Noom Review: My Experience After Using Noom for 30 Days

This weight loss program harnesses the power of psychology to help users shed pounds.

Author:
Cory Kessler, Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach
Updated:
Jan 4, 2024

The products featured in this article have been independently reviewed. When you buy something through the retail links on this page, we may earn commission at no cost to you, the reader. The Sports Illustrated editorial team is not involved in the creation of this content. Learn more here.

I first heard about Noom from friends and family members who had used it with varying degrees of success. Everyone mentioned the unique approach Noom takes to dieting and weight loss—using psychology and behavioral science to promote a healthier relationship with food, rather than focusing on calorie restriction. I thought it sounded interesting, so when I decided to try and lose a few pounds before officiating a friend’s wedding, I turned to Noom to see if it was legit. This article is my experience of trying it for 30 days.

What Is Noom?

Noom is a weight loss program that runs primarily through the Noom app, which is available on iOS and Android. Noom is unique among weight loss apps because it puts a big emphasis on developing healthy habits and a healthy relationship with food. You get daily lessons that cover basic psychology as it relates to your habits, particularly dieting and weight loss. Noom also puts a heavy emphasis on categorizing foods by caloric density, rather than trying to force you to avoid “bad” foods in favor of “good” ones.

Key Info

Noom uses a psychology-based approach to dieting and losing weight.
During your account set-up, you’ll take a short quiz that Noom will use to develop a unique diet plan based on your needs.
Noom has different payment options, including a monthly auto-renewing plan ($70/month), an annual auto-renewing plan ($209/year) and a plan with a specific time frame based on your goal. (Mine was a three-month plan.)
Noom usually offers only a one-week trial period, but during promotions, you may be able to access a longer trial.
Noom uses a red, green and yellow food classification system, and doesn't require you to eliminate any foods.
You’ll be connected with health coaches for as long as you use the Noom app.
Noom has a disclaimer that it’s not designed to support a person with an active eating disorder. If you indicate that you do have one, Noom won’t allow you to finish the set-up process. If tracking calories, frequent weigh-ins or diet coaching are triggers for you, then you should avoid Noom.

How Does Noom Work?

Noom works by setting a calorie goal that should create a caloric deficit. The basic theory is that you should use more energy than you consume, which is a necessary part of weight loss. Noom sets the calorie goals for each user individually, using the Harris-Benedict equation. This equation estimates your basal metabolic rate (how many calories your body needs to perform basic, life-sustaining functions), and with this information estimates how many calories you should consume to lose weight without affecting these functions. The Harris-Benedict equation is much more accurate than other measurements, like BMI.

Food logging

Instead of a specific diet or meal plan, Noom uses a color coded system to log your food. The colors correspond to caloric density—how many calories you’re consuming versus how much of the food you eat. Foods that have a lot of calories in a small portion are red foods, those that have a moderate amount of calories in a moderate portion are yellow foods and foods with a low amount of calories in large portions are green foods.

Suggested recipes and foods

Even though Noom doesn’t have a set diet plan for weight loss, it has a database of suggested meals and recipes that are easy to make. Plus, you can get a grocery list of the ingredients you’ll need to make them. Most are basic, but if you like to cook, you should definitely explore the database.

Logging behaviors

You can log a lot of different kinds of data in the Noom app. Some are necessary for the program, and others are optional. I found that logging my daily activities and water intake were necessary to keep me accountable and track my progress. The app encourages you to weigh in daily, which I did for 30 days, but it isn’t necessary if seeing the number on the scale could discourage you.

Human coaching

The personal coaches are one part of the Noom app that I didn’t use much. There’s a section of the app for direct messaging, and you can get text encouragements from your coaches. Personally, I felt like some of these messages were too scripted, or even bot-generated. However, if you know you need regular encouragement, this can be a great feature.

Related Post: The Best Weight Loss Programs for Men

My Experience with Noom

When I signed up for Noom, I set a goal to lose 15 pounds before the wedding I was officiating and a smaller goal of losing five pounds during the first 30 days for the sake of this review. I was a little skeptical, but at the end of 30 days, I lost almost exactly five pounds (4.8 according to my scale at home). Noom gave me a diet goal of 25 percent red foods, 35 percent yellow and 45 percent green foods. I didn’t always follow that, but I was able to stick pretty closely to my overall calorie goal for those 30 days.

The color code system was my favorite part of the Noom experience because it let me see where I was eating too many calories and where I could adjust to make sure I was still feeling full. For example, at one point I was going to eat a bowl of cereal as an afternoon snack (a red food), but when I measured how much I could eat without breaking my calories for the day, I decided to eat hummus and pita instead (both yellow foods) to get a lot more bang for my buck.

