Trying Noom for Weight Loss

A few months ago I was at a stage in my life where I found myself desperate.  I was desperate with where I am in terms of my weight loss journey.  This journey to lose weight has not been easy.  It’s been long and arduous.  And about two months ago I found myself in a position of saying that something needed to change. I needed to shake things up.  I needed to finds something different, something new.  SOMETHING.   I needed to enter a new era of my weight loss journey.  And I did just that.  I joined Noom. 

 

Noom

 

In an effort to shake things up in my weight loss efforts I joined Noom.  I was totally hesitant to join this program for a few reasons.  First and foremost, I am cheap and Noom costs money.  Secondly, the program is cloaked in secrecy.  All I could find was that it was calorie based in its approach.  I was good with that, but wanted to find more.  I couldn’t find more, not until I signed up.  In fairness, they do give a 10 day free trial…..or rather a 10 day ‘give a donation if you can since it costs such and such amount of money to give you this free trial.’  Every time I had looked at the program that turned me off!  But this time I was open to it.  I was actually open to paying also.  I guess you could say I was desperate for a change to get my life (my weight loss and fitness life at least) back on track.  I joined.  So as a brief rundown.  It is calorie based and if you drill into your calories, it ranks all your calories into three different colors.  Orange, yellow and green.  As you can expect green colored foods you can eat pretty much as much as you want.  Green foods are things like your vegetables and fruits.    The yellow foods are foods that are still pretty healthy.  This includes options like eggs and chicken breasts.  You can have yellow foods but you just want to pay a little more attention to them.  And then you have the orange foods.  Orange foods are foods that you can still have, but in moderation and with care.  Nothing is off limits with Noom, just work it into your day’s budget for calories and more specifically for calories in each food color.     The program also gives you daily ‘lessons’.   The early lessons teach about the program and the science behind it but those lessons segue into lessons about the psychology on how to combat some of the issues in life that cause weight loss issues.   The program also works treat days into the program  to make this program a sustainable option.

 

What I like about Noom

There are some aspects of Noom that I really like. 

1.      I really like the concept of the colors within your calorie count.   I like that they break down your projected calories so you know how many of each color you SHOULD be eating and how many you did eat.   It is a great way to quickly identify if you are eating the right kind of calories.  Because lets face it, I could eat my daily calories in cake and then eat nothing else.  I would still be within my calories…but would it be a healthy day?  So the colors really show where your weak points are. (I’m looking at your butter and jelly on my toast…….).    I know that with myfitnesspal you can use the macros for this aspect of tracking.  But there are so many different macros to watch that it can get overwhelming.    Weight watchers also tries to steer you toward the healthier foods with their number system and their ‘free foods’.  But seriously, a color system is SOO much easier!  

2.      I really like how they work the treat day.  Randomly (I know, there is a system to when I earn them…and they may have explained it, but I don’t want to know, I like the surprise aspect), you will get a message that says you earned a treat day.  You can use it immediately, or you can bank it and save it for a later day.     I have discovered a few neat things about the treat day.  The first thing was that the day that I used a treat day, when I went back the next day the app greeted me with a “did you have a fantastic treat day?”   It took all negativity out of a treat day, which I have talked about numerous times when I say I don’t like the word cheat day! (which so many people use).    In this way, Noom is encouraging people to live their lives and celebrate life without guilt and without shame.   Furthermore, that day when I came back after a treat day, it stopped and had me reaffirm my commitment to my journey!    The second thing I discovered that I liked was that one day I didn’t go onto the app because I was busy and life just got in the way.  When I went back the app prompted me with ‘do you want to use a treat day”.   They recognized that days when you aren’t on the app, may likely be the days that you slip.     So yeah, I really like how they manage the treat days.  It is a refreshing way to handle a treat day.  From ‘earning’ the treat day to the celebratory attitude to the recommitment when it is done, it is all refreshing.

3.      I debated about where to place the psychological aspect of Noom was it a like or a dislike?  It honestly falls into both.   The psychological aspect of Noom is conveyed to the user through daily lessons.  These lessons take about 5-10 minutes to complete.   You do not have the option to do more Noom as the program limits how many lessons you can do it a day.  The lessons rare full of information and knowledge about weight loss, techniques for losing weight and yes the psychology behind it all.   The information is solid, and that is why I am placing it on the what I like side of things.    However, after so many years of being on a weight loss journey the information is more a review and a reminder.  (How can it almost be 19 years since I started this blog/website?).  But a reminder isn’t a bad thing!    On that note though, how I wished I would have had Noom and all the information when I was first starting to lose weight!

