Reverse Health vs Noom: Which Is Right for You?

Chances are that if you are in the market for a weight loss app you have likely heard the buzz about Reverse Health and Noom, two popular health and weight loss platforms.

Both are excellent in their own right and have helped millions of users achieve their health and well-being goals. But you’re probably wondering, what is the difference?

Well, you’re in luck, because in this article we discuss Reverse Health vs Noom. We cover the key features, differences, target audiences, pricing comparisons, and pros and cons to help you determine which is best for you.

Overview of Reverse Health and Noom

These two apps service a major part of the health, well-being, and weight loss market. Below, we share what they are, and a little bit of their background to highlight their core principles, values, and services.

What Is Reverse Health?

Reverse Health is a health and wellness app designed for women over 40. Developed on the foundation of evidence-based, easy-to-follow wall Pilates, chair yoga, somatic workouts, and meal plans, it aims to provide women with a holistic health experience.

Founded in 2001 by nutritionist Matt Jones and women’s Monika, who wanted to guide women over 40 toward better health and wellness. Developed on a strong foundation of community, convenience, and sustainable results, they have created a unique wellness platform that addresses many of the health challenges faced by women in their 40s including:

• Perimenopause
• Menopause
• Post-menopause
• Osteoporosis
• Sarcopenia
• Chronic illness

Through the prescription of Pilates, yoga, resistance training, nutrition, and mindfulness, they have created an app that will not only educate women but also the broader population about the importance of women’s health.

What Is Noom?

Noom is a fitness app that helps users lose weight using psychology and human coaching. It focuses on helping users understand themselves and their eating habits, before providing clear, actionable to achieve their weight loss goals.

Founded in 2008 by Artem Petakov and Saeju Jeong, and launched in 2016, they created an app that would help users recognize the why behind their weight loss. They identified that people know that they should eat better exercise more, and stress less, however, few know how.

Using techniques such as cognitive-based therapy, technology, and personally matched human coaches, Noom helps you find your why and supports you toward achieving your weight loss goal.

Key Features Comparison

From the outside, these apps have excellent resources that can help you lose weight. However, when we look at their differences they are suitable for different needs. Below, we compare key features to help you decide which is best.

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Nutrition Tracker

Reverse Health and Noom both come with nutrition-tracking capabilities, however, they do things a little differently.

Reverse Health offers a streamlined approach to nutrition tracking, offering daily recipes, that instantly log your meals and your daily calories. It is less comprehensive compared to dedicated nutrition and tracking apps, however, it provides essential information to stick within your calorie limit. Water and mood tracking is also available, promoting healthy daily water intake and mindfulness. These elements are all recorded alongside your weight, providing an overview of your progress.

Noom provides a more in-depth experience, helping you determine your calorie limit and macronutrient intake. From here, each time you log a meal or food, it registers on your calorie progress bar. Furthermore, Noom uses a color-coded system, with green being low-calorie and most nutritious, yellow foods being higher in calories with good nutritional value, and red foods being calorie-dense and should be consumed in moderation. Similarly, Noom logs water intake, with the additions of blood pressure, and glucose levels.

Exercises and Workouts

Reverse Health understands that physical activity is vital for maintaining muscle mass, and bone density, improving function, and alleviating stress. They provide Pilates, wall Pilates, yoga, chair yoga, and somatic workouts to strengthen and mobilize the body and engage the mind. Workouts are displayed in a video format alongside a workout description for further reference.

What's more, they also offer challenges 28-day challenges to help you begin your exercise journey.

Noom offers and encourages exercise and hitting your daily step goals. Noom has recently partnered with fitness app FitOn, to provide exercise resources to its users. This provides a more holistic approach to weight loss.

Recipes

Reverse Health offers over 300 delicious, nutrient-dense recipes. Recipes are recommended daily to ensure you are eating a variety of food for a balanced diet. Each contains a brief description, ingredients, shopping list function, and method to help you create your meals from start to finish.

Noom offers thousands of recipes and has a food database of over 1 million food items. This provides a comprehensive tracking experience. Similarly, recipes contain ingredients, calorie content, and the percentage of daily calories to help you stay within your calorie limits.

Educational Resources and Courses

Reverse Health offers a short lesson, course, and article to further user understanding of nutrition and the challenges women face during their 40s, 50s, and 60s. These come in both written and video format, and can easily be accessed in the ‘Grow’ tab of the app.

Noom’s focus on psychology means they put a lot of weight on education. Because of this, they offer interactive lessons and comprehensive courses. These are in-depth, requiring more than a browse and glances to consume the content.

Community

Reverse Health has a growing community with over 70,000 members in private Facebook. The groups support women through different health challenges, providing informative resources, updates, and a platform. Here users engage and support one another through their wellness journeys.

