What is the Noom diet?
The Noom Diet is an app based weight loss program. It uses habits and psychology to help behaviors so people lose weight and keep it off. Coaching is included as part of your monthly fee. Noom has been described as Weight Watchers for Millennial’s. Given that Weight Watchers is one of the most highly regarded weight loss programs out there, I’d say that’s a good thing. As the author of a blog about health and habits, the Noom diet seemed like a great thing to try out.
How does Noom work?
The whole Noom program happens on your phone. You download the app, enter your personal details and start your free trial. (Noom subscriptions start at $45 a month so I highly recommend doing a trial to see if it is right for you.) Noom sends you daily lessons through the app to help you learn about habits and the Noom approach to weight loss. From a nutritional perspective, Noom focus’s on “calorific density.” When you join Noom you are added to a group and assigned a coach. You get to post your answers to questions to the group and share your progress with the team. A Noom coach will contact you from time to time to see how you are doing.
Should you do the Noom diet?
The best diet is the one you stick to. I tried Noom for 3 months but in the end I decided it wasn’t right for me. The program seems well designed and on paper the way they integrated psychology and their own nutrition plan (which is really just another way to get you to eat a balanced diet in sensible portions) is good. Following an app based weight loss program didn’t really work for me. The lessons on habits weren’t written in a way that really resonated with me and my coach didn’t offer much in the way of practical advice. That being said, Noom is science based, it includes habit change and a balanced diet so it is definitely on the (short) list of diets I would suggest trying.