A structured program is its own route, not a consolation. Loopa's non-surgical track follows the published obesity guidelines and holds the same tools as the rest of the app.
Who it is for
People who are not surgical candidates. People preparing for surgery who want the habits first. People who considered surgery and chose otherwise. People whose team has put them on a medical weight-management program.
What the guidelines put at the base
"We recommend that diet, exercise, and behavioral modification be included in all obesity management approaches for BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²" (Apovian CM et al., The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015 · doi:10.1210/jc.2014-3415). Obesity is treated as "a complex, adiposity-based chronic disease, where management targets both weight-related complications and adiposity" (Garvey WT et al., Endocrine Practice, 2016 · doi:10.4158/EP161365.GL).
The published intake targets
The guideline gives two ways of setting one: "Prescribe 1200–1500 kcal/d for women and 1500–1800 kcal/d for men", or "Prescribe a 500-kcal/d or 750-kcal/d energy deficit" (Jensen MD et al., Circulation, 2014 · doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000437739.71477.ee).
Your own number is set with your clinician, not by this app.
The program shape
The same guideline recommends a comprehensive lifestyle intervention lasting at least six months, and for intensive intervention at least 14 sessions in six months with a trained interventionist (Jensen MD et al., Circulation, 2014 · doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000437739.71477.ee).
Activity
150–300 minutes a week of moderate cardiovascular exercise, accumulated across the week, plus resistance work (Fernández-Alonso M et al., Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.soard.2024.11.005).
Where medication fits
The endocrine guideline considers pharmacotherapy alongside diet, exercise and behavior change at a BMI of 27 with a related condition or over 30 (Apovian CM et al., The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015 · doi:10.1210/jc.2014-3415). It also sets out the review point: continue where there has been at least 5% weight loss at three months, reconsider where there has not (Apovian CM et al., The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015 · doi:10.1210/jc.2014-3415).
If you take one, track it in Medication protocols. The non-surgical track links to it and adds no dosing of its own.
What is in the track
Weekly weigh-ins and the trend. Food logging with your own targets. Activity. The sleep and stress modules already in Loopa. The plateau tool. And the same appointment-prep export the surgical tracks have.
In the app, the track carries getting moving, the symptom journal, foods that sit well, the what-to-do-if cards, your weight trend and the education track. Loopa tells you which of these a track includes when you choose it, and the hub lists the ones that apply to you.
What the track does not include, and why
Eating stages and a lab reminder calendar belong to the surgical tracks. The staged return to food exists because an operation changes what the stomach can take, and the follow-up lab calendar exists because some procedures change what the gut absorbs (Mechanick JI et al., Obesity, 2013 · doi:10.1002/oby.20461). Neither applies to somebody who has not had one, so Loopa does not show you a schedule built for a different route.
Supplements are the same story. The bariatric supplement schedule is written for post-surgical malabsorption (Parrott J et al., Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 2017;13(5):727–741 · PMID 28392254). On this track Loopa lists an ordinary adult multivitamin and stops there. Anything beyond that is a conversation with your clinician, who can send a plan straight into Loopa if they want you on one. See Clinician protocols.
Related
Where this comes from
Everything on this page is drawn from published clinical guidelines and peer-reviewed research, cited above. The full list, with a link to every original, is at loopahealth.app/sources. Loopa does not give medical advice. It does not decide whether a procedure is right for you, does not recommend one over another, and never sets a dose. Your care team does all three, and where they give you an instruction, theirs is the one to follow.
