Noomer Success Story: Pat Ferdinandi

Pat had just lost a project proposal and couldn’t figure out why. The competition charged more and didn’t have Pat’s knowledge yet they still beat her. “To put it mildly, I was bummed!” she says. She met up with a friend to talk through the let-down; maybe it was because she was new to the scene?

Her friend had a different thought. She told Pat she may never know the reason behind this decision, but this is what she did know: prejudice unfortunately exists, even if it’s unconscious. Pat was a woman, she was over 40, and she was overweight. “We don’t know if any of this played a role in their decision, but why take the chance for future projects?” her friend asked.

“I had a moonstruck moment to snap out of it,” Pat says. She downloaded Noom and committed to losing weight. The articles and continual reminders helped her to stay on track, but her determination was key. “I committed to recording everything I ate, even if it meant I went above the day’s allowance,” she says. “I overestimated calories and underestimated workouts.”

Pat committed to going to the gym often. She began exercising three times a week and that eventually increased to six times a week. She changed her eating habits, eating beef only once a month, and fish every other day.

She says the hardest part was developing a routine. Once she figured out what was good to eat and what fit in her daily diet, it was much easier to succeed. “What helped was developing ‘food plans’ that I could save in my app as recipes and record easily.” She eventually came up with a dozen dinners she could fit into the schedule.

“My advice would be to use Noom and record everything,” she says. She notes that she was over calories a lot in the beginning but eventually she noticed she was cutting back slowly to the point where she was always on target. “So much so, I was able to add in chocolate or wine occasionally!”