Noom App
I love the Noom app! Fair warning: It’s kind of pricey for an app. But honestly, I think having to pay for this is what helped me stick with it. If the app were free, I would have been more likely to abandon it.
But the feature I love most that makes it different from other weight loss apps is it educates you on the psychology of weight loss.
Each day, it requires you to log in to the app and complete 3 things:
- Weigh in
- Take a quiz / do a lesson
- Log your food and exercise
That’s it! I loved the lessons because it made me so aware of the ways I would sabotage my progress.
It has a built-in step counter to make tracking movement easier. Positive reinforcement is a driving force behind this app using games and rewards called NoomCoin to encourage you towards more progress.
You can join interest-based communities called Noom Circles led by coaches to talk to other Noom users and get more healthy lifestyle tips.
I appreciated that no food was labeled a “bad food”. Instead, each food is categorized by color based on nutritional value and caloric density. I was still allowed to eat anything I wanted but with balance in mind. Nothing is a gimmick or a fad diet in this program.
It provided strategies to help me overcome challenges like social situations and mood swings that would often be my downfall to my health progress in the past.
It helped me overcome the mental roadblock that even if I ate a chocolate chip cookie, I didn’t need to punish myself and give up by eating the entire box. It’s a cookie! Enjoy it! And then balance it with a handful of grapes.
Even though I have now hit my goal weight, I still find myself remembering those lessons. It’s so very applicable to make better health choices long term.
I lost 35 pounds over the course of a year using the Noom app. I took several breaks, got derailed, had some ups and downs, but I always came back to it. I’m sure I could have reached my goal much faster than I did, but I gave myself grace and I got there.
Even though I no longer am paying for a Noom app subscription, the lessons I’ve learned are sticking with me.