‘RHOSLC’s Heather Gay Discusses Weight Loss Journey, Misconceptions and Dating (Exclusive)

Heather Gay has always been the quintessential housewife. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star has been a standout since the show’s inaugural season. She calls things out, she’s witty, she’s funny, and her confessionals are iconic. The mother of three is a successful business owner, providing beauty trends to locals and tourists alike at her popular Beauty Lab + Laser spa. After struggling with her weight, trying every diet and fad for decades, she’s found a formula that works for her. 

She’s been on GLP-1, a class of medication that mainly helps manage blood sugar in Type 1 diabetics but can also help obesity, according to the Cleveland Clinic. She’s embracing her figure and lifestyle, and has partnered with Atkins to promote the low-carb diet company’s protein bars and healthy snacks, which she says are a delicious treat. PopCulture spoke with Gay about her weight loss journey, public shame attached to weight, and the biggest misconceptions she’s had to face. 

PopCulture.com: So first and foremost, I’m so excited to see you. You are my favorite Salt Lake City housewife and have been since Season 1. So I’m really excited that we have this opportunity, and to discuss something that you’ve been publicly open about, which I love. You’ve always been open about your journey and your struggles with weight loss throughout the years. When did you start taking weight loss assistance medications, and why did you decide to be so open about it?

Heather Gay: I started taking GLP-1s in 2023, the beginning of 2023, and I decided to be open about it when it worked. I had no intention of ever talking about it. But all of a sudden, I was losing weight for the first time in my life. I’d lost weight, of course, before, but it was such a struggle. I was white knuckling it the whole time. The second I let up a little bit with the diet, the weight came right back on, and then some, and it just never worked out for me. And so the second that GLP-1s worked with my lifestyle, and I was able to maintain it, I felt like it was my duty to talk about it.

I never even questioned that I should keep it a secret. And I think that was probably a big mistake that I’m learning now because it was such a lightning rod for debate and conversation, and that was what was more shocking to me. People were shocked that I came out with it. I was shocked that people would keep it a secret, and because it worked, and it’s continued to work.

So I’ve maintained the same weight now for a year, and that’s why when this partnership with Atkins came in. With the partnership, I could really be out loud about it. I’d had other people contact me and I didn’t want to partner with anyone or anything that wasn’t authentic to me in the way I live my life.

PC: I’ve always felt that you were beautiful and funny and just an all-around great personality. Did exposing your life on reality TV make you feel more insecure because of your weight struggles?

HG: I had to have balls of steel to go on TV being overweight. Society isn’t kind [to people who are overweight], the housewives weren’t kind, my friends weren’t kind. I had confidence, a delusional level of confidence, in order to even go on TV. The truth is I had really embraced and accepted my body. I was proud that I could hang with the hotties because I felt beautiful, and I felt like I wanted to be there, but I had to overcome their expectations of me. And since I’ve lost weight, that’s been the most shocking to me is people assume all these things about me – that I’m funny and pretty and like have style – and I’m the same exact person I was before. You just never saw it before. And that’s been my experience is that they just treat me differently now.

PC: Now, using the medication, what did you learn in terms of the way that your body works, and weight loss?

HG: Basically, I’ve done every single diet fad that ever came in – and all the juice cleanses, all proteins, the low carbs, the macro. You name it, I’ve done it. I own Beauty Lab, a med spa, so I am inundated with it every day. We have weight loss medications where we put people on things that are supposed to help them lose weight. And so I had tried every single thing, and either the results weren’t significant enough to warrant the medication, or they worked, but they changed who I was and the way I conducted myself. 

For example, the fen-phen drug made me crazy. And other things I had tried were just hard to manage. And the GLP-1s worked. With GLP, I ate what I wanted to eat. I felt like I had energy. I felt healthy. I felt like my body was in sync. It felt like I was adding like a peptide or a chemical to the process that suddenly made what was really hard for me effortless.

PC: Earlier, you mentioned you were shocked by people’s reactions to you being open about using weight loss assistance medications. What were some of the craziest things that you heard at the time, and how did it make you feel?

