Weight Watchers vs Noom: Day 1

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links and WW affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!

I have been hearing people tell me that I should try out Noom, I am a millennial doing WW…it only makes sense! So, when I was able to do a trial for next to nothing, I just couldn’t resist.

Noom offers a 1 week trial. As much as I hate logging everything I eat(which is why I chose the myWW purple plan), I really needed to know how these two programs stacked up next to each other. That’s why for the next two weeks I will simultaneously be logging with Noom and WW to compare and contrast the two programs.

Short Background on Both Programs

WW

Weight Watchers has been around decades and improves all the time. Instead of counting calories, you will keep track of points. Foods are assigned a point value and you only get so many points a day. What sets WW apart from all other programs is their safety net system for if you run out of points in a day. Honestly, that is one of the reasons I love the program.

Every week you start out with 35 extra points they call “weekly points”. When you use all your points for the day, and go over, then your points are subtracted from your weekly points. Exercise can also get you extra points that you can use at any point during the week. This format keeps me from getting stressed out if I overindulge, and I keep going. It is one of the main reasons I have success with the program.

They recently changed their program to offer 3 ways to track. You can learn more about that here, but know that it is a game changer.

I usually only weigh myself once a week on WW.

Related Posts: WW vs Noom: The Verdict Is In

Noom

I just started using Noom 3 days ago, so I don’t know a ton about them yet. I will update this as I learn, but I do know that they count calories. There appears to be no macro information with this program. You can sign up for a one-week trial by clicking here.

Unlike just a straight calorie counting program, Noom educates you on the food you are eating. The foods are assigned 3 colors (green, yellow, red, which are neither good nor bad, just a way to categorize what you eat). They then encourage you to eat more greens and yellows than red, and have suggestions on how many calories should come from each category. It seems to be clear that the colors have nothing to do with food being good or bad, and I appreciate that.

Every day they teach you something about your habits. There are lessons and quizzes to help you gain self-awareness. It takes about 10 minutes per day. They are all about baby steps, literally. They encourage you to get 2,000 steps a day at first, and then add 300 more each time you reach your goal.

Noom wants you to weigh daily. Something I hate, but I’ll do it anyway.

Similarities

Both programs have an app that you use to keep track of your foods easily with your phone. The programs also seem to have amazing communities for support and they offer a health coach. I’m not sure if all Noom subscriptions get a coach or not. I’m still learning. You do have to pay extra to get a health coach with WW. Another thing they have in common is no judgement. It’s about getting healthy and changing your habits.

I can tell already that I’m going to like Noom. If someone combined WW with this book, they might come up with Noom.

My Stats

I am 34 years old and a stay at home mom to three kids aged 8,5,3. Currently, I am training for a half marathon on December 28, so I run around 22 miles/week. I also lift weights 3-4 days a week and bike 2 days a week. (I work out a ton and am still overweight. Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition! That’s the hard part for me.)

Height: 5’6″

Weight 11/22/19: 161.6 lbs

Daily Log

I am going to log all my food for the next two weeks so you guys can see how the two programs work. At the end of each day, I will share my thoughts on the programs. Are you excited? I know I am…not! (because weight loss is always hard and I’ll always hate it)

WW statistics: Allotment: 16 daily points and 35 weeklies (for anyone who might have forgotten, these are extra points that can be used anytime during the week.)
Today I earned 23 fitness points for doing exercise.

Noom statistics: Allotment: (You can choose if you want to lose weight fast or slow, I chose fast. haha!) 1200 daily calories , 860 calories earned from a 7 mile run.

(The calories are colored green, red, or yellow depending on how Noom has coded them. The points are all purple because I am on the WW purple plan.)

 

WW end of day statistics:0 daily points left, 33 weeklies left. consumed all 23 of my fitness points

Noom end of day statistics: all calories consumed + 660 out of the 860 calories I earned from running 7 miles. I ended the day with 200 available calories that I chose not to eat.

Thoughts

I am surprised by some of the foods that are coded yellow and the ones that are green.

Noom makes me feel better about counting my calories than I have in the past.

On WW I eat fruit freely and fill my hunger cues easily with zero-point foods. However, Noom is already stealing the joy from my zero-point foods. It’s not their fault, fruit has a lot of calories. This is one of the reasons I hate counting calories. Who has gotten from eating fruit? I don’t want to track it.

It’s interesting that I used all my fitness points on WW, but had 200 calories from fitness left to eat with Noom.

That’s all I have for now, until tomorrow.