Noom Diet: Permanent Solution to Life-long Weight Loss

Anyone who has attempted to lose weight is aware that it is easier said than done. 

That is why so many individuals attempt so many different diets in an effort to find a permanent weight loss solution. 

However, Noom, a subscription-based software and coaching platform, employs behavioral science to assist people in tracking their dietary consumption and exercise routines in order to lose weight and enhance their health.

Most certainly, you’ve heard of Noom and are wondering what it is and whether it’s good for you. 

Read on to learn more about how Noom functions, what you can and cannot eat, whether it is healthy or not, and the benefits and drawbacks of this well-known weight-loss app from certified dietitians.

The Noom Diet: What Is It?

The Noom diet is a well-known, psychologically motivated weight loss plan. 

It differs from the conventional diet regimen. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy, a talk therapy utilized in clinical psychology settings, serves as the foundation for Noom’s digital weight loss program.

There are no forbidden foods or set dining hours. 

Consider Noom as more of a whole lifestyle change that emphasizes stress management, regular exercise, good food, and improved sleep hygiene.

Since maintaining a healthy weight requires a balanced diet, nutrition plays a significant role in the Noom weight loss program. 

The Noom app offers ongoing assistance from licensed health coaches and is a useful tool for measuring progress.

Foods are labeled as green, yellow, or red by Noom depending on their nutritional richness and how frequently you should consume them.

How does Noom Diet function?

On the corporate website, it is said that learning is the focus of Noom rather than dieting. 

The program’s objective is to provide participants with the knowledge and self-awareness they need to transform their weight and health for good.

Because it focuses as much on why people eat as it does on what they eat, the Noom approach to weight loss is uncommon for a diet plan. Noom has two essential components:

A color-coded method for categorizing foods into three groups based on the concept of caloric density, with an emphasis on modifying diet and behavior via education and online coaching

The Noom platform promotes the development of healthy behaviors and long-term weight loss.

It accomplishes this by offering users a customized “course” of articles and resources based on their responses to an online survey.

How Does the Noom Diet App Work?

I have to respond to questions that no diet plan has ever asked me before in order to begin the Noom diet plan.

1. Complete a survey to get a personalized plan.

The program starts with a 10-minute online survey that includes standard inquiries about your height, weight, gender, age, and reasons for wanting to reduce weight. 

It also inquires about your level of activity, how frequently you eat, and whether you have a history of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, or depression.

Then, inquiries such, as “Have any recent life circumstances contributed to weight gain?” and 

“Why do you think you won’t achieve your weight loss targets?” seem to evaluate habits and actions.

2. After making a payment, download the app on your smartphone and set up an account.

You must download the Noom app after making the decision to enroll in the program and pay the required cost. 

Only devices running Android version 6 or later and iOS 12.4 are presently compatible. 

Because tablets normally don’t come with motion sensors, you can use them with iPad and Android tablets, but the user will be constrained (Noom has a step counter). 

You’ll be prompted to sign in with the email address you used to sign up for the program after you’ve installed the app.

3. Get your calorie budget, meet your trainers, and commit to classes.

You have 16 weeks to finish Noom’s 10 mini-lessons on psychology and behavior transformation.

You select right away if you want to devote no more than five minutes per day to the classes or as much time as 16 minutes per day. 

You’ll be put in touch with a goal coach around day two, and they’ll personally check in with you twice a week to see how you’re doing and to give encouragement.

You’ll be allocated a peer group and a group coach a few more days into the program. 

The group coach oversees the peer group chat, provides weight reduction advice, and occasionally answers specific postings. Both the goal coach and the group coach have undergone extensive Noom training, possess a bachelor’s or associate’s degree, and have logged 2,000 hours in the wellness industry.

Your calorie limitations are determined by the data you have.

Noom’s diabetes prevention program—the first mobile health program accredited by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for offering an evidence-based type 2 diabetes prevention program—might be recommended for some obese and pre-diabetic persons.

