This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter! If you appreciate the content here, please consider supporting the newsletter by subscribing and/or sharing! Noom has become ubiquitous in the diet space. But do their claims stand up to scrutiny? I originally wrote about them in 2020. One of the first things I noticed was that their commercials are chock full of diet advice that is as old as the hills and has no research to back it as actually creating sustained weight loss. (“Eat grapes instead of raisins, drink wine instead of beer, drink a glass of water if you’re hungry, blah blah blah) a lot of the marketing seems to be based on the old “eat watery, high fiber, bulky food so you’ll feel fuller” advice that doesn’t work because your body is a more sophisticated machine than, say
My dear cousin fell hard for Noom. He lost something like 70 pounds over about a year, and started walking around 8 miles a day. (He retired right at the same time, so he has time for all that walking now.) He began Noom just about 2 1/2 years ago. Until about 6 months ago, he was texting at least once a week about his weight, how great he felt, etc. Then, suddenly, no more mentions of Noom or weight loss. I haven't seen him in person in over a year, but my STRONG bet is that the regain has started and that he's falling into the trap of thinking it's his "fault" and feeling ashamed and embarrassed. (Been there, done that -- far too many times.)
The whole thing was really awkward because he so clearly expected and wanted praise and affirmation for his weight loss, which I just could not in good conscience give him. Now I'll have to figure out how to be supportive as he regains weight, without seeming to imply that he was a sucker to fall for Noom in the first place.
I tried Noom once when I was recovering from Binge Eating Disorder. It was super triggering with it's red light, green light system of classifying foods, and certainly nothing new about "volumetrics."
Great article, again! Also, their behavior intervention study is not the reality on the ground. The study uses licensed therapists, but the the real Noom setting, life style coaches only need a bachelor's degree in anything to be hired and then they get Noom certified for health. Whatever that entails...spooky! The coaches are also assigned over 30 subscribers and as a provider in private practice, that's an impossible number to provide authentic input weekly.
Their weight loss claims are incredibly dubious/nonsense (even ignoring the value of the goal in the first place), but are there any studies at all that focus more on positive behavior change outcomes? I know that's been a big claim in their ads recently (thanks, podcasts)--de-emphasizing the weight loss and leaning into the positive behavior change. Since there's so much research that in terms of your health it's really those positive health-promoting behaviors (regardless of whether your weight changes or not) that are the actual benefit, I'm very curious to see if there have been any studies there.
My dear cousin fell hard for Noom. He lost something like 70 pounds over about a year, and started walking around 8 miles a day. (He retired right at the same time, so he has time for all that walking now.) He began Noom just about 2 1/2 years ago. Until about 6 months ago, he was texting at least once a week about his weight, how great he felt, etc. Then, suddenly, no more mentions of Noom or weight loss. I haven't seen him in person in over a year, but my STRONG bet is that the regain has started and that he's falling into the trap of thinking it's his "fault" and feeling ashamed and embarrassed. (Been there, done that -- far too many times.)
The whole thing was really awkward because he so clearly expected and wanted praise and affirmation for his weight loss, which I just could not in good conscience give him. Now I'll have to figure out how to be supportive as he regains weight, without seeming to imply that he was a sucker to fall for Noom in the first place.
Oh Noom. I could for talk days about experience working for them- but they made me sign an NDA after voluntarily leaving. 🙄
I tried Noom once when I was recovering from Binge Eating Disorder. It was super triggering with it's red light, green light system of classifying foods, and certainly nothing new about "volumetrics."
Great article, again! Also, their behavior intervention study is not the reality on the ground. The study uses licensed therapists, but the the real Noom setting, life style coaches only need a bachelor's degree in anything to be hired and then they get Noom certified for health. Whatever that entails...spooky! The coaches are also assigned over 30 subscribers and as a provider in private practice, that's an impossible number to provide authentic input weekly.
Ragen - is it just the way I interpret the commercials (which are EVERYWHERE) for Noom, or is there
some sort of psychological/hypnosis component in their plan? That's how the ad copy plays to me.
Is there in fact something of that nature involved or am I just hearing the usual fat phobic hogwash
through a different filter? Would be interested to know if others heard the same inferences that I did.
Just another grifter helping folks lose LOTS of money for NO valuable outcome. BOO!!!!
Their weight loss claims are incredibly dubious/nonsense (even ignoring the value of the goal in the first place), but are there any studies at all that focus more on positive behavior change outcomes? I know that's been a big claim in their ads recently (thanks, podcasts)--de-emphasizing the weight loss and leaning into the positive behavior change. Since there's so much research that in terms of your health it's really those positive health-promoting behaviors (regardless of whether your weight changes or not) that are the actual benefit, I'm very curious to see if there have been any studies there.