Noom provides community support through the app, offering access to a variety of interest-based communities based on user preferences. Here, Boomers (users) join and share experiences, inspirations, exercise, nutrition ideas, and tips, providing a supportive environment for better health and wellness.

Target Audiences for Each Program

Reverse Health and Noom while focused on weight loss have different audiences. Below, we discuss the target of each program.

Who Benefits Most from Reverse Health?

Reverse Health is designed for women over 40 experiencing challenges from menopause and aging. Entering the 40s women’s hormones fluctuate and decline which can lead to symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes, increased appetite, decreased bone density,  and many others.

Reverse Health educates women over 40, showing that while their hormones and body are changing, they can remain in control using diet and exercise. Recipes are developed around essential nutrients that can help improve satiety, preserve muscle and bone, and improve organ health.

Who Benefits Most from Noom?

Noom’s target audience is based on specific individuals who battle with the psychological triggers of poor nutrition, dieting, and weight gain.  Poor nutrition practices can be deeply rooted in stress, anxiety, and depression, which can make it challenging to stick to nutrition plans during times when emotional well-being is being challenged.

Noom recognizes this psychological component and uses cognitive-based therapy to control mood and weight loss habits.

Pricing Comparison

Now that we have discussed the key features of Reverse Health and Noom, it is time to compare prices.

Reverse Health Pricing Options

Reverse Health costs $15.19 per month and does not offer a free trial. This equates to approximately $2.65 per week which is excellent value for money.

This price provides access to essential functions such as recipes, meal plans, fitness, and trackers. Reverse Health also offers resources at an additional cost ($17.99), including:

• Fast Food Diet eBook
• Detox Diet eBook
• Sweat Treats eBook
• Alcohol Guide eBook

Noom Pricing Options

Noom’s costs $70 per month and offers a free trial. Subscriptions are more expensive than most weight loss apps, however, discounts are available when subscribing for longer durations of their auto-renew subscription model. The discounts include:

• Monthly auto-renewing plan for $70
• 2-month auto-renewing plan for $129
• 3-month auto-renewing plan for $159
• 4-month auto-renewing plan for $169
• 5-month auto-renewing plan for $174
• 6-month auto-renewing plan for $179
• 7-month auto-renewing plan for $184
• 8-month auto-renewing plan for $189
• 9-month auto-renewing plan for $195
• 10-month auto-renewing plan for $199
• 11-month auto-renewing plan for $205
• Annual auto-renewing plan for $209

Pros and Cons of Reverse Health and Noom

Reverse Health and Noom aim to help people lose weight, however, they are very different apps. This can lead to other pros and cons. Below, we highlight the positives and negatives of each app to help you decide which is more suitable for you.

Reverse Health

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Advantages

Reverse Health is a premium service health and wellness app at an affordable price. Servicing women in the over 40 niches has allowed the team to create an easy-to-use, holistic, wellness app experience.

Furthermore, they have a growing library of recipes, educational resources, and community that aim to educate users, going above the clinical calories-in, calories-out weight loss experience.

Drawbacks

Reverse Health drawbacks come with its infancy in the market. It offers fewer recipes and has limited nutrition tracking compared to dedicated tracking applications. However, the foundation for these areas indicates future expansion and growth.

Noom

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Advantages

Noom offers a premium and comprehensive weight loss experience which can be seen in its large recipe and food database. Enlisting in psychology to address the root of weight-related issues which makes it stand out from others on the market.

Furthermore, its newly established partnership with FitOn has made its presence felt in the exercise space.

Drawbacks

Noom’s view into the psychology and behavior behind nutrition and weight loss is a fantastic approach, but like all good things it takes time. Courses and lessons can be time-consuming, which may not be suitable for those looking to limit their time in weight loss apps.

Furthermore, Noom’s premium service comes with a premium price tag. At $70 per month, it comes in almost five times the price of a Reverse Health subscription. While this can be reduced when signing up for longer durations, many may find it challenging to part with their finances in one big lump sum. Additionally, this unfortunately includes their personal coaching service which costs extra.

Which Program Is More Effective for Weight Loss?

Reverse Health and Noom offers excellent services that can help you lose weight. We take a look at the evidence to determine which is more effective for weight loss.

Evidence Supporting Reverse Health

Reverse Health simplified, evidence-based calorie deficit and nutrient-dense diet has time and again been shown to help many lose weight. Consuming fewer calories and moving more is a simple notion, however, it takes careful consideration of macro and micronutrients to ensure that we are satiated between meals.

Reverse Heath successfully ties these aspects in with addressing women’s hormonal fluctuations. The platform encourages consuming a balanced diet consisting of complex carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats. Complex carbohydrates stabilize energy and contain fiber which can help improve gut health. Protein improves fullness and preserves muscle mass, which is essential during later life to combat age-related muscle loss. Meanwhile, healthy fats support vital organs and reduce inflammation which can occur when reproductive hormones decline.