HG: The craziest things I heard was that it was cheating, or that somehow not real because it was GLP. People assume you have to sweat it out every single day in order for it to count. People were really like, ‘Oh, I can’t believe that she would talk about it and do this.’ And I can’t believe anyone would say that because they were the same people that were saying, ‘You’re overweight, you should lose weight.’ People, even with the best intentions, would DM me and say things like, ‘You’ve got so much great going on in your life, but if you could just lose weight.’ If I could have a penny for every person that said that to me, I would never need to start a business. 

I heard things like, ‘Oh, you’re such a great girl, but you’re just overweight.’ And I always said, I am a great girl because I am overweight. That weight created the person I am. It gave me more drive. It gave me more confidence. It forced me to work harder than the person next to me. And I think those qualities came because I was overweight. And I’m grateful for them. And I don’t know who I would have been if GLP-1 had been around my whole life. That would have changed who I became. But I’m certainly not gonna walk away from them now just because they work.

PC: You mentioned that you’ve been able to keep the weight off with lifestyle changes. You have partnered with Atkins. How did this partnership come about?

HG: Atkins had the products that supported the two things that were most important to me: the products were convenient, and they tasted good. And as simple as that. Those are two factors that are very, very important to me. I’m a foodie, I love food. I am a pleasure person. I treat myself well. I like having high protein, high fiber snacks that taste delicious, and that has been hard for me to find. And so the partnership with Atkins was natural because when you’re on GLP-1s, you really have to be intentional about your nutrition.

And when you’re my age, you really have to bulk up on protein and fiber because it supports an aging female body. And even though I was getting skinnier, I wanted to be healthier, and I felt healthy overweight, but I wanted to now make sure my body had what it needed to carry me through these next chapters of life, and Atkins was the perfect partner.

PC: What are some of your favorite snacks that Atkins offers?

HG: I love the milk chocolate protein shake. It tastes good, it’s smooth, it’s not gritty, it doesn’t have that weird protein aftertaste. It’s just delicious. If you put whipped cream and a cherry on it, it’s better than any treat you could find.

PC: Now, you once said, don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure that [it was] something along the lines of body positivity is a big fat lie. Do you still feel that way?

HG: That’s not what I said. During the interview, they said, when people treat you so differently, losing weight versus when you were heavier, what does that make you think about the body positivity movement? And I said, when your lived-in experience is so different, it makes you think that body positivity is a lie, because they tell you they love you, but then they tell you in whispers to lose weight. There’s nothing more rejecting than for people to say we love everything about you, except how big your body is, especially when you feel like you have very little control over that. 

So the message I received from society was that they loved me, but they wanted me thinner, and I think that if I didn’t have body positivity, I wouldn’t be on TV. I wouldn’t be able to talk about it openly. I wouldn’t be the person I am if I wasn’t body positive. I was overweight my whole life. I’ve only been a healthier weight, this size, for two years.  So my personality is a result of body positivity. And I don’t think it’s a lie. I just think it’s a lie for people to say that they don’t notice when you’re heavier, cause they do and they comment on it.

PC: Now, before we leave, and switch gears, what is it that you want people to know about weight loss medications? What do you think are the biggest misconceptions?

HG: That it’s an easy way out, that it’s a cheat, or that it’s something that you should be ashamed of, or that it’s taboo. There are healthy products out there. Atkins products are the perfect companion. When you’re on a GLP-1, you can support your body with the nutrition it needs, while still being at a healthy weight, which is a process I never thought was possible. I was much less healthy when I was starving myself to be skinny. And now I feel like a normal person when it comes to maintaining my weight, and I attribute that to GLP-1 and Atkins products.

PC: Now, I just wanted to talk a little bit about RHOSLC before we leave. Since season 1, we have known you to be this great friend and this great mom, but how is dating for Heather? Will we see you exploring love on the show?

HG: I think so. You see my Atkins red nails? I think love is coming into my life. I am an empty nester now. I have a new bod. I have a new outlook. I am dating right now, a little bit. I don’t know if he’ll be on camera, but, I’m dating. I’m dating and I’m hoping that the viewers will get to come along that ride for me. I’m hoping it works out. There’s not a lot of options in Utah. It’s a hard market, but I’m doing my best.