My journey with Noom has been a very long one - since starting my blog I have written two reviews (1 & 2) for Noom and joined the guys at a launch event in London a while back! The app has had a bit of a makeover lately and the awesome people at Noom asked me to have a nosey around again. As Noom was the app that really got my weight loss journey started, I was more than excited about the opportunity!
The basic structure of the app has remained the same - complete daily tasks and track meals and exercise. This is the main frame for every fitness app around nowadays, but Noom does it with a great twist. The visual structure of the home screen gives you an instant glance of what you've been up to during the day, making everything hassle free and flowing. Pressing the do more- button also gives you an option to track your weight, start a workout or log your blood pressure or glucose levels (logging equipment not included). Keeping your health in check has never been so easy!
The major new update to Noom is the extra features you can purchase to aid you on your journey. Noom has scapped the original Pro- feature, and replaced it with live coaching by a small group of fully qualified coaches. When opting for one of the coaching programs you fill out a simple questionnaire about your goals and once matched to a coach, your coach will arrange a phone call (or Skype if outside the US!) to get everything going. Having the advise and support of a professional available when needed can be an absolute blessing to people who are still new to the whole healthy living business, and being able to chat to someone can mean the difference between a success story and giving up!
While I didn't really take advantage of the coaching (sorry coach Pete!!), I think it's a fantastic resource from Noom. It is definitely something I haven't seen offered by any other weight loss app, giving Noom a certain edge over all the competition out on the market. I think the new features Noom has come up with are definitely worth a look, even if you're an old user looking to get reaquainted with the app after being away for a while!
The one downside to the revamp is that the database for food seems to be a bit restricted at the moment, especially on items only sold in the UK. While it is quite easy to add things into the database, it's so tempting to just skip tracking something in a rush instead of sitting down for a couple of minutes to write everything down from the ingredients list on the packaging. I'm sure it will fill up very rapidly with everyone adding their favourite go to- meals into the database!
Noom has definitely refreshed their look to their advantage, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a nice and easy way to track their healthy living choices!
My life has turned upside down lately! I started a new job roughly three weeks ago now and it's kept me incredibly busy. Having loads of new information thrown at me has really hit my energy levels, so all I've managed to do after work is cook dinner and flop on the sofa for the rest of the night.
My job required me to travel to Birmingham for training for two days before I actually started in the store. It was madly intense and drained me so much that I felt like I wouldn't make it through!! I know it is actually designed to be demanding so the trainers get a chance to see how well people perform under pressure when they're tired.
I really enjoyed being up in Birmingham despite it being so manic. If only I knew that there was a 24/7 gym downstairs to my hotel, I would've packed my gym kit! It never even crossed my mind, all I looked at was if the hotel itself had a gym! Lesson learned for next time eh?
Exercise wise it's all been going pretty well! Depending on work I'm hitting the gym twice a week and then try to top it up with long walks whenever I don't feel like absolute death when I get home. ;) But in all honesty my prep for the rowing competition is going really well, my times on the erg are improving every week and I'm going to have some outside help for resistance training soon! It's great having support from a professional when training towards something so demanding, but I'll write about that later on.
Currently I train on the erg once a week, with aiming to do 5k in 30 minutes every time. The difference in my stamina is absolutely insane, and as the photos below show I'm rowing further in the half an hour I set myself! The photo on the left was my second training session, the one on the right my third. I actually hit 5k at 28 minutes last week, so the 200 extra metres was just a chilled stroll to reward myself haha! Gotta enjoy the achievements.
And no post is complete without food! I have to admit, I have had a few too many cheat meals over the past three weeks. Adjusting to a full working week after only working 20 or so hours a week and then having a few weeks off in between jobs has eaten up loads of energy, so the motivation to cook all my meals has been quite low. It's surprisingly stressful starting a new job, trying to do well right from the start and learn everything as quickly as possible and not make mistakes!
Time to crack the whip on myself again!
My job required me to travel to Birmingham for training for two days before I actually started in the store. It was madly intense and drained me so much that I felt like I wouldn't make it through!! I know it is actually designed to be demanding so the trainers get a chance to see how well people perform under pressure when they're tired.
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| The train up to London was rather cosy. Luckily my local station is the starting point to the route so I got a seat. |
Exercise wise it's all been going pretty well! Depending on work I'm hitting the gym twice a week and then try to top it up with long walks whenever I don't feel like absolute death when I get home. ;) But in all honesty my prep for the rowing competition is going really well, my times on the erg are improving every week and I'm going to have some outside help for resistance training soon! It's great having support from a professional when training towards something so demanding, but I'll write about that later on.
Currently I train on the erg once a week, with aiming to do 5k in 30 minutes every time. The difference in my stamina is absolutely insane, and as the photos below show I'm rowing further in the half an hour I set myself! The photo on the left was my second training session, the one on the right my third. I actually hit 5k at 28 minutes last week, so the 200 extra metres was just a chilled stroll to reward myself haha! Gotta enjoy the achievements.
And no post is complete without food! I have to admit, I have had a few too many cheat meals over the past three weeks. Adjusting to a full working week after only working 20 or so hours a week and then having a few weeks off in between jobs has eaten up loads of energy, so the motivation to cook all my meals has been quite low. It's surprisingly stressful starting a new job, trying to do well right from the start and learn everything as quickly as possible and not make mistakes!
