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A Matter of Fat
Ozempic Shrinks Everything Except the Shame
What are we supposed to think about weight in 2026?
A Matter of Fat is a new podcast for anyone who has no idea what they think about weight, bodies and the rapidly changing conversation around them.
Hosted by journalist Rose Stokes, who brings 30 years of lived experience with weight and obesity, and Dr Giles Yeo, a University of Cambridge scientist who has spent three decades studying the genetics of body weight, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers.
In our first episode, we confront the elephant in the room: Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy and the arrival of GLP-1 weight-loss medications.
We cover:
• What GLP-1 medications actually do inside the body
• Why weight and appetite are not simply a matter of willpower
• Rose and Giles’ own experiences of taking weight-loss medication
• Why Giles kept his Wegovy use secret and felt like a fraud
• Whether weight-loss drugs really cause muscle loss
• Why weight stigma can make losing weight harder, not easier
• Plus, we fact-check “nature’s Ozempic” and revisit Rose’s disastrous experience with Orlistat
FOLLOW to stay up to date with A Matter of Fat.
RESOURCES:
Pennington Biomedical Research Center: Food noise study
https://www.pbrc.edu/news/media/2026/food-noise-eco.aspx
The Food Noise Questionnaire
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.24216
UCL and BMC Medicine: 1.6 million UK adults used weight-loss drugs in the past year
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1111695
Major, Rathbone, Blodorn and Hunger: The Countervailing Effects of Weight Stigma on Weight-Loss Motivation and Perceived Capacity for Weight Control
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167220903184
Sutin and Terracciano: Perceived Weight Discrimination and Obesity
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0070048
FIND US 👇
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amatteroffatpod/
Rose Stokes: https://www.instagram.com/rosestokes/
Giles Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/gilesyeo/
Questions, thoughts, constructive criticism or a story you want to share?
Email us: amatteroffatpod@gmail.com
More episodes
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2. After The After — If We Know Diets Don't Work, Why Do We Still Try?
40:19||Season 1, Ep. 2What happens after the dramatic “after” photo? A Matter of Fat is a podcast for anyone who has no idea what they think about weight, bodies and the rapidly changing conversation around them.Hosted by journalist Rose Stokes, who brings 30 years of lived experience with weight and obesity, and Dr Giles Yeo, a University of Cambridge scientist who has spent three decades studying the genetics of body weight, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers.In episode two, Rose and Giles explore why diets can appear to work, why the weight so often comes back and what years of restriction can do to our bodies and minds.We cover:• Whether it’s really true that 95% of diets fail• Why the brain fights back when we lose weight• Rose’s experience of starting Weight Watchers at just 11 years old• Losing a third of her body weight within a coercive relationship• Why maintaining weight loss can require eating less than someone who was never heavier• The pressure to perform as a “good fat person”• Plus, we fact-check negative-calorie foods and rate the Atkins dietTHIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY MINDFUL CHEFGet 30% off your first four boxes, plus free delivery on your first order, with code AMATTEROFFATPOD.Order at: http://mindfulchef.com/RESOURCESMann et al. (2007), UCLA: “Dieting Does Not Work”https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/Dieting-Does-Not-Work-UCLA-Researchers-7832FOLLOW to stay up to date with A Matter of Fat.FIND USInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amatteroffatpod/Rose Stokes: https://www.instagram.com/rosestokes/Giles Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/gilesyeo/Questions, thoughts or a story you want to share?Email us at amatteroffatpod@gmail.comTRAILER: A Matter of Fat
00:56||Season 1, Ep. 0