• by Les Luchter , Staff Writer, April 3, 2025

Is intermittent fasting a simple way to lose weight?

Simple, an app that’s been downloaded 18 million times in its six-year history, certainly thinks so.

Simple uses a time-restricted eating (TRE) form of intermittent fasting, where users limit eating to a specific window every day.

A 2023 analysis of some 50 clinical studies, from the  Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, found that TRE health benefits included weight loss, improved muscle performance, improved energy and restfulness, decreased hunger and improved cholesterol.

We spoke with Elizabeth Kim, Simple’s vice president of product marketing, about the brand.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

Pharma & Health Insider:Can you explain intermittent fasting?

Elizabeth Kim: Intermittent fasting is choosing certain hours of the day to eat, and certain hours to let your body rest from food  -- giving your body regular breaks from eating, so it can burn stored energy (fat) more efficiently.

Instead of snacking all day, you eat within a set window -- say, from noon to 8 p.m. -- and then let your body rest from food until noon the next day. You’re still enjoying your meals, just giving your body the downtime it needs to reset, recharge and burn fat naturally.

P&HI: What does Simple offer consumers?

Kim: Simple launched in 2019 as a fasting platform.

By 2023, Simple evolved into a full-scale nutrition and weight loss app. That year, we introduced our proprietary Nutrition Score system, helping clients learn how to eat better without obsessing over calories. We also launched Coach Avo, one of the world’s first AI-powered weight loss coaches. We’ve since launched Avo Vision, an AI-powered feature that analyzes meals and menus through photos, and even offers smart menu recommendations.

P&HI: Who are your “clients”?

Kim: We prefer to call our users clients because we don’t want to focus on creating an app experience, but rather an experience that works in the real world.

Of our daily active users, 78% are paid users, and 22% are free users. Of our paid users, 73% are women, while 27% are men.

We’re for any adult who wants to lose weight. We’re focused on 30-50 and 50+ year-old women and men.

P&HI: What are you doing to increase the number of paid subscribers vs. free users?

Kim: We’re clearly demonstrating why Simple is worth clients' time, trust and investment.

Our strategic approach involves continually rolling out premium features that directly address client pain points; sharper, emotionally resonant messaging; and highlighting powerful “aha moments” to free users for easy upsells.

Ultimately, boosting subscriptions is about deeply connecting clients' needs with an irresistible solution that feels easy, motivating, and worth their time.

P&HI: What is your marketing message?

Kim: For a long time, Simple lacked a clear market position. We were clearly doing something right -- but we knew that sharpening our positioning and brand promise would help us connect more deeply with users and keep our teams focused on delivering that promise.

So I went straight to the source: our clients. I dug deep into their challenges, what makes Simple different, why they love it and most importantly, what actually would help them lose weight and feel great again.

I discovered that we have a real opportunity to challenge how the market communicates about weight loss. Beyond just promising external results, we need to offer users a deeper, philosophical outcome: the feeling of being their best selves and associating that elevated self-perception directly with being a Simple user.

Here’s how we’re changing the conversation:

1. “Weight loss without the stress.”
2. You don’t need to suffer to lose weight.
3. Real users, real results: The best marketing comes from our clients. Even the shyest feel compelled to share because they’ve experienced firsthand how Simple has changed their lives. That’s been a powerful way to share our message.

P&HI: Who do you consider your competition: other apps like WW, GLP-1s, other tools?

Kim: We don’t see ourselves as just another “weight loss app.”

We’re inspired by real-world solutions that actually work -- things like personal coaching or the best workout classes -- and we think about how to deliver that experience into the palm of your hand.