Basing programs and nutrition plans around these elements educates users on evidence-based principles that will make a lasting change, leading to long-term sustainable weight loss.

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Evidence Supporting Noom

Noom focus on psychology and behavior sets it apart from many of its competitors. Poor nutrition and eating habits are often deeply rooted behaviors. Whether this is from family values surrounding food, emotional eating, psychological distress, or the failure of past diets, it can make it difficult for many to lose or gain weight.

Noom’s use of cognitive-based therapy aims to identify triggers and thought processes surrounding feeding to develop healthy eating habits. The platform's use of its color-coded system alters the user's perspective on food. Here they are told no food is off limits, and instead of demonizing calorie-dense foods, they are shown how to select foods based on their quality.

These methods can be effective for weight loss, however, they lack the specificity that comes from understanding calorie and macronutrient intakes. While this method is successful it may cause some confusion when users eat green and yellow-coded foods (healthy) and are not losing weight.

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User Reviews and Testimonials

So, you’ve heard from us, but what are the users saying? Below we have listed a range of user reviews and testimonials to show you what the community is saying about each platform.

What Users Say About Reverse Health

Just started, but it's a really great start! Great coaching to adjust the exercises up or down in difficulty, to keep breathing, to hydrate during brief breaks, and to stay positive with where you are! Encouraged with the way the adjustable meals and shopping list work, once I figured all that out! Thanks so much!

• Rani

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Have only just started..but so far so good. the app is easy to use and very motivating. the help panel are amazing. the food and recipes are pretty yummy and filling. I can't wait to see some real progress in my weight. but already I'm feeling happier and like weight loss is finally possible without being tired , bored and starving

• Reb Evans

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I'm a month and a half in and the app has been really great! Following the fitness plan and daily calorie and nutrition goal has me feeling more energized and my clothes fit better! My favorite feature is all the fitness routines to choose from.There are different routines for every fitness level from strength training to stretching. And the exercises are easy to follow along and not overly strenuous. The educational piece is also really helpful! Overall I highly recommend it, and plan to renew!

• Meredith Henderson

What Users Say About Noom

5kg less in a month, it has great workout videos nice meals and good advices and it really helps to obtain better control of what to put in the mouth without feeling like an absolute sacrifice, I still drink beers, eat nice, but the food with more moderation. However an app won't change anything if you don't want to change, it's a commitment and goes aligned with a change of habits. Good luck

• Antonio

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This app has been great and helped me create new healthy habits. I've lost 8 lbs in 3 weeks. The app has so many great features to help you track everything and stay focused. My only complaint is that food tracking can be challenging....the barcode scanner doesn't always work great and when you add your own foods like from a recipe, it doesn't tell you what food color category they are as a whole recipe. Overall, I love Noom though, and have recommended it to others!

• Alissa

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I have been using it for the last day and already have found myself re thinking my food choices. While the psychology is amazing and the advice is very good, the app itself isn't working properly on my Samsung. I cannot input my steps manually (and it doesn't sync with Samsung health) and I can't change calories to kJ in the app (which is super confusing for an Australian ). For a paid app, it needs to be easier to use. App only isn't so good as on the computer.

• Crystal

Recap: Reverse Health vs Noom

Reverse Health and Noom are both great platforms for supporting your weight loss journey. However, while they aim for similar results, their approaches are different, meaning careful consideration should be taken before subscribing.

Key Takeaways from the Comparison

Reverse Health offers a premium weight loss and wellness service for women over 40 at an affordable price ($2.65/week). Complete with recipes, nutrition tracking, and workout, it offers a holistic approach that can help not only help you lose weight but also overhaul your lifestyle. While the platform has fewer resources than some larger more established apps on the market, there is a solid foundation, displaying the framework for more incredible features in the future.

Noom is a premium service suitable for everyone and anyone looking to take a deeper look at their weight loss and nutrition. The use of psychology and the aim to improve behavior surrounding nutrition sets it apart from other platforms on the market. Complete with its large database of recipes, foods, and lessons, and its partnership with FitOn make it very appealing for those looking to take control of their weight loss journey. However, at the asking price of $70 per month (not including coaching) and the time requirements for lessons means that there are considerations if this is a worthwhile investment.

Making the Best Choice for Your Goals

Choosing between Reverse Health and Noom can be challenging, but it ultimately comes down to your goals.

Reverse Health is great for:

• Women over 40
• People who want a streamlined weight loss experience
• Women who need assistance addressing menopause symptoms
• Who have a limited budget to invest in weight loss apps

Noom is great for:

• All genders and ages
• People who need help with addressing behavior surrounding food
• Individuals with past failed diets
• Those with a larger budget
• Individuals with more time to invest in courses

These platforms have found their niche within the ever growing weight loss market and choosing between the two ultimately comes down to personal preference. If you are still unsure which is the correct one for you, we suggest trying both. This will provide you with a hands-on experience that will help you decide.

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