Whether you’re looking to drop a few pounds or transform your body by investing in yourself, a successful weight loss program is a tool that can help you achieve results. Unfortunately, the diet industry is rife with false claims and scammers. However, we looked at two reputable weight loss services – Noom Vs. GOLO, to see what they offer and how they compare.
Our winner ended up being Noom for numerous reasons, but weight loss is never a one-size-fits-all process, so here are the details about Noom vs. the GOLO diet, so you can decide for yourself.
Noom
Pros
- App-based weight loss program is easily accessible
- Science-back lessons focus on behavior modification
- Easy to understand the system of red, yellow, and green foods
- More control over the foods you eat
- Affordable if you can pay for a year upfront
Cons
- Daily weigh-ins may not work for those with a history of disordered eating
- Not great for those who need frequent check-ins and accountability
- Expensive if you pay on a monthly basis
Golo
Pros
- Focuses on weight loss through insulin management
- Diet plan that addresses metabolic dysfunction
- Built around a supportive weight loss supplement
- The Release supplement is safe for most people
- The app and tools are free with the purchase of the supplement
Cons
- Not a good option for people who don’t want to take supplements
- If you have a pre-existing condition, check with your doctor before taking the supplement
- You have to purchase the supplement to access the weight loss plan
- Pricier than other weight loss plans
Weight Loss Programs
The GOLO Diet Program
GOLO works a bit differently from other weight loss programs, like NOOM, or even really popular programs, like Weight Watchers. There is a food and caloric intake management aspect to GOLO, but the primary focus is to promote weight loss by addressing the seldom-discussed issue of insulin resistance.
What makes the GOLO diet work is a system that zeros in on insulin management and keeping blood sugar levels in check. You don’t have to be diabetic or even pre-diabetic for insulin levels to create havoc for your metabolism. The GOLO diet claims to help people shed weight by managing insulin levels through a dietary approach combined with a proprietary supplement called Release.
The Release supplement contains a list of ingredients that are reportedly safe and effective for jump-starting the metabolism and helping to regulate blood sugar. While GOLO claims its Release supplement is safe and effective, long-term scientific studies to back this up are limited. Some opponents of GOLO claim the weight loss program is a fad diet, claiming weight loss can’t happen through a magic pill.
In our opinion, there is both some truth and falseness to this statement. GOLO goes beyond offering just a diet pill. They also offer a structured meal plan that helps users develop a healthier approach to regulating caloric intake and portion control. Whether or not the supplement is actually needed is a point that’s up for debate.
The Noom Program
The Noom program doesn’t offer a weight loss supplement, like GOLO, and it doesn’t offer pre-packaged foods like some other diet programs. Instead, Noom is an app-based, science-backed weight loss program that focuses on behavioral modification by identifying and working through your relationship with food. Short daily lessons help to keep you focused and moving forward on the path toward better health.
Noom also offers dietary structure to help you redefine your eating habits. There is some tracking of calorie intake, but foods are also structured into three categories – red foods, yellow foods, and green foods. The goal is to learn to automatically identify which foods to stay clear of and fill your plate with the healthy food choices that fall within the green food category.
The Noom app is built on scientific evidence with a strategy that addresses emotional health as well as achieving a healthy body weight. Noom has also recently introduced a Noom Mood App, which is a program to help conquer the daily stress and anxiety that so many people struggle with.
Weight Loss Programs Winner
Both programs can help you lose weight, but there are several reasons we choose Noom for the quality of their program. The first is that Noom doesn’t require a supplement, which is something that some people might not be comfortable with, even if it is reported to be completely safe. Plus, once the goal weight is achieved, there’s always this lingering thought that you might gain it all back without the supplement.
We also like that Noom really focuses on the science of eating habits and provides the tools to change them. You can lose weight with either plan, and we do think the issues with insulin resistance that the GOLO diet plan addresses are important. It’s just that beyond the supplement; we’re not completely sold that GOLO offers anything extraordinary, especially when compared to services like Noom or Weight Watchers.
Apps
Both Noom and GOLO offer apps to their users, which streamline each plan, offer additional tools and support, and make it possible to carry a little inspiration with you wherever you go.
GOLO App
The GOLO diet app offers all the features you’d expect. There’s a structured dietary plan, a weekly grocery shopping list, a fitness aspect, support, and weight loss success stories to help keep you motivated. The GOLO app combines all the tools you need to follow the diet successfully, minus the supplement and the food you purchase at the grocery store.
The GOLO app is free, but in order to access it, you must first purchase the GOLO weight loss supplement.
Noom App
The core of Noom really sits within its app. The Noom app is where you’ll find the red, yellow, and green food groups, along with health tracking that includes calorie intake and fitness, along with other key health metrics, like blood sugar and blood pressure.
