Should you try Noom Med?
I did. Here were my results.
The ads for Noom Med led me to believe that I would reach my goal weight in just a few short months.
I didn’t. Not even close.
But that’s OK.
I made it through 10 months of the program. And that’s when my real health journey began.
It’s Go Time
Here’s a picture of me the day I decided to subscribe to Noom Med. During this gender reveal party, I signed up on my phone in between bites of dinner and treats. It was January 21, 2024.
At the time, I weighed 214 lbs, had a body fat percentage of 36%, and had a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 33.8 which put me well into the Obese category.
My measurements were terrible, but they weren’t the main reason I decided to start yet another weight loss program. During the years since the pandemic, I gained 25 lbs. I felt myself getting slower and having less energy as the weight came on. I remember feeling uncomfortable in my own skin as if the body I had wasn’t truly mine.
For every pound of excess weight carried, 4 pounds of extra pressure is applied to the knees. So if you're 10 pounds overweight, your knees absorb 40 pounds of extra pressure, which can damage the joints over time. - North Oaks Orthopaedic Specialty Center
I was tired.
Hunger was constant.
I hated looking at myself in the mirror or in pictures.
I had tried working out in my home gym to shed the pounds but the extra weight I was carrying made HIIT classes extra challenging. I thought to myself if I could just lose some weight, working out would be easier and then I’d really be on my way to getting the body of my dreams (or at least my pre-pandemic sub-200 lb. body).
Months earlier I had heard of Noom from a coworker who looked like he was in great shape. He had shared with me his elevator pitch for the program and how he was able to eat what he wanted by planning his meals accordingly. It piqued my interest.
Money, Money, Money
First, let’s get the cost out of the way.
Here’s the breakdown of what I paid. Except for the trial, all other prices were for a year subscription. YMMV depending on whatever discounts and bundles that Noom may currently be running.
7-day trial - $0.50
Noom Premium - $179.00
Additional courses on stress management and aging for males - $29.00
Noom Med - $588.00
Noom meal and workout plans - $99.00
Grand Total - $895.50
It was a hefty price tag but I was willing to pay it if it would help me improve my health. I’ve always been a believer in prevention over dealing with diseases and illnesses. And if $900 now leads to not having to pay for medications and treatments down the line, fantastic.
I’ll focus on the Noom Med portion of the program but just a quick note on the standalone Noom program; what sets it apart from other programs is its psychology-based approach to weight loss.
Food is neither “good” or “bad”. Instead you learn through various, self-paced courses to categorize food by its caloric density. Less dense foods like cucumbers and broccoli are Green while highly dense foods like pizza and French fries are Red. From there you dive into other courses that help you identify your triggers for over eating, and you also learn psychological tricks to overcome them.
The Ozempic Craze
If we rewind to January 2024, GLP-1’s like Ozempic/Wegovy and Mounjaro were all the rage. It felt like every celebrity and influencer were taking it. You couldn’t escape it if you spent any time on social media.
Even if you didn’t admit it, you were probably thinking about trying it.
Today, Noom Med’s advertising has become overtly focused on GLP-1’s. But at the time when I signed up, they weren’t pushed as heavily into the forefront.
Before starting the program, you need to submit a recent blood test or schedule to get one done. In my case, I visited my PCP (Primary Care Physician). Once I had the results, I uploaded them via the app. You’re then matched with a clinician in your state.
Every session I had with a clinician was less than 15 minutes, some even lasted only 5. In my first session, the clinician reviewed my blood work with me.
She then dropped the question I had been waiting for.
“Are you interested in a weight-loss drug like Wegovy?”
Having heard horror stories ranging from diarrhea to death, I was hesitant to go that route and asked for alternatives. That’s when I started a regimen of Metformin. Its actual use is for diabetes treatment but can be prescribed off-label for weight loss. This had felt like a low-risk entry to the “Med” side of Noom.
Initially my weight loss was consistent… but slow. In the first month, I lost about 5 lbs. It almost made up for the side effects of nausea and the perpetual altering of my taste buds from the Metformin.
Over the first 6 months, I lost a total of 14 lbs.
That’s when my weight loss completely and utterly stalled. We had attempted to increase the Metformin dosage but it didn’t seem to help. I guess I was just one of those people for whom it wasn’t effective.
Around October 2024, I went cold turkey off the Metformin as my prescription had run out and it seemed impossible to get an appointment with a clinician.
I decided to give up.
If I Could Turn Back Time
So here’s what I would do differently if I could go back to that gender reveal party.
Do more research on GLP-1’s
Who knows? Maybe if I dug a little deeper or even talked to a couple of people who were taking them, I’d have been more comfortable with trying it out.
Don’t take the add-ons
I’m a sucker for add-ons. Always have been. Especially when there’s a limited-time component. Pretty sure I’m a copywriter’s wet dream.
If you’re thinking about it, start with the trial. And if you really like it, just get the Noom subscription. You can always get all the other stuff later.
Find a support group
Noom will tell you that they provide a supportive community. And they do, to an extent. But what I found disappointing was that Noom no longer provides personal coaching even though the app made all sorts of references to it.
Don’t believe the advertising
Noom will suggest that you can get to your dream weight in a certain time frame. But that’s only if you have optimal results. I followed all the courses like it was my new religion and I got no where close to what the adverts suggested.
Noom is probably right for some people; it just wasn’t for me.
There is a bright side to my story. Before 2024 ended, I would kickstart my weight loss and lose another 15 lbs. I now have a sustainable diet, my appetite is under control, and I’m getting closer to feeling like my old self. I’ll go into the details in a future post.
Make sure to subscribe if you’d like to learn how I did it.
Here’s my most viewed 𝕏 post of the week.
