Side Project Podcast 7: Weight with Rupal Mathur

Ruthie Miller (02:28.718)

We are excited to have with us today Dr. Rupal Mathur. Dr. Mathur is an internal medicine doctor here in Houston, Texas. She founded Lifelong Weight Loss in 2017 to help patients navigate their general health, nutrition, and weight challenges. And interestingly enough, the Houston Rockets caught wind of her. And so now she is the official nutritionist for the Rockets who are playing some seriously good basketball this year. So we are lucky she’s here to answer some of our questions about weight loss and weight changes as we age. Welcome, Dr. Mathur.

 

Rupal Mathur (03:02.947)

Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here and to have this very important conversation.

 

Leyla Seka (03:09.106)

So let’s start. Why is it so challenging to lose weight as we age? I kind of get it. You’re old, your shit’s slowing down. I get it, I get it. But medically, why is this so difficult? Why is this so challenging now that we’re getting older and the weight just won’t go off?

 

Rupal Mathur (03:20.163)

Yeah. I mean, you know, it’s metabolic and it’s also circumstantial. I mean, in the middle of life, it’s the sandwich, you know, we’re the sandwich generation. Our kids are young or growing up and having new challenges. Parents are elderly and having new challenges also, and we’re often the caregivers for both. And so we’re busy, careers are making transitions and it’s a high stress period of time. So of course stress is not helping weight management or weight loss. And then yes, you’re right, medically there’s absolutely a reason why it’s so hard. One of the big reasons is growth hormone declines with age and that means that testosterone declines with age, which means that muscle mass declines with age and muscle mass is one of the biggest burners of calories. So we just burn fewer calories as we get older. And then on top of that, a couple of things tend to develop especially in middle age, let’s say after 40 or in that perimenopause time, one of which is called insulin resistance. So a sensitivity to carbohydrates in the diet, which makes us overreact, have a big rise in our blood sugar in response to carbohydrates in the diet, which makes our pancreas release insulin, which is a pro-inflammatory hormone, a fast storage hormone. So that’s preventing weight loss. And then there’s another hormone called leptin, which leptin is a good hormone. It’s produced by our fat tissue. So if we have more fat tissue, we produce more leptin and that tells our body, hey, eat less and also burn more calories. But also as we get into that mid range of age, we develop leptin resistance too. So the fat tissue is still making the leptin, but the body cells are not responding. So exactly why is this happening? We don’t understand why this happens, but unfortunately it’s a fact of life.

 

And maybe that makes some of our listeners feel better. I hope it does because there’s a lot of self blame and guilt about not being able to control the weight, especially in this period of time. And, you know, I’m here to tell you that it very much is truly a metabolic issue along with of course, yes, like life circumstances and maybe less time for nutrition and exercise. But a lot of the big component is the physiologic changes that are happening with aging.

 

Ruthie Miller (05:52.558)

So you basically just described me with the whole insulin resistance conversation. Does that mean that, and going back to what we were saying before about protein being a full-time job, consuming enough protein, how much protein do we actually need? And also, should we be eating fewer carbs?

 

Rupal Mathur (06:13.391)

So first of all, insulin resistance is one of the factors that can contribute to weight gain in this time period, but not everyone develops it. So, you know, the people who are genetically predisposed certainly can and most likely will. And then some of us who are not predisposed may develop insulin resistance. And then some people just won’t at all. And so for those people, they don’t need to reduce carbohydrate intake. So it really needs to be something that’s tested on blood work or maybe monitoring blood sugar on a CGM to see, am I predisposed to this carbohydrate intolerance? And then if the answer is yes, then yes, I would say we need to reduce carbohydrates. We don’t need to eliminate them, but that means that your body is struggling to metabolize them and a low carbohydrate diet can definitely fight that. And then the other thing that needs to happen is more protein just because of what we talked about with low growth hormone, low testosterone, and low muscle mass. And the way to help both preserve and build muscle mass is to eat adequate protein. Now that being said, I don’t think women and people in general need to eat as much protein as some of the sources out there suggest. Simply because there’s just no evidence that if you eat beyond a certain amount of protein that you’re really getting any additional benefit.

