These days, it seems that smartphones can do everything, including helping you lose weight. Weight loss apps track calories, tell you how much exercise you’ve done, and can even provide you with advice. It’s like having a miniature health coach in your pocket twenty-four-seven. In this post, we explore three top weight loss apps: Lose It!, WW, and Noom. Not only do they promise to help you lose weight, but keep it off, too.
What does Lose It! do?
The name “Lose It!” says it all. This app helps you to lose the only thing that you want to lose: weight. The app generates daily calorie goals based on your age, occupation, weight and health goals, connecting to a huge database of more than seven million food and restaurant items. What makes the app different from others is its snap feature which lets you track calorie and nutrient intake just by taking pictures of your plate.
What does WW do?
WW, short for Weight Watchers, is one of the best-known weight loss brands in the UK. The app encourages you to go beyond diet to shed pounds and overhaul your entire lifestyle, offering mindset, sleep, and exercise assistance alongside traditional diet advice. The WW app makes it easy to track key metrics, such as activity levels, calorie intake, and, of course, weight. There is a free version, but to get the most out of the app, you’ll want to go premium which requires paying a small weekly subscription.
What does Noom do?
Most weight loss apps focus on calorie counting and treat mindset as secondary. However, Noom does it the other way around. Mindset is the priority; meal planning and exercise take a back seat. The app provides tips and actionable advice to help people change their thinking on weight loss, enabling them to break out of yo-yo dieting cycles. Users get customised meal planning and exercise routines, plus live coaching to keep them on track if they go premium.
What are the main differences between Lose It!, WW and Noom?
Lose It! is a high-tech app that uses the latest machine learning technology to estimate how many calories are on your plate, eliminating the need to enter meals or calories manually. By contrast, WW is a traditional weight loss app that connects to a huge database, showing you exactly what you’re eating. It also offers delivered meals, making diet plans substantially easier to follow. Noom is a little different from both of these options. It focuses more on shifting your mindset and preparing you for the task of losing weight.
Pros and cons
Lose It! pros:
- Comes with a “snap” feature that lets you take a picture of your meals to estimate calories
- Has a community element where users can share information and take part in challenges
- Has a database of more than 7 million food items Lose It!
Lose It! cons:
- Does not have as many restaurant items in its database as some other more established weight loss apps
- Requires paying a subscription to access personal coaching, body fat measurements, and blood glucose monitoring
- Does not support non-weight-loss goals, such as weight maintenance
WW pros:
- From a famous brand, known throughout the UK and across the world Offers up-to-date, relevant weight loss advice
- Provides access to online coaches available 24/7
- Can be paired with WW pre-prepared food
WW cons:
- Requires a weekly subscription to get the most out of the app
- The WW points system can be a little vague for dieters trying to get an accurate overview of their calorie intake
- Lacks education about the importance of macronutrients and fibre
Noom pros:
- Addresses underlying mindset issues that prevent people from losing weight
- Provides customised meal and workout plans
- Offers goal-setting coaching in the premium version Noom
Noom cons:
- Costly premium subscriptions
- No pre-prepared food available or delivery options
- Requires considerable commitment to see results
Which is the right product for you?
If mindset is your biggest stumbling block to weight loss, then Noom could be the app you need. While it does provide help with lifestyle factors, it primarily focuses on changing your psychology to lose weight sustainably. By contrast, Lose It! is for people who are in the right place mentally, but just need support knowing the right foods to eat. WW is perhaps the most convenient of all the options because of how it syncs with the brand’s pre-prepared, delivered meals. You just eat the food that comes in the post according to the schedule on the app.
