How much does Noom cost in the UK & is it worth it?
I don’t think I’m alone in having gained a few pounds over the last few years. The combination of lockdown, boredom, working from home and using food as one of the only ways to treat ourselves has taken its toll on our waistlines. If you’re looking to lose a little weight, then you might have heard of Noom. It’s one of the many weight loss programs around at the moment that promises to help you to lose the extra pounds and keep them off. I gave Noom a try a little while ago, and wanted to share my thoughts along with sharing how much does Noom cost in the UK and is it worth it?
[lwptoc]What is Noom?
Noom is a well-known weight loss program based in the US, but it’s recently become more widely known here in the UK too. Noom promises to help you to lose weight and keep the weight off. So how is this different from any other weight loss plan?
How is Noom different from other weight loss plans?
If you’re trying to lose weight, then the chances are that this isn’t your first rodeo. You may have tried things like Slimming World, Weight Watchers, the Muscle Food plan or just counting calories. So how is Noom different from other weight loss plans?
Noom promise to help you to lose weight and keep it off by helping you to learn to eat mindfully.
They say that the key is to change the way we think about what we eat and train our brains into healthier habits.
How does Noom work?
When you first head over to the Noom website, you’ll be asked a number of questions about yourself. As you’d expect, these include questions about your height, weight, sex and activity level. But Noom also ask questions to determine how you think about food in order to establish what kind of eating habits you have and what they can do to help to change your mindset around food.
Once you go ahead and start the trial, you will then be assigned a personal coach. You will receive daily lessons into your inbox and the aim is that these will gradually help you to change the way you think about food and activity and help you to develop healthier habits. You can also log into the Noom app where you can access all of the lessons and additional articles to help you to achieve your weight loss goal.
Steven Dick, founder and director of The Fitness Group, the UK’s Leading Education company for fitness professionals, says Noom impresses with its integration of education and personal coaching. He says, “it’s really great how Noom provides personal support tailored to the individual and aims to educate through education. It’s clear that fad diets and restrictive dieting doesn’t work over the long term, what is crucial is finding what works for you whilst incorporating rich, nutrient dense whole foods into your diet. Nutrient rich foods will support both short term goals and long term longevity.”
Once the initial 14 day trial is done, and if you decide to continue with the full price plan, you will then be added to a group of like-minded Noom members. The aim of the group is to provide mutual support – as we all know, losing weight can be a long, hard slog and it’s so much easier when you have the support of others going through the same thing. This is why weight loss groups are so popular in general, it’s the mutual support that is really invaluable, particularly if we’re struggling.
Once a week, you will also receive private messages from your personal coach. This is your chance to get a one-to-one with somebody who knows their stuff when it comes to the psychological aspect of weight loss. All of the coaches are trained in cognitive behaviour, so they can help you to change the way you think about food and exercise which can be really important when it comes to successful, long term weight loss. The primary aim for your coach is to help you to achieve your goal. That could be achieving your target weight, or it could be running 5k.
How much does Noom cost in the UK?
So here’s the all important question – how much does Noom cost in the UK? At the time of writing, a 14 day trial of Noom costs just £1 in the UK. As you can see from the image, there are options to pay more, but you’d be crazy to do that when you can get the full trial for just £1. You can also sometimes find promotion codes online too. Once the 14 day trial has ended, you’ll then go straight onto the full plan which currently works out at around £22 per month. Just be careful with this though, as it’s very difficult to get an actual price and prices do seem to be up to £40 per month once the promotional periods are over. If you decide you don’t want to pay this amount, then make sure you cancel the plan before it automatically renews at full price.
How does the cost of Noom in the UK compare with other options?
As with everything I do, I wanted to compare the cost of Noom with other options in the UK. It’s difficult to compare in some ways, because each plan offers different things, but it’s important to think about the money side of it all the same. These prices are all correct at the time of writing this post, and are without any promotional offers that may be around, they have also been worked out from monthly/annual prices:
- Noom – varies but up to £40 per month
- Slimming World – £5.95 per week for group members, £5 per week for digital members but paid in bulk up front. There are often promotions though so you can get this cheaper.
- Weight Watchers – £16.95 per month
It’s very difficult to say which one of these is the best option financially, as they fluctuate a great deal, but Noom is generally the most expensive option.
What can you eat on the Noom plan?
If like me you like your food, and you struggle with restrictive diets, then you’ll be pleased to know that you can eat anything you want to on the Noom plan. However, as with other plans, Noom do group foods into various categories. So whilst no food is off-limits, Noom use a traffic light system to help you to make healthy choices.
Green foods (not an exhaustive list):
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Peas
- Apples
- Blueberries
- Tomatoes
- Low-fat cheese
- Almond milk
- Tofu
- Sweet potato
- Brown rice
- Bananas
- Brussel Sprouts
- Broccoli
- Oats
- Wholegrain Bread
- Quinoa
Green foods are the foods that should make up the largest part of your diet. So when you’re planning your meals and snacks, you should pick from this list first. Foods on the green list have a low-calorie density yet are full of fibre, so they will leave you fuller for longer without too many calories.
Yellow foods (not an exhaustive list):
- Beans
- Couscous
- Olives
- Avocado
- Tuna
- Houmous
- Diet drinks
- White bread
- White rice
- Guacamole
- Salmon
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Lean minced beef
Yellow foods are also an important part of your diet if you’re following the Noom plan. They generally contain high levels of protein but they tend to be higher in calories too, so eat these in moderation.
Red foods (not an exhaustive list):
- Chips
- Cake
- Chocolate
- Pizza
- Burgers
- Mayonnaise
- Juice
- Beer
- Orange juice
- Nuts & seeds
- Whole milk
- Crisps
- Bacon
Red foods are the foods with highest amount of calories and the lowest nutritional value.
How many calories can you eat on the Noom plan?
As with many food plans, the number of calories you can eat each day will depend very much on your age, height, current weight and activity level. Any successful weight loss plan will mean that you need to be in a calorie deficit. This means that your body needs to be burning up more calories than you consume. Your body will use up calories even when you’re sleeping, so it is possible to lose weight simply by cutting the number of calories you consume, but you can also balance this out by doing more exercise which is good for both your body and your mind.
Healthy Noom recipes to help with weight loss
Noom have a large number of recipes to help you to succeed on their program. The best bit is that each of their recipes shows you how it fits in with their traffic light system and how many calories there are in each dish.
If, like me, you like to use a physical recipe book when you’re cooking, then you can also get Noom recipe books that are great for helping you to plan out your meals each week. Once you’ve planned your meals, don’t forget to write your shopping list so that you only buy what you need – heading to the supermarket without a list is a surefire way to overspend.
Is the Noom cost in the UK worth it?
This is a tricky one to answer. When it comes to weight loss and leading a healthier lifestyle, there’s no “one size fits all”. For me, as money is always one of my primary thoughts, I don’t feel that the hefty Noom cost is worth it. But, if you have the budget for it, and Noom works for you, then that’s brilliant. Anything that helps us to have a better relationship with food, a healthier body, and a healthier mind, is definitely worth it if it fits in with your budget.
The principles behind Noom are great, and I absolutely agree that there is a huge psychological link for many of us with the food we consume.
If you’ve tried Noom, or any other weight loss plans, I would love to hear what you thought.