 

Leyla Seka (07:13.423)

Okay.

 

Rupal Mathur (07:33.465)

So when we talk about protein, the minimum requirement is called the RDA. And that’s how much the average person needs to avoid a deficiency to not be malnourished. That’s 0.8 grams per kilogram. That’s a low amount of protein. Almost all of us recognize that that is not enough protein to build muscle mass and even to prevent muscle mass loss as we’re actively losing weight. So.

 

Leyla Seka (07:38.082)

you

 

Rupal Mathur (07:59.535)

My targeted range is 1 gram per kilogram of protein and then up to 1.2. Exactly. So let’s say that the average woman, I mean, you I don’t know what the average woman weighs, but let’s take an even number. So 70 kilos is often kind of like an average weight of a person.

 

Ruthie Miller (08:07.8)

Wait, and if I don’t understand what kilograms are…

 

Rupal Mathur (08:26.703)

So 70 kilos is the same as 154 pounds. And then 1.2 grams per kilogram is 84 grams of protein per day. 84 grams of protein per day is a very doable amount of protein because four ounces of chicken or salmon is 25 to 30 grams of protein. So.

 

Leyla Seka (08:50.946)

So it’s like two servings.

 

Rupal Mathur (08:52.367)

Yeah, so like maybe two servings and a snack of something like Greek yogurt or cottage cheese or something and then you can hit that. And then there’s probably a small amount of incremental benefit going from 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram. So in our scenario, the 70 kilo person, 1.6 is 112 grams of protein, which still the protein shake is very doable. You know, I think the suggestion that people need to be eating one gram per pound of body weight, that’s unrealistic for most people unless that’s their full-time job and that’s also unnecessary. There’s just no data that shows that anything beyond that 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram is actually augmenting muscle mass.

 

Leyla Seka (09:39.827)

Okay, so if I take more hormones, can I eat more carbs?

 

Rupal Mathur (09:45.295)

No. you talking about hormones or catch-all terms? You’re talking about estrogen and progesterone?

 

Leyla Seka (09:51.418)

No, I mean like menopause, you know, even-shit-out hormones, that situation, or calming things down a bit, let’s put it that way.

 

Rupal Mathur (09:56.661)

Right, right. yeah. Right. Estrogen progesterone for women, testosterone for men. Now, I’m sorry, ladies, but testosterone for men does improve body composition. So, you know, I know. mean, men, it’s just, I don’t know. mean, the other thing that’s really unfair is that men can lose weight with exercise and women usually cannot lose weight through exercise. It is so unfair. I know. And then again, women

 

Leyla Seka (10:11.003)

Why can’t we have some of that? What the hell?

 

Rupal Mathur (10:25.453)

are punishing themselves thinking, I can’t control my weight. I must not be working out enough. then, you know, that self blame and guilt comes in. anyway, so estrogen and progesterone for women certainly can help address perimenopause symptoms, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, but doesn’t really impact the body composition as much as it might be suggested. You know, you start estrogen and then the belly fat will melt away.

 

No, I’m not seeing that at all in my patients. I see a lot of patients who are being a very good hormone replacement provider, meaning they’re on a very appropriate regimen of hormone replacement therapy, but they’re still struggling with their weight. And so weight management is a whole different piece to their management.

 

Leyla Seka (11:10.33)

So, I mean, so what do you do? So we can’t eat anything. If we work out, it doesn’t help. And our husbands get thinner and better looking, which is annoying as hell. So like, what are our options? I mean, I can’t, also these protein shakes, I mean, I’m trying to shove them down, but can they make them taste good? Is that like against the rules? I don’t understand. Ugh.

 

Rupal Mathur (11:31.599)

Yeah, there actually are some great ones out there. You have to find one that you enjoy. Thorne is a brand that I like because it has very clean ingredients and it’s third-party tested. We use Thorne products a lot in the NBA because they have some NSF certified for sport products too. so NSF certified for sport just means that that product has been tested for contaminants that can

 

Leyla Seka (11:51.149)

What does that mean? What does that mean?