The Noom app also offers daily lessons to heal and restructure your relationship with food. These lessons are quick and simple, but they really dig deep into the heart of the issue. Even though they’re called daily lessons, there’s no requirement to complete one a day. You can work through them at your own pace.
Additionally, Noom also offers one on one coaching and access to its growing support community. The Noom app is accessible once you sign up with Noom.
Apps Winner
We like the Noom app for how it’s structured and all the weight loss tools it offers. The daily lessons are great and keep you engaged on a daily basis – important for those of us who struggle with maintaining motivation. The science-backed program is effective in helping to develop and maintain healthy habits, and the level of access to coaching and community support is a plus.
That said, some people still prefer the GOLO diet app. It’s structured more similarly to the WW app, minus the points system. It has a familiar feel, and if you’re just looking for calorie and portion control and like the idea of supplementation, then GOLO may be a better option for you.
Both apps are available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Community Support
Both Noom and GOLO recognize that people lose weight more successfully and keep it off when they have access to a support community. The level of involvement in the community may vary from person to person, but knowing it’s there to help with hurdles, frustrations, and weight plateaus is important for continued success.
Noom Support
Noom really is designed to support its users along the entire weight loss journey, and on the surface, they do a really good job. Noom offers a personal coach and access to the Noom support community, which features groups where ideally, you align yourself with a weight loss buddy or accountability partner, along with just having a community to reach out to when times get tough. As a member of the community, it’s also important to reach out and support others who are struggling.
The reviews of the Noom community are a bit wishy-washy, with the personal coaching aspect taking the biggest hit.
GOLO Support
Much like Weight Watchers and other popular weight loss programs, a significant component of the GOLO diet is support. Similar to Noom, GOLO does offer access to coaching and a community, but the coaching isn’t a primary focus.
There is some community support through the GOLO app, where you can connect with others, but when you join, you’re given access to an exclusive, members-only support group on Facebook. This seems to be where the majority of peer support takes place with the GOLO Program.
Community Support
Here, again, we feel like Noom deserves the nod. In all honesty, neither of these communities is as extensive as what you would see with a company like Weight Watchers, so if a community is key for your long-term success, you might want to consider other options. Still, we like that the primary community support and coaching is available through the app with Noom, and we didn’t have to log into a separate group on Facebook. It’s one of those little details that really matter when you have a busy schedule and just want things to be as simple as possible.
Menu & Food
Noom & Food
Noom doesn’t offer a strict dietary plan like you might be familiar with more restrictive diets. They also don’t offer any prepared meals or meal replacements. Instead, you build your diet and track your food intake off of a color-coded system.
With Noom, you don’t eliminate entire food groups. Certain foods are categorized as red, yellow, or green foods. If you want to lose weight, you minimize the consumption of red foods and focus your food intake on those that are in the yellow and green categories.
This approach works because you learn to put foods into categories instead of obsessing over calories and macros. The goal is to eliminate processed foods as much as possible and focus on whole foods in their place.
Ideally, you don’t want any more than about 25% of your daily food intake to come from the red category. These include foods like oils, nuts, nut butter, red meat, and full-fat dairy. This category even includes some foods you might not expect to see on any diet, like foods with saturated fat. While Noom doesn’t encourage eating these foods, they do realize that long-term weight management needs to be realistic.
Yellow foods include things like lean proteins, healthy fats, eggs, tofu, and low-fat dairy. Green foods are what you would expect them to be — vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
GOLO & Food
Because the GOLO diet is a metabolic plan, you can expect it to be a more structured eating plan. The goal is to make insulin resistance a non-issue, and this is done almost entirely through food choices. Expect to eat healthy foods like loads of vegetables and whole grains, like brown rice, plus plenty of lean protein. Healthy fats are allowed, but saturated fats should be avoided.
GOLO offers a diet plan and a weekly shopping list, which makes it all a little easier. But, there’s still one more component to what you consume with GOLO, and that is the Release supplement. It’s suggested for losing weight that you take one Release Supplement capsule after each of your three meals.
Community Support Winner
Once again, we choose Noom as the winner. We appreciate that GOLO is a metabolic plan and approaches weight loss through an approach that most diets ignore, but Noom’s approach to healthy eating gives you more control over food choices, allowing you to create a healthy diet according to your personal food preferences, as long as you don’t go over your calorie consumption allowance. Also, while weight loss is the goal, some users say that GOLO’s eating plans are a little too low in calories for those who are active daily.
Pricing
Noom
MONTHS | PRICE PER PLAN |
1 | $60 |
2 | $119 |
3 | $149 |
4 | $159 |
5 | $164 |
6 | $169 |
7 | $174 |
8 | $179 |
9 | $185 |
10 | $189 |
11 | $195 |
12 | $199 |
Golo
QUANTITY | PRICE PER BOTTLE |
1 | $59.95 |
2 | $99.90 |
3 | $119.85 |
Both Noom and GOLO are commercial weight loss programs in the same realm as other popular diets like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, so of course, there’s a price tag attached to each. There’s no argument that your health is one of the most important investments you can make. However, saying that doesn’t make any weight loss program any easier on the pocketbook.
