How Noom Changed my Life

In today’s post, I’m going to share a product review. I decided to write about it because I used it intensively, and it changed my life for the better. I also let enough time go by to make sure the results were long-lasting instead of a ‘fad diet’ that would make me bounce back to my previous state.

I began using Noom in late 2019. I weighed 74kg (163lb) and had an ambitious goal of 64kg (141lb). At the time, my liver took the tolls from my lifestyle, and I knew it was time to change my habits. I looked into noom, and I got sold instantly to their promise:

Helping people everywhere lead healthier lives through behavior change.

Noom’s About Page

So what’s different about this site? They combine behavioral psychology, nutrition, fitness, and life hacks, and they distill it and spoon-feed it daily to their premium subscribers.

I used the program only for about four months. The first days I said to myself, “boy, this is dumb.” But I kept following it. The first breakthrough is when the coach I got assigned told me, “you should start logging your calories.” To me, it was ridiculous, out of the question, but I tried to keep an open mind and gave it a try.

Following the program took some discipline, I had to build new habits and break old ones. For the first time in my life, I felt empathy and compassion for those with dietary restrictions. The way our society is structured around food is ridiculous. My friends also didn’t understand it; they called it “a fad diet.” I received a lot of social pressure to keep eating and behaving the way I did. But the funny thing is that the app told me in advance that this was coming. I had to push away some of my friends temporarily until my new habits stuck.

Once I had new habits in place, I learned a huge deal about my own body. I got introduced to measuring variables that I didn’t know existed. I learned about my hormones, gut health, the different types of hunger, and what happens when you break your patterns.

After I achieve my target weight, I had enough information in my head to sustain it. I built the habit of controlling my weight daily. Finally, I could pair my knowledge with the business skills that are part of my professional program to develop dashboards and tune to achieve fitness goals. I reached my target weight in February 2020, and as of today, it remains the same.

Not everything is fantastic, though. Earlier I mentioned I got paired with a coach. This coach only did one good thing for me for the whole duration of the program. Afterward, she would dodge my questions until I got frustrated and gave up. If I were to rate the app, I would deduct half a star because of that.

In summary, I recommend this program to anyone determined to change their habits, but I warned you, you must commit, or it will not work.