 

Rupal Mathur (11:58.831)

cause NBA players to test, to have a positive drug test for banned substances. So they test for specifically the banned substances by the NBA or by all the global sports organizations. So it’s just an extra layer of testing that not all lines of products will offer. But yes, I mean, it is hard.

 

Leyla Seka (12:04.536)

gotcha.

 

Ruthie Miller (12:21.006)

So what actually matters in terms of weight loss? Is it calories? Is it protein? Is it macros? Like, what is the, can you lay it out for us?

 

Rupal Mathur (12:31.969)

Yes, I mean, at the end of the day, you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. So people who think that they are not eating enough to lose weight, that is generally a fallacy. You know, that is out there a lot. We hear that a lot because I think what people mean when they say that is

 

Leyla Seka (12:45.88)

Okay.

 

Rupal Mathur (12:55.535)

Well, if you’re not eating breakfast, then you’re overeating at lunch and dinner. And the problem is that you’re not eating consistently throughout the day. And for some people actually skipping breakfast is fine. Like they actually manage their weight better when they’re skipping breakfast. It really depends on the person. But the point is that it’s not that you need to add calories into your diet to lose weight. You just need to have the calories at the right time of day so that you don’t overeat. And that’s very much easier said than done. But at the end of the day, you have to be in a calorie deficit. That’s number one.

 

Number two is you want to eat adequate protein because if you are in a calorie deficit, you don’t want to lose excessive amounts of muscle mass. Everyone will lose a little bit of muscle mass. I like for my patients to lose 15% or less of muscle out of everything else that they’re losing. So if they’re losing 100 pounds, 15 pounds or less should be muscle and the other 85 pounds should be body fat. And then low carbohydrate intake may be suggested if your labs are consistent with insulin resistance. And not only will that, what that will do is it will help you to lose weight because it’ll reduce your calories then because we’re cutting out carbs. So, you you’re not adding that extra piece of bread to your meal. immediately you’re automatically, cutting out calories by reducing carbohydrates, but also carbohydrates, especially for people with insulin resistance can drive hunger and cravings.

 

And so reducing the carbohydrates can therefore overall help that patient reduce their calorie intake. So at end of the day, that’s what we’re targeting. And reducing calorie intake is very, very hard. And so what Leila, the point she was getting to is, well, this sounds impossible. Like, thanks for telling me the science, but like now I feel hopeless, completely hopeless. And it doesn’t have to be that way. And that’s why I really like practicing obesity medicine because a lot of it, a lot of what I do is about the lifestyle modification, but it’s also about using weight loss medications. And the reason I use weight loss medications is because we finally have recognized in the mainstream culture that there is a place for a medication to treat the physiology of why people have a hard time losing weight because there’s very much a medical reason why people can’t lose weight or can’t keep it off. And we have great medications to help.

 

Leyla Seka (15:21.01)

I mean, yeah, so like Ozempic and all that. So I take that, right? And I definitely don’t eat as much, right? I’m not gonna tell you that pounds are flying off me. I don’t look like Oprah yet, but I have aspirations. So you think these are okay. You think this is an okay solution. I mean, obviously you need to be with a doctor. like, what’s your general take on these types of medicines and are they going to like mess us up in 10 years and I’m going to get a third eye or something?

 

Rupal Mathur (15:51.169)

Right? And that’s what everyone comes in asking me is, you know, I mean, now all the studies I’m seeing are showing that these drugs are great. But like, what happens to me in 10 years? Yeah. What is the long term safety profile of these medications? And it’s really good. So first of all, the very first GLP-1 medication that came to market was Xenotide in 2005.

