I tried NOOM… Here’s what happened!

I Tried NOOM For Weight Loss… Here’s What Happened

I can’t even believe I’m writing this blog post. Holy smokes.

Ok for starters, I have to tell you, I am an anti-dieter. I guess it’s because I’ve always battled my weight. That and going from 336 pounds to half my size I’ve tried (and failed) at all. the. diets!!!

Why I Decided To Try NOOM

Actually it was the crazy Coronavirus quarantine that made me dive in. But there’s more of a back story than that.

After losing a whopping 160 pounds by changing my eating and exercise habits, I was able to find a stable weight at which my body felt comfortable. But over the last few years, I’ve had a harder time with weight maintenance. Chalk it up to having two young kiddos, moving across the country a couple of times, stressful seasons of life, or anything else. It’s been rough. But I’ve tried to persevere.

In the last couple of years specifically, I started doing really intense exercise, which changed my body quite a bit, but the scale would not budge.

Start the NOOM trial HERE.

I mean it would. not. budge.

In fact, at the start of this year, my weight crept all the way up to pushing 200 (maybe even a little above), which was quite a big jump from my comfortable weight of a strong and solid 185. I believe in beauty at EVERY size, but for context, you can take a look at this pic (below) that my daughter snapped of me a couple of months ago, and then you can scroll down a bit to see the difference NOOM as made.

I cannot tell you how hard I have tried to get my weight back down to my lowest ever, which was 170 (for a day or two). I have tried it all!!! Keto, paleo, veganism, Vegetarianism, Whole30. All the diets. All the exercise. All the healthy practices. All the mindfulness.

NOTHING WORKED. I think since I had lost such a huge amount of weight, my body just became super stubborn. Like, No girl. We’re not losing one more single pound. Nope.

The only way I could get my scale to budge, was to eat literally like a rabbit for a few days. And immediately when that went out the window, those pounds came back immediately.

I consider myself fairly healthy, but my weight is still in the upper range from where I want it to be.

Yeah, yeah. I’m super muscular under the fluff, and all that jazz. But we all know when our eating habits don’t feel consistent and under control. And it’s just not a great feeling!

So there I sat one evening. Just a few days after we all got orders to stay home and keep ourselves quarantined. I knew I could not be home 24/7, and stay on track, without any help. I neeeeeeeded something to help me!!!! NOOM popped up in my Instagram feed. So I tapped the link, and got started.

NOOM’s 2-week trial is soooooo worth it!

First I Started The Trial

When I say I am skeptical about ANYTHING weight-loss related, believe you me. I am.

I have zero interest in never eating bread again, or swearing off sugar for the rest of my life. I coach lots of people on weight loss and healthy living, mysel, and I am a HUGE contender of incorporating small, doable, healthy choices that lead to weight loss.

But in my constant pouring out to everybody else, I really needed something that was just for me. Something that held me accountable. Lots of times, it’s not that we don’t know what to do. It’s that we need support, encouragement, or accountability.

So in my quest to help others, I sort of lost myself in it all. And while I tried my darndest not to, I started putting myself on the back burner. And there crept my scale, higher and higher.

Anyway, back to the point. I really needed something outside my norm, that could simply keep reminding me to make the right choices that I knew I should.

So I dove in and decided to try NOOM’s 14-day trial. I figured why not?! I could see if their program was legit (and doable), and if not. Bye-bye! 😉

What It Was Like

It was so easy.

I signed up, answered some questions, and NOOM set me up with the plan that was just right for me. And the entry questions weren’t your average surface-level questions. They dug much deeper. The questions asked about my habits, and my why (and my why beyond that, and beyond that). They helped me develop a bigger-picture plan and goal, and helped me map out how long that would take and what it would entail.

After that, I downloaded the NOOM app, and was set to dive right in!

What Do You Eat On NOOM?

Whatever the heck you want! Within reason of course. I’ve always said I won’t ever completely stop eating anything. If I want pizza night, we’re having pizza night. If it’s that time of the month and I just neeeeeed ice cream. It’s happening. I need bread, carbs, fruit, chocolate. I like all. the. foods.

The way NOOM breaks things down, it categorizes each food into an easy color system. Green, yellow, and red.

• Green: Eat as much as you want!
• Yellow: Enjoy, just be mindful!
• Red: Stick to the allotted amount and enjoy every bite!

And if you go over in any category, it’s fine! You find your footing as you go along!

Your NOOM app gives you a daily allotment of calories to enjoy every day, and you earn more and more as you move more throughout the day. It’s heavenly. You track your food choices through the day, right inside the NOOM app. It’s so easy.

I guess that’s a trend you’ll find about NOOM in this post. They make it so easy!!

But anyway! To answer your question, you can eat such an awesome variety of foods, that it doesn’t get boring. I started making tacos for lunch everyday. Did ya catch that? Every day! TACOS!!! It has been amazing. Give me alllllll the tacos.

