Noom vs. Weight Watchers - Which One of These Programs Are Best For You?

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – Noom is the weight loss app that Millenials can’t stop talking about, and Weight Watchers is a trusted name in the diet and nutrition industry. Is technology the key to sustainable weight loss? We’re here to help you decide which program is right for you.

What is Noom?

Noom is a customizable weight loss plan that relies on psychology to change the way users think about diet and fitness. Subscribers can choose between two clinically proven programs: the Noom Diabetes Prevention Plan and the Noom Healthy Weight Program. Both programs include a personalized diet and fitness plan, in-app support from Noom coaches, a calorie logging tool, a fitness tracker, and educational resources.

Noom has a database of more than 150,000 foods categorized as green, red, or yellow. Users log the foods they eat, and the app labels the foods as green food, yellow food, or red food. Over time, Noom users learn to choose healthier green foods as opposed to unhealthy red foods. This creates positive behaviors that can last a lifetime.

The Centers for Disease Control recognizes the Noom diet as a positive lifestyle changes program.

Give it a try with the Noom free trial offer for Dietspotlight readers.

What is Weight Watchers?

Weight Watchers, now officially known as the WW Diet, is a personalized diet plan that uses a point system to keep dieters on track. Users can choose between three tiers of support: the WW Diet app, the WW Diet app with access to a virtual support group, and the WW Diet app with personalized coaching.

Weight Watchers also has brick and mortar locations in more than a dozen countries.

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – History

Brief History of Noom

WorkSmart Labs was founded in 2008 and later changed its name to Noom. Noom got its name from the Moon. The Moon is the brightest light in the night sky, and the founders of Noom wanted this lifestyle app to be a guiding light for anyone who wants to live a healthier lifestyle.

Since the inception of the Noom app in 2016, more than 50 million Noom members have subscribed to a healthier lifestyle through technology. Noom is now one of the most searched diets globally and has a long list of investors that include Sequoia Capital, TransLink Capital, and Samsung Ventures. The cofounders of Whats App, Oscar Health, and Door Dash also made significant investments during Noom’s latest funding round.

Noom is always expanding its program offerings. In October 2019, Noom teamed up with Novo Nordisk, a Bagsværd-based healthcare company, to fight obesity on a global level.

Brief History of Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers initially revolved around a portion-controlled version of the Prudent Diet. In 1979, PepStep was introduced. PepStep encouraged Weight Watchers members to walk and climb stairs every day.

Weight Watchers continued to evolve throughout the 1980s. The company moved away from restrictive diet plans and focused on the point-based system that would propel them to success in the 1990s.

In the 2000s, Weight Watchers offered more personalized plans that encouraged eating whole foods and emphasized the need for regular exercise.

In 2018, Weight Watchers changed its name to WW and released a new slogan: “Wellness that works.”

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – Who’s Behind the Plans?

Who Created Noom?

Noom has two cofounders: Artem Petakov and Saeju Jeong. Petakov is a Princeton educated computer programmer who was born in Ukraine. He started programming at nine years old and worked at several dot-com companies while attending high school and college. He took an interest in the psychology behind decision making while at Princeton.

Saeju Jeong was raised in South Korea and moved to New York City after graduating from Hongik University. The electrical engineer met Petakov, and the two became instant best friends after being united by a passion for using technology to change the world.

Jeong and Petakov partnered with world-renowned psychologists, physicians, and dieticians to create Noom.

Who Created Weight Watchers?

Weight Watchers was founded by Jean Nidetch, an overweight housewife from Queens, New York. In 1961, Nidetch weighed 214 pounds. She was humiliated when a friend mistakenly thought Nidetch was pregnant. So, Jean Nidetch enrolled in a free obesity clinic sponsored by the New York City Board of Health. She lost 20 pounds following the Prudent Diet. The Prudent Diet involves eating fish at least five times a week and adding fruits and vegetables to every meal. Nidetch was disappointed that there wasn’t support for women trying to lose weight, so she started a support group that met weekly in her apartment, and Weight Watchers was born.