 

So we have 20 years of ongoing use of these medications. It’s just that initially they were only FDA approved for people with diabetes. So the majority of the people, well, all of the people who have been on these drugs for 20 years are people with diabetes. And then of course, in the more recent time, we’ve had people without diabetes using these medications, but we do have that data. So that long-term data that has been mined, I mean, we have big electronic medical record systems like the VA that keeps track of who is taking these medications and what diagnoses they’re developing over time. And when we go back in time, that’s called a retrospective study. And we look at, hey, is this drug associated with good or bad things? And we have controls in place too. So there was a big study that looked at Ozempic use in people with diabetes and what else, what other medical conditions is it associated with? And then they used car accidents as their control. So, you know, if they saw it was emphatic use associated with car accidents, there’s something wrong with that study, right? Because there’s no way that it was emphatic of causing car accidents. that was a great, know, the study did not show that. So it was a good study. And in that study, we really didn’t see negative long-term health impacts.

 

Leyla Seka (17:11.681)

Okay.

 

Rupal Mathur (17:32.269)

We have known health impacts on people, the most common side effects being nausea, acid reflux, diarrhea, constipation, a lot of manageable gastrointestinal symptoms. And then there are some potential complications that can develop like pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening. Gallstones are pretty common just with weight loss itself. A lot of GI motility issues, but those are very rare and they’re not long-term side effects. There are none that we have found to date. Maybe some concern over vision changes, but those studies are ongoing. And while that sounds so scary, the biggest thing that is going to impact a person’s life is untreated obesity. Untreated obesity is a risk factor for many different types of cancers, breast and prostate, which are two of the most common cancers, heart disease. These are the leading cause of death in America. And so from the safety standpoint, these drugs are very safe.

 

And from the psychological standpoint, these drugs allow people to release themselves of the blame and the guilt that they’re not successful at weight management. And then from the health standpoint, these drugs are reducing people’s blood sugar, their cholesterol, their blood pressure, and then their risk for obesity-related cancers.

 

Ruthie Miller (18:54.434)

That’s fantastic. So let’s talk for a second about vitamins and supplements. Are there any that you recommend kind of across the board? I know that you’re big on multivitamins and things like that, but then also my concern is, you know, how do I know if I’m getting a good vitamin or supplement versus, you know, something that just has a lot of junk in it?

 

Rupal Mathur (19:19.265)

Right, yeah, that’s a hard one. you know, I think if you can find an expert who knows how to read a multivitamin label and walk you through that, that would be great. I kind of stick to certain brands. Thorne is a brand. Pure Encapsulations is a brand that I like a lot. These are brands that have been around a long time, so they have, they don’t have fillers in their products, but also they do that third party testing that I mentioned so that we know that there’s not heavy metals and just things that are not on the label in the product you’re getting. So first of all, you need to use a trusted brand. And then second of all, you really do need some sort of, if it’s not a healthcare provider and nutritionist, someone who can read that label and tell you, okay, this is appropriate with everything else that you’re taking. So a good example is Nutri-Fold is a really popular hair vitamin that a lot of patients will come in telling me I’m taking Nutri-Fold for my hair.

 

Rupal Mathur (20:16.693)

Nutri-ful is high in vitamin A and a multivitamin can be high in vitamin A. And so there have been recently some case reports of people developing liver toxicity on the triple. And I suspect that these are people who are probably taking both a multivitamin neutral thinking they’re doing something great for their body. You know, that’s just one potential example. We don’t know exactly what was the cause of the liver toxicity in the patients taking this supplement. But point being that it does need to be individually tailored based on other supplements and other medications that you’re taking to make sure there’s no interactions. I always follow vitamin D levels. Also, lot of my patients come in taking too much vitamin D. Doctor checked their level, it was low, then they got on these mega doses of vitamin D, now it’s way too high. That can definitely cause toxicity. So vitamins A, D, E, and K are all half soluble vitamins, meaning if you take too much of them, your body will just store them and cause toxicity, whereas the water soluble vitamins you just pee out. That’s why pee is fluorescent after you take a multivitamin. You’re just eating out the excess B vitamins that you don’t need, but those other vitamins you can take too much of. So you’re right, that deserves a conversation with a healthcare provider. lot of people think they can just buy anyone over the counter, but I definitely discourage that.