What’s In The App

The app is absolutely amazing. So first thing in the morning, you log into your app and you’ve got a checklist of simple things to do. This has helped me tremendously because it gets my mind in the right space for making healthy choices throughout the day. You get little tidbits to read about various topics like intuitive eating, taming your inner elephant (you’ll have to get the app to find out about this), and making healthy choices when the people around you are making it difficult.

NOOM takes a physiological approach, so you can get around the the mindset traps that trip you up every time. It helps you figure out how to change your thinking patterns, and how to have a better relationship with food.

I loved when the topic was about “slips” and “surges.” This was life-changing. It helped me understand what to do when either I just do not feel motivated to make healthy choices, or (fill in the blank) got in the way and I veered way off plan.

I have a really cool scaled called Renpho (tip: It’s super cheap on Amazon), and since it’s bluetooth compatible, it connects straight to my app, so I can just weigh myself and it’ll keep track of my progress automatically! I don’t even have to log it! But if you don’t have a scale with bluetooth capabilities, logging your weight in the app is super easy. It shows a graph of your weight fluctuations, either way!

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So you check off each box each day, and this keeps your head in the game. It’s short and sweet, and super helpful. Getting through everything on your daily checklist takes about ten minutes each day.

Exercise = MORE FOOD!

If you have a Fitbit, or Apple watch, or something similar, you can get a pretty accurate count of your calories burned each day. You can connect your watch to the app, and it’ll log your daily steps and other exercise automatically!

You can find the two-week trial for NOOm by heading HERE.

THIS. HAS. BEEN. A. GAME. CHANGER!!!!

Why? Because sometimes I exercise like a fein, and other days I do almost nothing at all. I need to know how much energy my body is expending so that I can fuel it appropriately. I truly believe this is one of the big reasons I have been so successful with using NOOM!

Even if your only exercise goal is walking more or taking more steps through the day, you can do that easily with the NOOM app. Even with no watch at all! You can carry your phone on your body somewhere, and it’ll automatically track your steps! The more steps you take, the more calories you burn, which means you get to eat more food. And that, to me, is a winning situation.

Wait… I Get Like My Very Own Personal Coach?!

Yep!! Up in the top right corner of the app, there a little message icon. You click on that and there’s a little chat box for you and your very own coach! Actually they call it a Goal Specialist. So when you get stuck, or need some advice, or want some added help understanding something… you have it right there in the private chat!

Accountability Group

Beyond the personal coach, there’s a really cool feature that puts you in a group with others who are working on their health goals. It’s a separate chat area led by a coach, and everyone gets to chime in! You can focus on certain topics, and share ideas, struggles, and victories. You can participate in that option as little or as much as you like! It’s really neat way to get that motivation flowing.

After NOOM’s Free Trial

By the end of the trial I was messaging my Goal Specialist asking how I can make sure that I keep it going after the trial is over. I was so impressed by my progress that I actually signed up for the four-month package!!

How Much Weight You Lose On NOOM

We all know there’s no specific or correct answer here. Some people can jump into a healthy eating plan and drop weight so fast. Thennnnnnnn there are people like me who basically lose weight at a snail’s pace.

What I’ve learned through doing NOOM is that it doesn’t necessarily matter how fast you’re dropping weight, it just matters that the arrow is pointed in the right direction. You can see your fluctuations in a line chart in the app. As long as the line is generally headed in the downward direction, you’re doing the right thing! Fluctuations are NORMAL! For example, you can see below in my own line chart that slips and surges are totally normal!

There are TONS of factors for this (I’m on my period this week, which often causes temporary weight increases). But in general, It’s been awesome to see that little jumps are always followed by dips.

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I would say it’s probably a safe bet to think you’ll lose around 1-3 pounds per week doing NOOM. But again, that’s not a set rule. Weight loss has so many factors, and it truly TRULY does include so many spikes and dips in that number on the scale.

BUT! As for me, I lost about 10 pounds in a few weeks. For me and my stubborn body, THAT IS A MIRACLE! But miracle or not, it happened and I am feeling soooooo much better. Not just because of appearances or clothes fitting better. Because I feel in control of my food and exercise choices, and because I feel fueled well! The last time I was weighing in regularly at 185 I was working out like crazy and hardly eating.

I am soooooo glad that you don’t have to starve yourself and live in a gym to maintain a healthy weight.

I have absolutely no specific goal weight for myself. As long as I feel healthy and confident, Im’ good to go! But I’m excited that I get to keep going with this, and see just what else my body is capable of doing!!

Give it a try for two-weeks and you’ll be in love by day three.

Let’s Be Clear

I did not start NOOM because I needed a diet. Please hear me when I say that.

Because truth be told, NOOM isn’t a diet. From my core of my being, I can tell you that it’s truly like those rumble strips on the side of the highway that help you get focused and on track when you’re veering too far off the path. I desperately needed that. And I cannot tell you how helpful it was when I took the plunge and signed up.

If you want to check it out for yourself, sign up for the trial right HERE!