Chances are you’ve heard about Noom, the wildly popular weight-loss program — it has more than 45 million users worldwide — that promises to help you “stop dieting” and “get lifelong results.” With an emphasis on psychology, Noom combines food tracking with cognitive behavioral therapy and individualized coaching to help you achieve your goals.
Like any other diet plan, Noom has its pros and cons. It’s fallen under scrutiny recently, namely for some of its marketing tactics as well as complaints regarding its free-trial cancellation. That’s why our team of Registered Dietitians at the Good Housekeeping Institute tried the app out for themselves, evaluating everything from coaching practices to daily calorie allotments. Here’s everything you need to know about Noom, including pricing and more.
What is Noom?
Designed by behavioral psychologists, nutritionists and personal trainers, Noom is aimed at helping you lose weight for the long run. It claims to focus on making tangible, sustainable lifestyle shifts rather than encouraging more extreme styles of eating (e.g., cutting out specific food groups or nutrients). The app, which Noom says is the #1 scientifically-recognized sustained weight-loss solution, allows you to:
- Generate a personalized calorie breakdown based on a series of lifestyle questions
- Track the foods you eat by searching a database or scanning barcodes
- Log exercise, weight, blood pressure and blood sugar
- Receive in-app one-on-one health coaching during business hours
- Stay motivated with interactive articles and quizzes
Since it was developed by psych docs, the ideology behind the coaching and content is designed to “help you gain specific knowledge, tools and skills that will help you change your habits, lose weight and make progress far beyond the scale,” Noom states. They also claim that people who use the Noom app and adapt a healthy lifestyle lose an average of 15.5 pounds in just 16 weeks.
How do you get started with Noom?
The Noom app itself is free to download, or you can start the process on their website. You’ll first be taken through a detailed set of onboarding questions that start with demographic profile information like gender, height and weight. Then, you’ll be asked a bit about how much weight you are looking to lose (up to 40 pounds) as well as timing for your weight-loss goals.
Many had criticized Noom for not asking about a history of disordered eating in these onboarding questions; our experience testing the app in 2022 showed that Noom is now including questions regarding eating disorder history in the initial questionnaire. They also ask about additional lifestyle habits, current health status and other conditions before generating your program plan which includes a daily calorie budget.
Many critics of the app have complained that Noom would previously set very low calorie allotments for the day, typically around 1,200 calories for most users, which is neither healthy nor sustainable. But it seems that Noom has changed its tune; as per the website, the minimum calorie budget is now 1,320 for females and 1,400 for males. Our experience with the app gave us pretty conservative weight-loss numbers ranging from 1,600 calories to 2,400 calories depending on how fast we wanted to lose the weight.
How much does Noom cost?
Depending on the time of year, a free trial may be available, but Noom program pricing typically starts at $60/month. Prices go down as you commit to longer subscriptions. The cheapest price for Noom is on the annual auto-recurring plan, which costs $199 (averages to just over $16 a month). While users have complained in the past that canceling after a free trial was very difficult, Noom seems to have made the process easier; you can cancel under the Settings section under the Manage Subscription tab. Since we purchased our subscription through Apple, it was easy to cancel on our device under iTunes subscriptions.
The Pros
Our nutrition experts like that Noom focuses on behavior changes and building long-term healthy habits, instead of promising quick fixes with weight-loss shakes and supplements. You don’t have to eliminate any foods, and Noom also emphasizes important holistic health principles like ample sleep and coping skills to manage stress. One of the first mini courses you take asks you to step back and consider potential obstacles that will prevent you from sticking to your goals, as well as to understand the factors that drive food choices in the moment.
The app also encourages eating real, whole foods and recommends more nutrient-dense meals and snacks as often as possible. An algorithm breaks down your personalized energy needs and asks you to log what you eat, an evidence-based method that helps you stay in touch with how much you’re eating and what types of foods you gravitate towards. The food database felt robust to us, and we were pleased to see it included dishes from meal-delivery services like Daily Harvest and Hello Fresh for easy tracking. You can scan the barcode on packaged items, too, which is helpful for real-time feedback when you’re food shopping.
