I Did Noom for You, and Why Restricting Calories Doesn’t Work
I Did Noom for You, and Why Restricting Calories Doesn’t Work
Melanie Rietveld Anyone who knows me would probably read that and wonder why the heck I would go on a calorie-restricted diet. There are two reasons. The first is that I actually gained weight after healing from autoimmune gastritis. The second is because, in the midst of my health coach training, I wanted to see what Noom was all about in order to increase my knowledge and be better prepared to help clients.
What is Noom?
Noom is a weight loss app that utilizes both principles of psychology and prioritization of low-calorie-density foods to help people change how and what they eat. As with many ideas, the concept is great, but sticking to the program is harder than they make it seem, which is why I decided to chuck it.
How it works –
Noom has clients start by figuring out a daily calorie target based on age, sex, activity level and how quickly they want to reach their goal weight. Clients then learn about the psychology of food choices and how to choose the appropriate amounts of different foods through daily lessons on the app. Noom also has food tracking capabilities to facilitate logging daily calories and foods consumed. There’s also a coaching portal for those who want support or advice via messaging.
What I liked about Noom -
- The psychology content and food choice information was high-quality and well-presented.
- I had fun tracking my calorie and food intake…for about a week.
- I loved the little scale in the app that clients use to track their weight loss. It registers to .1 pound, so it’s easy to see the value of small but steady progress.
- I bought Noom’s version of the Withings Bluetooth scale and love it.
- Coaching is available in a messaging format with a real person. I did reach out to her when I found the calorie allotment too restrictive, and she was helpful.
What I didn’t like –
- Although the psychology and food choice information was thorough, I found it difficult to remember everything in a comprehensive way when it’s all delivered and stored in the app. I think Noom should publish a book so people like me can refer to relevant content outside the app.
- Food and calorie tracking gets old fast! I found it cumbersome to tally all the calories of ingredients in my favorite healthy recipes just to enter an accurate value into the daily tracker, not to mention trying to figure out the serving size, etc.
- The low caloric recommendation was insane! Seriously, 1200 calories per day? That’s hardly enough to feed the goldfinches in my front yard! Even when I increased to 1400 calories per day, I was starving! More on my revelation regarding this later.
- The coaching is impersonal. Although I give Noom credit for offering this service and acknowledge that it may work great for some people, it wasn’t for me. After being trained in the ADAPT coaching framework, I place a high value on rapport, empathy, connection and compassion that can’t be duplicated in an app that uses messaging. Nor could the Noom coach truly help me overcome obstacles in a meaningful and personal way.
What’s the point here?
Why didn’t Noom work for me? As I learned later on in my health coach training, the human body’s threat detection and survival mechanisms are a stealthy, well-oiled machine! It’s really hard to outsmart Mother Nature. When the brain and body recognize a calorie deficit, all the innate survival tactics kick in. Among them are:
- A decrease in resting metabolic rate to conserve resources
- Increased hunger, as the brain and body seek to procure nourishment
- Increased absorption – the body literally harvests more calories from the same amount of food if it detects starvation
No wonder severe calorie restriction doesn’t work long-term!
What does work for sustainable weight loss?
- There are a several strategies that can help people develop a plan that is enjoyable, sustainable and leads to spontaneous weight loss. The idea is to create a subtle calorie deficit.
Key factors:
- See your doctor to rule out or detect any health conditions that may need to be addressed in order for you to lose weight.
- Underlying health conditions, including insulin resistance, a thyroid issue or other hormone imbalances may need to be addressed in order to successfully lose weight, but paradoxically, can many times be improved by eating real, whole foods.
- Your doctor can give you a clean bill of health and/or monitor your progress, which will give you confidence as you move forward.
- Prioritize a nutrient-dense diet. This has been shown to:
- Curb hunger
- Improve metabolic health
- Reduce inflammation
A balance of protein, healthy carbs and fats provides greater satiety and sustained energy.
- Keep food simple
- Simple food with minimal ingredients cuts down on prep time and added calories
- Prioritize pasture-raised meats, organic vegetables and fruits
- Minimize or eliminate highly processed foods and added sugar (many people find that this is the key to sustainable weight management. Highly processed foods and sugar make you hungrier and activate the fat-storage hormone, insulin.)
- Include minimally processed pseudo-grains such as quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat or wild rice if tolerated.
- Eat enough carbs to support your activity level.
- Starchy vegetables without a boatload of butter, such as sweet potatoes, yuca, squash, carrots, etc.
- Pseudo-grains as tolerated
- Prioritize NEPA during your day. (Non Exercise Physical Activity)
Examples could be walking for 10 minutes on your lunch break, shoveling snow, parking farther out at the grocery store, etc.
- Find exercise that you enjoy and stick with it. If you don’t like it, you won’t do it. Regular exercise not only boosts metabolism, it also reduces stress, helps detoxify the body and promotes restful sleep, all of which will support weight loss efforts.
- Strive to live a balanced life.
- Aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep each night
- Identify and manage stress in a way that’s enjoyable for you
- Tap into social support. A friend or family member’s help can make all the difference.
- Short-term calorie tracking CAN be beneficial.
- It helps you gauge your calorie intake to make sure it’s not too high OR too low.
- It can help you learn portion sizes if this is new for you.
- Focus on the things that are going well and build on that
- It’s easier to implement change when you feel good about the things that are positive in your life
- Cultivate one habit at a time to eliminate overwhelm
- Adopt the mindset that this is a sustainable lifestyle shift, not a “diet”
- Celebrate your wins. Every tiny victory counts and will spur you on to keep moving in your desired direction
- You don’t need to be perfect!
If these ideas resonate with you, I would love to share a downloadable guide that details all these steps and more.
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