Here’s a closer breakdown of what I liked about the experience and what could be better:

What I Loved About Noom

Attainable goals

I wasn’t sure whether my goal of 15 pounds over three months was attainable because that works out to a little over one pound per week. What I found with Noom was a way to conceptualize my progress, even if I didn’t see the number on the scale go down immediately. I wound up hitting my five-pound goal during the 30 days, and my overall goal, as well. Bottom line: Noom is legit, and it worked for me.

Easy access

The Noom app is very easy to use. I used the iOS version, but from what I can tell, the Android version is the same. The interface is very intuitive, and you can also access your information on the Noom website.

Daily lessons

I'm not a huge fan of crash diets or other trendy things that overpromise and underdeliver. Part of me worried that Noom would fall into that category, but the daily lessons were the exact opposite. Each lesson is full of psychology and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help eliminate the barriers that keep you from enjoying healthy habits for long-term success.

Involved community

I can be a bit of a loner with things like exercise and losing weight. However, for the sake of this review, I dove into the Facebook page, Reddit threads and the community tab in the app. Noom’s community is very active and encouraging. If you depend on those factors for success, then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Related Post: The Best Weight Loss Programs for Women

What Are the Cons of Noom?

There were a handful of things I did not like about Noom, most of which are personal preferences that you might actually enjoy. Here a few elements I think could be improved for a smoother experience:

Logging meals manually

It’s very tedious to log your meals manually on this app. I tried to do it for the first few days, but it got so time consuming that I started using the database instead. There are drawbacks to this method because one person’s recipe for chicken alfredo isn’t necessarily the same as mine, but I didn’t have the time to devote to manually logging my ingredients.

Health coaches

I want to be clear that every interaction I had with a health coach was friendly and professional, but I found myself wishing it was a more personal experience. Some of the messages seemed very scripted, and there were a few times I interacted with what seemed like multiple coaches in one conversation. Not a big deal for me, but something to be aware of.

Cost

Noom is pretty expensive compared to other weight loss apps. I didn’t intend to use Noom long-term, so my three-month plan for $149 seemed fair. However, the lack of an extended free trial and a $70 price tag for a monthly membership are pretty high, and a $209 investment for a year of an app you may not like is really high. Personally, I think buying a plan based on your goal is the best route.

What Customers Are Saying About Noom

Mike Lopez, a verified Noom user who lost over 40 pounds in six months, says that he appreciates the visuals and color coding system Noom provides because they helped him make better choices when it came to what he would eat.

"I can firmly state that the app works. The user interface is very easy to adapt to and the list of caloric values of many different ethnic foods was a big plus," Lopez says.

Additionally, Lopez notes that using Noom provided a level of freedom when it came to his diet because he was better informed about the food groups he was using to make meals.

Lopez especially liked that Noom didn't feel restrictive and was educational.

"Noom explained why foods I thought were healthy were actually not and helped me gain newfound knowledge that empowered me to alter my eating lifestyle," Lopez says.

Getting Started with Noom

Getting started with Noom is very simple. First you download the app on your mobile device or visit the Noom website. (There’s no desktop version of Noom.) Next, you’ll set up your profile and complete the survey/questionnaire. It took me 10-15 minutes to complete. You’ll enter information such as:

Weight loss goal
Sex
Gender
Pregnancy status
Age
Height and weight
Goal weight
Motivation (upcoming events, feeling better, etc.)
Lifestyle information (activity level, job type, etc.)
Type of community you live in
Risk for diseases, such as high cholesterol, kidney disease and depression
Whether you have diabetes
If you have an active eating disorder

This information is followed by general questions about your relationship with food—questions like whether you’ve yo-yo dieted before or if you’ve tried to lose weight in the past. Noom uses all of this information to generate a program designed to fit your personal needs.

After getting all of your information, Noom recommends a timeframe for meeting your weight loss goal. My plan was to lose 15 pounds in three months. You can choose from a couple of different options (shorter time means more intensive dieting), but three months seemed to be very attainable.

At the end of the process, Noom asks you to identify secondary goals for wanting to lose weight. You can choose from options like running a 5K and looking better in a bathing suit, among others. These aren’t your primary goal, but they do help Noom understand what you want to accomplish and why.

After you pay for your subscription, you’re ready to get started. You’ll set hydration goals, set up one-on-ones with coaches (if you want to) and review your daily calorie information. The Noom app also has a lot of instructional features to show you where everything is located in the app.

How Much Does Noom Cost?

