Noom: When Marketing Is Unethical — and Even Dangerous (2024)

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Noom: When Marketing Is Unethical — and Even Dangerous? ›

Takeaways. Noom is a wolf in sheep's clothing. While it's marketed as “healthy” and “anti-diet,” it actually encourages unhealthy dieting tactics that have triggered people's eating disorders and led to yo-yo dieting. While the marketing is on par with pop culture, it's unethical — which is a much larger problem.

Some Noom users say the app's daily weigh-ins and calorie-tracking system are 'toxic' and triggered disordered eating. The weight-loss app Noom built its brand on acknowledging that "diets don't work." Former users say they were drawn to Noom's message, but the app triggered disordered eating.

One of the potential downsides to using Noom is that the recommended tracking can be time-consuming, cumbersome, and stressful for some people. Or if you're trying to spend less time on your phone, Noom may not be the best weight loss approach.

In addition to the auto-renewal and billing complaints, Noom faced criticism from experts and consumers for its weight loss program. While branding itself as different from other diets, the app has previously set very low calorie goals that dietitians say put users at risk of side effects.

However, while Noom can serve you in the short term by helping you change your eating habits and practice mindful eating, some experts recommend against using weight-loss apps like Noom. "A strict diet protocol, or labeling foods in any way, isn't a healthy practice.

Last week the popular diet app Noom announced that it had reached a $62 million settlement with plaintiffs in a class action who brought a host of state-law consumer protection and common law claims based on Noom's allegedly deceptive enrollment scheme.

Noom Diet App $62 Million Fraud Class Action Settlement Receives Final Court Approval. In July 2022, a Federal Judge in the Southern District of New York granted final approval of a $62 million settlement of Wittels McInturff Palikovic's nationwide class action complaint against weight-loss app company Noom, Inc.

While Noom encourages making sustainable lifestyle changes, some users may find their new habits difficult to maintain without ongoing accountability. Additionally, given that Noom categorizes foods based on their calorie content, some foods higher in calories may actually be beneficial for maintaining your weight.

Former Noom coaches who juggled hundreds of clients say they relied on copy-paste advice. Some people have said in reviews of Noom and on Reddit that their personal coaches appear to be bots. They said the coaches might go days without responding or would respond in canned responses or by rephrasing users' questions.

Try the Diet Adele and Pippa Middleton Made Famous With Noom | Us Weekly.

How did Kelly Clarkson lose weight? ›

Kelly Clarkson has shared some strategies that contributed to her recent weight loss. She credits several factors that contributed to losing weight, including exercise, eating a healthy mix of food, and allowing herself occasional treats. Clarkson also enjoys infrared saunas and cold plunges.

On Trustpilot, Noom has four out of five stars based on over 63,300 reviews. Reviewers appreciate the engaging daily lessons with easy-to-understand language. Many reviewers noticed changes in not only their weight but also in their mindset of how they approach weight loss.

The trial period isn't free, but they offer a pay-what-you-can model with options for $0.50, $3, $10, and $18. Although Noom is more expensive than Joggo and MyFitnessPal Premium, it's more affordable than other brands we've reviewed, including Diet-to-go, WeightWatchers, and Mayo Clinic Diet.

Minimum Calorie Range

To keep your body functioning at its best, Noom won't let those who identify as female adjust their goal below 1,200-1,320 calories per day, those who identify as male below 1,400-1,540 calories per day, and those who don't choose to select a binary gender below 1,200-1,320 calories per day.

Restrictive Dieting Just Doesn't Work

Just like most weight loss programs, Noom relies on calorie counting, which often fails to sustain results long-term. When calories are restricted, the body's metabolism slows down as a natural response to conserve energy.

Because Noom takes a holistic approach to health, focused on the four pillars of nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress management, success in one of these areas often begets positive health outcomes in the others.

At Noom, we believe that support and motivation from real human coaches helps foster healthy outcomes for our users, and leads to great success. Learning healthier habits isn't easy, but it can be transformative. Our coaches guide users through the ups and downs of the weight loss journey with empathy and compassion.

Weight-loss app Noom, known for its psychology-based approach to dieting which is oft the subject of controversy, is downsizing. The $3.7 billion platform laid off 180 coaches on Thursday in what was described as "an evolution to the coaching model," per Business Insider.