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – The Rules

Rules of Noom

Restrictive diets often fail because they lack long-term sustainability. Noom is designed to help people lose weight by changing the way they think about nutrition. Instead of requiring users to follow strict rules, Noom encourages gradual dietary changes that lead to a lifetime of healthier choices.

The Noom diet involves grouping foods into three distinct categories.

Green

Green foods are your healthiest options. They are whole foods with a low-calorie count, so you can eat more and stay full longer. Noom recommends that users get around 30% of their daily calories from foods in the green category.

Green Fruits:

• Tomatoes
• Apples
• Kiwi
• Bananas
• Pineapples
• Oranges
• Peaches
• Cherries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Grapes
• Strawberries
• Melons

Green Vegetables:

• Radishes
• Cucumbers
• Salad greens
• Peas
• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Green beans
• Zucchini
• Yams
• Onions
• Potatoes

Green Grains:

• Grits
• Barley
• Wild rice
• Oat bran
• Rolled oats
• Whole grain bread and pasta
• Whole-grain pita
• Quinoa
• Brown rice

Green Lean Meats and Seafood:

• Lobster
• Shrimp
• Meatballs made from turkey
• Mahi-mahi
• Crab

Green Dairy:

• Non-fat cottage cheese
• Non-fat Cheeses
• Non-fat Greek yogurt
• Non-fat yogurt

Green Beverages:

• Coconut water
• Sparkling water
• Skim milk
• Cashew milk
• Almond milk
• Black coffee
• Tea without sweetener

Yellow

Yellow foods are healthy and packed with nutrients, but they contain more calories than green foods, so portion control is important.

Yellow Fruits and Vegetables:

• Olives
• Garlic
• Avocado
• Pineapples
• Prunes
• Plantains
• Kaki
• Figs

Yellow Grains:

• Coconut rice
• Basmati rice
• Yellow rice
• Jasmine rice
• Couscous
• Rye bread
• Rice noodles

Yellow Seafood and Lean Meats:

• Chicken breast
• Lean cuts of pork
• Lean cuts of beef
• Sushi
• Tuna
• Turkey

Yellow Seeds and Legumes:

• Chickpeas
• Baked or refried beans
• Seitan
• Edamame
• Lentils

Yellow Dairy:

• Low-fat milk
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Low-fat yogurt
• Low-fat cheeses
• Reduced-fat cream cheese

Yellow Beverages:

• Diet soda
• Orange juice
• Grapefruit juice
• Light beer
• Ginger beer
• Rice milk
• Soy milk

Yellow Snacks:

• Fruit salad
• Fruit cocktail
• Bread pudding
• Hummus

Red

Red foods are all of the foods that you can’t enjoy on a traditional diet. With Noom, you can eat all of your favorite foods in moderation. These foods have little nutritional value. They also contain added sugar and unhealthy fats.

Red Fruits:

• Raisins
• Dates
• Cranberries (dried)

Red Grains:

• Bagels
• Biscuits
• White bread
• Sourdough bread
• Muffins
• Waffles
• Saltine crackers
• Falafel
• Dinner rolls
• Naan

Red Meats:

• Chicken Nuggets
• Bacon
• Hot dogs
• Ham
• Salami
• Fried chicken
• Deli meats
• Meatballs
• Sausages

Red Beverages:

• Wine
• Soda
• Sweetened tea
• Cocktails
• Champagne
• Hot chocolate
• Iced tea (sweetened)
• Fruit juices
• Energy drinks

Red Snacks:

• Fudge
• Cinnamon rolls
• Chips
• Ice cream
• Pie
• Chocolate
• Trail mix
• Cake
• Brownies
• Cookies

Fitness

Noom treats fitness tracking differently than its competitors. After studies suggested that most gym-goers overestimate the intensity and duration of their workouts, Noom developed a fitness tracker that accounts for human error. Noom only adds 50% of your calories burned to your daily calorie goal. This gives a more accurate reading and makes users more aware of their daily physical activity.

Education

Noom doesn’t just tell users what to eat. They provide insight into the behaviors that lead to overeating and weight gain. In ten minutes a day, interactive quizzes and lessons prepare users for life after Noom. Noom believes that maintaining a healthy weight is as important as losing weight in the first place.