 

Leyla Seka (21:34.336)

Yeah. Yeah. mean, yeah. Okay, here’s another thing that always comes up. you know, if you do one thing when you turn midlife, don’t smoke and weight, strength train, like go to the gym and lift weights and like, okay, I’m trying to do that. I get it. But like, why is strength training so, so important right now as we’re like in our 40s, 50s, 60s moving into that sort of zone.

 

Rupal Mathur (21:59.679)

Again, it’s that decline in growth hormone, the decline in testosterone. These are things that are working against us and causing muscle mass loss. So our muscle mass peaks in our 20s. And then starting from age 30, we start losing three to 5 % of our muscle mass every decade. And the only way to combat that is to activate muscle growth. And the two things that activate muscle growth, one of them is protein. We talked about that.

 

And the other one is strength training. And the reason it’s strength training rather than cardio is because when we put that mechanical load on the muscle fibers and we stretch those muscle fibers, that activates an enzyme called mTOR. mTOR stands for mammalian targeted rapamycin. No one needs to really know what that means. But mTOR is a big regulator of muscle protein synthesis.

 

And things that activate mTOR, one of them is strength training and making sure that you’re doing it right. Like you actually have a heavy load. Like you don’t need to have such a heavy load that you can only do two reps. Like we’re not trying to body build, but you know, eight to 12 reps that are pretty challenging, two to three sets. That’s kind of the minimum that I recommend to stimulate that mTOR. And then the other thing for mTOR is protein again.

 

And in particular, leucine. Leucine is a type of amino acid that’s found in animal protein. And it’s what’s called a branch chain amino acid. So sometimes people will take branch chain amino acid supplements too. But leucine also directly activates mTOR. So the point is that strength training is important because it’s activating, telling your body to build muscle mass at a time when all the other signals are telling it to break down muscle mass.

 

Ruthie Miller (23:47.496)

Do you have any kind of hard and fast tips for weight loss? And I’ll give you an example. So I am a patient of Dr. Mathur. She’s been helping me because I’m pre-diabetic. So I felt like nobody was listening to my concerns about my blood sugar. And a friend led me to Dr. Mathur. And one of my favorite tips that she has given me is she told me to switch my carb intake.

 

I was under the impression that I need to get my carbs early in the day because then I exercise throughout the day and I burn off all the carbs. But the issue was at night when I’m really craving carbs I felt like I couldn’t have carbs, and then I would eat them anyway. And so she said flip-flop that and don’t eat the carbs in the morning, you know, have a protein shake and save your carbs for the end of the day when you really want them. And that has helped me a ton. So do you have other tips kind of like that, like little things that people might not be thinking of that can really help in terms of weight loss?

 

Rupal Mathur (24:45.999)

Yes, absolutely. I think a lot of people do think about this one, but they don’t implement it. It’s hydration. You know, oftentimes people are mistaking dehydration for hunger. So number one thing, drink enough water. You know, how much water each person has to drink is very individual based on how much they’re moving and exercising, sweating, et cetera. But generally,

two liters a day is what I recommend for most women. For men, especially taller men, NBA players may be three liters a day minimum, plus what they’re losing when they’re playing on the court. But two liters a day for most of us is pretty reasonable. It’s just four standard water bottles, not like the pint ones, but four 16 ounce water bottles is two liters per day.

 

Leyla Seka (25:20.582)

Okay.

 

Rupal Mathur (25:36.111)

Um, so that’s kind of a common theme that I see people are just not hydrating enough. And so they’re eating in compensation for that. Um, and another big one is hidden fat. So I like fat and fat is a fad now, like, Oh, like add healthy fats to your diet, right? Like olive oil and avocado and chia seeds. And that’s great. And I love those fats too, but people are overdoing it. You can’t just add something to your diet and not take something away. So did you guys ever watch Frasier? 

 

Ruthie Miller (26:13.493)

Oh my gosh, I love Frasier.

 

Rupal Mathur (25:36.111)

Good, me too. So I loved it. And there’s an episode where Frasier’s in a weight loss competition and he gets weighed and he has gained weight. And he says, “How can that be? I’ve added a salad to every meal.” 

