It's Rico Daley. I'm Adam Clark Estes. Americans can be awfully image-obsessed, so it

makes sense that the United States has had a booming weight loss industry for decades.

Because now there's weight, butters below me in hot dogs, weight, butters, salami, and ham.

1-800-994-Genny. Call 1-800-94-Genny today and lose 20 pounds for $20.

Y'all wanna know how I stand shape? I do with the South Beach diet.

Lose up to 9 pounds and 3 inches overall in your first two weeks.

But the science and conventional wisdom behind what makes a healthy diet is always shifting.

This is Technology. Recently, an app called Noom that helps you track what you eat has become

super popular with its claim that no food is off limits.

The pandemic was mostly very, very good for Noom.

That's Vox Senior Reporter Constance Grady. She's been following the rise of Noom and how

the app fits into current thinking about weight loss.

It saw this huge surge of interest. It's been advertising everywhere if you are a podcast

listener. You've probably heard a million Noom ads.

They say it's based on a cognitive behavioral approach. I just say it works.

Visit Noom.com and lose the weight for good.

The presentation of Noom is as, first of all, a diet that is not really a diet.

The idea is that Noom is a way to lose weight for someone who doesn't think of themselves

as a dieter and doesn't really think of themselves as someone who would go on a diet.

Who maybe still wants to be really skinny because, you know, they live in the world and

who doesn't learn to what that in the country that we live in.

The other way that Noom tends to distinguish itself from its competitors is with this idea

...