I know everyone's experiences are different, but here's mine.
I signed up for the Noom app on 12/31 in preparation for starting on 1/1. I liked the "idea" of digging into the psychological reasons that I eat and the support. I'm only a week in, but looks like I will cancel before my 14 day trial is up.
First thing is you get assigned a "goal specialist" (who BTW is only available normal hours M-F) and really isn't that quick to respond.
Then you weigh yourself every morning, log your food, & they start your step goal at 2,000 and increase it by 300 each day. I have a fitbit that I've used for years & while I don't always hit my 10,000 steps, I can hit 2,000.
I started logging food, weighing in, etc. When my "goal specialist" first interacted with me (via a messaging tool within the app) she said her job was to interact with me "one-on-one" to set weekly goals and create an action plan t make them happen. And there would be weekly check-ins. Like I said, my 14 days is up on 1/13 (a Sunday), so I knew I needed to make the most of this trial period or pay $149. She wanted to set the check in for Friday morning & I agreed. She did message me Friday, but by the time I got back to her, it was just after 5pm, so nothing happened all weekend. Her message noticed that I logged 11 meals, and asked what I wanted to work on. My answer was 2 things: 1- late night eating & 2-better dinner planning so I don;t fall apart when I get home. I told her to look at the log & she'd see what I meant. On Sunday, I sent a message saying that if she thought Friday was bad (2.5 slices of pizza for dinner), Saturday was worse (lunch was 3 Lindt truffles). Sunday's breakfast was diner pancakes & dinner was pizza. Then I told her I was ready to set my first goal.
She answered me Monday morning with this "that sounds like a great action plan. Do you think that would be a good goal for you this week? To plan and be prepared to make dinner at home each night this week?" That was it - nothing about the other messages - no other words of encouragement, just --- what do you think?. I told her that was my plan. At which point she said "Perfect. I will make a note that that is your goal for this first week and then I will be checking in next Tuesday to see how it went" Next Tuesday - NO. (a) that was after my 14 days & (b) I've now shown her that I was struggling & she sets the next checking for over a week. I asked that it be Thursday & she agreed. Today is only Tuesday so I'm not sure how this next check in will go, but unless she pulls a great rabbit out of her hat I will be cancelling.
I don't need someone to tell me that I need to set a goal & stick to it. DUH. Maybe this would be good for someone that's new to weight loss, but for anyone that's done this before, save your money and time.
I will update this post after my check in on Thursday & let you know.

So here's the update.

At 3pm on Thursday, when I hadn't heard from my "goal specialist" I sent this message: "I had it on my calendar that we were supposed to have a check in today"

NO REPLY

at 4:50 (remember they only work until 5), I sent this: "I guess since it's 4:50PM on Thursday, this means we are not doing my check in today. I am available now"

At 4:57 (yes I looked at the time) I received this: "sorry its a little late in the day! How did your week go?"

First off, it wasn't a week - we messaged on Monday.

So, I replied with this (and this was all true): "Not so good since we chatted on Monday. I went to the store Monday after work to buy my food so my week would go easy. When I got home I was starving so I ate cheese and crackers and then never ate dinner. On Tuesday I worked much later than I planned on, so by the time I got home all I could do was make macaroni & cheese" Then I followed it with "And today I forgot my lunch and it's 5pm"

And I sent that message at 5pm Thursday.

At 10:30 Friday Morning I received" I'm sorry that this week was a little more of a struggle. Reflecting on it, what do you think was getting in the way for you? Stress? Scheduling"

My immediate answer was "Scheduling - I worked too much"

To that "she" said "What sort of strategies do you think you could use or plans you could make to help when you have a busy schedule so you can still reach those healthy goals?"

My quick answer: "other than working less, not sure. What do you think?"

At 2:24pm (why does it take 4 hours to respond): I got "have you tried prepping everything for the week at one time? So that way it can help save you time during the week? Some people just find it helpful to have everything chopped up, sorted and planned so its just grab and cook.

My reply: "I usually try that but I had plans this past weekend & wasn't able to" then I also said "Also, like Tuesday night, I walked in the door at 7:30 & was starving. there was no time to cook."

And the answer back to me at 4pm (1 1/2 hours later) was "Think that would be a good focus again for the week? See how planning goes again? Have any other goals in mind?"

That's when I was done, so I requested to cancel before my trial was up

Oh and the information "System Generated Message" from my goal specialist was received immediately. I guess the phrase "cancel" triggers an immediate response.


My real take away on the Noom App was this:

a. they are using robots as goal specialists

b. they say they will review your food log, but not once did my goal specialist make any mention of anything I put in my log (including the chocolate truffles for lunch, or carvel as an after dinner snack)

c. if they are promoting it as "group" support, shouldn't they give you the "group" before the end of your trial.

d. I did like the fact that it was easy to log a recurring meal in the app (I make a shake for breakfast that has 7 different fruits/vegs in it & I made a "custom food" of it so I didn't have to enter it every day)

Wendy, I’m curious if you decided to carry anything from your short experience with Noom with you on your weight loss journey? Did anything resonate with you enough to make you think “yes, I should be doing this.”?

Wendy, thank you so much for this candid recount of your experience with Noom! I had been on their site and reading a few reviews, but wasn't convinced yet to even do the 14 day trial. Reading the responses from your specialist is really horrible- I definitely will steer clear. I appreciate you sharing!

I JUST paid $10 for a trial and wish I'd seen this before I did! I delved a bit into it (clicking through the quizzes and such while at work) and just don't think it is for me. I immediately texted my "coach" to see if I could get the money refunded and cancel and got the same canned reply. I'd been looking at it for awhile and it sounded like a good plan, but looking at it, not for me either!

I am glad to have found this thread. I feel like on-line plans are great for the diet companies, but not for people
I was looking for something to "up my game" now I know this is not for me

I tried noom and I hated it, never got to talk to a coach, I got tired of reading their articles everyday and taking their stupid quizzes, I had it for a month and it didn't do anything for me.