This article presents a thorough examination of Noom, the popular app-based weight loss program that has been featured all over the news. Noom goes beyond the typical approach of depriving yourself to reach a desired goal. Instead, the program stresses the importance of a behavioural approach to weight loss.
This can be an enormously powerful tool for simply losing extra weight. There is a significant amount of data to support the overall concept. With a built-in focus on psychology and behaviour change coefficients, Noom promises to help participants shed pounds without doing something realistic. The app reportedly has several million users and it has boasted a barrage of press in both popular and specialty magazines since its 2008 release.

The Science Behind Noom

Underlying Noom’s focus on food are its daily psychological ‘lessons’ in behaviour change: this isn’t a diet that tells you what to eat, but makes you think about why you eat it. By supplementing its tracking app with more than 3,000 lessons, interactive quizzes and games, Noom helps users develop a self-awareness of their eating habits. It also encourages users to establish motives for eating well and to recognise triggers for overeating and make healthier decisions.

Another critical feature of Noom’s protocol is the use of a stoplight system to categorise foods into green, yellow and red types. Users are asked to assign foods to these colour classes according to their calorie density, and this way, they can become better consumers by knowing what food to consume and why. Often the Noom app is recommended for people who have some level of incontinence (and thus eat haphazardly) or for people who just can’t say no to unhealthy foods when they have the opportunity.

Success Stories

Photo courtesy NoomMany users praise Noom for its ability to help them finally shed pounds with its personalisation and support, as well as its focus on positive, long-term behavioural changes over a rigid diet. As one writer put it: ‘Noom wasn’t about giving up food, or about the number on the scale. It was about developing a healthy relationship with food and building habits that would help me sustain a healthy body and weight for a lifetime.’ Noom users say that the app cracked the code of yo-yo dieting and their past failures with other weight-loss programs – problems endemic to a diet culture that lures people in with promises of quick and effortless transformation. This focus on the psychological aspect of weight-loss resistance is critical, since juicing or simply counting calories doesn’t necessarily help individuals better understand their own stress, anxiety and other emotional needs. By personalising the weight-loss experience, Noom empowers users to develop more manageable, long-term patterns of behaviour.

Also, its community (provided through group challenges, forums and one-to-one coaching) was something that Noom actively encouraged. This support is likely to be highly meaningful because it provides a sense of accountability and connects users with each other. It all sounds maximally tempting.

Potential Pitfalls

Most users report succeeding with Noom programme, but they also complain about its shortcomings: some say it is too expensive for what you get, especially when you can learn the same general principles on many other weight-loss apps for less money. Others say they get bored with the daily lessons and tasks, or feel the app is too one-size-fits-all-recipes.

Another risky aspect of Noom is its utilisation of self-tracking, which can be both a net positive and a double-edged sword, depending on who you ask. Having to type in every piece of food that enters your mouth can work as a notification that you might want to be careful, while also nudging you once more towards the obsessive relationship with food and your body image that you thought you’d one day break free from. That’s certainly what happened to me, as it did to people like Kroeber Rifkind, and especially to people with a history of disordered eating who might not be able to stay on the program safely or indefinitely.

Final Thoughts

In summary, for those users whose needs are answered by Noom’s unique blend of psychology, behaviour change and technology, the app serves as a true gateway to breaking bad habits, allowing them to overcome challenging psychological barriers and maintain weight loss long-term. However, it is unlikely that the app will be one solution that fixes all issues for everyone wanting to lose weight.

However you feel about it, you need to find what works best for you, has the right combination of long-term benefits and pleasures, and helps you build a healthy relationship with the way you eat and think about food and your body. Noom, like any other diet, isn’t right for everyone.

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