What is the Noom “diet”?

What is the Noom “diet”? | How does Noom Weight work? | What makes Noom Weight different? | What can you eat on Noom? | Noom sample menu | How much does Noom cost?

• Noom Weight is more than a diet—it’s an entire program designed to help you lose weight by understanding why you eat what you eat and how to create new, more sustainable eating habits.
• With Noom Weight, you’re not asked to give up your favorite foods or food groups.
• Noom Weight works by keeping you full and satisfied on the healthiest foods, so you don’t feel hungry or deprived.

When most people think of diets, they think of fad diets that restrict what you eat or deprive you of your favorite foods. 

In other words, the kind of diets that for most people don’t lead to results—and leave them feeling burned out or fed up. 

That’s because, in our experience, a typical diet doesn’t work for two main reasons:

1. They leave people feeling hungry and deprived (which just isn’t sustainable).
2. They don’t address the root causes of people’s eating habits.

That’s why we designed Noom Weight to be different from the ground up.

Noom Weight will never tell you what you can and can’t eat. That’s always up to you. 

And Noom Weight is about so much more than just watching what you eat: It’s about understanding why you eat the way you do, so you can create new, lasting, sustainable habits.

It’s also about learning how to make different food choices that leave you feeling full and satisfied (not stuffed), while helping you feel in control.

Because just addressing what you eat without looking at the reasons why—like most diets—will only ever be a temporary fix.

Think of it as going to food school for a few months: 

Instead of following a regimen that leaves you always feeling hungry to lose weight temporarily, you’ll learn how to free yourself from unhealthy habits while still enjoying your favorite foods.

How does Noom Weight work?

Noomers tell us that right from the start, Noom Weight isn’t like other approaches to losing weight.

Instead of just leaving you on your own to figure out how to hit a calorie target, we dive straight into exploring the reasons why you eat the way you do.

Diets fail because all too often they completely cut out specific foods or food groups—like bread or carbohydrates. When you “slip up” and eat some spaghetti, you feel defeated and give up completely.

With Noom, spaghetti is never a slip-up, because no food is bad or off-limits.

We’ll give you a calorie range, but we don’t expect you to add up all the numbers (our food logger does that for you). 

We structured Noom Weight so you can learn how to make better choices over time, based on the latest research in psychology and behavioral science.

Our program will guide you to stay within your calorie range not by focusing on what foods you should avoid, but by learning what foods you can add that will keep you feeling satisfied on fewer calories. 

So for example, one Noomer wanted to replace mayonnaise in their sandwich with something that had fewer calories, but was just as satisfying to them.

Their new choice?

Sriracha. Which now is their go-to sandwich topping. 

What makes Noom Weight different? 

A lot of people wonder how psychology can help you lose weight. 

It starts by helping you to see:

1. What habits have led you to gain weight.
2. Why past efforts to lose weight haven’t worked.
3. What kinds of changes you’ll need to make to succeed moving forward.

Because true lasting weight loss is about so much more than calories in versus calories out. 

In theory, any weight loss program can help you lose weight by making sure you take in fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis.

But that only works if you are still feeling full and satisfied within your calorie range.

How long do you think you could really stick with a weight loss approach if you constantly feel hungry and deprived?

Not very long. 

So we’ve designed Noom Weight around 3 key pillars:

1. Our daily lessons
2. Our three-color system
3. Our food logger

The daily lessons

From day one you’ll start with your Daily Lessons.

This is the heart of what makes Noom different. 

You’ll choose whether you spend 5, 10, or 15 minutes per day (never more) on lessons, quizzes, and simple tasks that take you on a deep dive into the emotional and mental aspects of weight loss.

But don’t worry, you won’t need a psychology degree to grasp these lessons. We’ve written everything in simple, easy to understand terms.

These lessons cover: 

• Why do you think and feel the way you do about food?
• When you overeat, what are your triggers? 
• How do stress and uncomfortable emotions affect how you eat? 

And more.

We’ll help you to build healthier responses to stress, eat mindfully, train your thoughts, and recognize true hunger.

We’ll also help you learn what a proper portion size looks like.

Using evidence-based principles from approaches like behavioral therapy (CBT), Noom Weight’s daily lessons help you change your perspective about what it really takes to effectively lose weight.

The food logger

To build your awareness of how your food choices affect your calorie target, you’ll enter everything you eat into the Noom Weight app.

For many Noomers, this is what allows them to create true accountability.

By tracking everything you eat (and again, it only takes a moment to do so), you get to see how your choices align with your goals. 

For many Noomers, using the food logger is an eye-opening experience. Not only does it show them how much they’ve been eating until now, it also helps them learn what a proper portion size looks like. 

It also helps Noomers plan what they want to eat and feel good about the choices they’re making.

The three-color system

Noomers who have successfully hit their target weight have told us that our three-color system was the key to helping them make better choices. 

It helps them decide whether they really want to snack on some store-bought cookies, or whether they’d rather snack on something more nutritionally rewarding now. It also helps them eat their favorite fresh-from-the-bakery chocolate chip cookie in moderation.

