A Felsted writer and mother has become the face of a healthy-eating app used by millions worldwide.

Dunmow Broadcast: Michelle Reeves after using the Noom appMichelle Reeves after using the Noom app (Image: Archant)

The app, called Noom, works by logging food intake, without having to count calories first. Motivation through articles and a points system also helps make the challenge fun.

“It’s fantastic, Noom has become part of my life,” said mother-of-two Michelle Reeves, who was chosen from thousands to front the app.

The 41-year-old part-time blogger and freelance writer first put on weight after the traumatic birth of her first child, Sebastian, when she was suffering from post-natal depression.

“I turned to blogging for therapy,” she said, which is how Noom found her writing about the app. Michelle used the app to lose weight and eat more healthily.

“I tried Weight Watchers and it just didn’t work for me. With small children I don’t have time to be counting calories all the time,” said Michelle, who lived with her husband Stuart in Shanghai for four years, before returning to Felsted in 2011.

The beauty of Noom, she says, is its simplicity. “For me it fits into my life – my phone is a constant companion, it’s with me all the time. You download the app, and can log in what you eat. There’s a pedometer you can use, too, to measure your steps.

“For me as a mum it helped to see what I was really eating. It’s very easy just to mindlessly eat as a mother. The app makes it very simple, and more likely those habits are going to stick.”

Michelle says her husband has joined her in the challenge, and there is now even a bit of healthy competition between them to see who can get to the next ‘level’ on the app.

“I’m down to my goal, and my husband has got into it as well. Guys don’t want to bother with these things, but Noom makes it really easy,” she said.

Together Michelle and Stuart have shed four stone.

As the face of the app, Michelle is known as a Noom Troop Expert and shares her motivations with the 300,000 in the UK who have downloaded the app, and the 11m worldwide.

You can read more of Michelle’s journey at bodfortea.co.uk.