Noom Review: How It Works, Cost & Does It Work?

Among the hundreds of diet products, plans, and systems our research team has evaluated, Noom consistently stands out as one of the more heavily discussed names in the weight-loss space. So what exactly is Noom, and how is it meant to help people lose weight? Here’s a closer look.

What Makes Noom Different

Noom is a smartphone-based weight-loss program built around nutrition, fitness, and behavior change. Rather than relying purely on meal plans or point systems, the app leans heavily on the psychology of weight loss — the idea that eating is as much a mental and behavioral pattern as it is a physical one. The program was developed with input from psychologists and physicians specifically to address those behavioral drivers, supported by human coaches who work with users throughout the program.

Does It Work?

A quasi-experimental study on the relationship between age and weight loss found that “older adults lose more weight from baseline to week 16, but they may benefit more compared with younger adults.” A quality assessment of the most popular weight-loss apps ranked “Noom Weight Loss Coach” at the top of the field with an overall score of 75. And separate research examining self-reported weight and meal data in mobile weight-loss programs noted that “although mobile technology has increased the convenience of self-reporting when dieting, it should be noted that technology itself is not the essence of weight loss” — a useful reminder that the app is a tool, not a substitute for genuine behavior change.

Personalized Coaching Through the App

Each Noom user is paired with a human coach reachable through the app during business hours, available to answer questions, help troubleshoot setbacks, and offer ongoing program support. Unlike programs that bolt a companion app onto a mix of borrowed tactics, Noom’s entire system lives inside the app itself — no books, binders, or manual point calculators required.

What’s Inside the Noom App

Downloading Noom gets you an extensive food database, exercise tracking, articles and resources, quizzes, and access to a community of other users working through similar goals.

Food Database

Noom’s food database is notably larger and more tightly managed than most competitors. Rather than allowing open crowdsourced entries, it’s maintained in-house by a team that includes registered dietitians and nutritionists.

Food Logging

Noom’s approach to food logging draws on research published in outlets like the Journal of the American Dietary Association, with an emphasis on making tracking easy to access and easy to stick with.

Exercise Tracking

The program treats exercise as one piece of a broader lifestyle shift, typically starting with a modest recommendation — as little as ten minutes a day — to improve metabolism and support overall health, with straightforward built-in tracking.

Is Noom a Restrictive Diet?

Noom is explicitly built to avoid restrictive dieting, aiming to sidestep the “yo-yo” cycle where restrictive diets produce short-term loss followed by rebound weight gain — a pattern research has linked to increased risk for certain health conditions, with restrictive diets generally showing only modest long-term effects, according to research published in Obesity (Silver Spring). Instead of eliminating foods outright, Noom is built around sustainable behavior change intended to help weight loss actually stick.

How Does Noom Work?

Getting started involves a short initial questionnaire covering age, weight, activity level, and related factors, followed by a more detailed quiz that further personalizes the plan. From there, Noom functions like a structured course — small behavior changes are introduced progressively, building over time into larger lifestyle shifts that support weight loss.

Foods are logged using a color-coded system: green foods (fruits and vegetables) are lower in calories and higher in nutrition; yellow foods carry more calories but aren’t considered “unhealthy”; and red foods are calorie-dense with less nutritional value — not eliminated entirely, but meant to be eaten in moderation.

Do You Count Calories With Noom?

Calories still factor into the program, but the color-coded system is designed to guide day-to-day food choices without requiring constant manual calorie tracking. A running calorie total stays in the background to help keep users within a healthy range and catch “creeping calories” before they derail progress, while the actual daily decision-making leans on the green/yellow/red framework.

The Team Behind Noom

Noom’s program was developed with input from medical experts and researchers, including Andreas Michaelides, PhD (Chief of Psychology), Youngin Paul Kim, MD (Medical Director), and Kitt Farr, MD, FACC, FNHI (Chief Medical Advisor), alongside a team of dietitians and nutritionists who help keep the food database current.

Recognition and Clinical Research

Noom has been used in partnership with health organizations including Aetna, EmblemHealth, Aurora Health Care, and New York-Presbyterian, and has been covered by outlets like Consumer Reports, Women’s Health, Shape, and the New York Times.

A study published in Scientific Reports examined data from 35,921 participants between October 2012 and April 2014, finding that 77.9% reported a decrease in body weight while using the app over a nine-month period. Research in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care found that human coaching played a meaningful role in outcomes, concluding the mobile intervention produced “weight loss comparable to studies with high engagement, with potential for scalable population health management,” with 64% of users losing more than 5% of their body weight. The American Society for Nutrition backs food journaling generally as a mindfulness practice tied to weight-loss success, and Noom received full recognition from the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program in 2017. Separately, the University of Sydney ranked Noom the top weight-loss app out of roughly 800 reviewed.

Common Questions

What comes with the Noom program? Food logging, meal feedback and analysis, a virtual support community, nutrition tips, daily challenges and quizzes, a large library of original articles, and one-on-one coaching.

Does Noom really work? Based on the research above, including the 35,000-plus-participant study, the majority of users report weight loss while actively using the program — though as with any weight-loss tool, individual results vary based on consistency and engagement.

How should Noom be used? Alongside a regular, doctor-approved exercise routine. Anyone managing a health condition should check with a healthcare provider before making significant changes to diet or activity level. Noom is designed to support both initial weight loss and longer-term weight maintenance.

Will I feel deprived? Noom’s approach avoids strict food restriction, so most users can still work favorite foods into their plan while working toward a calorie goal.

Can I cancel my subscription? Yes, subscriptions can be canceled at any time by contacting customer service.

Foods to Eat and Limit on Noom

Noom’s green/yellow/red system is based on caloric density — the number of calories relative to a food’s weight. Foods with similar volume but different calorie counts land in different color groups as a result.

Green Foods (roughly 30% of daily calories)

The least calorie-dense, most nutrient-rich category, meant to make up the bulk of the diet — fruits like bananas, apples, strawberries, and blueberries; vegetables like cucumbers, spinach, broccoli, and brussels sprouts; dairy alternatives like almond and cashew milk; and grains like oatmeal, brown rice, and sweet potatoes.

Yellow Foods (roughly 45% of daily calories)

More calorie-dense than green foods but still fine in moderation — lean meats like grilled chicken, tuna, and turkey breast; dairy like cottage cheese and Greek yogurt; grain products like quinoa, couscous, and white pasta; and legumes like black beans and lentils.

Red Foods (roughly 25% of daily calories)

The most calorie-dense, least nutrient-dense category, meant to be eaten sparingly — items like red meat, sausage, cake, chips, fried foods, butter, and mayonnaise.

A Sample Week on Noom

Every user’s plan differs based on individual goals, but a typical week might look something like: overnight oats and a hummus salad early in the week, chicken lettuce wraps and stuffed bell peppers midweek, honey mustard salmon with mango quinoa later on, and a mix of smoothies, protein pancakes, and lighter dinners like turkey meatballs with zoodles rounding out the week — with fruit, nuts, yogurt, and the occasional treat like dark chocolate worked in as snacks.

The Bottom Line on Noom

Across the research we reviewed, Noom consistently supports a few well-established weight-loss principles: eating more whole, nutrient-dense foods, tracking meals consistently, exercising at a sustainable and personalized level, and staying connected to a support community throughout the process. The clinical backing behind the program, paired with its emphasis on behavior change over restriction, is a meaningful part of why it’s stood out among the diet apps our team has reviewed.

Explore more Diet Program reviews and guides on our site.

For general guidance on healthy weight management, see the resources available from the CDC.