 What I Dislike about Noom

Of course with the above things that I like about Noom, there are things that I dislike!

1.      I do not like the tracking app.  This is probably my largest dislike!  In fairness, it is functional and does a great job of keeping track of my caloric intake.  However, it is a rather cumbersome application.  I have tried to give it the benefit of the doubt and say, “well I used myfitnesspal for so many years that I am just set in my ways”.   But not.  Even after months of using Noom, I am still finding the tracking aspect to be awkward.  My biggest issue.  You have to click into tracking….then click into the meal you want to add.  Standard up to this point.  From here is where it gets unwieldy.   You can enter your food.   They give you four standard options for portion size.  To change the portion size, you have to click her and click there and whatnot, it’s not just clicks on the same screen.  It is click here and it takes you to another page…and then click there to go somewhere else.  So when you finally get the food and the portion you can start entering your next item.  And you start the process again.    When you are done entering, you are actually not done.  You have to click “Done” at the top of the page….which to me means it’s done and you have entered it into your tracker.  But NO….then you have to click the tab at the bottom that says log ‘breakfast’ (or lunch, dinner or snack).   Done yet?   Nope, there is now an intermediary page that pops up and you have to the chose close which takes you back to the main page.   Ohhh, not the main page of the tracking….the main page TOTAL.  So if you are entering your days foods all at once (either at the start of the day as pre tracking or at the end after you’ve already eating, you now need to start right back at the beginning and CHOOSE tracking….then CHOOOSE the meal…..and then start again with the multiple clicks.   It just seems over the top annoying!   Ohhh and if you try to bypass one, it will delete all your hard work and take you back to the beginning.  Believe me, I have done it so many times by accident because crazily enough, I think that when I click ‘done’ it really means done.  Or that when I click ‘log meal’ that it means I’m logging the meal.  So frustrating!

2.      The psychological mumbo jumbo lessons!   Yes, I am putting the daily lessons on the dislike page also.  I really should have made an ‘ambivalent’ section, but since I didn’t I am putting this one on both the like and dislike!   These lessons.  They are not a work at your own pace in the regard that you only have the option for 3 or 4 a day.  Now if you don’t read through them, they just transfer to the next day.  So you definitely have the option to do them slow!  But you do not have the option to do them faster.   That is annoying and I can clearly see that as a ploy to keep people coming to their site…and paying.

3.      And with that dislike, I will talk about the cost.  I dislike the cost of this program and how they operate.   You can purchase one month at a time, which would be the standard way things operate.  I will preface the next few sentences by saying that I can’t remember the actual prices for each payment plan, so I may be off in the prices a bit.   But, if you pay month to month you will be paying somewhere near $70 for that month. (yes, you read that right…and yes, this one is one of the prices that I know I’m pretty close to what it cost it’s the following numbers that I can’t remember.)  If you opt in for two months, you will get a deal and pay less, $60 a month.   Three month plan?  You pay even less at $55…..and downward to the longest plan, which was 10 or 11 months….at $200 dollars.   The longest plan is actually doable at $20 a month…but I had to commit to the long term.   Which is what I did.  I made a commitment to try it for long term.  

So, here I am in a long term commitment with Noom. Some of the things I like are important and are helping to ‘reset me’.  The color system for my calories is really neat because it is helping remind me that all calories are not created equal.   So I am ok with my commitment.  But the tracking is so annoying that I can honestly say that unless something changes drastically In the next 6-8 months that my time with Noom will end when my current commitment runs out.   

And once again, I ran out of room to unpack all of what has been going on in the last month.   Tomorrow, I promise.  I am kinda dreading sharing and actually admitting this out loud (well, I consider on here 'outloud), but it's time! Tomorrow I will finally share the elephant in the room.
 

 

 

A busy month to unpack and share

 Has it really been a month since I last posted?  Well, it has been a bit less than a month, but we may as well call it a month!  Life has been crazy!  There is so much to share.  I need to give an update on my Noon experience.  I have been out exploring the world around me a bit.  Zoey had a birthday.  We had a wedding anniversary.   Last but not least, I really need to discuss the elephant in the room in regards to my weight and fitness journey.  I’m telling you, there is a lot to unpack and share.   I am not going to have time to get into everything today….so let me give you a run down on what I’ve been doing in the last month.  Buckle up and let’s see where the last month took me. In no particular order!

