Required listening. I am a norm-size athletic college professor teaching human anatomy and physical therapy. I have been looking for a better understanding and language to talk about body size. This podcast unlocked both my implicit biases about weight and suppressed hurt being called “sturdy” and “chub rub”. I recommend for EVERYONE who wants to just think a little harder about how we view bodies, health, and our place in both!

This is absolutely required listening. It is mind-blowing. If you are plus-size, DO NOT MISS IT. I’ve never felt so understood and validated and among good company. If you are straight-size, DO NOT MISS IT. This is what ALL your fat friends are experiencing and haven’t been able to get you to understand, and desperately wish you understood. Do you think you already get it and are understanding? You almost definitely do not. Listen. Your jaw will drop.

The episode with the doctor was particularly memorable. I hope Ronald never went to that guy again.

Opens my eyes.

One of the best podcasts I’ve listened to for well-rounded and interesting reporting on the human exoeriance.

I just discovered this podcast and I’m so glad I did. Thank you for being so honest open and bringing these stories (and yours) to light. So helpful knowing that people are not alone in their struggles!!

Such a thoughtful podcast!! Love the storytelling style, and can’t stop listening! Discovered this show last night and I’m already 5 episodes in.

I am so grateful I came across this podcast. It gives shape to the complexities of being human, eloquently addressing the lack of humanity pervasive in our society that hurts so many people. And why? Because of their weight? I will never comprehend how it is that as a culture we have collectively equated thin with good and not thin with negative attributes. I will never understand how people can be so rude, insensitive, and lacking in boundaries to the point that they think they can trample upon someone else’s life, making all kinds of incorrect and uncalled for judgments, and just because of that person’s size. The episode with the doctor’s visit had me yelling back in disgust, thank goodness Mr. Ronald no longer sees him. This podcast should be mandatory listening for all who work in mental health, healthcare, fitness, for starters. Parents and kids should listen to this podcast, teachers, everyone.

Love the conversation about fatness in America. Well done podcast! Binged two seasons in two days. ❤️

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a guy being more vulnerable/open about Body Stuff. Phenomenal!

I was plus size my entire life. Though I’ve had weight loss surgery in 2021 I will always be plus size at heart. I finished this podcast in two days and sent an email soon after. I appreciate your representation not only as someone with weight challenges but as an African American male. To speak on something is to have experienced it firsthand.

This episode on his mother’s passing was so amazingly beautiful. They were so vulnerable and transparent. It was hard to listen to because I recently loss my mom to cancer as well and watched her suffer with a similar situation as Ron’s mom Mrs Peggy. Lord have mercy, I needed to hear this and thank him for sharing this with us. I’m going back to the beginning to listen to other episodes since I’m just now hearing the podcast. I’m a fluffy person too and have very similar feelings and thoughts. Weight is ALWAYS present. I love how the podcast focuses on all facets. Definitely a must listen, weight challenged or not. Keep them coming please.

This is so thoughtful and vulnerable. Any adult, no matter their (current) size will leave each episode with something to reflect on.

This pod has help me reckon with systemic body shaming I have witnessed as a personal trainer. I have new language, perspectives and tool to be a better ally in gyms and other spaces where weight, fatness and skinniness is often used to perpetuate toxic diet culture. Thank you so much for all the hard work y’all have done making this pod, I have learned a lot and hope to be a better ally today as a result! Huge fan, fantastic pod!!

What a thoughtful and important podcast.

Thank you for always keeping it real and vulnerable with us. Keep it up! 👏👏👏

I am so glad that someone is able to talk about this topic with honesty and with care. This is good for fat and thin people.

Love this honest and self aware show, season 1 was such a treat I was thrilled to see the second. Loving it so far!

Just finished the “Into Thin Air” episode, which sums up why this podcast is so important. Ron so capably brings together topics, guests, and narratives that ate universal and urgent- politics, capitalism, mental health and opportunities for self-reflection. There are so many dimensions to the subject of body size, which can trigger or set folks on the sense- listening to a host this charismatic and deep explore them all is really exciting.

I just found this from an appearance Ron did on another podcast and I’m so glad I found it. Bingeing to get caught up and loving every minute.

I don’t understand why I haven’t heard of this podcast before. I’ve just listened to S1 and it’s great. I feel like it’s more honest and raw and less dogmatic than a lot of the fat-positive content I consume. It can be a little closer to triggering because of that, but totally worth it.

I’m a straight sized woman in a family of big people. The topic of weight and health always delicate, and I enjoy Ron’s interviews. I always want to be a good family member, friend, and ally to all my people. This podcast gives insights I would never be aware of as a lifelong straight sized woman. It’s moved me to laughter and tears in both seasons. I await season 3!

