Being healthy is always sexy. In the pressuring world of social media, almost everyone is posting photos and videos of their workout routine. Some are flexing their sexy curves, buff muscles, or even the whole body. The tendency is that those who do not have the same appearance and lifestyle get jealous. Lucky for you, there are a lot of exceptional food logging apps available in the market that can help achieve the ideal body. One of them is the Noom app that concentrates on healthy meal planning. It also provides services to help users lose weight.
Learn everything you need to stay fit with the Noom app in this guide!
What is the Noom app?
The Noom app is designed by personal trainers and behavioral nutritionists and psychologists. It is mainly targeted at millennials. Its focus is to help people discover, maintain, and improve the right diet for a good lifestyle. It has proven its relevance and effectiveness with more than 45 million users in 2019.
Noom features an engaging and enjoyable mobile-app-based diet diary. It may be a long-term approach but it emphasizes weight loss, calorie intake, and nutrient density. The Noom app uses a psychology-based technique. It estimates your calorie needs basing on your age, height, weight, and gender. This encourages self-efficacy. In other words, it is your ability to execute the necessary habits to meet your goals.
In a nutshell, the Noom app has a weight loss program that counts your calories. Also, it brings awareness to your lifestyle and helps you improve them. It explains the balance that you should have about your habits, emotions, and food thoughts.
This feature is unique as it focuses not only on your physical changes but also on your behavioral patterns. Also, it gives you reminders and you are expected to form a changed and more disciplined behavior.
What does Noom offer?
Nutritional Advice
The nutrition advice that the Noom app gives is based on calorie density. It does not exactly provide you with a specific food diet program or a daily menu. Instead, you should input everything that you eat in daily food logs. From then on, the app divides the food into three color categories: green, red, and yellow.
This is to help you understand the health benefits of what you eat. The green food group, which includes fruits and vegetables, has the highest concentration of healthy nutrients. These are also the least dense in calories.
Yellow foods like meat and dairy contain more calories but are not bad for you. Processed foods and desserts belong to red foods. They are the least nutrient and most calorie-dense. Noom suggests that you eat more yellow and green foods, and limit your red food intake.
Premium Versions
The Noom app offers premium versions if you want to shell out more. The monthly price decreases when you are committed for a longer period. A month costs $59, while two months cost $99. A four-month recurring plan is priced up to $129, while the six-month plan costs $20 more and is equal to $149. If you are aiming for eight months, it will cost you $159.
Lastly, the pricing for an annual auto-recurring plan is $199. The paid version has a more detailed questionnaire about health goals and lifestyle. It looks into the factors that hold you back from achieving your weight goals.
List of Features
The Noom Plan
This is more than just reading about food psychology and counting calories. You will be included in a Support Group that discusses the nutritional categories. These are the color-coded analysis of your daily intake after you have logged your meals.
Virtual Coaching Team
This consists of three things: The Noom Support, Group Coach, and Support Group. Noom assigns a “Goal Specialist” to every person in the program. You get the help and guidance about your weekly goals. The Support Group is a whole bunch of other Noom users. Each Support Group has its moderator called the Group Coach.
Biometric Tracking
This helps you keep track and stay within a daily calorie budget. It mainly monitors your blood sugar/glucose and blood pressure.
Food, Exercise, and Weight Logging
The Noom app allows you to keep track of your daily meals, exercise, and weight. You can choose food from the database or add something new. The weight and exercise logs are gentle reminders on what and when you should do them.
Behavior Modification Short Articles
These are daily fun articles found in your to-do list. Most of the readings are reviews or experience blogs from several Noom users. In some ways, it brings motivation for each other to continue using the app.
Educational Information
Educational topics include healthy habit formation, goal setting, stress management, and nutrition. These factors will give you more knowledge on how you can better improve your lifestyle.
What Are the Requirements to Use the App?
As with any diet and fitness program, you should have the urge, courage, and discipline. You must stay true to whatever the app offers or suggests to you. Make sure that you at least have the minimum requirements to fully enjoy the perks and benefits of the app.