Zoey Turned Two

As I am writing this post, it is super early in the morning and Jason is still in bed sleeping.  Zoey has come out of the bedroom to hang with me and has commandeered the couch, where she is stretched out, upside down, hogging pretty much the whole couch and snoozing away.   To say she is a bit spoiled is a serious understatement!  With that in mind is it any surprise that we spoiled her like crazy for her birthday?   On the day of her birthday, she got a new toy and I made her a doggy cake.  (It had apples, peanut butter and an egg as the main ingredients).  She did share that with the bird (who also loved it).   Then on the weekend Jason made her a steak dinner. Ok, I think he may have wanted to just make himself a steak dinner and Zoey was the excuse.  Especially considering he is still talking about how good HIS steak was and her birthday was more than three weeks ago!  Zoey gobbled that steak and sweet potato down!  There was no hesitation there!   She also got three new toys over the weekend and I bought some doggy cookies for her. (They smelled and looked like fig newtons…but were supposed to taste like bacon and cheese…..No, I didn’t try them personally!)  I would say that the dog had a pretty good birthday! 

 

Staying Busy

In my last post, I talked the fact that I have more vacation days allotted to me than Jason, meaning that I have random days where I am off work by myself with nothing to do.   Those days have been difficult for me as I used to spend them with my mom, they now open me up to that all encompassing grief that overtakes your soul.  And grief is ok, it’s part of life, it’s part of loving someone and having been loved by someone. But I decided a while back to not sit around the house and wallow in the grief.  That would not be honoring to my mom. Although, I can hear mom jokingly saying, “I expect you to sit and cry each of those days that I’m not there to go out to lunch with you.”   You think I’m joking?  This is the woman that was apologizing to me the night of her stroke. She had been airlifted to a different hospital  I had just driven the four hours to be with her in Pittsburgh hospital and we were sitting in the ER there when she apologized.  Of course I told her not to worry about it, and I made a comment to the effect that, ‘this is what family does, and if it were me laying in the hospital bed, I know you would be here beside me”   She looked at me and clear as a bell said “No I wouldn’t, I would be at the beach”   I KNOW that comment was a joke!   SO yeah, I can hear her jokingly say that she would expect me to mourn and cry on those days.  But I also know that mom wouldn’t want that.  She would expect me to go on living.  She would demand that I get out and go to lunch and do something. SO, that is what I have started to do.   I wrote about this grief and how I handled a day off at the beginning of September.  I wrote about how I sent exploring and had a great day. (You can read about that here.)

I was riding high on my successful day of not succumbing and allowing grief to overtake my day and started to think about my next day off, which would be two weeks later.  I came up with a tentative plan and then had the brain child idea to ask my oldest nephew to ride along with me!   We visited the Old Jail in Chambersburg and the John Brown House also located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Jason and I had visited the Old Jail back in 2017 and while I had already experienced it, I knew it was worth a second visit. The John Brown house?  Who knew there was a John Brown house in Chambersburg, so that would be a new tour for me!  Our tour guide was…..well, he was nice.  He led us on both the old jail tour and the John Brown house tour.  He knew the tour information amazingly well.  However, extraneous questions that we asked were hit or miss in terms of getting an answer.  We walked away happy that we had visited.

 

Before the day was over, my nephew and I had made tentative plans to do ‘something’ on my next days off.  Yes, two weeks later I had two days off without Jason.  (Seriously, he needs a job with more vacation time!)  We didn’t know what we wanted to do so we spent some time researching.   We settled on Renfrew Museum and Park in Waynesboro.  The grounds are open free for public use, but they had a farmstead tour that would give you access to the interior of the buildings and we were interested.  Sign us up!   

 

This farmstead tour was another guided tour with a tour guide.  And I don’t know how in the world my nephew and I got another one, but we did.  We got another tour guide who was AMAZING at conveying the information on the official tour.  She had memorized the tour and did a great job.   She however was not able to answer a single solitary extraneous question that we asked.  “Can you tell me about that table beside the window”.  Nope.   “What is that device in the kitchen used for?”  I have no clue was her answer.    Seriously, items in the house and on the property were not marked and the workers didn’t have a clue about what they were.  Things in the museum we asked about and they had no clue!  NO worries though, we still enjoyed the tour and our visit to Renfrew.      Renfrew made me truly appreciate the museums where they have a notebook in each room with information about every item so that if a tour guide is asked a question about an item that they do not know that they can readily supply an answer!  

