Way back in 2020, I tried Noom for the first time and wrote a review on it. You can find it here: My Noom Review. Basically, Noom is a weight loss app and back then they had a special where it cost $120 for 4 months. I tried it and wasn’t impressed.
So, why am I writing about it again?
Well. When logging into my CareFirst account a few months ago, I got an alert that Noom was now covered under my CareFirst health benefits plan. So, I figured I’d download it again and give it another try. I had a doctor’s appointment coming up a few months later, and I thought it might be useful to track my regular diet/calorie intake so I could come to that meeting with data. Also, free is the right price for me!
With that being said, I’d been tracking my weight for the last few years using MyFitnessPal. I call it ‘weigh in Wednesdays’… I weigh in, I add my current weight to the app, and I close it. However, MyFitnessPal ALSO has meal/calorie tracking that I have used on and off. In fact, I recommended the app (it’s free) to my husband back in the spring when he wanted to start keeping a closer eye on his calorie intake and he has been using it regularly and likes it.
So, with me using Noom and him using MyFitnessPal for meal tracking, I thought it might be helpful to share my thoughts on each app.
Noom
Cost: about $42 each month (found the info here) or could be $0 if you are covered under a CareFirst health plan.
You are encouraged to:
- Weigh in each morning and track it on a chart.
- Log your food throughout the day and keep track of calories.
- Read a few articles each day, which are designed by behavioral psychologists to help you make sustainable lifestyle changes, rather than being on a restrictive ‘diet’.
- You can track water intake.
- You can have it hook up to your Apple watch to track steps.
- You also get access to a Lifestyle Coach, as well as a community of other people using Noom.
MyFitnessPal
Cost: I use the free version, so $0. There is a paid version for $19.99 month/$79.99 annual which gives you access to additional stuff like a barcode scan, macro tracking and no ads.
There are really no things you’re ‘encouraged to do’, it’s just a way to track on your own:
- There is an area where you can weigh in and track it on a chart.
- There is an area where you can log your food throughout the day and keep track of calories.
- You can track water intake.
- You can have it hook up to your Apple watch to track steps.
- You can track exercise.
So yeah, pretty similar when you get to the nuts and bolts of it. Noom is much more ‘psychological’ in encouraging you to log in every single day, weigh in, read something, participate, etc to make a habit. MyFitnessPal is just an app that allows you to track food and weight.
So, let’s compare how easy it is to just do those two things!
Tracking Food:
On Noom:
- To log your meals, you can either take a photo of your meal, use the search box to search for a food, or scan a barcode. Once you have foods you regularly eat, you can save them to the “My Meals” tab.
- Pros: It is super convenient to be able to scan a barcode and have an item pop up.
- Cons: Unless you add your foods to the “My Meals” tab, you have to enter the name in the search box time and time again, it doesn’t just populate at the top of your list of foods. This is kind of clunky and could definitely be improved.
On MyFitnessPal:
- If you want to take a photo of your meal to scan it in, or use the barcode, that is part of the premium plan and NOT on the free plan. So, the only way to add food is to search for it and then add it.
- Pros: Your most recent food adds are automatically shown at the top of the list, which is super convenient. Also, I have noticed that there are many more food options on MyFitnessPal, perhaps because more people have used it over the years?
- Cons: Barcode searching would be convenient, but not enough to pay $20 a month.
Winner: For me, I feel that once you go through the process of setting Noom up with your most often eaten meals on your “My Meals” tab, it is the winner for logging food and meals. Having the barcode option is super helpful and my husband is very jealous when I’m able to just scan in a protein bar barcode and all the information populates!
Tracking Weight:
On Noom:
- You are encouraged to weigh in every single day and add it to Noom. Once you do, there is typically some sort of motivational quote. After a week, you can click on your ‘report’, and it will show you the percentages of green/yellow/red foods you ate that week that helped lead to your success.
- To add your weight, you just click on a button. Easy peasy.
On MyFitnessPal:
- There is no encouragement or feedback. It’s all on you.
- To add your weight, you just click on a button. Easy peasy.
Winner: It’s a tie. They are both super easy for weight tracking.
If you are in the market for an app to help you keep track of calories and your weight, it really depends on how much ‘positive reinforcement’ you are looking for. Much like when I tried it in 2020, the Noom articles start out interesting and quickly get on my nerves. Also, I have no interest in the coach or Noom community. With that being said, you don’t need to read the articles or participate.
For me, I simply want to track my food to make sure I’m keeping within my calorie goal, track my weight, and that’s it. For those needs, I find the free version of MyFitnessPal completely sufficient. Sure, you don’t get that handy barcode scanner in the free version, but most of the time I eat the same foods over and over again, so once I enter the information in the first time, I’m good to go.
However, if you have a CareFirst health plan and you can get Noom for free, it doesn’t hurt to give it a try to see if you like the ‘encouragement’ on top of the food and weight tracking. I just don’t think it’s worth the extra money if you have to pay.
Disclosure: This post is not sponsored.