Time to crack the whip on myself again!
I keep going on about this pretty often in the blog - exercising without a decent sports bra is impossible. And just because having boobs isn't challenging enough, try having a cup size way larger than the average (most high street stores only stock sizes up to DD!). Going after specialist stores gets really expensive sometimes..
Shock Absorber seems to be doing some kind of clearance at the minute - maybe they're releasing a new range soon or something? My usual online retailer Very had everything from SA on sale and most of their stock had already gone, so had to find another retailer who still might have my size (and a nice looking bra) in stock.
I wasn't really spoilt for choice at Boobydoo either, but managed to grab these cuties for a bit less than normal price! I was only going to buy one pair but might as well take advantage of the sales! The one on the left is more of a shock pink colour, just turned out a bit more orangey in the light I was taking pictures in.
I've got to admit, the double clasp on the back confused the life out of me at first. It'll most likely take me a bit of time to figure out which hook is the best on the top one, but the bras are so nice and comfy in general. I'm not likely to go and run a marathon in these, so I don't need these to have super powers and glue my boobs in place, but they'll give amazing support for a light jog and general gym workouts.
Now all I need is to head out to the gym and see how well they perform!
This is not a sponsored blog post. :)
Shock Absorber seems to be doing some kind of clearance at the minute - maybe they're releasing a new range soon or something? My usual online retailer Very had everything from SA on sale and most of their stock had already gone, so had to find another retailer who still might have my size (and a nice looking bra) in stock.
I wasn't really spoilt for choice at Boobydoo either, but managed to grab these cuties for a bit less than normal price! I was only going to buy one pair but might as well take advantage of the sales! The one on the left is more of a shock pink colour, just turned out a bit more orangey in the light I was taking pictures in.
I've got to admit, the double clasp on the back confused the life out of me at first. It'll most likely take me a bit of time to figure out which hook is the best on the top one, but the bras are so nice and comfy in general. I'm not likely to go and run a marathon in these, so I don't need these to have super powers and glue my boobs in place, but they'll give amazing support for a light jog and general gym workouts.
Now all I need is to head out to the gym and see how well they perform!
This is not a sponsored blog post. :)
It's been so long since I've been to the gym! I completely forgot how incredible it is to walk in and just focus on improving yourself physically. It was about 5pm on a Sunday and the gym was practically empty, so getting back into the flow of it was so easy.
I think the last time I rowed on an ergometer must've been during a high school gym class! Sitting down and trying to figure out the menu and damper took a couple of minutes, but after a bumpy start I just got into the 'I'm a viking bitches!' mindset and started rowing.
Not going to lie, I was worried about my back being able to handle the constant pressure the rowing position would put on it. After a couple of minutes I did feel a bit of a sting in my lower back, but supporting my back by tensing my entire core fixed the issue and I could carry on like normal. I was originally going to go for a 40 minute stint, but figured that I have plenty of time to practice and stopped after half an hour.
And just because 45 minutes at the gym wasn't enough, I went on a Pokemon hunt as well for over an hour! I swear this game has made me love walking, according to the game I've already walked 58,5km since it launched. I've struggled to find motivation to go for a walk (even though the weather has been incredible the past few weeks!), so being able to be a complete nerd and relive my childhood whilst getting fitter is so amazing!
Preparing for this competiton has also given me another reason to stick to a healthier diet. I mean I cook pretty healthy most nights, but lately I've had a few too many takeaways for dinner *oops*. Tonight I whipped up turkey meatballs in a tomato sauce with sweet potato mash and peas & sweetcorn, and our fridge is full of healthy ingredients and snacks again.
This is going to be a great summer!
I think the last time I rowed on an ergometer must've been during a high school gym class! Sitting down and trying to figure out the menu and damper took a couple of minutes, but after a bumpy start I just got into the 'I'm a viking bitches!' mindset and started rowing.
Not going to lie, I was worried about my back being able to handle the constant pressure the rowing position would put on it. After a couple of minutes I did feel a bit of a sting in my lower back, but supporting my back by tensing my entire core fixed the issue and I could carry on like normal. I was originally going to go for a 40 minute stint, but figured that I have plenty of time to practice and stopped after half an hour.
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| First of probably thousands of gym selfies! |
And just because 45 minutes at the gym wasn't enough, I went on a Pokemon hunt as well for over an hour! I swear this game has made me love walking, according to the game I've already walked 58,5km since it launched. I've struggled to find motivation to go for a walk (even though the weather has been incredible the past few weeks!), so being able to be a complete nerd and relive my childhood whilst getting fitter is so amazing!
Preparing for this competiton has also given me another reason to stick to a healthier diet. I mean I cook pretty healthy most nights, but lately I've had a few too many takeaways for dinner *oops*. Tonight I whipped up turkey meatballs in a tomato sauce with sweet potato mash and peas & sweetcorn, and our fridge is full of healthy ingredients and snacks again.
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| Lots of fishy plates earlier this week: basa fillet with pasta and veg, tuna with noodles and runner beans & salmon with noodles and beans again. |
