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How does exercise or step count affect my weight loss zone?

Noom’s wellness and weight loss philosophies are much more food-focused than exercise-focused. Our philosophies support powerful behavioral change, which can and will lead to weight loss when followed correctly.

Exercise is not necessary in order to achieve weight loss but is certainly beneficial for a variety of health reasons. If you’re physically able to exercise and already do so, we encourage you to keep up with your workout routine!

Exercising creates a “calorie deficit” through the calories that are burned. Noom gives you back half of the calories burned in a given workout to your daily total, which you can (but don’t have to) consume. For example, if you log a workout and report that you’ve burned 200 calories, your calorie target will increase by 100 calories. Research has found that dieters tend to overcompensate for the calories burned in a workout by overeating, which can negatively affect one’s weight loss journey, and that is why we use the approach of adding half of that amount back.

Additionally, your step count will affect your weight loss zone because walking burns calories! Because of this, Noom takes half the total amount of calories you burned while walking and adds it to that day’s calorie target.

It’s important to keep in mind that the same number of steps taken will burn more calories for some people and less for others, depending on BMI and other factors.