 

My nephew and I may have been done for that day, but our grand tour was not complete yet.  The next day we reconvened at the Hagerstown, Maryland City Park.   We have both been to the City Park numerous times.  In fact, both of us have toured the Train Museum and The Hager House before.  But we chose to go hit up the City Park due to the fact that the 202 may be going away.  What pray tell is the 202?  That is  a steam engine that was gifted to the “children of Hagerstown” by the Westen Maryland Railroad back in 1953.  I can not tell you how many times I visited the 202 in my life.   Way too many to count.   Seriously, we have pictures when my parents brought my brother when he was a baby…and the visits continued through all the years.  My brother and then my two nephews have always been intrigued with trains, is it because of the 202?  Quite possible!    So, this steam engine has been part of my life for each of my (almost) 52 years.  It has been announced that the City is in negotiations to divest itself of the 202 once and for-all.  (They tried once before about 20-30 years ago, but the engine ended up back in their possession after a few years.)   The train hub museum was closing for the season and who know if the steam engine would be there next year, so I knew I had to go see it for maybe my final time…..my farewell visit.

SO off we went!   We visited the Train Hub Museum.  The employee at this museum was the worst one yet.  He actually had no clue and gave us incorrect information on at least one instance.  This museum was small.  So very small. We are not sure what they will do with that museum if they take away the 202.  Because the 202 is the focal piece of the museum.  Other than the steam engine there are only  few caboose (or is it Cabeese  or maybe Ca-bi for plural) and a few artifacts .  And even with the caboose, only one is there for touring, the others are in a state of disrepair.  So, farewell said.   Although, it may not be a final farewell.  I did learn that they are in negotiations with the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad to have them take the steam engine, refurbish it and use it for one of their train excursions.  So conceivably, I could at some time in the future ride on a train that is pulled by the 202 steam engine.   That is the silver lining.

 

We walked through the park and took a stroll through the Mansion House Art Gallery.  This is an art gallery that is dedicated to local artists.   We enjoyed ourselves there also.  We did like some of the art, but admittedly, may have been a bit critical of some.  But to each his own!

We also decided to tour the Hager House that is also located in City Park.  The Hager House is the original house that was built by Jonathan Hager, the founder of Hagerstown.    Here is where we struck gold in terms of tour guides!  Our guide was FABULOUS!  There was not a question that we asked that he didn’t have an answer for.  And I will tell you that we asked a lot….and some of the questions I had a vague idea of the answer and he confirmed it and expounded on the information (letting me know that he wasn’t blowing smoke and making up answers.)  Both Riley and I were impressed with him and his knowledge.   He knew his stuff and that is saying something when it is coming from two people that are fascinated with history and two people that have life long roots in Hagerstown.  

 

My nephew and I have started to talk about our next adventure.  Because yes, there will be a day or two upcoming before the end of the year where I am off work while Jason works!  Aviation Museum?   Finding Fort Duncan?  Who knows!  But stay tuned.

Jason and I have also gotten out a bit.  We took the dog and went hiking at Kings Gap Environmental Center, which is considered a state park in Pennsylvania.   It was the first time we had been hiking in a LONG time.  Neither of us had been to this state park and we were both impressed with the area and plan on going back.   It felt good to get outside in nature again!  Zoey was a trooper but SOOO tired after hiking! 

We also explored the Mont Alto State Park.  This is the oldest state park in Pennsylvania.  It’s only 24 acres, and we have used the parking lot to hike in Michaux State Forest but we never actually explored the actual park. We did walk in the woods but it was very short as the park is very small. 

 

Last but not least, Jason ad I also headed to the Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  This park is also in Pennsylvania.  This was a drizzly wet day so we didn’t hike far, but we did walk around and explore a bit. But the main reason I wanted to go there was to visit the Appalachian Trail Museum.   We had also been to that museum years ago (which I talked about here), but I wanted to see it again.  I am so glad I did, they expanded it quite a bit! And it was a great way to spend a drizzly day.  

 

Wedding Anniversary

I have laughed and said that I celebrated my wedding anniversary with my nephew and not my husband since I spent the day with my nephew!   The day we went to Renfrew  Park and Museum was my wedding anniversary and my husband had to work. Jason just recently just switched jobs and couldn’t get it off…no worries, we are both off on a week-long vacation now.   I still celebrated with my husband when he got home that night though.  I had a nice dinner.  I purchased a cake and of course there was a gift waiting for him.   Weirdly enough, he walked into the house and didn’t see the cake and gift sitting on the counter.  Zoey kept running to the counter and then back to him.  Is my dog that smart? 

