Noom to MyFitnessPal

katandwaves · May 2019

Has anyone made the switch from being successful on Noom to here? I lost 25 pounds on Noom last year. I had a week long vacation and am feeling a few pounds creep back on - slippery slope.

I need to recommit to how I was before my trip (it’s been a couple weeks).
Just curious how MyFitnessPal feels after being successful with Noom?

Thanks,
Katrina

echmain3 · May 2019

Care to explain what “Noom” is for those of us who ignore fad diets?

sammidelvecchio · May 2019

wow @echmain3 , its not a fad diet. It's actually an app that tries to help people stop yoyo dieting and fad diets by helping them track their progress and the app provides insight and feedback that helps you make positive and healthy changes in all areas of your life.

"While it's definitely trendy, Noom is all about making long-term changes to achieve weight-loss goals. Targeted at millennials, Noom is a health app designed by behavioral psychologists to help you lose weight for the long run. It focuses on making tangible, sustainable lifestyle shifts rather than encouraging more extreme styles of eating (e.g., cutting out specific food groups or nutrients)."

Nice try though!

kimny72 · May 2019

echmain3 wrote: »

Care to explain what “Noom” is for those of us who ignore fad diets?

Noom is a food logging app with a coaching component to help with behavior modification.

OP, Noom is pretty new so there might not be many people here yet who have been through the program. I have seen a couple of folks post here that they weren't really feeling the coaching, so they decided to just stick with food logging and MFP was less expensive. If you search "Noom" you might find them.

In the meantime, these threads have been super helpful for a lot of us:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1

Welcome and good luck!

echmain3 · May 2019

Didn’t take long to find this gem:

“But it’s not cheap. While you can download the app for free and test it out in a short trial, a membership runs about $50 per month and is designed to last 16 weeks, or four months. The app also offers additional services for extra costs, like customized workout and meal plans.”

sammidelvecchio · May 2019

@echmain3 Ya, and orange theory is $180 a month and people love it and pay for it? The app offers a coach and personalized help. Why would you expect something like that to be free?

kimny72 · May 2019

echmain3 wrote: »

Didn’t take long to find this gem:

“But it’s not cheap. While you can download the app for free and test it out in a short trial, a membership runs about $50 per month and is designed to last 16 weeks, or four months. The app also offers additional services for extra costs, like customized workout and meal plans.”

Okay, so it's expensive and why pay money when you can do it for free, good point. Considering that OP left Noom to come here, and quite possibly did so because of the price, I'd think making her feel welcome rather than crapping on what she did previously would be in order

echmain3 · May 2019

“Orange Theory”?

Never mind, I don’t want to know.

(Man, I went into the wrong line of work)

CharlieCharlie007 · May 2019

Ya, walked out of orange theory pretty fast!!!!

MikePTY · May 2019

echmain3 wrote: »

“Orange Theory”?

Never mind, I don’t want to know.

(Man, I went into the wrong line of work)

If you google these things it's very easy to find out what all of them are. Then you can have all the relevant information before making a value judgement about it.

"Orangetheory Fitness is a privately owned fitness franchise based in Boca Raton, Florida. It offers group personal training workouts based on high intensity interval training that blend cardiovascular and strength training."

echmain3 · May 2019

Good point @kimny72 ...

OP, welcome to MFP!

No, I haven’t used Noom but once you get set up with MFP (either the app or the web site) you’ll find that tracking calories and the food you eat is quite effortless and best of all, you don’t need to pay any money to anyone.

I’ve been using the free version of MFP and for 4 years and haven’t felt the need to upgrade to the subscription version.

There are lots of success stories in these forums from people who lost a LOT of weight using nothing but calorie counting.

Since you’ve already lost a significant amount of weight once you already know what it takes and I’m sure you’ll be successful with MFP!

melodyvegan · May 2019

I used Noom to get back on track with weight loss two years after my last soiree with MFP. I signed up for the 2 week free trial and canceled it before the trial ended because I had read some reviews that made me a little suspicious of their customer service practices and because logging food in the app was so tedious. Their database isn't nearly as large as MFPs and they make you scroll so much to get the right amounts (e.g.: scrolling slowly from 1 to 300 if something is 300 grams).

I continued with Noom through the free version of the app because I found the daily behavior modification articles very motivating and the quizzes/challenges were fun. I was really motivated by getting the little check mark that said I read all the articles and competed my daily check in. Truth be told, the articles get worse after about 2.5 months.

With the free version, I didn't have access to the recipes, personal coach, or groups, but I found ways around this. I have accountability through my partner at home who is also on a fitness journey and found that the MFP forums give me all the "group" accountability I need. I sought out recipe recommendations through my Fitbit community and through Facebook groups I was a part of.