I’m late to the podcast… but I am quickly catching up. It resonates so much with my own lived experience. From dating to healthcare to perceptions at work. It validates what I’m feeling and that it’s not in my head.

This show is so Amazing! This episode really dives deep, and have me choked up… Thank you both for being so vulnerable with your audience! 🥹🥹🥹

Learning a lot, very appreciative of this show

Just listened to your first episode… and I feel like I just received a warm hug. You are funny, kind, empathetic and relatable. An outstanding podcast!

This show has a great variety of topics and guests. I love that everyone is so open about mistakes they’ve made and how they’ve grown. I get left with good complicated feelings and talk a lot about what I’ve heard.

I was enjoying your show until I heard something about “Palestine”. Anti semitism has no place anywhere. How could you? So upset.

The content is thoughtful and unique, and Ron’s voice is the cherry on top! He sounds like he’s smiling when he talks, and it makes me smile too. I always look forward to the next episode!

I’ve never left a podcast review before, but I really want to support this podcast - this show is deeply thoughtful, relevant and necessary. I listened to two seasons in two days I loved it so much.

i love this show. it’s hilarious, heartbreaking, and nuanced.

This show is good—really good. Powerful conversations, thoughtful reporting, and a deeply personal look into the ideas and problems surrounding weight and weight loss. No matter how you identify your own body, there is something for you to learn and feel from this show.

Thank you so much! This is just what I wish everyone could listen to!

So glad I started listening to this podcast. The topics talked about are SOOO relatable. It’s like my conscious is speaking out loud. Really nice to put words to thoughts and hear ways to fight the weight stigma fight. Appreciate all the work Ronald Young Jr has done to create this!

I have enjoyed the real talk on this podcast. Thank you!

Thank you so much for this podcast.

This show is amazing — he manages to articulate so many things I’ve thought, with so much insight and compassion and even humor. Love love love!!!

There are so many points in this podcast where I feel seen. And it’s so satisfying to hear fatness talked about in such a nuanced and genuine way. I think one of the most refreshing things is that weight is so often broken down in a way where there is no gray area and this podcast seems to live in the gray and often articulates feelings (and the root of those feelings) way better than I can.

Just started listening, once I heard this show advertised on Ear Hustle, one of my other favorites. Ronald seems to be a fantastically smart, introspective, honest, generous guy. And he’s an amazing host! Well-edited, super thoughtful. Again, I only ended up here because of a recommendation by another Radiotopia show, but I became an instant fan

I really loved the first season and was waiting by my phone for this new one to drop. It’s one of the only podcasts that I consistently check for because I want to listen the moment a new episode is released. There’s nothing else out here like this on the topic of weight, something I’ve struggled with my whole life. Thank you for being so vulnerable, so real, and so researched with each episode.

Bravo! As someone who has struggled with my weight my entire life, this podcast hits me where I live.

I just discovered this podcast and am obsessed. The raw transparency of the host’s experience cuts right to the soul. He lays out the internal struggle with pinpoint accuracy. I just think it’s brilliant.

This show makes me feel seen and accepted. As a larger person who has struggled with disordered eating almost my whole life, it can be difficult to listen to at times. But being able to hear someone else tell their story is comforting. The “Running While Fat” episode really hit home for me. I’ve been doing ultra endurance sports for over 10 years. I still get the (albeit well-intentioned) congratulations on starting my fitness journey. It still hurts. I just home that through this show people can come to understand the concept of health at every size.

Great podcast!

Thanks for this podcast. I like learning about the different ways people experience their bodies and their lives in their bodies. I’m a thin person with baggage around weight, married to a fat person, who doesn’t perceive themselves as fat. Which makes me wonder why I do. Trying to be a better person, and using this as a help. Honest but muddled is how I would describe the podcast. And I think that’s a good thing.

I love this uplifting show. Well written, great voice.

Love everything about all of this. Love Ronald’s buttery voice, his honesty and vulnerability. Love all the different perspectives that are shared by guests and the various topics explored under the subject. It’s entertaining educational and beautiful. Love love love.

Way more interesting than anything in the Atlantic or almost anywhere else, other than snap judgment or reveal, he’s so vulnerable it’s such a good show.

Super informative and great interviews with a diversity of perspectives and experiences. Excellently written and produced. Fantastic listen.

Ron is such a great storyteller. It’s easy to listen to his thoughts and experiences while feeling seen. This podcast is about how we see ourselves in our bodies and, most importantly, how we think about ourselves. Indeed a great person to follow and listen to. Way to go, Ron, keep soaring. 🩷