The three main differences between Numan and Second Nature

1) Approach to nutrition: what does Numan believe in?

On Numan’s homepage, they advertise that their programme will help you ‘reframe your relationship with food’. Inherently, you’d imagine their content would mirror this and promote a positive relationship with food to help you lose weight.

Interestingly though, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Their website contains many articles on the importance of calorie counting and listing foods to ‘avoid’ when trying to lose weight.

Research shows that dieting and restrained eating practices (like avoiding specific foods or entire food groups) predict weight gain, not weight loss.

One of the reasons for this is known as the ‘white bear problem’, a theory in psychology that states that the more you try and restrict a thought (or food) from your mind, the more accessible that thought is to you.

Essentially, when you try to identify foods as bad and to be avoided, you’re more likely to think about them and overeat them.

Second Nature knows this. Our evidence-based programme uses the most up-to-date psychological, nutritional, and health science.

We don’t recommend you cut out entire food groups or say to ‘avoid’ any foods. We provide you with a sensible, flexible approach to nutrition that is healthy and sustainable so you can lose weight and keep it off in the long term.

2) Length and structure of programmes

Second Nature’s programme is a clinically designed 12-month intervention. This is to allow you the time you need to adjust to the medication and change your behaviour for the long term, so you lose weight and keep it off.

Our approach has been developed and used in the NHS since 2017, supporting individuals to lose weight and helping manage their type 2 diabetes.

Additionally, you can choose to stay on Second Nature for longer and continue to access personalised content and support if you need to. Also, if you don’t wish to stay the full 12 months, that’s fine too – we’re all on different journeys.

Throughout your journey, your health coach and group are there with you every step of the way; your level of support never changes.

In comparison, Numan’s programme is as long as you wish to stay on the medication. There’s no set structure or specific themes within the product to shape your journey or support you through different stages of your weight loss journey.

Essentially, Numan’s approach is a ‘hit and hope’ strategy. They provide you with the medication and the casual support of a health coach, and hope for the best.

3) Mission-driven or profit-driven?

Second Nature was started in 2013 by our founders, Mike and Chris, who worked in the NHS and realised the scale of the chronic disease problem. Obesity and type 2 diabetes could collapse the NHS in the next few decades.

They realised there had to be a better way to support people and the NHS, and being scientists, they started researching.

Ten years on, Second Nature has been working with the NHS since 2017 and has successfully helped over 150,000 people lose weight and manage their type 2 diabetes.

We’re a mission-driven business. We work in weight loss because we want to help people and support the NHS by making healthy living Second Nature.

Numan, on the other hand, may not have the same outlook on obesity and weight management. They’ve historically focussed on men’s health by selling supplements and pharmaceutical agents and decided to invest in obesity when a new drug came to market.

There’s no apparent connection between Numan and a desire to help people lose weight beyond the opportunity to profit from selling medication. This is evident in their marketing, they’re primarily selling a medication – not a sustainable weight loss solution.