Personalized Support

Noom users have access to their personal Noom coach to help them on their weight loss journey. Your coach will answer questions, hold you accountable for your decisions, and motivate you to live a healthier lifestyle.

Find out just how easy it is to lose weight when you understand WHY you are making changes with the Noom free trial offer for Dietspotlight readers.

Rules of Weight Watchers

The WW Diet is similar to Noom in that it doesn’t require dieters to follow a strict set of rules. Weight Watchers uses a point system to categorize foods. The number of points a food or beverage is worth depends on the calorie, fat, and sugar content. Healthier foods have lower point values.

When a user signs up for the WW Diet, they are assigned a “point budget.” Your point budget is the number of points you can “spend” on any given day.

The average Weight Watchers member has a 35 point daily budget. If they choose to eat grilled chicken and steamed vegetables for dinner, it will cost them 8 points. If they opt for an unhealthy cheeseburger with french fries, they’ll have to spend 25 points. Over time, members realize that they can eat more in a day if they choose healthier foods. In theory, this forms lifelong habits.

Dieters can also earn extra points by exercising. They’ll earn “FitPoints” that can be exchanged for SmartPoints on the WW Diet app. The WW Diet app includes a fitness tracker, live support from a personalized coach, guided meditations, and audio workouts.

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – Eating Plans

The Noom Eating Plan

Your Noom eating plan will be personalized to meet your individual needs. You’ll be asked a series of questions that Noom uses to determine your calorie goal. Your calorie goal represents how many calories you’ll eat each day. You can increase your calorie goal by burning calories through exercise.

Noom’s red-yellow-green food categorization system encourages members to eat nutrient-dense green foods while avoiding red foods containing unhealthy amounts of fat and sugar.

Here’s an example of a Noom daily menu:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with fresh bananas and strawberries
• Lunch: Grilled eggplant with chickpea croutons
• Dinner: Lemon-dijon pork with Brussels sprouts
• Snack: Baked apples with a vanilla drizzle

Noom encourages users to make better dietary choices while still allowing them to enjoy some of their favorite foods. With Noom, you can eat that chocolate cupcake you’ve been craving. Instead of making you feel guilty, Noom will help you get back on track by offering suggestions to help you meet your calorie goal.

The Weight Watchers Eating Plan

Weight Watchers matches users with a plan based on their age, height, weight, level of daily physical activity, and weight loss goals. There are three WW Diet plans: the Purple Plan, Blue Plan, and Green Plan.

Purple Plan

The Purple Plan is the most restrictive WW Diet plan. Members have a low point budget, but they can choose from 300 ZeroPoint foods.

Blue Plan

The Blue Plan replaced the Weight Watchers Freestyle program. Members can choose from 200 ZeroPoint foods and have more a higher point budget than the Purple Plan.

Green Plan

The Green Plan has the highest point budget, and members can choose from 100 ZeroPoint foods. Here’s an example of a WW Diet daily menu:

• Breakfast: A goat cheese omelet with tomatoes and spinach
• Lunch: Mushroom soup
• Dinner: Noodle-free veggie lasagna
• Snack: Carrot crackers with guacamole dip

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – Plan Duration

How Long Does Noom Last?

The original Noom Healthy Weight Program lasts for a total of 16 weeks. Members can also sign up for the Diabetes Prevention program that lasts for a total of 24 weeks.

How Long Does Weight Watchers Last?

You can subscribe to Weight Watchers on a week by week basis and use it until you reach your target weight.

Significant Differences Between Noom and Weight Watchers

Noom and Weight Watchers are similar in a lot of ways. They both encourage eating whole foods and exercising regularly. Both diets offer personalized coaching, food logging, and fitness tracking.

The most significant difference between Weight Watchers and Noom is Noom’s psychology-based approach to weight loss. Noom provides an educational curriculum that covers more than just nutrition. Users learn about stress management techniques, the association between food and cognition, and how to break bad habits.

The WW Diet’s point-based food categorization system is more restrictive than Noom’s color-coded system. Noom users can choose foods from the appropriate categories without worrying about calculating points for each specific item.