Another perk of Noom is the option for individualized coaching. You can opt to do Noom as a self-guided program, but those looking for more a personalized approach can get one-on-one guidance with a professional coach. We had a good experience with the coaches: They were kind and quite helpful. Plus, Noom coaches do have to go through over 75 hours of training through Noomiversity — and they can additionally enroll in Noom’s Health Coach Certification Program to sit for the certifying exam to become a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. They aren’t necessarily a registered dietitian or personal trainer, but having a real-life coach included in the $60 month price point is a pretty great bonus.
The Cons
Noom used to advertise as not being a diet, but make no mistake, Noom is certainly a diet — plain and simple. If you have a history of disordered eating, then Noom or any other diet in general is not recommended for you. Noom seems to have made improvements since receiving criticism, including now asking questions about any history of eating disorders as well as readjusting the calorie ranges to be less rigid.
Our experts’ biggest pet peeve with the program is the color-coded food system they utilize based on caloric density. This isn’t something new and has been utilized in other diet programs in various ways before. Noom breaks down its categories as follows:
- Green foods: These are the least calorie-dense and/or contain the highest concentration of healthy nutrients. Examples include certain vegetables, fruits, egg whites, tofu, shrimp, non-fat milk and non-fat dairy products and more.
- Yellow foods: These have more calories and/or less healthy nutrients per serving than green foods. They include avocado, salmon, lean ground beef, black beans, olives, hummus and more.
- Red foods: These are the most calorie-dense foods and/or have the least healthy nutrients. Examples include full-fat dairy products, nut and seed butters, unsalted rice cakes and more.
Noom claims that the colors do not denote good foods or bad foods but serve as more of a portion guide. Our experts say that for most people, it can be very difficult to not associate green foods with “good” foods and yellow and red foods with “bad” foods. This can lead to poor food relationships and associations for some, so it’s an important factor to be aware of before starting the program.
In addition, some of the food color categorizations didn’t make sense to our registered dietitians. Items like quinoa and eggs are listed as yellow foods, while ultra-processed non-fat cheeses were rated as green. Although green foods are lower in calories, they may not be the most health promoting, which is far more important than any number on the scale. Vilifying some of the world’s healthiest foods — like avocados, chickpeas, almonds and chia seeds (noted as red on Noom’s system) — isn’t a sustainable method to better health in our nutritionists’ eyes. But to Noom’s credit, they give you a reasonable allowance for each color-coded group and specifically say that most of your diet won’t be green foods and that’s okay. We also found that the meal-tracking system took a little getting used to.
The $60 per month minimum is pretty pricey for a weight-loss app, and one of the primary complaints online is whether or not the app is “worth it.” In comparison, WW (formerly Weight Watchers) has different program options, with their top-tier program offering personal coaching and digital capabilities and costing around the same amount. Other health apps (like MyFitnessPal) provide similar food tracking capabilities designed for healthier habit formation free of charge. In fact, recent Duke University research focused on free apps for people to track their progress indicated that there might not be a difference in results whether or not you pay for a service.
And if you need more structure like a specifically curated meal plan, Noom may not be ideal for you. While Noom provides you with metrics and recipes for guidance, it doesn’t necessarily curate a customized meal plan. This does provide flexibility with making your own daily menu and coming up with meals throughout the week, but some individuals work better with a more structured approach so it all depends on your personal preference. And, of course, before starting any new weight-loss or physical-activity program, you should always consult your physician.
The Bottom Line:
Since Noom does encourage habit formation and there are some real, substantial benefits to the behavior-change-for-life systems used to help guide you, it might be worth starting with the trial period.
That said, your success on Noom will ultimately depend on how consistently you follow the program, utilize their coaches and engage with their daily content. If for any reason you feel as though the app’s content or coaching platforms trigger feelings of shame or unworthiness, it’s time to unsubscribe. Same thing goes if you find that the color-coded system leads to poor food associations and anything other than moderation and balanced eating.
Using apps for accountability may be helpful for some people, though that doesn’t guarantee it will universally work for everyone — especially since achieving better health and weight loss is highly dependent on your personal taste and goals. Knowing what works for you versus what seemingly works for everyone else can be tricky to navigate on a platform you’re paying for. Better health and weight loss require you to be in the driver’s seat about the changes you make — within the framework of your own personal boundaries, be they emotional, physical or psychological. Remember that, and you’re already on the right path to better health for life.
Editor’s note: Weight loss, health and body image are complex subjects — before deciding to go on a diet, we invite you gain a broader perspective by reading our exploration into the hazards of diet culture.
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