Maintenance Phase

Maintenance Phase delivers a ruthless yet witty dissection of wellness myths, outperforming #5 The Model Health Show in investigative rigor. Co-hosts Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon debunk the obesity epidemic narrative by exposing a 40-year study that found only 15% of diet participants maintained weight loss after two years, a key data point that challenges the $70 billion diet industry. Their careful source documentation targets anti-fat bias in health recommendations, comparing the flawed BMI metric to waist-to-height ratio, which they show is 30% more accurate for predicting diabetes risk. Unlike the broad lifestyle focus of Feel Better, Live More, Maintenance Phase narrows its scope to systematic deconstruction, using humor to make complex epidemiology accessible. This podcast's ability to name and shame specific fad diets—like the HCG protocol that costs $500 per month—while citing peer-reviewed critiques gives listeners concrete ammunition against junk science, making it an indispensable resource for critical health consumers.