Age and Device Compatibility
Users must be 18 years old or older. Make sure that you have a compatible device such as an Android (version 6 and later) or an iOS (10.3.3, at least iPhone50) device. Allot at least 600 MB free space to smoothly run the app.
If it is your first time using the Noom app, try to not feel overwhelmed when you open the app. You will begin with a series of questions about your basic information. There are also some about lifestyle, health background, and several other things. All these are necessary for the Noom app to calculate the right personalized diet plan for you.
Basic Information
After choosing a sign-up method, you will proceed by providing your basic information. Indicate your gender, age, starting weight, and height. There are sliding panels at the bottom of the screen for you to set your exact measurements. You also have to state your weight loss speed.
Demographic Profile
Finish your demographic profile by providing each of the required information. State the current lifestyle that best describes you. Do you follow a strict diet or are you lazy to even prepare a healthy meal? Describe your typical lunch, whether you go for a simple sandwich, soup, or salad. Then, you will be asked how often you eat in a day. This includes the major meals and snacks, as the app can trace how it is going to affect your metabolism.
You will also be asked to identify if you are at risk of a serious illness. If yes, have you received treatment for it? Illnesses include heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, and others.
The app will finalize your answers. It will calculate your expected and estimated weight changes for the next months.
Activity and Nutrition
The Noom app will customize your plan and personalized program. These are based on the answers they will get under “Activity and Nutrition.”
To begin with, state your diet plan focus. Are you concentrating on your nutrition, physical activity, or building good habits? And then, state whether you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions.
You will also need to specify how busy you are on an average day. Do you have a fair and flexible schedule or barely have time for yourself? Are you too busy to spare some time to unwind and relax? Do you find it hard to make time for other equally important things?
You also have to answer which time of the day you feel hungry the most and how do you usually prepare your meals. The options available are:
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- You cook meals by yourself
- Usually eating out at restaurants
- Or you do both
The end of the Activity and Nutrition section is about the goal you want to achieve with your program.
Payment Method
To finally start using and maximizing the app, you have to provide your payment information. Do this by typing your card number, security code, and expiry date. The Noom app also offers a 14-day trial that charges $1.
How to Use the Noom App?
There are three basic principles in using Noom. You have to weigh yourself. Log everything that you eat and drink, and eventually reach your activity goal. Other tasks may help your diet and productivity. Examples are reading interactive content such as quizzes and puzzles.
Step by Step Instructions
- Launch the Noom app and sign in to your account.
- Log your meals. Enter the foods you had for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the snacks in between. You have to specify the right measurement.
- Log your exercise. Go to the “Do More” screen and see some options you can do to keep yourself productive. Some options are walking, running, biking, and aerobics. There are also sports such as badminton, baseball, and basketball. Put the exact KM and calories achieved. You may check some of the best workout apps fit for you.
- Log your weight after eating and doing exercises. Specify your current weight on a specific date. You can choose from kilograms, pounds, or stone. The app will show your current weight and how far or close you are from achieving your goal.
- Read daily contents and special articles.
- Log your blood pressure. Measure your blood pressure from the systolic, diastolic, and pulse. There are provided sliding panels for you to get the exact numbers. After that, the app has an explanation for your result.
- Log your blood glucose. You will be asked as to what time you are taking the reading. Is it before or after a meal, in the morning, or evening? Read the results.
- Chat with your group members. Click on the Home Screen and go to “My group.” The members can post stuff like their food and the peers can comment on it.
How to Download the Noom App?
The Noom app is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. The iOS should be running 10.3 and up; for Android, it must be version Lollipop and later. Noom has provided solutions if you can’t remember the address and password you used for your account. Click here.
Android
- On your device, navigate the Google Play Store.
- Search and install the Noom App.
- After it installs, sign up to create a new account or log in with your existing credentials (if you have an existing account).
iOS
- Launch the App Store on your Apple device.
- Use the search function to look for the app and install it.
- Wait until it finishes installing. Open the app and register if you don’t have an existing account.
Who Are the Competitors of the Noom App?