Usually the trial period is only one week, and after the trial, you’ve got a lot of subscription options:

Monthly auto-renewing plan: $70 USD
Two-month auto-renewing plan: $129 USD
Three-month auto-renewing plan: $159 USD
Four-month auto-renewing plan: $169 USD
Five-month auto-renewing plan: $174 USD
Six-month auto-renewing plan: $179 USD
Seven-month auto-renewing plan: $184 USD
Eight-month auto-renewing plan: $189 USD
Nine-month auto-renewing plan: $195 USD
10-month auto-renewing plan: $199 USD
11-month auto-renewing plan: $205 USD
Annual auto-renewing plan: $209 USD

Noom also includes an optional “Mental Wellness Course'' for an extra $50. This is a one-time fee, and the course teaches you cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for coping with general anxiety and other negative thought patterns around dieting. This is not a replacement for therapy, but I found the information very helpful.

One last thing you should know: Noom’s support team is awesome. They are very responsive, professional and helpful with questions or concerns you may have.

What Will You Eat on the Noom Diet?

Like I said before, Noom doesn’t have a specific meal plan to follow. This program is about your needs and giving you freedom to make your own choices. That’s intimidating for some people, but overall, it seems like a great approach without the shame or guilt that’s sometimes associated with traditional dieting.

We talked a little bit about the color coding system, but let's take a closer look at how the system works. Remember, it’s based on caloric density, which is how many calories one food contains per volume. For example, there are more calories in an ounce of steak than there are in an ounce of celery. Red foods have high caloric density, yellow foods have moderate density and green foods have low density.

Noom will recommend a percentage of each food group you should eat in your diet to meet your specific goal. My split was 25 percent red foods, 30 percent yellow and 45 percent green. Your percentage may be different depending on your goal, but probably won’t vary a ton. Here are some examples of foods that fit into the categories:

Green foods:

Fruits
Non-starchy vegetables like green beans, spinach and peppers
Whole grains
Non-fat dairy
Broth-based soups

Yellow foods:

Dried fruits
Avocado
Most meats, eggs with yolks and fish
Starchier vegetables that contain more carbs like corn, plantains and sweet potatoes
Heartier soups

Red foods:

Fried foods
Alcohol
High-fat condiments like mayonnaise or oils
High-fat dairy
Processed grains like cereal or white bread

I will confess that I ate more than the recommended 25 percent of red foods on a few days, but even on those days, I tried to stay close to my overall calorie goal. That’s the beauty of Noom’s program, in my opinion: There’s no shame in eating certain foods, but it’s up to you to adjust if you break the recommendations.

Can You Drink Alcohol On Noom?

You can drink alcohol, but keep in mind that alcohol is a red food, and since it’s a liquid, you’ll be consuming extra calories without actually feeling satisfied.

What Are Healthy Snacks While Using Noom?

Thinking of foods as healthy or unhealthy is one of the negative thought patterns that Noom tries to help you stop using. According to Noom, thinking like this leads to guilt and demotivation. Instead, think about your snacks in terms of caloric density. If you want to eat a red food, that’s totally fine, but you’ll be getting more calories for a small amount of food. Green foods will let you eat a much larger portion for the same amount of calories.

Who Should Use Noom?

The Noom app is for anyone who wants to lose weight and stop the negative cycle of yo-yo dieting. You’ll get out of this program what you put into it. I have always been fairly active and relatively conscious of my health, but for two years leading up to my experience with Noom, I had gained about 20 pounds. Several factors contributed to this, like the pandemic, having a kid and staying in an unhealthy job environment longer than I should have.

Noom was a great way for me to jumpstart a return to healthy habits. It wasn’t an overnight process or the only part of my journey, but it gave me tools I didn’t know I needed.

Does Noom Really Work?

The simple answer is, yes Noom works. At least it did for me. Not only did I lose the weight I wanted to, I’ve kept it off, and I don’t feel guilty when I indulge in foods that traditional diets say are unhealthy. Instead, I focus on the impact it has on my diet and adjust accordingly.

How Noom Stacks Up Against Other Weight Loss Programs

What sets Noom apart is the psychology focus. Other programs are starting to catch on, but I don’t think they’re doing it as well as Noom yet.

Noom vs WW

Noom and WeightWatchers (WW) have both helped a lot of people. Where the Noom diet utilizes a color code system to help you track your meals and snacks, WW uses its famous point system to track drinks and meals. These are very similar, but I personally think the color system is more intuitive. A couple of things WW offers that Noom does not are in-person support groups and delivery of ready-to-eat meals.

