5 weight loss keys from a goop podcast on personalized weight care with Gwyneth Paltrow and obesity medicine specialist Rekha Kumar, MD, of Found Health.
Skinny fat, GLP-1s, metabolic syndrome—navigating the world of weight loss right now can feel overwhelming even for seasoned health experts. Maybe you’re just starting to dip your toes into a health journey, or maybe you’ve been trying since you were a teen to lose those 15 pounds.
Gwyneth Paltrow, the founder and CEO of goop, sat down to speak one-on-one with Rekha Kumar, MD, MS. (Listen to the podcast episode Dr. Rekha Kumar on GLP-1s, Metabolic Health, and the Power of Personalized Weight Care.) Kumar is the chief medical officer at Found, one of the largest medical telehealth weight loss programs in the U.S., on a range of topics from the role of inflammation in dieting, changes in women’s bodies over the course of their lives, to how people are using personalized weight care to finally reach their weight loss goals—sometimes after a lifetime of dieting.
As a board-certified endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist who is also certified in internal medicine, Dr. Kumar's approach challenges traditional one-size-fits-all solutions to weight care—and offers hope for lasting change. Here are five takeaways from her conversation with Paltrow on the goop podcast—including more on how to get personalized weight care.
Good metabolic health—including blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides (blood fats), and waist size—is key for avoiding conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Your lifestyle choices have a lot to do with metabolic health, but there’s more.
Even though the U.S. is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, America's metabolic health has been declining for decades, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Kumar pointed to several factors behind this trend: changes in our food supply, increased processed food consumption, and tech-driven jobs that lead to increasingly sedentary lifestyles. "If you look at Department of Labor data on how many calories people burned at work 75 years ago versus today, it's a couple hundred calories less," explained Dr. Kumar.
Even environmental factors, like endocrine disruptors (hormone-disrupting chemicals) and some medications, can impact metabolic health.
These small daily changes add up over time, potentially contributing to increased body fat and diabetes risk.
Bottom line: There’s more to your weight and health than what you eat. Some people need medical care to achieve better metabolic health.
Where people carry body fat can impact health just as much as how much fat they’re carrying. “Although there's a societal pressure to just be thin, that's actually not what's important,” Dr. Kumar pointed out during the goop podcast episode. “What's important is having the fat in the right places.”
While some people worry about belly fat, the type of fat that’s a bigger health risk is visceral fat. That’s fat that surrounds your organs, and unlike the fat just underneath your skin (subcutaneous fat), visceral fat can’t be removed with a procedure like liposuction.
Visceral fat can increase inflammation and disease risk. This "sick fat," as Dr. Kumar described it, emphasizes why personalized treatment approaches are crucial. Lifestyle changes can help address visceral fat, but some people also need medical help. Obesity medicine specialists, like those available through Found, can tailor prescriptions and lifestyle change programs to help people reach a healthier weight and body composition.
You can do a quick check to gauge where you are with our waist-to-hip ratio calculator. A DEXA scan, using two types of low-dose x-ray beams can give you detailed, more accurate information about your body composition, including visceral fat and bone density.
During the goop podcast episode, Dr. Kumar mentioned a statistic that might surprise many: genetics determines as much as 60%-80% of body weight and fat mass. There are between 200 and 500 specific genes linked to obesity and body weight, according to the Obesity Medicine Association.
However, as Dr. Kumar emphasized, "our biology is not our destiny." This idea of biology is where Found's personalized approach becomes crucial. By considering your unique genetic predispositions, lifestyle factors, and health history, Found’s clinicians can, as is clinically appropriate, prescribe more than 10 different medications alone or in various combinations. Today’s weight loss medications target different issues caused by genetics, hormones, and brain chemistry. The options to use so many medications give Found clinicians the ability to create a tailored plan that works with your body, not against it.
Metabolism—how your body uses food for energy—isn’t as simple as “eat less, move more.” Just as no two fingerprints are alike, each person's metabolic profile is distinct.
For example, some people genuinely have a slow metabolism: They diet and exercise to create a calorie deficit but still can’t seem to lose or maintain a weight loss. The cycle of losing and regaining (yo-yo dieting) can make things worse.
Other people have constant cravings; they rarely feel full, no matter how much they eat. Brain chemistry can play a role in constant cravings.
"If you prescribe the same nutrition [and] exercise intervention to everybody, people don't respond the same," Dr. Kumar noted. This understanding drives Found's personalized approach to weight care.
