you interested and ready to take the next step, learn more about our nutrition coaching programs and schedule a free consultation to take the first step toward your goals.
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