Noom vs MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is another popular food tracking app. MyFitnessPal’s free version is a great resource with full tracking capabilities. The paid version of MyFitnessPal also has meal plans and exercise routines available to make your journey easier. However, it doesn’t offer the same education-focus as Noom, which I think puts Noom ahead of the competition.

Factors to Consider Before Purchasing Noom

Noom is a bit more expensive than other programs, so before you make the investment ask yourself these questions:

Do you have a healthy relationship with food?

If you do, then Noom may be redundant for you.

Do weigh-ins and calorie tracking cause you anxiety?

If yes, then Noom can give you resources to work through it, but the program’s success depends on you doing those things. If calorie tracking and weigh-ins have the possibility to trigger disordered eating for you, you should avoid Noom.

Do you have a dietary restriction or special health care needs?

If so, Noom may be a great option for you because it doesn’t require you to follow any specific meal plan.

Are you ready to make changes to your diet and activity levels?

For Noom or any other diet program to work, you have to be ready to make the change. Nothing can do the work for you, but programs like Noom can facilitate your weight loss journey.

Are you likely to spend enough time on the app?

If you want to be successful with Noom, you’ll probably be in the app for at least 15 minutes per day. That includes the food logging, the weigh-ins and the lessons. If you can’t devote time to it, you may need a different program.

Are there less expensive or free programs that can meet your needs?

Like I’ve said a few times, Noom is an investment. Don’t spend the money if you’re not going to use it. There are plenty of other free and less expensive weight loss apps on the market, but none of them offer the same customization and combination of resources as Noom.

Noom FAQs

Does Noom work?

Noom is legit. The program is based in psychology and science, and I saw the exact results Noom promised.

Why am I not losing weight on Noom?

If you’re not losing weight with Noom, a few things could be happening. Make sure you’re sticking to your calorie goal. You cannot lose weight without a caloric deficit. Also make sure you’re classifying food in the right group. If you think you’re eating yellow foods when you’re really eating red foods, you may be going over your calorie goal. There could also be underlying health concerns that are sabotaging your efforts. If you’re following the program closely and exercising regularly, you may want to consult your doctor.

Is Noom just calorie counting?

Noom does use calorie counting, but it's not just calorie counting. Calorie counting is actually in the background of the diet. Noom prioritizes your relationship with food and understanding caloric density so you can find long-term success.

Can you drink alcohol on Noom?

Yes, you can drink alcohol with Noom, but keep in mind that alcohol is in the red group, which means it has a lot of calories in small portions. If you’re not careful, you can sabotage your weight loss with extra calories from alcohol.

What is a Noomcoin?

Noomcoins are a way to track your progress. They are “rewards'' for doing your daily tasks in the Noom app, but they don’t have any function other than a visual reminder of your success.

How do I get Noom on my Apple Watch?

To add Noom to your Apple Watch, follow these steps:

Open Noom on your iPhone, and click the menu button in the upper left side, then click on Settings.
Click "Connect to the Health app" under the Apps & Devices section, then click the button that says, "Yes, let's go!"
Back at the Apps & Devices section, click "Choose Steps Data Source" and make sure "Health App Steps" is selected.
Check to make sure that you have Motion & Fitness enabled on your iPhone; then, go to Motion & Fitness and make sure that both Fitness Tracking and Noom are set to "On."
Open the Health app on your iPhone and click your profile picture (in the upper right corner); under "Privacy" click "Apps" and then "Noom."
You'll need to make sure all the tabs under "Allow Noom to Write Data" are "Off" and all the tabs under "Allow Noom to Read Data" are "On."

Is Noom hard to cancel?

According to some reviews, Noom used to be hard to cancel, but it’s not anymore. All you need to do is click "Cancel Subscription" under the "Manage Subscription" section of the Noom app. If you don't have the app, you'll need to log into your account on your desktop.

How do I change my goal weight on Noom?

To change your goal weight on Noom, click the "Weigh In" section of the app home screen, click the weight you want to change (it should be a blue dot) and click the weight to enter a new one.

The Takeaway

Noom can be a beneficial weight loss program for people who want to understand the psychology behind their relationship with food. If you have a chronic health condition or a significant amount of weight to lose, it would be best to check with your physician and possibly a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist before starting Noom. For specific exercise guidance if you don't know where to start, you may also require the help of a personal trainer outside of the Noom app.

Final Verdict: Is Noom Worth It?

For me, Noom was definitely worth it. I hit all of my weight loss goals, I learned a lot about why I developed the bad habits I did and I’ve been able to use what I learned to keep the weight off after I stopped using Noom.