Noom...

Ok, the day of reckoning sometime in December.  Having broken records for both my personal weight, the number of clothes I could no longer wear and how quickly I had amassed pounds in 2020, it was time to have chat with myself.

I joined Noom in January after being bombarded by ads on Facebook. Yes, I have seen The Social Dilemma, thanks for asking. Noom promises to use psychology to guide me to change some habits and meet my goals. 

My journey has always been documented on this blog. Weight gain is a part of that journey. And hopefully it's reversal will also be a part of the journey!

Firstly a little bit about Noom:

Its a course in psychology for the most part. The idea is that learning what triggers poor judgement around food, whether that is peer pressure, eating out, ignorance around ingredients or just what type of person you are and your own weaknesses, is helpful in making better decisions - for a lifetime. Nothing is off limits but tracking food, exercise and that dreaded number on the scale, is a big part of building self awareness and accountability.

Yes, there is a virtual coach and a community of folks you can chat with who are at about the same point in their lessons. Oh yeah... lessons are daily. Pop quizzes are involved. No it's not rocket science and yes, its actually pretty interesting stuff, based on long term studies and short term experiments on humans with food - Properly conducted at universities and medical institutions.

That's my summary. Now to reveal the more intimate details of my experience:

I have a slight frame, am not curvy and carry little muscle mass naturally. My healthy place is right around 123-127 lb. Anything over that is only distributed in a 12" section of my body... hips and butt! 

When I hit >138 lb last December, the first thing I did was start donating all the clothes I could no longer fit. It felt better than staring at them in my closet or trying to squeeze into work pants and skirts, that were not even close to my size anymore. Have you ever tried bending over in a skirt that is 3" too tight?! It hurts!) But the relief was short lived. At some point, COVID will not keep us inside any more and work appointments would require work clothes... not yoga pants. I needed to think through my end goal.

Also, Mark and I have plans and high hopes of traveling to Nepal in late 2021 and hauling butt all the way to Everest Base Camp.  Did I want my butt to be 10 lb heavier than it had to be? That's not insignificant on knees or easier to breathe when the air is thin. Imagine trading 10lb of hips and thighs for 10 lb of camera equipment and using it to capture joy, instead of kill it.

I committed to myself and Noom, to spend 3 months diligently working a program. A goal of 10 lb was defined. This is what it looked like Jan 17 2021. The first day I logged weight in Noom:

Just to be clear, the idea of stepping on a scale every single day, is not to know every single weight change but rather to cure a person of their fears/resistance regarding stepping on the scale. It's simply about desensitizing yourself to thoughts that come with weighing in.  YES, some days or even weeks, it stays still or moves up. That's just part of being human. Follow the plan and ignore the number... there are other ways to track progress. 

I have incorporated gentle but regular exercise into my plan. Building muscle and 're-distributing' the pounds means I don't expect a linear progression toward my goal. Progress can be defined by increasing weights I can lift, how many cardio minutes I can do without legs falling off, how chatty I can be while still walking up hill etc. And... fitting a pair of jeans that had been shelved the last couple of months!

This is my graph at Week Two: 

I felt great and very proud. Little did I know that my "plateau" was coming. Noom knew though... the lessons started getting heavy on looking for ways to track and reward yourself without losing faith or giving up altogether. Plateaus are apparently very common and 2 weeks later, I found myself at the same weight every single day for 14 days! 

I resolved to stay the course. After all, I was fitting more clothes and actually the scale told me that body fat was decreasing, even though weight was not.

Ok, so let's talk food. Im pretty good with breakfast and lunch. Packing them both with lean proteins and lots of salad-y type things - eggs, smoked salmon, radish, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, fruit, cottage cheese etc. I eat a lot more than most people would guess and I don't want to feel hungry because it makes me cranky. 

Dinner is when I eat the most and dessert is something that I have about every other night. Why not give it up? Same reason as wine.... because I like it. I'm trying to build habits to last a lifetime. I have no intention of removing sweets or wine from my life so I need to find ways to moderate them and still incorporate them.

What I have reduced is portion size. Noom recommends using a smaller plate to trick the eye, which apparently plays just as big a role in feeling full as the stomach!

 And instead of a latte every day, I go the latte route every 2nd or 3rd day and stick with regular coffee the other days. 

Bread, not my go-to comfort food, It's something I realize I eat because I love to bake it! I also came to the conclusion that it was a vehicle for tasty calorie filled things, that I would not otherwise eat as much of - jam, cheese, peanut butter, honey, mayonnaise.  Thankfully, I have little trouble giving up salty things. Im only addicted to sweets!  LOL

Speaking of salty; reducing salt reduces weight (extra water you absorb) quickly. Home cooking is way less salty than store bought or restaurant food and it is here that the benefits of COVID isolation are actually helping!

At mid March, I hit my 10lb goal. I've been pretty good since then, but not expecting to lose more than a couple more (slow) pounds from here on out.

In fact, my Noom subscription was up on March 24th and even though I didn't plan on renewing... I did. I have enjoyed all the tips and tricks and super interesting studies on human psychology. Our relationship with ourselves and our food is down right fascinating! I don't have much left to lose and am not attached to the number on the scale at all now... but I'm grateful for the little Noom community that I have bonded with. Especially my accountability partner, Joel, who is on his own journey to a healthier self in Texas.

Today my Noom weight graph looks like this: I'm about the same size as 2017 Dallice!

P.S.  For simple and FREE weight, food and exercise tracking, I have also found that FatSecret.com is a good way to stay accountable to self.