Noom Review: Is Noom Worth It?

I recently finished 5 months with Noom. Why did I choose Noom, how did Noom work for me and how did Noom compare to weight watchers? Let’s dive deep into this program to find out if it’s for you.

As a note this is not an affiliate or sponsored post AT ALL. I want you to choose what’s best for you after reading my opinion of Noom and how it works. I don’t have an affiliate link and I was in NO WAY paid to write this, and I plunked down my own cash to try it out.

Using Noom For Five Months

Why I Chose Noom

After 6 months in the pandemic I was floundering. I was eating a lot of Starburst jelly beans, and cherry Twizzlers, and I wasn’t feeling so great. I was looking at a few options and I ultimately chose the Noom app.

• I like that it had a support group, so I could have other support me
• I liked that it was all done online, helped with the pandemic
• I liked the idea of a coach to help me stay on track.

I did talk with a few friends who had done it, and they had decent experiences. That encouraged me to give it a whirl, but also made me not get my hopes up – -beacuse they said that aspects of it weren’t that great (mainly the coach and the group support).

When you sign up for it, they offer you it at 50% off or something like that for the amount of time they think it will take you to lose the weight.

I had about 70 pounds to lose, I signed up in late August and they said my goal day was mid May.

How Noom Works

Good news, you can sign up for Noom and read some of their articles for free. Once you pay you get the additional support of a coach and a support group.

There are six pillars of Noom:

Daily Articles

Each day you’re given around 4 articles to read. Some have you write something, or take a quiz or post in the group. Some are just some reading. Most of them center around healthy eating and healthy habits. Buuut…. about 4 months in the articles started to wander, more on that later.

Daily Weigh-Ins

They encourage you to track your weight daily. This does help you see how what you did yesterday affects today. That being said some of it also varies due to the time of the month or how hydrated you are, but I think daily weigh-ins can be a good thing.

Daily Step Tracker

They encourage you to move more with their activity tracking, and I ultimately didn’t find their step tracker that encouraging, although I have started walking much more during my time on Noom, so that’s a win.

Food Tracker

They encourage you to track your food and each food is given a color. You’re supposed to eat more green and yellow healthy food (and less red varieties).

The calorie counts are completely useless and My Fitness Pal does a lot better for calorie counting. It was somewhat helpful to aim for more green foods, but ultimately I didn’t track long because I wasn’t losing weight tracking (and it was really hard to see if I was really staying in the calorie limits because their #’s were so random — and often off).

Your “Coach”

You’re assigned a coach who checks in with you weekly. In general they just repeat back to you what they hear you saying. “So, you say tracking isn’t helping you lose weight, why is that?”…. “So, you say you’re obsessing over calories, why is that?”

Zero help. When I’d say I was frustrated with things, they didn’t really give input or help… just more of “Why do you think you feel that way?” Not a good way to help me.

Your Support Group

I posted a few times in there, but I really didn’t find it helpful. Maybe if I had engaged more I would have liked it. However, they keep combining your group with other groups as people leave, so it’s hard to build relationships or friendships with anyone.

My Results with Noom

My results just circled the same number I had been at. It never really changed. I never got to the lower 2nd digit like I was really hoping to. It just kept the same.

In five months my average weight was exactly where I started.

What did I Learn from Noom

Noom did spark a lot of good ideas:

• It wasn’t just willpower that was going to change this
• Our weight is based off a series of choices, and we can make good and bad choices — it all depends on how it balances out
• We CAN make a change (I think we often get stuck in a rut, and Noom was a good cheerleader for a bit).

Why I Left Noom

Around month four I just started to feel like the articles and the things I was learning were circling the same things.

Then, one day they told me they’d just ask for weigh in’s weekly (they do daily weigh in’s in the app) and we’d have less reading because we’d been doing it so long, so we were able to cope better on our own.

And then the next day, it asked for my weight and articles were the same, and….. same for the next day, and the next, and the next. Two weeks later, Noom told me I’d done it so long they were only going to ask for my weight weekly, and articles would be less because I’d been doing it so long {are you sensing where this is going}… and then the next day they asked for my weight, and articles were the same…. same for the next day, and the next….

And I talked to my coach about it — and she just told me “huh, that’s weird, you must’ve read it wrong — so I re-read it. And then when it came up again I told her, and she said — yeah, I did go back in your history and see that. “Why do you feel like you only need weekly weigh ins?”

Ultimately, I felt like even Noom wasn’t taking Noom’s own advice, and they really only had 4 months worth of content.

Also, I started to feel like the articles treated me like I couldn’t make decisions in my entire life, or was just a complete social basket case because I had an issue with weight. I felt like that was unfair and unwarranted, and I wanted more advice on EATING not making decisions about my job.

I was pretty mad that I’d paid this money and I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to cancel, but I wrote into their support line and they promptly refunded about $50 of my original (just the portion I hadn’t used) which I thought was very fair. No fighting, just a refund. So, there’s that.

Which is Better Noom or Weight Watchers

I did WW while I was trying to get pregnant with baby #3 (so, like 2008). I liked it, but mostly because I went with a friend and the coach was really great — very inspiring. I did become obsessed with points, and I hated how they plugged their one point bars that seemed to made from complete crap.

Their point system is somewhat easier than counting calories, but if you do either for a good period of time, they become pretty easy.

Hat tip to Weight Watchers on this one though, at least their support staff has ideas for you, vs “why do you think you’re so fat?” robot coaches. 🙂

Noom Free Alternative

If you’re looking to just track, I’d totally try My Fitness Pal.

If you’re looking for support I’d look into a coach or something, or possibly just a group of friends (or a spouse) that wants to help each other.

I should say that I tried a weight loss coach about 2 years ago and she ghosted me, after taking my money, obviously. She was considered an “accountability coach” Who ghosted me. Nice.

Don’t worry I tracked her down, and when confronted she told me that it was just to hard for her to coach someone who wouldn’t buy her shakes or go Keto. #perfect

I also had a dietician through my healthshare for a couple of years, and I ended-up gaining a bit of weight with her. Also, talking to her about my weight made me very stressed out, and ultimately not very helpful either.

Ultimately I think it’s a good idea. I’d like to look into a magazine or something that has similar articles on food addiction that I could peruse at my leisure, but Noom is NOT made for long-term weight loss. They just aren’t robust enough, in my opinion.

I honestly think that signing up for the app for a week or even up to a month might be a good investment. They do have a lot of good ideas on healthy habits and making choices, but cancel after that. Don’t go long term.

Right now I’m looking into food addiction books, but I am also open to what anyone else has to say.

In the end, I believe my body can help me lose weight if I get out of its way. I am a 100% member of the clean plate club and I know that’s not helping me at all. I need to re-train my brain into new, healthier habits — and that, frankly — is on me.