A Matter of Fat

If health is the goal, how do we know when to stop losing weight? And how do we decide what’s enough in a society that keeps rewarding us for being smaller? 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 why people are small, medium or large in our food environment, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers. In episode seven, the final episode of the first series, Rose and Giles explore life after willpower: what happens when losing weight becomes possible, and how we decide when to stop. They discuss weight-loss plateaus, coming off GLP-1 medication and the difference between reaching a healthier place and chasing a number that never feels low enough. We cover: • Why…

If you can now change your body, do you still have to love it? And can wanting to lose weight coexist with body acceptance? 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 why people are small, medium or large in our food environment, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers. In this episode, Rose and Giles explore what happened to body positivity and where it leaves us in the age of GLP-1 weight-loss medication. In a deeply personal conversation, Rose reflects on what the movement meant to her, the disappearance of bigger bodies from fashion and media, and why choosing to lose weight doesn’t mean abandoning everything she believes about acceptance. We cover: • Whether BMI is scientifically meaningless, or simply too limited to tell the whole story • The “SkinnyTok” claim that hunger is a good thing • Why…

Big Food helped create the obesity crisis. Should the same industry be allowed to profit from the solution? 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 why people are small, medium or large in our food environment, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers. In episode five, Rose and Giles examine how ultra-processed food has reshaped our diets, appetites and health. They ask whether medication can repair the damage without letting policymakers and the food industry off the hook. We cover: •⁠ ⁠What “ultra-processed food” actually means and why the label can be misleading •⁠ ⁠Whether UPFs are genuinely addictive •⁠ ⁠Why processing can make calories easier for our…

Who gets to be healthy when nutritious food, time, exercise and weight-loss medication all cost money? 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 why people are small, medium or large in our food environment, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers. In episode four, Rose and Giles ask whether good health is becoming something only wealthier people can afford. We cover: • Why eating healthily can take up a far greater percentage of a lower-income household’s budget • The stark link between childhood obesity and socioeconomic inequality • How time, stress, sleep, location and access to safe spaces shape our health • The £100 to £350 monthly cost of accessing GLP-1…

Episode 3: GLP-1 medications might quieten food noise, but has the noise around weight-loss jabs become impossible to escape? 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 how the brain influences appetite, this podcast brings together lived experience and science without pretending to have all the answers. In episode three, Rose and Giles explore food noise, the impact of GLP-1 medications on appetite and the relentless advertising making weight loss increasingly difficult to escape. A NOTE ON THE LAW: In the UK, it is illegal to advertise a prescription-only medicine to the public. That is Regulation 284 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. It is legislation enforced by the MHRA, and breaching it is a criminal offence.…

What 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…

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…

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