MyFitnessPal
Both Noom and MyFitnessPal share a major attraction as food diary apps. MyFitnessPal focuses more on calorie tracking. Its main goal is to make you stay fit and maintain your daily calorie limit. With this vision, they do not impose restrictions on food options as long as the user allocates a daily calorie limit.
They also both offer food logging as they have an organized comprehensive food database. Noom provides educational advantages, something that MyFitnessPal does not offer. They are also different in the approach they do in their interactive communities. Noom emphasizes behavioral and psychological changes.
MyFitnessPal is designed to maintain interactions as random and impersonal as possible. Like Noom, MyFitnessPal also offers a premium package. But MyFitnessPal costs a lot cheaper than Noom. Its range is $9.99/month and $49.99/year – which is equivalent to Noom’s monthly rate. Their biggest difference is that Noom focuses on the weight loss program while MyFitnessPal has more flexibility.
WW (formerly Weight Watchers)
Weight Watchers is probably the most popular of all the diet-planning apps out there. WW is committed to a healthy lifestyle choice. It does not only offer various products and services but also assists in healthy habits. It regularly checks on a person’s mindset, fitness, and weight loss maintenance.
On the other hand, Noom has regarded itself as the “WW for millennials.” So we can assume that its overall image is a modernized version of WW. Both of these apps track a person’s daily food intake in terms of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between. They also have different food plans that are sorted through colors. They differ, however, with how these equate to the food quality.
WW uses colors and gives points depending on your food intake. Noom uses these to brand the food whether it is fresh or processed. Budget-wise, WW is cheaper as it costs only $17. Noom will cost you $45 per month with complete features.
Meal IQ
Meal IQ is mainly a web-based planner and is not available on mobile devices. This feature will help you find the best meal with specific diet types. It chooses the best criteria that fit your budget, may it be vegan and gluten-free, or other preferred cuisines. Like Noom, it asks for your basic information upon creating an account.
This way, they can tune the right service for you. You have to state your age, height, and weight. Meal IQ asks for your food preferences and allergies. It also asks about what you are trying to achieve by using the diet program. Meal IQ uses specific algorithms that can read recipe texts. It also translates gathered information into a detailed, nutritional, and informational taste profile. Moreover, its cost is not a ground of comparison as Meal IQ does not need payment. All they do is personalize a diet plan. One that is right for you and your taste. Then, they find suitable online grocery retailers.
What Are the Pros & Cons of the Noom App?
Pros
- It focuses on calorie and nutrient density. It gives a measurement of how much calories are in the food you eat.
- No food is off-limits. You are encouraged to eat whole, real foods. The Noom app offers flexibility by allowing you to eat anything.
- It brings a sense of awareness. The Noom app promotes behavioral changes by leading a healthy lifestyle and reinforcing good eating habits.
- It is really about long-term results. There is no eating restriction, thus the users are not conformed to follow a fad-diet eating style.
- There is a scientific basis. Noom has been scientifically studied and validated. Although just minimally, it is proven to help lose weight.
Cons
- The pricing of the plan per monthly duration is too expensive. Noom costs $59/month, while other diet-planning apps are cheaper. Some users think that it is not practical.
- Online reviews are mixed and confusing. For a first-timer, it is typical that you research the app before using it. Several Noom app reviews present different results and experiences. People tend to doubt its effectiveness.
- It requires technology-based accessibility. You need a good phone and a stable internet connection to access the app.
- The interaction is all too virtual. You can communicate with Noom’s health coaches through a messenger system. By this, there is no guarantee if you are talking to a real person or if the responses are programmed.
Stay Healthy By Using The Noom App
There is a considerable amount of research and good reviews about the Noom app. It is safe to say that it helps a person in achieving their weight loss goal. The app helps and encourages people to have a healthier lifestyle. It promotes nutrient-dense and low-calorie foods. However, if you have underlying conditions, it is best to first consult a dietician to know what is right for you
Generally, the Noom app has its share of pros and cons. Result-wise, the majority says it is indeed helpful and effective. If you are not bothered by the cost and virtual accessibility issues, give Noom a try. If you want to know more about this kind of mobile app, you can check our articles on the best fitness apps and the best workout apps that you can try today.