Under Dr. Kumar’s leadership, Found developed a personal assessment called MetabolicPrint™. It analyzes various factors to determine each person’s metabolic profile, which may include a unique mix of Slow MetabolismTM,, Constant CravingsTM,, Mood ResponsesTM, (emotional eating), or a Brain-Gut DisconnectTM, where satiation signals from the intestines aren’t reaching the brain.
With the MetabolicPrint assessment, Found-affiliated clinicians can create a personalized blueprint for success.
Learn what makes your metabolism unique: Take our quiz to discover your MetabolicPrint.
Looking ahead, Dr. Kumar sees a shift toward more personalized, preventative approaches to metabolic health and weight care. "I hope more doctors do that and that people can seek out [a trusted provider] that cares about prevention," she shared during the goop podcast.
Personalized care made a difference for Renee Roge*—who struggled with emotional eating. "I've always said that I wish I [were] the person that, when I'm stressed or feeling sad, that I couldn't eat," she told Found. "But I was totally the opposite. I always ate when I was feeling sad. That was how I dealt with different struggles and different emotional issues by eating."
Some people might feel shame or blame themselves for emotional eating. However, once Renee learned that her MetabolicPrint was Mood Responses—and that her eating patterns were driven by brain chemistry—she was able to work with her Found clinician to identify triggers and change her behavior. Medication was also part of her care. As a result, Renee’s been able to taper off her blood pressure medication, and weight loss alleviated her knee pain.
This evolution in care delivery, combined with Found's comprehensive telehealth approach, points to a future where effective weight care is both personalized and accessible.
Your journey to better metabolic health doesn't have to be a solo endeavor. Found's comprehensive approach combines cutting-edge technology, personalized medicine, and dedicated support to create a path that's uniquely yours.
Found gives members access to a board-certified clinician who specializes in obesity medicine, 1:1 access to a certified health coach, a customizable lifestyle change program, and access to the Found community for support.
Found is among the largest medically-supported telehealth weight care clinics in the country, having served more than 250,000 members to date. To start your journey with Found, take our quiz.
*Renee Roge is a real user, paid for her appearance. Individual results vary. Found clinicians work with patients to determine the best option for each subscriber, but the ultimate decision as to whether a patient is qualified for a medication rests with the provider.
Contributing writers: TJ Carlin, Shaun Chavis, Cassi Gritzmacher
Get the best of Found right in your inbox
Get started with Found
Ready to lose weight and live your healthiest life?
1. O'Hearn, M., Lauren, B. N., Wong, J. B., Kim, D. D., & Mozaffarian, D. (2022). Trends and disparities in cardiometabolic health among U.S. adults, 1999-2018. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 80(2), 138–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.04.046
2. Environmental exposures underpin many metabolic diseases, expert says (Environmental Factor, April 2022). (2022). National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. https://factor.niehs.nih.gov/2022/4/science-highlights/metabolic-diseases
3. Church, T. S., Thomas, D. M., Tudor-Locke, C., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Earnest, C. P., Rodarte, R. Q., Martin, C. K., Blair, S. N., & Bouchard, C. (2011). Trends over 5 decades in U.S. occupation-related physical activity and their Associations with Obesity. PLoS ONE, 6(5), e19657. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019657
4. Wofford, M. R., King, D. S., & Harrell, T. K. (2006). Drug‐Induced metabolic syndrome. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 8(2), 114–119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1524-6175.2006.04751.x
5. Impact of EDCs on Metabolism and Obesity. (n.d.). www.endocrine.org. https://www.endocrine.org/topics/edc/what-edcs-are/common-edcs/metabolic
6. Kolb, H. (2022). Obese visceral fat tissue inflammation: from protective to detrimental? BMC Medicine, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02672-y
7. Bansal, S., Vachher, M., Arora, T., Kumar, B., & Burman, A. (2023). Visceral fat: A key mediator of NAFLD development and progression. Human Nutrition & Metabolism, 33, 200210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hnm.2023.200210
8. Obesity Medicine Association. (2023, October 30). Obesity and Genetics: Nature and Nurture. Obesity Medicine Association. https://obesitymedicine.org/blog/obesity-and-genetics/
5 weight loss keys from a goop podcast on personalized weight care with Gwyneth Paltrow and obesity medicine specialist Rekha Kumar, MD, of Found Health.
Can tiny doses of powerful GLP-1 drugs help people lose weight or maintain weight loss? Here’s what an obesity doctor has to say about microdosing GLP-1s.
Thinking about weight loss medication? Our Zepbound vs. compounded semaglutide comparison can help you learn more about effective, affordable options.
