The Best Calorie Counter App is Missing Three Important Things

Author: Stephanie Santoro

In today’s digital world, the mobile app reigns supreme. Every day brings newer, slicker, smarter apps attempting to meet the shifting challenges of streamlining our lives and improving our well-being. So if you’re looking to lose weight or improve your general fitness, you’ve surely come across an app for calorie counting. And if you’ve tried a calorie counting app, you’ve probably come to the same conclusion as most dieters – they don’t really work. They might even leave you feeling tricked.

Of course, it’s not necessarily the case that calorie counting apps are built with bad intentions – it’s just that losing weight is so much more complex than calories alone. Exercise, fitness, mental health and self-care, community support, expert guidance, thoughtful meal planning… it’s all a part of the bigger weight loss picture.

That’s why weight loss requires hands-on support, motivation, and commitment, in order to be sustainable. Counting calories itself just isn’t enough. Here are the areas where even the best clever calorie counter app will fall short.

1. Your Mental Health

When it comes to vulnerable matters like weight loss, a failed weight loss attempt can be as costly to your wallet as it is to your mental health. Whether it’s something as mild as low key discouragement or something more serious like depression or an eating disorder, it’s important to invest in a weight loss endeavor that keeps mental wellness and psychology in mind.

Since not everyone can simply bounce back from unsuccessful tries at losing weight with another yoyo fad diet and no one should have to get to that point, it’s important to recognize that diets are the problem, not you. Dieting only addresses results of behaviors that contribute to dissatisfaction with weight instead of the root of the behaviors themselves. Paying attention to the psychological aspects of our habits can lead to healthier ones that result in a healthier lifestyle overall. With this and the right support, you get long term, permanent change.

2. Expertise and Community

Make sure the weight loss app you’re most interested in offers a human element and real people at the other end. You want genuine interaction, real nutrition advice, and coaching during these exchanges. Don’t settle for a platform that only offers boilerplate responses that don’t apply to you.

Too many apps fall short of that personal touch by cutting corners with automated computer responses, delayed email correspondence, or just not responding at all. Look for programs that seem flexible in their approach to assisting you and use genuine language in wanting to service your individual needs. Make sure the plan caters to any health concerns and dietary restrictions you have.  

3. Ease of Use and Inclusivity

Finding an app that demonstrates an intuitiveness for every type of user ensures a good experience for the most low-tech, the most savvy, and everyone in between. This goes for the technology as well as the weight loss plan itself, working hand-in-hand with each use, to get you closer to your goals. It’s absolutely essential for those that require an approachable and streamlined entry point to both technology and weight loss.   

You shouldn’t have to piecemeal together your efforts with different logins, passwords, and interfaces. An app (or any weight loss system) that only offers calorie counting and nothing more, means you have to get everything else–moral support, expert level nutrition advice, coaching, high-tech tools and resources–elsewhere. Many tools for weight management are found on multiple platforms, but Noom has them all in one place.

Calorie Counting Alone Just Isn’t Enough

As a comprehensive solution, Noom delivers weight loss through a framework of psychology and community. It adapts to individual lifestyles and serves as a high level, expert resource–not as a one-size-fits-all “diet”–a word not even in Noom’s vocabulary.

When using apps, look for technology that stays ahead of the curve in digital health, convenience, and digital hospitality. It takes a community, access to practitioners and coaches, and easy-to-access client care to be successful. Check out Noom today for an approachable weight loss plan that accounts for your individuality, lasting weight loss, and is there for you every step of the way.