I am pretty disciplined when it comes to Instagram ads and buying random stuff. But Limbo finally got me. It’s a new fitness program promising the sun, moon and stars in very convincing ads. There’s a lot of hype, but I’m here to tell you it doesn’t live up to it all.
Disclaimer: Limbo gave me a 50% discount to test this out. I paid €147.50 to use the service for one month. Limbo did not gain any sign-off or editorial control over this review.
What is Limbo Revolution?
Limbo Revolution, or simply Limbo, is a new fitness wearable. Well, really it’s a source of in-body data. It’s called Continuous Glucose Monitoring or CGM and is the same technology that people living with diabetes may choose to use. Limbo claims to be the “world’s most effective weight loss program” that can give you control over your metabolism.
Limbo does this by combining the data from your CGM with generative AI feedback to monitor your blood sugar and give you feedback on your diet. The general idea is that you learn how to make better decisions with eating certain foods to get the perfect energy levels, or to stay in Limbo.
I loved the idea of gamifying fitness with in-body data. But I was really sold by the countless stories on Instagram ads and eventual emails from a range of sources telling me how amazing the results Limbo could deliver were.
It seemed like such a sure thing.
How Does Limbo Work?
Limbo utilises the same technology used by people living with diabetes. These are small implants that you can administer yourself. They are pretty easy to apply without any help, but word of warning. If you’re squeamish about injections, the marketing of Limbo does omit that there’s a little needle prick needed to get this set up.
It’s genuinely not bad at all though and I wouldn’t let that put you off. I mention this because my other half saw the device used to install the CGM unit and she said it would make her not use Limbo at all.
Once you have the sensor installed, it connects to the Limbo app. The sensor is supposed to last for up to 14 days and will constantly monitor your blood sugar, relaying regular measurements to the Limbo app on your phone.
The Limbo app works best when you engage regularly. You submit the meals you’ve eaten and can also connect heart rate data from other sources. The app will also let you log weight, but only if you have a smart scale. Luckily, I did so I can tell you Limbo didn’t work for me. Sorry for the spoiler. More on that later.
I thought one of the best features was going to be Limbo’s use of AI with the data the app collects on your diet and blood sugar. Limbo uses this, along with some human interactions too, to give you constant feedback as long as you’re logging food.
But Does Limbo Actually Work?
Limbo didn’t work for me.
Back to that scale. I started out at 111kg, went to 112kg and finished up my time with Limbo at 111kg. From all the amazing marketing stories, which I have no doubt are true and are the stories of very happy Limbo customers who’ve achieved great things, this didn’t work for me for many reasons. Naturally, Limbo sold me on success and I didn’t find a single person saying they didn’t get some sort of result. But if needs be, let me be the first.
Limbo isn’t a magic weight loss pill and the app doesn’t claim to be. It still takes a lot of work and discipline to get results from Limbo. I’ll be the first to admit that I was slow to get up to speed. The learning curve for what you are supposed to do with Limbo and how to get the most from the experience is steep.
It took me one entire sensor to realise what Limbo was. Limbo is a Keto diet. I’m not a dietician, by any stretch of the imagination, but after a while I realised I was Googling “keto diet” recipes nightly trying to manage my carb intake and my blood sugar.
Did I need to fork out so much cash to do keto and cut out carbs, taking on a completely different diet to what a personal trainer had told me to do two years ago?
I have to mention at this point that the science behind Limbo is far from irrefutable. ZOE, another CGM-based weight loss program in the UK, has come under criticism for claims about weight loss being an unproven science. I will admit I knew this before joining and was still interested enough to give Limbo a go.
Limbo Onboarding Experience
I felt the onboarding could have been a lot smoother. For the price, I would have liked a bit more hand-holding. Instead, I was sent a kit with some instructions in the box, a link to some videos and to download the app. From the start, I felt like I was scrambling. I have a busy life and Limbo was quickly becoming a new thing that just didn’t fit my day because I had to learn too much.
Because the app is a bit basic in terms of user experience, it was two or three days before I realised there was a course inside the Limbo app to help me learn about my Limbo line and what food I’m supposed to be eating. They will likely claim this is part of baselining, but for me, it just left me feeling like I was already in over my head and not understanding the science behind this.
The community app was ever odder. This seems to be an absolute cornerstone of Limbo, but it’s just a third-party app that Limbo gives you access to. You could join some other unrelated service that uses this as a community app too.
When my Limbo arrived, some of the patches that I was supposed to get to protect my sensor were missing. I asked sales about this, but never heard back. My first sensor actually stopped working after 11 days. To be fair, I was sent a replacement free of charge but this only arrived days after my last sensor expired so I was already finished with the experience.
On that point, the sensors, like the community app, is from a third party. The Limbo packaging has to go through pains to tell you not to download their app because it’ll break your Limbo experience.
Everything had left me feeling that for the price I had paid, even the discounted rate, everything was a bit amateurish. I can accept I’m being an early adopter here, but there’s a basic level of experience I would want for a premium price that Limbo didn’t reach. And that’s before we even get to my biggest critism and the moment I said this wasn’t for me.
The Pitfalls of AI Feedback
For the first few days, I found the feedback insightful, helpful, funny at times and generally just really direct. But on occasion it just became borderline, at best, aggressive and, at worst, mentally detrimental to any weight loss efforts.
I will admit I did Limbo at a not-so-perfect time in my life. But in a way, I feel that gave me an ever more real test, because life happens. But some days were good, some were bad and feedback was mixed. The worst bit of feedback I got came after one of the first times I nailed two meals in a row that I really enjoyed. This piece of feedback slammed my keto muffins saying “every food choice you’ve made has contributed to ongoing weight gain. Snacking isn’t beneficial”. I understand it was the timing of a keto muffin, but I was logging them because they were baked and I wanted to try one to see if it would be a good breakfast.
Now I get that this is being factual, but a proper human piece of feedback here would have recognised there was some positive momentum to build on. Instead, I was left utterly demotivated by a piece of AI feedback. The next day, I wasn’t hurt by the words, but I was angry that this service could give this kind of feedback to people in a much more fragile position than me. And that left me a little worried.
Whatever way you look at this feedback, it’s just contradictory.
This is a fitness approach with few studies done to back it amongst people without diabetes, using data from your body with a fairly rogue AI feedback system. It’s a bit of a recipe for disaster. And ultimately left me in a position where I can not recommend this to anyone.
Is Limbo Worth It?: The Verdict
No. You can do keto without Limbo. And that’s what Limbo is. It’s a keto diet. Sure enough, I learned some things about what I was eating and the impact carbs have on my blood sugar, but that was it. At one point I said this reminded me of using a meat thermometer for the first time. It changed my understanding of how meat is cooked. I did get some learnings into how my body processes food, but nothing that I could consider “a life-changing nudge”.
You do not need to spend €295 for month one and then €195 per month after that to use Limbo. It’s a wild price, which I assume is linked to the fact that Limbo uses medical devices meant more typically for medical settings.
Whatever the reason for the price, it’s just impossible to justify. Add to that how poor the customer experience was for me throughout this and that I genuinely believe the AI feedback can say some pretty outlandish things at the wrong time to people trying to lose weight, and Limbo absolutely lost me.
The financial commitment to Limbo might well be a large part of why it works. Again, please don’t let me take from the stories of people who have succeeded with Limbo. And don’t take this as me saying Limbo won’t work for you. My recommendation would be to look into how Limbo works and try to achieve your goals without handing over such a massive sum of money first.
One final note on my keto comments. If you are in a relationship, sticking to a keto diet can be really tough. Any diet in a household of people can be tough. So factor that into your decision-making too.
