''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 The culture of the United States encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and Social norm, norms, including forms of Languages of the United States, speech, American literature, literature, Music of the United States, music, Visual a ...

. 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, and anti-fat bias, and her podcast, Maintenance Phase, focuses on the poor science behind health and w ...

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''. Hobbes currently co-hosts the podcast '' Ma ...

. Launched in 2020, the podcast has addressed topics such as the Keto diet, the Presidential Fitness Test, Weight Watchers, and various fad diets and diet self-help books.

About

Aubrey Gordon is an American author and activist who writes about

fat liberation The fat acceptance movement (also known by various other names, such as fat pride, fat empowerment, fat liberation, and fat activism) is a social movement which seeks to eliminate the social stigma of obesity. Areas of contention include the aest ...

is an American journalist and former reporter for the

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

. 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: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

regarded it as "the best podcast we've heard about health". Emma Dibdin of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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 The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

for best podcast series.

Episodes

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

References

{{reflist American podcasts Health and wellness podcasts 2020 podcast debuts Feminist podcasts History podcasts Food and drink podcasts Independent podcasts