So, we have been married for 3 years!   Later this month we will hit the anniversary of our meeting which will mark 9 years that we have been together!   How time flies by.  I was reading through old posts from the time when I met him.  From the beginning when I just casually mentioned ‘a friend’ to when I started to refer to my mysterious friend as “J” and then onward to actually talking about him by name and admitting that I had fallen in love.   It has certainly been a fun ride. 

There you have it!  The last month has been a good one.  We have had celebrations.  I’ve gotten out and explored both with Jason and with my nephew.  There is so much more that went on, but this is a start in the process of unpacking what has happened since I last wrote!    Stay tuned for updates on my weight loss journey!

Grief rears it's Ugly Head

 Last week was a rough week for me!  It was tough in more than one way.  It was difficult for my emotions and it was also difficult for my health journey.  

The health journey was difficult.  I joined Noon a few weeks back and had great success my first few weeks.  And then "BOOM" my weight loss stopped!  It stalled and here I sit again not losing and yet trying!  It is so frustrating.  I feel as if I hitting a brick wall and can't break through!  I know a few things.

    * I struggled with exercise.  I honestly planned on exercising each and every day.  First thing....at 5AM.  Yet most mornings I stumbled out of bed and headed to exercise and kept moving right to the couch!  My window of time to exercise is the first 45 minutes I"m awake.  After that, It gets more difficult due to other extenuating circumstances.  GRRR   It' been difficult!  I keep say I am going to exercise after work, or on my lunch break or whatnot.  But life happens and exercise doesn't!

 *  I kept my eating in line with calories.  But as I have been reminded via Noom, all calories are NOT created equal.  I have been trying to eat healthier foods.  More veggies and more fruits!  (thus the accidental overdose of a week or so ago).   I have seen more of the 'orange' calories in the last week or two.  Just as a side note, with noom they break a calories into three groups (or rather all foods into three groups).  The green group...which is your fruits and veggies....eat those as much as you want (but don't overdose on fruit like I did).  Then you have your Yellow calories.  These are things you can have but don't go overboard with. (whole grains, low fat dairy, etc)  and then you have your Orange foods.  These are things that you can definitely still have.....but do it in moderation.  (Things like butter, ice cream, cakes, etc).  So a lot more orange foods were creeping into my daily food intake.  And I wasn't eating crazy....but a pat of butter....a splash of olive oil...the veggie dip that was not low fat.   It added up!

Luckly, I haven't gained.  I'm just sitting stagnate and not losing!

The second big thing that made last week rough was the fact that I had a day off.   Yeah, I know.  A day off shouldn't be difficult!  But it was.  I get a lot more vacation time than Jason  and it is use it or lose it time.  So I end up taking vacation days randomly throughout the year.   Typically on these days that I have off where Jason is working, I have spent them with my mother.  Before her stroke I would drive up and we would go shopping, go out to lunch, just roam around and have a good time.  Once she had her stroke, I would still use the days off  to spend with her but I would spend the day with her in whatever nursing home hospital she was in.   At the end of last year, I had a health scare and that necessitated a bunch of medical tests and doctors appointments.....which filled up those days off.   Last week, I had my first day off that wasn't filled up with medical tests since my mom died.  It was horrible. I dreaded it all week long.  I cried and missed mom more throughout the week as I moved toward the day.   I made plans to occupy my time, but it wasn't the same.  I was still alone without my mom.

I am not going to say that I didn't have a good day.  I forced myself to get out and stay busy.   I spent my morning exploring.  I went and drove through (and walked around) the James Buchanan Birthplace State Park.  I did not linger, I had a really sketchy feeling about being alone in that out of the way deserted park.  

 

 After leaving the James Buchanan Birthplace State Park I headed to the Conococheague Institute.   Jason and I had visited there about two years ago, right after we moved to Pennsylvania and we did the free self guided tour, which was all that was available to us that day.   This time I went back because every First Friday of the month they offer guided tours which include the inside of the houses.    I had an enjoyable time...even in the midst of my grief.

 

I went out to eat by myself.  I even went to the local historical society to try to do some research on the caves /lime kiln that is in front of my house. (they were not able to help much).  I kept myself busy, but it was an emotional day.   

Hopefully, my next solo day off will be a little easier.

So yes, I had a rough week.  However, I'm not down for the count.  I am still working on living a healthier life.  I'm not giving up!  As for the grief and the day alone with out mom.  I will have another one in a week or two.  I know it will be hard but theoretically it should get easier....right?