 

So he’s just added calories to every single meal, right? So he’s gained weight. Even though we all know that salads are healthy and most people think, I’m trying to lose weight, let me eat more salad. So that’s where I find that people trip up on some of these added fats in the diet is they’re like, okay, so chia seeds are good for me, great. I’m gonna put them in in my protein smoothie every morning, I’m gonna put in chia seeds, flax seeds, walnuts, all these things are so good for my brain. Well, guess what? You’ve just added 500 calories to your protein smoothie. And yeah you’re not going to be able to lose weight doing that. So water, hidden fats, the carb swap, those are some of the easy initials.

 

Leyla Seka (26:58.18)

So I have a question for you on hydration. What do you think of like those LMNT hydration packs or like the sort of like.

 

Ruthie Miller (27:20.226)

Nuun! We do Nuuns at our house.

 

Leyla Seka (27:22.612)

I drink them, right? I have sodium deficiency. So if I don’t drink enough salt, which is weird, I get a little loopy. So those LMNT things, like one of those a day keeps me sort of on the straight and narrow. But what do you think of them? Like, are the Rockets drinking LMNT, the hydration? Are they still drinking Gatorade? Like, what’s happening?

 

Rupal Mathur (27:40.399)

No, we’re not using LMNT. We are using electrolytes, absolutely. Just happens to not be LMNT. 

 

Ruthie Miller (27:51.362)

Wait, wait, what brand is it? Because we talk about this all the time. My husband runs marathons and so like he’s like Nuun is the best. But then I hear from other people, Liquid IV and you know, all these other brands. Like what brand do you recommend for electrolytes?

 

Rupal Mathur (28:05.856)

I don’t know if I should disclose that to all of the non-Rockets fans listening out there.

 

Ruthie Miller (28:09.452)

Ha! Yeah, that’s true. Leyla is a Golden State Warriors fan.

 

Leyla Seka (28:14.403)

I am a Warriors fan, I am a Warriors fan. I will call them immediately and tell them to switch out the Gatorade.

 

Rupal Mathur (28:16.378)

No!

 

Okay, maybe after this podcast. But not in public. so I think electrolytes are important. The thing about LMNT is that it’s high in sodium, which is fine. It doesn’t have any glucose. It’s a zero sugar one. so it’s nice because it doesn’t have calories. But when someone is very dehydrated, they need the glucose to activate something called the sodium glucose co-transporter in the intestines, which helps with water absorption. For example, when we’re doing oral rehydration therapy for a child with cholera, we’re giving them a solution with both glucose and sodium because that’s what prompts the best water reabsorption. And LMNT doesn’t have that because some of the other brands have way too much sugar. So they went kind of like, you know, in the other direction where they just eliminated all the sugar.

 

Leyla Seka (29:10.653)

Okay.

 

Rupal Mathur (29:17.935)

It still does have sodium and if you’re eating and drinking LMNT, well then you still have some glucose then you can still, you know, still help you absorb water. Sodium and mortality is on a U curve, meaning if you eat or consume very little sodium, your mortality is very high. And if you consume too much sodium, your mortality is very high. But that you, like the point where people are having better outcomes with salt intake, is probably somewhere between two to 5,000 milligrams a day. Whereas the recommendation currently for most Americans is 2,300 milligrams a day. And that’s probably on the low side for some people. For people like you, Leyla, for people who lose a lot of sodium through their urine or lose a lot of sodium through their sweat or they feel dizzy when they’re on the GLP-1 medications, I use the electrolytes all the time to help patients feel better.

 

And those people probably just are somewhere else in that range. They don’t need such a low amount of sodium intake. So I’m perfectly on board with the electrolyte drinks if they make people feel better. You know, unless obviously you have hypertension, it’s raising your blood pressure. But for a lot of people, it does not do that. Not in those ranges.

 

Leyla Seka (30:31.091)

Yep. Okay, one last question and then I know we need to wrap up soon. What do you eat for breakfast? Yeah, what do you, I mean, you obviously, I wanna know what you eat. Like, I’m gonna start copying you.