How does it work?

With Noom, all foods are green, yellow, or orange. 

The colors just help you understand the caloric density of each food, or how much that food will fill you up for the amount of calories they contain. 

In other words, green foods (think: fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) will fill you up with the least amount of calories.  

Yellow foods—like chicken, fish, or low-fat dairy—have more calories. 

Orange foods have the highest caloric density. But that doesn’t mean they are bad or off-limits. It just means that you’ll feel less full eating 100 calories worth of french fries than if you ate 100 calories worth of apple slices. 

You can still have the french fries anytime you want. We just ask that you enter them into your food logger and be mindful of how many you really want in the moment.

We’ll also recommend how many orange, yellow, and green foods you should eat daily to stay within your calorie range.

Noomers have told us that this has been huge in helping them remove the emotional battle that most diets create. 

So you can still enjoy ice cream or samosas. When you log your favorite foods, you’ll see what color they are and how you can incorporate them into your calorie range. 

Coaches

You’re never alone with Noom. 

If you’re feeling burned out, or you just need a little support, remember that Noom guides and coaches are there to help you identify your goals, stick to them and plan how to get there. 

They’ll help you focus your energy and effort where you need to for the best results. 

You can choose when and how to connect with them: every day, or not at all. 

All our coaches are trained by our behavior change experts. 

There are plenty more features that come with Noom Weight. 

If you’d like to dive even deeper into how Noom Weight works, check out our article What is Noom Weight (and how does it work)?

What can you eat on Noom?

You can eat anything with Noom Weight.

If you’re craving a slice of key lime pie, go for it.

Just because they’re an orange food (like chocolate, salami, or churros), it doesn’t mean they’re off limits.

Just make sure you balance the orange foods with lots of green ones, like vegetables, whole grains, and most fruits. 

Most traditional diets don’t work long-term because depriving yourself isn’t a sustainable approach to eating (or life).

That’s why we want you to enjoy all your favorite foods. 

Interestingly, though, a lot of Noomers say that when they started filling up on “green” foods, they felt less of a pull towards the calorie-dense choices they used to go for and enjoyed them even more when they did.

What about dietary restrictions?

If you’re following a specific diet already—like vegan or low-carb, lactose or gluten-free— you can work it into Noom Weight.

You can choose any foods you like, as long as you stay within your calorie range.

If you’re having trouble finding the right foods for you and your diet, reach out to Noom coaches. They have meal plans, grocery lists, and a host of other resources to help you.

Every diet is doable. Some—like keto, for instance—are more difficult than others, but not impossible.

Noom sample menu

On Noom Weight, you’ll get a recommended calorie range that’s targeted to help you hit your goals. 

In order to be able to stick with any weight loss program, it’s essential that you finish each day feeling satisfied and full. 

So to give you a sense of what a typical day’s worth of meals might look like on Noom Weight, here’s a sample menu:

Breakfast 

• Toast with mashed avocado, sliced tomato and poached eggs
• Veggie omelet with low-fat cheese and a slice of toast
• Low-fat Greek yogurt with oats and berries
• Overnight oats made with oats, plant milk, chia seeds and banana
• English muffins with nut butter and apple slices

Lunch

• Tuna mixed with hummus, crackers and a big side salad
• Grilled chicken in a pita with yogurt dressing, peppers, spinach, and mushrooms
• Roasted eggplant in a wrap with hummus, chickpeas, olives and feta cheese
• Salad with grated carrots, lentils, and topped with, chicken, shrimp or tofu
• Rice bowl with okra, grilled or sauteed shrimp, and beansprouts

Dinner

• Cod cooked with peppers, tomatoes and onions with rice and a side salad
• Salmon filet with olive oil, lemon wedges and fresh dill, garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli
• Grilled chicken, roasted tomatoes and cauliflower, steamed greens and feta cheese
• Pork or beef tenderloin with roasted sweet potato wedges and green beans
• Ground turkey burgers with chickpea pasta and sauteed chard

Not bad, right?

How much does Noom cost?

If you go out with your friends for a nice dinner and a few drinks, Noom Weight probably costs less than your night out on the town.

You can pay for your whole plan at once for the best price. Most plans are around three or four months.

Noom’s subscription plans are currently:

• Monthly auto-renewing plan $70 USD
• 2 month auto-renewing plan $129 USD
• 3 month auto-renewing plan $159 USD
• 4 month auto-renewing plan $169 USD
• 5 month auto-renewing plan $174 USD
• 6 month auto-renewing plan $179 USD
• 7 month auto-renewing plan $184 USD
• 8 month auto-renewing plan $189 USD
• 9 month auto-renewing plan $195 USD
• 10 month auto-renewing plan $199 USD
• 11 month auto-renewing plan $205 USD
• Annual auto-renewing plan $209 USD

Most plans come out at the same price as a month to a few months membership at a good gym, or a pair of nice running shoes. 

Get started with Noom

Download our app (Android or iPhone only) or check out our website for all you need to know about Noom Weight.