Can You Follow Weight Watchers on Noom?

Noom and Weight Watchers are similar plans with different approaches to food categorization and fitness tracking. The two plans would not work well together.

Noom vs. Weight Watchers – The Research

Clinical Research on Noom

A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research studied 28 weight loss apps to assess content accuracy, accountability, usability, and tech features. Noom was the only app to meet all of the criteria, making it one of the most credible apps currently available.

Another study, this one published in Obesity Research and Clinical Practice, found that smartphone apps are an effective way to increase accountability and adherence to a healthy diet. People who used Noom lost an average of 1.92 BMI points in three months. Users who increased their adherence by 10% lost 2.59 BMI points after using Noom for three months.

A 2016 study published in Nature found that 78% of Noom users reported a decrease in body weight. Users who regularly logged their calorie intake at dinner were most successful. Regular food logging significantly improved a user’s chances of successfully losing weight with Noom. This suggests that food logging is an effective means of weight management.

Find out what it’s like to work with a clinically-proven weight-loss app at no risk with the Noom free trial offer for Dietspotlight readers.

Clinical Research on Weight Watchers

A study published in Lancet found that patients who used a commercial program like Weight Watchers to lose weight lost twice as much weight as patients who attempted to lose weight on their own. This increase in weight loss is attributed to personal support and accountability.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that Weight Watchers may not be as effective as behavioral counseling.

The Facts About Noom vs. Weight Watchers

Quick Facts on Noom

• Noom is one of the top-searched diets in the world.
• Noom uses a color-coded grouping system to make meal planning easy.
• Noom users have access to a personal coach at no extra cost.
• You can use Noom for as long as you want to maintain a healthy weight.
• You can try Noom for free for 14 days to see if it’s a good fit.
• Noom is a clinically proven weight management program that is recognized by the CDC.

Quick Facts on Weight Watchers

• Weight Watchers has been helping people lose weight for more than five decades.
• Weight Watchers uses a SmartPoint system to categorize foods.
• Weight Watchers encourages exercise.
• Weight Watchers offers ZeroPoints foods that you can eat as often as you’d like.

Bottom Line on Noom vs. Weight Watchers

Noom and Weight Watchers are both clinically proven diet plans that use technology to promote gradual, sustainable weight loss.

In a one-on-one comparison, Noom comes out on top. Noom’s psychology-based approach, easy-to-follow food categorization method, and educational resources give it an edge over the WW Diet.

Noom has decided to offer all Dietspotlight readers a free trial offer for a limited time. Give it a try before the offer ends!

Noom vs. Weight Watchers Questions and Answers

Q: What is the Noom diet about?

A: The Noom diet program focuses on psychology-based tactics to help its users learn about their own eating behaviors and lose weight more permanently.

Q: What do you eat on Noom?

A: When you are on the Noom program, you will eat from three food groups – red, yellow, and green. You will consume a certain percentage of foods from each group for a healthier

Q: What kind of diet is Noom?

A: Noom doesn’t focus on a specific diet for everyone. Instead, the program customizes your plan to you and your health needs.

Q: Does Noom send you food?

A: No, Noom does not send food. You will have to do some grocery shopping to properly make your meals.

Q: How expensive is Noom?

A: After a trial period, a subscription to the Noom program costs about $59 a month.

Q: Is Noom effective?

A: Yes, Noom is effective. The program has been shown to be effective in multiple scientific journals, including Obesity Research & Clinical Practice and the British Medical Journal. 

Q: How do I cancel my Noom account?

A: To cancel your Noom account, you will have to start the chat function and talk to your Group Specialist.

Q: What does Noom mean?

A: The word “Noom” is just the word Moon backward. The name comes from the idea that the Moon is a guiding light during the night, just like Noom is a guide throughout your weight-loss journey.

Q: Who owns Noom?

A: Noom was founded in 2008 by two individuals – Artem Petakov and Saeju Jeong.

Q: Does Noom actually work?

A: Yes, Noom does work. Its benefits have been proven in multiple clinical studies and plenty of customer reviews vouch for its effectiveness.