 

Rupal Mathur (30:37.485)

What do I eat for breakfast? So I waffle, but… No, I don’t eat a waffle. I’m meaning I vacillate. So I usually will do intermittent fasting.

 

Leyla Seka (30:52.409)

I was like, you eat waffles!!

 

Ruthie Miller (30:52.75)

Waffles? Great! I love waffles!

 

Rupal Mathur (31:03.183)

No, no. So my story actually, and the reason I got so interested in nutrition is because I had an A1C in the pre-diabetes range seven, eight years ago before I started my practice because I was just eating so poorly and my genetics are so, both my parents had diabetes and so I’m just really predisposed to that. So I’m very careful about carbohydrates in the diet and I do what I told Ruthie to do, which is I save my carbs for dinner and eating with the kids. I don’t want to feel restricted at dinner.

 

And the kids certainly can have carbohydrates. I’m not making, you know, two different meals. But in the morning, a lot of times I will do a fast, a 16 hour fast, and then I’ll break my fast at around 10.30. That’s my first patient break with a protein bar. Or sometimes I really just need a protein shake in my chai in the morning. And so I will end up not fasting and have. But I always have some sort of caffeine in the morning, too. So it’ll either be chai or just black tea. I cannot drink black coffee, so if it’s coffee, it’s going to be with a protein shake too. But some sort of caffeine in the morning.

 

Leyla Seka (32:07.987)

That’s super helpful.

 

Ruthie Miller (32:09.794)

Yeah, I’ve started on the protein shake that Dr. Mathur recommended for me, which is Thorne, again, the brand that’s come up several times here. And it has really helped me. It keeps me full for, you know, almost pretty much the whole morning, which is great. 

 

Leyla Seka (32:23.384)

And you’ve lost weight. I mean, you didn’t really have weight to lose, but you lost weight, which is annoying. Thank you very much. Some of us definitely have a shitload of weight to lose and are not dropping weight. But I bought Thorne too, Dr. Mathur. She told me to buy it because she said you like it. So it’s coming. I’m going start using that one too and see what happens.

 

Rupal Mathur (32:40.431)

Good, good, good. And if you’re taking a GLP-1 and you’re not losing weight, please ask an experience provider what’s going on. if you… Okay.

 

Leyla Seka (32:48.7)

Oh, I am losing weight, but it’s just so long. And then these annoying people like take four shots and lose 35 pounds. I mean, it’s just, I am losing weight. And the doctor’s like, this is the right way to lose weight. But it’s very annoying when skinny people take it and lose like 20 pounds and you’re still like huffing down two pounds a week. But no, it is working, it is working. But it’s hard. It’s always been hard for me. And I’m definitely, I beat myself up. I’m like, you suck, you’re an idiot.

 

Rupal Mathur (33:06.415)

Good. Yeah, it’s hard. And you’re not. And I’m glad you mentioned Oprah, because I tell my patients all the time, hey, you know who struggles with their weight? Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, as crazy as he is. I mean, there are these brilliant, successful professionals who have every tool at their disposal, and they struggle with their weight, and they take the GLP-1 medications, and those three in particular have made it public. And that means that they’re not a failure and neither are you for needing medication. Two pounds a week is really good.

 

Leyla Seka (33:51.406)

Thank you. 

 

Ruthie Miller (33:52.576)

It is a journey. is absolutely a journey. Well, that’s about all the time we have today. Dr. Mathur, thank you so much for joining us. This has been fabulous. Everybody can find a recap of this conversation on our website at sideprojecthq.com. You can also learn more about Dr. Mathur and her practice at lifelongweightloss.com. If you’re in Houston, you can go see her in person, which I highly recommend.

 

Rupal Mathur (34:16.942)

Yes.

 

Ruthie Miller (34:21.27)

And also you can follow her. She’s a fun follow on Instagram and her Instagram handle is @drrupalmathur. We’ll link it on our Instagram so you can find it there too. But thank you so much for joining us. This was so super valuable.

 

Leyla Seka (34:34.252)

You’re amazing.

 

Rupal Mathur (34:34.371)

 

Thank you both, I really enjoyed it.