Maintenance Phase is a health science and pop culture podcast that aims to debunk health and wellness-industry myths and discusses anti-fatness in mainstream American culture. It is hosted by

Aubrey Gordon Aubrey Gordon (born 1983), also known as Your Fat Friend, is an author, podcaster, and activist. She writes about fatness, fat acceptance The fat acceptance movement, also known as fat pride, fat empowerment, and fat activism, is a social m ...

and

Michael Hobbes Michael Hobbes is a journalist and podcast host. He was formerly a Senior Enterprise Reporter for HuffPost. His writing has also appeared in ''Pacific Standard'', ''The New Republic'', and ''Slate (magazine), Slate''. Hobbes currently co-hosts ...

. Launched in 2020, the podcast has addressed topics such as The Keto diet, Presidential Fitness Test,

Weight Watchers Weight Watchers or WW may refer to: * Weight Watchers (diet), a comprehensive weight loss program and diet * WW International WW International, Inc., formerly Weight Watchers International, Inc., is a global company headquartered in the U.S. tha ...

, and various fad diets.

About

Aubrey Gordon is an American author and activist who writes about

fat liberation The fat acceptance movement, also known as fat pride, fat empowerment, and fat activism, is a social movement which seeks to eliminate the social stigma of fatness from social attitudes by pointing out the social obstacles which are faced by f ...

is an American journalist and former reporter for the HuffPost. Both of them have written numerous times about the misinformation that originates from the health and wellness industry, as well as anti-fatness in American popular culture. In each episode, one of the hosts talks to the other about a particular topic and they both discuss and give insight on the subject. The majority of their episodes focus on a particular health product or widely-accepted fact that Gordon and Hobbes then discuss. Many of their episodes focus on debunking scientific misinformation in an easily understandable manner. The podcast is independently funded, relying on crowd-funding.

Reception

In 2022,

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: General * Wilderness * Outside (Alaska), any non-Alaska location, as referred to by Alaskans Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, th ...

regarded it as "the best podcast we've heard about health". Emma Dibdin of the New York Times wrote, "This is essential listening for anyone who's ever been in the grips of the diet industrial complex, and wants to get deprogrammed." The same year it also won a Webby Award for best podcast series.

References

{{reflist American podcasts Health and wellness podcasts Patreon creators 2020 podcast debuts Feminist podcasts History podcasts