I Abandoned Noom

I never got to this point

Weight loss is such a hopeless task.

I am approaching my 86th birthday and I have been fat my entire life. That doesn’t mean I haven’t tried to lose weight. I have been quite successful on several occasions, having lost and regained close to 200 pounds during my lifetime. Even a casual Google search will reveal any number of articles pointing out the futility of dieting.

Nevertheless, hope springs eternal. So once again I have embarked on the Sysiphusian task of trying to lose weight. Due to the pandemic, I thought an online program would be best and I stumbled upon Noom. It sounded good so I paid for a one year subscription. I don’t think a free trial was available. The annual plan lists for $199 but they offered a discount to $179.

Presumably, this bought an app that allowed me to track my weight and keep a food diary as well as providing daily psychology lessons, a group chat to share my experiences, and a dedicated coach who could motivate me and answer questions.

What it did get me was the impetus to start counting my calories and make better food choices. The problems were multifold:

• The lessons were mostly directed to young females
• They tried to be really hip using lots of hashtags and cutesy language
• When a lesson called for me to share my thoughts about the material with the group, the group site was completely unordered and had no relevance to the lesson of the day, or at least it wasn’t obvious where to find it. Obviously everyone was at a different stage in their lessons
• The coach wasn’t very helpful and often answered my questions with an article from their web site that had canned advice.

So I cancelled my subscription but I’m still on the hook for the rest of the one year period. Caveat emptor. So now I am going back to My Fitness Pal which in fact has a better food database and an easier way to log meals and most importantly, is free. Will I succeed this time when I have failed so many times before? Perhaps if I do lose weight this time, I won’t live long enough to gain it back 😫.

Thanks for reading my rant. I’m sure some people have found Noom useful and if so, feel free to comment.