I lasted about two days on Noom.

I mean, I fully committed those two days and I ate well and all but the whole app just wasn’t my thing. Now, if you are using Noom and love it then I am happy that you’ve found something you enjoy and that works for you. People have the tendency to get defensive if you don’t like a thing they love which is really ridiculous if you think about it. It’s not that I don’t think it would be a good tool to lose weight, it just wasn’t what I was looking for, or expected for that matter. Ok so here is my Noom review….

First off, it’s essentially a calorie tracking app through a mindfulness lens. Which is probably what first turned me off. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I don’t need a weight loss app giving breathing exercises and asking me to type in my goals. Perhaps because there is no deep seeded psychological need for me to lose weight. It’s a pretty cut and dry thing actually. I don’t have an unhealthy relationship with food, I don’t use it as a coping mechanism or anything like that. I’ve just been eating like crap and since I can’t work out it caught up with me. Now I want to lose weight so physically I can feel better.

That’s it.

One of the main reasons I decided not to continue with Noom is the fact that you have to weigh yourself EVERY DAY. I think that’s excessive and would much prefer a weekly weigh in. Or, no weigh in at all. The justification is so that you get accustomed to seeing weight fluctuations on a daily basis and then eventually, it’s something you don’t freak out about. I mean I guess. I think it can lead to obsessive behavior. Especially with a scale like mine that shows ounces. I don’t want to fret over losing/gaining a few freaking ounces.

Also, almost every other sort of weight loss app or program that has a nutritional element counts salad greens as free chicken. Meaning they don’t take away from your daily caloric value and you can have as much as you want. Well, Noom charged me 11 calories for some romaine lettuce. Weight watchers on the other hand….zero points.

Another element that I didn’t really care for was the color coding. They use a stoplight system but then try to rewire your brain to say, red isn’t bad its just a color for food you should have less of. Nice try Noom. Red means stop and red means no bueno no matter how you try and Jedi mind trick me.

I don’t know but….I just wasn’t feeling it. I know some folks will say well you only tried it two days but…when you know you know. Especially since I’ve tried Weight Watchers (and other programs) before and have something to compare Noom against. If you’re looking for a way to track calories, you can just use the app without paying for the mindfulness aspect. I didn’t know that was an option because they dont exactly advertise that. I do find that the user interface for logging food was clunkier than that of WW as well.

Ultimately, I don’t want to pay to use a weight loss app right now. Even though I liked WW, I don’t want to be locked in a contract with them. Instead, my focus is on making better choices (like grapes instead of Oreos) and a lot of that is just willpower. So that means rice once in a day and not three times. Yea, I’ve done that….

I do still have all of my containers from the 21 Day Fix program I did years ago (I lost 15 lbs on that) so I may use them again. I liked 21DFX because it was more about portion control than restricting what you can eat.

Ultimately, I’m looking for something sustainable and I dont’ think logging calories every day is something I can, or want to keep up.