What is Noom? Everything you need to know

Calorie-tracking apps may seem like a dime-a-dozen, but a few picks stand out from the crowd. Noom is one of the elite. With a commitment to helping users change their behavior, (not just bar off favorite foods), Noom offers a psychological approach to managing your diet. Find out everything you need to know about the app and see whether a Noom diet plan is right for you.

What is Noom?

Noom touts itself as a calorie-counting app that offers a more holistic approach to weight loss. In reality, the app offers personalized guidance to help users focus on the psychology of their goals and habits, rather than the numbers game. With a concentrated emphasis on behavioral change, Noom stresses the importance of long-term, sustainable change. The app offers instruction from certified wellness coaches, detailed mini-lessons, and a unique system of categorizing foods and calories.

How does Noom work?

At baseline, Noom is a diet management tool. The app offers food and nutrition tracking, weight-related goal setting, progress feedback, and professional guidance. Users will also find healthy recipes, educational resources, and tons of community support. You can even sync Noom to your Apple Watch or add it to your Fitbit account to pair the app’s potential with your go-to wearable. However, what really sets Noom apart is its psychological component.

• Personalized plans: The first step to using Noom is to take a lengthy quiz about your habits, goals, hurdles, and physical activity. You’ll be asked to examine questions like “What life events have led you to gain weight?” You will also get some easier questions like your age, weight, and gender. The quiz takes about ten full minutes and is used to create a personalized plan to help you best achieve your weight loss goals. Each plan includes a daily calorie budget as well as guidance and tailored content. Though the plans are typically 16 weeks, the suggested program length will vary based on the amount of weight you want to lose. 
  
• Color-coded calorie tracking: Unlike a typical calorie tracker, Noom categorizes foods to help users better understand their diet and the foods they eat. The idea behind the system is to focus on balance rather than impose restrictions. Noom groups foods into three color categories. 
  • Green foods are the least calorically dense and consist of items like fruits and veggies.
  • Yellow foods include foods like eggs and lean proteins.
  • Orange foods have the highest density of calories and include items like cheese, nuts, and sweets.
• Emphasized educational content (and coaching!): Integrated into your personalized plan is focused education about the psychology of healthy eating. Noom aims to help users build healthy relationships with food and learn habits that are sustainable long-term. It requires each user to complete 10 mini-lessons in behavioral change and connects you with a goals coach. This wellness professional personally keeps tabs on your progress, offering motivation and feedback. Each user is also assigned a group coach and peer group to connect with other users and share tips, experiences, and encouragement.

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How much does Noom cost?

The price of Noom’s service is as personalized as its weight loss program. Rather than a standard fee, the app quotes users custom pricing based on their diet plan. As mentioned, Noom requires you to complete a detailed survey about your habits and goals during sign up. Based on your answers, (including how much weight you hope to lose), Noom creates an action plan. The length of this plan varies by user and as such, so does the price. A plan can cost as much as $59.99 per month. Fortunately, Noom frequently offers free trials as well as discounts for longer memberships.

What can you eat on Noom?

A Noom diet does not include any specific foods restrictions. The app is all about balance, moderation, and making healthy choices. That means no cheat days or slip-ups because, well, nothing is off-limits. In other words, you can eat whatever you want as long as you are mindful and balance your diet overall.

Does Noom really work?

Weight loss apps are far from one-size-fits-all. What works for some individuals may not work for others. In our calorie-counting apps comparison, we cover the basics of some of the most popular apps available, including MyFitnesPal, WW, and Lose it, and each has its own unique strengths.

That said, Noom is an award-winning app with tons of successful users. The behavioral psychology component of Noom’s diet program offers real, long-term results.

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