Both Noom and the GOLO diet are reasonably priced, especially for what they offer, but if you’re working with a tight budget, you really need the best deal for your money.
Noom Monthly Cost
Noom is a monthly subscription, but you have the option to choose if you want to try it for just one month or go all in for a year. The price of Noom is structured based on how long you sign up for.
A single month of Noom is on the pricier side, costing $70 for the single month. You can choose to sign up for two, three, four, five months, etc., up to a year. If you purchase the full year, the cost is $209. That averages out to $17, which is a huge saving over the single-month option.
GOLO Monthly Cost
With GOLO, what you’re paying for is the program’s Release Supplement, and everything else is considered a bonus for that purchase. When you purchase the supplement, you also get the GOLO for Life Plan, myGOLO, with lots of online resources and free expedited shipping.
One month of GOLO costs $59.95, just shy of $60 per month. If you purchase two bottles of the supplement at once, you save $20. If you have it in your budget to spring for three bottles, you receive the biggest discount of $60 –making the costs about $40 per month.
Pricing Winner
When you want to lose weight, there are few things more defeating than feeling like the cost of weight loss programs is out of your budget. While Noom is significantly cheaper IF you can pay for a full year at once, it’s a lot to pay for the single-month program. GOLO isn’t much more economical, but you do get the supplement in addition to everything else, which for some is a cost-saving if they would be purchasing additional supplements anyway. Plus, GOLO offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Reviews & Results
Noom
Golo
While it’s always good to go into reading reviews with a little perspective, customers tend to give negative reviews because they feel they’ve been wronged, whereas there isn’t always the same motivation for positive reviews. That said, it’s always important to take a look at what customers have to say.
GOLO has mixed reviews, but they are mostly positive. Customers really like how GOLO offers meal plans that also take into consideration health conditions like insulin resistance. The Release supplement is generally safe for people to take, even with a pre-existing medical condition. The diet plans offered are well received, and GOLO has been effective not only for weight loss but also for preventing future weight gain.
Negative reviews for GOLO mostly center on the side effects of the supplement, slow results, calorie intake that was too low, and slow response from the customer service team in regard to issuing refunds.
Noom has exponentially more reviews than GOLO, but the overwhelming majority of reviews are 4 stars and above. Positive reviews about Noom center on the support and help in working through issues like stress eating and boredom eating. Users like the holistic approach that Noom takes for weight loss and how this approach makes them more effective than other diets.
Negative reviews of Noom mention frustrations like the coach not checking in enough, slow customer service and the cost being too much for what the results received.
Reviews & Results Winner
Overall, Noom has a higher overall customer rating and level of satisfaction. In all fairness, GOLO is newer than Noom and not quite as popular, so Noom has tens of thousands of reviews, while GOLO’s typically number in the hundreds.
Winner
Noom
Noom is the overall winner for its wonderful app, the science-backed focus on changing behaviors, and a dietary approach that focuses on whole foods but doesn’t make anything off-limits. The Noom diet aims to help its customers achieve long-term success, no matter how much weight they have to lose.
Still, while Noom works for some, GOLO will be the best choice for others. Here are some things to consider when choosing.
Choose Noom if you:
- Don’t like fad diets and want to develop lifetime healthy habits that last a lifetime
- Want a diet plan that doesn’t completely eliminate foods
- Like daily engagement
- Aren’t interested in taking weight loss supplements
- Have other health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes that should be monitored during weight loss
Choose Golo if you:
- Like the idea of taking a supplement for dietary and weight loss support
- Want to eliminate all processed foods
- Don’t mind eating a calorically restricted diet instead of fad diets like keto that focus more on macronutrients.
- Have blood sugar regulation and metabolic concerns
- Don’t need a very large support community
This review has helped me so much. I am looking for a diet that I can manage at home because transportation is a problem for – I no longer drive. Also, my lack of body strength and low immune system limits being in public situations with COVID still a threat.
Thanks for breaking down the two programs. Great information and it makes decision making easier.
I was on Noom, it ” Really ” helps and you actually loose weight without supplements. I loss 25 pounds in 4 months. I stopped the plan due to covid, and restricted budget.
Thank you for the thorough look into these plans. I want to gift one to a close relative that can not afford but has shown interest in both plans. You have done the leg work for me.
I’ve been on Noom for 3 months and it really works! Even when I slip up once in a while for a few days, my coach does just what it takes to get me back on track. The support is incredible. I’ve never been a person who thought I needed that kind of support, but boy does it make a difference. I’m so happy I am on Noom.
The Real Person!
That’s amazing, congrats on your success!