Anyone any experience of Noom?

Yeah, tried a subscription earlier in the year. I can't really recommend it - the "psychological" approach mainly boils down to some trite articles about thinking more about what you eat and grouping foods into green, amber and red based on calorie density.

At the end of the day, you are still calorie counting its just that nothing is "bad"

On the other hand , an old school friend tried it and loved it, so maybe go for a free trial and keep a very close eye on the expiry date so you don't get charged £60.

Morecash... I've been to a therapist about some of my deep seated life long issues around food and exercise and found it very useful and insightful. Unfortunately we moved away and I've not had the cash or local recommendations where we are to pursue it further. I'm not totally'fixed:, but it did help an awful lot and I'm more 'fixed' than I was.

If your issues are in the realm of binging you may find this ladies channel helpful; I have. Link

I tried it in October last year, did a 4 month stint. I lost the weight I wanted to, circa 10kg (88 down to 78kg). I was also initially attracted to the psychology side and found the articles initially interesting but they got a bit much towards the end and I ran out of steam. They just take a long time to do and I felt they weren't adding anything from about midway through the sessions.

I do find that my attitude to eating has changed slightly and I think more about what I'm eating, whether that's just me paying more attention as I'd taken my eye off the boil or whether the psychology has played it's part is hard to tell.

Sorry that's probably not much help!

On the other hand , an old school friend tried it and loved it, so maybe go for a free trial and keep a very close eye on the expiry date so you don’t get charged £60.

This. Mrs C fell foul of this and is currently paying £60 for an app not opened for 5 months. During the free period she liked it to start with but got a bit tired or the volume of reading*. At a period when she also realised that one of her main issues was spending too much time with her face in her phone it was not a good combo. In contrast a friend who has struggled with her weight for much of her adult life has lost circa 4 stone, keeping it off and seems much more at one with herself. So it may well be a case of it having to fit you and your motivations.

* she has now joined me in living on a diet with no refined sugar and restricted time eating. 2 simple (if harsh) "rules". Has been working for me for 3 years and Mrs C is not finding it as hard as she thought. Personally I find it a lifestyle that suits me.

Interesting feedback, might try the free period and see how it goes - I think there is/was a book as well.

Will have a check on that YouTube channel - not sure it's binging if it's constant though!

Exactly the same experience as swdan - thought it was great to start but lost interest after a few months. I do think it has slightly altered my opinion on food and feeding though, I seem to be more aware of what I'm eating even if I still eat it 😀

Very similar experience to swdan to - the advice and articles given I think are very good (although if you've done any of your own reading on diet etc. you'll already have a good grasp of it all, there's no silver bullet provided). I too ended up getting bored of the reading volume and the whole drive to get you to participate in group chats and share (all very American :p ). I also signed up for the recipe and exercise plan stuff and found that a complete waste of money. I did lose a stone over about 4 months but that was mostly through cutting down drastically on snacking and boredom eating (Noom's food recording does help with that but of course you can get free calorie counting apps)

You do have to be prepared to change your diet to make progress (significantly in many cases) , OK that's obvious but if you've tried and failed before to make healthier choices then an app telling you to is unlikely to be much help either. I think I was in week 3 or 4 and it suggested a healthy swap for chicken wings was baked cauliflower florets with a bit of spice powder on it, in what world are they comparable (I nearly quit then but was lazy and forgot to cancel before the £60 charge...)

If you've not got much understanding of diet and some of the psychology behind why you might eat in a certain way and have the willpower to follow it then Noom could be very effective for you. There's also a lot of mindfulness stuff in it which I guess can be useful for other things life throws at us (although I never bothered to try and practice it...)

Agreed, I didn't both with the groups and will admit that a lot of the time where it was asking my to input how things made me feel, I would just add a random.letter so that it would allow me to progress. That's maybe why I didn't end up completing the course but I'm still happy with the results.
I would say, if you're thinking of signing up, complete the questionnaire on the sign up page then leave it at that. You will get bombarded with better offers and save a chunk of cash over the full price. Think I paid £60 for 4 months. For me it was worth it but didn't feel the need to continue (despite them still emailing me offers to sign back up). I do still log my weight every morning as I found that quite useful in seeing trends and tieing it in to what I was eating

I’ve used Noom with some success.  Certainly what they do is not that radical - eat sensibly, watch your calories, track your weight. But there are a few things that force you to think a bit about why you eat etc.  E.g. I realised that when I drink coffee I eat cake or biscuits, simply substituting tea for coffee during the day makes a big impact on my calorie intake.  There were other things that may be obvious but made an impact on me: overcompensating for exercise (oh, I’ve been for a run and burnt 400 calories, I can justify this cake).

there is group and 1:1 psychology type stuff in the app that I’ve never gone near so if you are thinking of spending £ on some sort of food therapist that could be a good start.

it’s definitely not cheap.  Like sky TV when you try to quit they will miraculously offer you a discount to stay!  This code should get you 20% off after the trial period:

https://www.talkable.com/x/fWdZI6

the other thing I found useful about it was I could tell other people to shut up when they chip in there different advice, and the family seemed to realize I was serious.

I've not tried Noom but I do work in this area myself, on public health services covering weight management.

A lot of local authorities now offer free services which include coaching, classes etc. and can be really effective.

If you're comfy saying which council area you're in, I could check my spreadsheet.

@chakaping - I'm not too ashamed to admit to living in Erewash.

I tried doom in 3d.

I made me motion sick. Hope that helps :⁠-⁠)

@morecashthandash looks like Derbyshire's offering could be decent, they are saying the right things on the website anyway...

https://www.livelifebetterderbyshire.org.uk/home.aspx

I'm involved in running one of these schemes and they do really seem to work for a lot of people, I think it's the personal coaching and group support that provide more accountability than just using an app.

Excellent, thanks for that

You're welcome.

I'd be interested to hear how it goes, if you do enrol. I'm often writing up case studies for these services, did one with an MTBer last week. I did wonder if he might be on here 😀