Why aren’t we talking about this?

GLP-1 weight-loss injections are everywhere, but what happens to our relationship with food and our bodies when the conversation is dominated by before-and-after photos? If you’ve spent years trying to feel comfortable in your own skin, seeing people around you lose weight can bring back thoughts you hoped you’d left behind. I’ve noticed that happening myself, and I wanted to talk about it.

Nutritionist and wellness founder Bertie Stringer joins me to explore the questions surrounding medicines such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, from changes in appetite and “food noise” to side effects, nutrition and ongoing support. We discuss her concerns about the gap between the transformation people see and the day-to-day experience of treatment, including eating when you don’t feel hungry and knowing where to turn with questions.

We also get into the pull of these medicines for women navigating perimenopause, menopause and decades of conflicting messages about weight. I share how the renewed focus on thinness has unsettled my own body confidence, and we discuss shame, privacy and the assumptions people make about someone else’s changing body. Whether you’re considering treatment, already taking it or simply noticing how the conversation makes you feel, this episode opens up the questions that can get lost behind the headlines.

In this episode:

GLP-1s and body image: why the visibility of weight-loss injections can bring old insecurities back to the surface.

Appetite and food noise: discussing changes in the desire to eat and what they can mean for someone’s relationship with food.

Side effects and nutritional support: questions about eating enough, maintaining strength and getting individual advice during treatment.

What happens when treatment stops? Why ongoing care and conversations with your prescriber matter.

Midlife, choice and judgement: the appeal of weight-loss medication, the pressure to be thinner and making room for honest conversations without assumptions about anyone’s health.

Find Bertie on LinkedIn.

This conversation explores personal perspectives and concerns; it is not individual medical advice. For information about benefits, risks and safe use, read the MHRA’s guidance on GLP-1 medicines, and discuss starting, changing or stopping treatment with your prescriber.

Why Aren’t We Talking About This? is a series of honest conversations about the stuff we rarely discuss but probably should—big feelings, weird thoughts, life, death, sex and all the messy, beautiful parts of being human.

Hosted by me, Carly Osman-Holme, on a quest to dodge a full-blown existential crisis. I’ve reached that point in life where I’m asking the big questions: How did I get here? What do I actually want? And why didn’t they teach us any of this in school?

A podcast for midlife women who’ve spent years being capable, responsible and there for everyone else, and are starting to ask what they actually want for themselves. From money and ambition to motherhood, grief, relationships and changing identity, we explore what’s going on underneath. If you want to understand yourself a little better, feel more confident saying what you need or know how to be there for someone else, follow the show for a new conversation every Thursday.

Coping with redundancy can mean losing much more than an income. The calls stop, your diary empties and a question as ordinary as “What do you do?” suddenly becomes difficult to answer. If you’ve spent years being capable, busy and needed, who are you when the job title disappears?

Jarrod Cocksedge, creator of The Badlands podcast, joins me to talk about the emotional impact of losing work: grief, shame, loneliness and the unsettling feeling of becoming invisible. Although Jarrod wasn’t made redundant himself, returning to the UK after a senior advertising career overseas left him without the opportunities he’d expected. Through conversations with other people out of work, he recognised feelings he was struggling to make sense of himself.

I share my own experience of redundancy, including the dread before it happened, the relief when it finally did and the difficulty of untangling my identity from my job. We also discuss why “you can do anything now” can feel spectacularly unhelpful, the financial realities of starting again and the space it can take to imagine a different working life. There are possibilities here, but there’s also room to admit that you’re angry, frightened or not yet ready to call this an opportunity.

In this episode:

Redundancy and loss of identity: separating who you are from the title, status and routines that came with your work.

The grief and loneliness of losing a job: understanding why an empty inbox or quiet phone can feel so unsettling.

Shame and self-worth: questioning the assumption that losing a role means you weren’t good enough.

The pressure to know what comes next: why endless possibilities can leave you feeling paralysed rather than excited.

Rebuilding after redundancy: conversations, support and exploring different ways to work while acknowledging the need to pay the bills.

Listen to more conversations about life outside employment on The Badlands.

Why Aren’t We Talking About This? is a series of honest conversations about the stuff we rarely discuss but probably should—big feelings, weird thoughts, life, death, sex and all the messy, beautiful parts of being human.

Hosted by me, Carly Osman-Holme, on a quest to dodge a full-blown existential crisis. I’ve reached that point in life where I’m asking the big questions: How did I get here? What do I actually want? And why didn’t they teach us any of this in school?

A podcast for midlife women who’ve spent years being capable, responsible and there for everyone else, and are starting to ask what they actually want for themselves. From money and ambition to motherhood, grief, relationships and changing identity, we explore what’s going on underneath. If you want to understand yourself a little better, feel more confident saying what you need or know how to be there for someone else, follow the show for a new conversation every Thursday.

How do you trust your intuition when you’re used to second-guessing yourself? You have a feeling about something, but it looks good on paper, the money makes sense or someone you trust tells you it’s the right thing to do. So you push the feeling aside. Later, you find yourself thinking: I knew something wasn’t right. Why didn’t I listen?

Simone Stevens, also known as Sim, joins me to explore intuition, self-trust and the influence of other people’s opinions on our decisions. Drawing on her background in PR and marketing and her work as an energy healer and psychic medium, she shares her spiritual perspective on what she calls our “inner compass”. We discuss the difficulty of taking a feeling seriously when you can’t easily explain it, and I reflect on the quieter pull towards leaving corporate life alongside the much louder doubts about whether I could do it.

We also explore the question of intuition versus fear, and how Sim makes sense of those different experiences in her own life. From journaling and meditation to noticing physical sensations and starting with small, everyday choices, we talk about ways to make more room for reflection. If you’ve become accustomed to asking everyone else what they think before considering what you want, this conversation offers a starting point for paying attention to yourself as well.

In this episode:

Why we ignore our gut feelings: the pull of money, logic, expectations and other people’s approval.

Second-guessing yourself: what happens when you struggle to give your own feelings space in a decision.

Intuition or fear? Exploring Sim’s personal perspective on the different thoughts and sensations she notices.

Making space for reflection: journaling, meditation and paying attention to how you feel.

Starting with small decisions: exploring your preferences without putting pressure on yourself to have a life-changing answer.

This episode explores personal experiences and spiritual beliefs. Intuitive feelings can be mistaken; feeling calm or anxious does not, by itself, establish whether a judgement is accurate.

Why Aren’t We Talking About This? is a series of honest conversations about the stuff we rarely discuss but probably should—big feelings, weird thoughts, life, death, sex and all the messy, beautiful parts of being human.

Hosted by me, Carly Osman-Holme, on a quest to dodge a full-blown existential crisis. I’ve reached that point in life where I’m asking the big questions: How did I get here? What do I actually want? And why didn’t they teach us any of this in school?

A podcast for midlife women who’ve spent years being capable, responsible and there for everyone else, and are starting to ask what they actually want for themselves. From money and ambition to motherhood, grief, relationships and changing identity, we explore what’s going on underneath. If you want to understand yourself a little better, feel more confident saying what you need or know how to be there for someone else, follow the show for a new conversation every Thursday.