Your tailored plan asks you to record your daily meals and physical activity as well as assigning a daily calorie budget (the minimal number of calories you require to operate each day). 

You may also choose if you want to set aside two to ten minutes each day to read brief articles on stress management, mindful eating, and optimistic thinking.

In addition to all of this, Noom offers a step counter, allowing you to track your daily steps as long as your phone is with you at all times.

The app encourages you to track your daily water consumption, blood glucose levels, and blood pressure measurements.

The Noom plan is intended to last 16 weeks, but for weight reduction and maintenance, you are recommended to purchase up to twelve months at a time. 

My calorie allowance for a period of 16 weeks was 1,250 calories per day in order to reach my 12-pound weight loss target. 

The app informed me of how many calories I had left in each food category for the day when I entered my food intake. 

When I over my calorie allowance, there was no reprimand; instead, I just received motivating remarks to stick with the program and lessons to aid me in analyzing what precipitated my poor eating day (or week).

Pros and Cons of the Noom Diet in a Nutshell

Pros

• Employs a straightforward color-coded system to highlight meals with low-calorie density, but doesn’t fully exclude any foods or food categories. 
• Encourages behavioral adjustments. 
• Offers assistance from a virtual coaching team.
• It makes it simple to modify objectives to suit individual requirements and tastes.

Cons

• Relatively pricey 
• Emphasizes weight reduction rather than whole-body wellness
• Only provides virtual coaching; calls for a smartphone or tablet
• Suggests low-calorie intake, which may not be suited for everyone; involves time-consuming and tedious meal logging;

Is Noom Diet Beneficial to You?

To decide if Noom is a good choice for you, many criteria need to be taken into account. 

For instance, research on Noom’s effectiveness in assisting people in losing weight and maintaining it over time was published in Scientific Reports in 2016. 

Researchers gathered information from 35,921 users who downloaded the app between 2012 and 2014, and they discovered that 78% of users reported losing weight while using Noom.

While Noom can benefit you in the short term by encouraging you to adopt mindful eating techniques and adjust your eating habits, some experts advise against utilizing apps for weight reduction like Noom. 

Labeling items in any manner or following a rigorous diet plan are not good habits.

According to Sarah Schlichter, M.P.H., RD, a registered dietician at Bucket List Tummy, most people who utilize weight-loss programs or apps end up undereating and damaging their connection with food. 

“We take the delight out of eating when we regard food as ‘calories,’ ‘orange, yellow, or green,’ or ‘good or evil.'”

The evidence supports Schlichter’s claim. Numerous studies have connected eating pleasure to improved nutritional status, healthier food selections, improved quality of life, and decreased rates of depression. 

One such study was a comprehensive review that was published in PLOS One in 2020. 

Unfortunately, reliance on diet apps and calorie-counting meal plans can reduce the enjoyment of eating, resulting in a bad connection with food and increased stress related to dieting in the long run.

Noom does have advantages and disadvantages, though, just like any diet and weight-loss plan.

Noom Diet Health Benefits

Benefits might include a reduced risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions because Noom’s diet is high in fruits and vegetables and low in processed foods.

Inflammation

The Noom program may have anti-inflammatory benefits for the body, however, this is uncertain.

A small randomized controlled research from Iran revealed evidence to support the positive impacts of a low-calorie-dense diet that is rich in a variety of healthful foods on reducing inflammation and lowering cardiovascular risk factors as well as weight loss maintenance.

Heart Condition

The guidelines for a heart-healthy diet made by nutritionists and the medical profession are mostly consistent with Noom.

The best method to control cholesterol and blood pressure is to consume a diet that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, and whole grains while limiting saturated fats and sodium.

However, salt reduction is not specifically addressed in the plan. The app allows you to keep track of blood pressure measurements.

The impact of a low-calorie-dense diet on lowering cardiovascular risks after recent weight reduction was examined in a short research that was published in 2016. 