All in all, I found the free version of Noom useful for it's daily psychology-based behavior modification articles. I learned a lot about myself and lost ~15 pounds (half my goal weight). I used MFP to track calories because Noom's calorie tracker is awful and I used the MFP forums to stay "connected" and feel supported. After I was done with all the articles (after 4 months) I just stuck with MFP beacuse by that point logging and reading the MFP articles and forums had become a daily habit too. Their whole program is CICO + behavior modification. MFP is good at the first, but behavior mod is incidental. Noom is better at the latter. For me, using both gave me the best of both apps.

I saved $180 by doing it this way. It may not be the way that works for everyone, but it worked for me. I credit Noom for motivating me in the beginning with the kinds of articles that you can't find on MFP, helping me stick to this journey for 4 consecutive months, and now in entering my 2nd month without Noom. It's definitely an excellent tool for creating new habits and learning about your relationship with food...which is the whole point of the program.

katandwaves · May 2019

Thanks to those with positive comments. Very much appreciated

My experience has been similar to @melodyvegan. I loved the behavior modification part. One of the things I loved most about Noom is that it changes your mind set about food. The daily cartoon - like articles were fun and easy to read. They gave you a little chunk each day and each day built on the last. And I only saw uplifting comments and positive feedback from other people in the Noom community.

I lost 25 pounds and have kept it off a year (give or take a couple pounds). I’m a firm believer in do what works for you. Noom worked for me because it didn’t tell me EXACTLY what to eat and didn’t restrict food groups.

Obviously I’m here for a reason. As mentioned, the articles die down after a while and some even start repeating. For me, I think it was great to get my “mind right” and now I’m ready to save money and come here.

Thanks!
Katrina

texasredreb · May 2019

Thanks for the information and reviews re Noom. I was considering it, but glad I landed here first.

nk9o · May 2019

I get the assistance of a nutritionist which I visit monthly through Medicare so much for the assistance Noom gives at the high cost.

cheriej2042 · May 2019

I was on Noom in January and February and it didn't work for me. I came back to MFP. Noom just doesn't have a large enough community like MFP. I didn't get much nutritional assistance and I just felt like I was on my own most of the time. So even though I had paid, I quit and came back here. And I've been losing weight ever since. Welcome to MFP!

kshama2001 · May 2019

melodyvegan wrote: »

I used Noom to get back on track with weight loss two years after my last soiree with MFP. I signed up for the 2 week free trial and canceled it before the trial ended because I had read some reviews that made me a little suspicious of their customer service practices and because logging food in the app was so tedious. Their database isn't nearly as large as MFPs and they make you scroll so much to get the right amounts (e.g.: scrolling slowly from 1 to 300 if something is 300 grams).

I continued with Noom through the free version of the app because I found the daily behavior modification articles very motivating and the quizzes/challenges were fun. I was really motivated by getting the little check mark that said I read all the articles and competed my daily check in. Truth be told, the articles get worse after about 2.5 months.

With the free version, I didn't have access to the recipes, personal coach, or groups, but I found ways around this. I have accountability through my partner at home who is also on a fitness journey and found that the MFP forums give me all the "group" accountability I need. I sought out recipe recommendations through my Fitbit community and through Facebook groups I was a part of.

All in all, I found the free version of Noom useful for it's daily psychology-based behavior modification articles. I learned a lot about myself and lost ~15 pounds (half my goal weight). I used MFP to track calories because Noom's calorie tracker is awful and I used the MFP forums to stay "connected" and feel supported. After I was done with all the articles (after 4 months) I just stuck with MFP beacuse by that point logging and reading the MFP articles and forums had become a daily habit too. Their whole program is CICO + behavior modification. MFP is good at the first, but behavior mod is incidental. Noom is better at the latter. For me, using both gave me the best of both apps.

I saved $180 by doing it this way. It may not be the way that works for everyone, but it worked for me. I credit Noom for motivating me in the beginning with the kinds of articles that you can't find on MFP, helping me stick to this journey for 4 consecutive months, and now in entering my 2nd month without Noom. It's definitely an excellent tool for creating new habits and learning about your relationship with food...which is the whole point of the program.

@melodyvegan I'm not the one who started this thread but found your post very useful - thanks!

whmscll · May 2019

cheriej2042 wrote: »

I was on Noom in January and February and it didn't work for me. I came back to MFP. Noom just doesn't have a large enough community like MFP. I didn't get much nutritional assistance and I just felt like I was on my own most of the time. So even though I had paid, I quit and came back here. And I've been losing weight ever since. Welcome to MFP!

This was my experience too. My insurance co had a promotion to help people lose weight and I qualified and got Noom for free. I hated it. I had done MFP previously and the shortcomings of the Noom database drove me crazy (most of the food I ate wasn’t in there, I had to add virtually everywhere manually). My Noom coach gave very cookie cutter feedback that was virtually useless. And very little participation in the forums. MFP is so much better, for me anyway.

Noom to MyFitnessPal

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