Seventy participants’ blood levels of total cholesterol and (bad) LDL cholesterol were decreased by those following the low-calorie-dense diet.

Diabetes

Noom could be able to assist manage or prevent diabetes. 

Losing weight can reduce your chances of developing Type 2 diabetes if you are obese or overweight.

You can lower your long-term blood glucose levels by eating a balanced diet low in sugary foods.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventive maintain a nationwide register of approved diabetes prevention programs, and Noom is one of them.

The risk of getting Type 2 diabetes was 24% greater for women who consumed diets higher in calorie density compared to individuals who followed a low-energy-density diet in research that tracked more than 143,000 women for almost 12 years.

Adults on low-calorie diets had lower fasting insulin levels than those on diets heavy in high-calorie items, according to another study. 

According to experts, low-calorie diets may help reduce insulin resistance, a typical precursor to Type 2 diabetes.

Mental Health

No randomized controlled trials or research have connected Noom to good brain health.

The Health of Bones and Joints

Noom and the health of the bones and joints have not been linked in any randomized controlled trials or research.

Noom Diet Health Risks

Possible food obsession brought on by meal planning.

The potential for shame and body dissatisfaction from frequent weigh-ins.

might cause vulnerable individuals to begin eating disorderedly.

There have been no complaints of any significant hazards or adverse effects from following Noom. 

At first, Noom advised people to consume a minimum of 1,200 calories for women and 1,400 calories for men per day. 

Since then, Noom has boosted those minimums by 10%, making the daily minimum objective for women 1,320 calories and for men 1,540 calories. 

Adults 18 and older are only permitted to use Noom.

Noom’s usage of a traffic-light system to signify eating more green and fewer red meals is, however, a significant concern. 

It can be challenging for people to separate the (later) relationship between this and a good food/bad food guide from calorie-density guidance. 

When a moral value is placed on food, it can result in an unhealthy connection with food and even cause disordered eating.

Additionally, even though tracking behaviors might be useful, not everyone can use them. 

When keeping track of their intake, some people get distracted by thoughts of food, and frequent weigh-ins can make some people feel ashamed and unsatisfied with their bodies. 

Therefore, it’s critical to understand who you are and if Noom’s tools and cues will trigger you.

What Food Is Available on Noom Diet?

Noom doesn’t explicitly state which meals are forbidden, but the firm employs green, yellow, and orange color coding to indicate which foods may aid or hinder your efforts to lose weight.

In a perfect world, around 30% of your daily diet should be composed of green foods, 45% of your diet should be composed of yellow foods, and 25% of your diet should be composed of orange foods.

The least calorically dense and greatest in healthful nutrients are green foods, such as fruits and vegetables. 

Even while yellow foods like meat and dairy have higher calories, they are nevertheless generally healthy. 

The most calorie-dense and least nutrient-dense foods are those that are orange, such as processed meals and sweets.

Examples of green foods include the following:

• Peppers
• Berries
• Egg whites
• Quinoa
• Spinach
• Whole
• Apples
• Bananas
• Non-fat dairy products
• -grain bread

Foods that are considered yellow include the following:

• Salmon
• Whole eggs
• Avocado
• Beans
• Black beans
• Chicken

Orange foods include things like:

• Nuts
• Nut butter
• Olive oil
• Seeds
• Beef
• Burgers
• Cakes
• French fries
• Full-fat dairy

The Last Word

Noom is useful if you’re familiar with utilizing applications. Everything is on your phone.

A lifestyle-based approach is Noom. 

It assists you in determining what has previously prevented you from reducing weight so that you can actually make adjustments. 

Therefore, losing weight for a specific occasion and then returning to “normal” are not the goals here.

Noom strives to improve your overall eating habits. It takes work to achieve that, whether you use an app, a physical diary, or a real-world support group.

You must, of course, take responsibility. 

Lying to the app about your diet or exercise habits won’t help you lose weight.