![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PRI_143352972-ace2.jpg\")
\n\t\tRose has battled body image issues and weight fluctuations throughout her life (Picture: Susannah Ireland)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tRose has battled body image issues and weight fluctuations throughout her life (Picture: Susannah Ireland)<\/p>\n
At 11 years old, Rose Stokes<\/a> was pulling a calculator out of her bag at lunchtime to work out the calories in her school<\/a> dinners.<\/p>\n \u2018I remember going to birthday parties and being like, \u201coh, I don\u2019t have enough calories today for birthday cake\u201d,\u2019 she tells Metro.<\/p>\n That was the beginning of what would become a decades-long cycle of weight gain followed by diets, from Weight Watchers and Slimming World to SlimFast, Herbalife, Atkins and 5:2.<\/p>\n \u2018I sometimes think it\u2019s just coloured my whole life,\u2019 the women\u2019s health journalist, now 38, explains.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s constantly undermined my self worth, and made me question, many times, my value as a human being. From a young age, I remember thinking, well, I better be really nice to people, because I don\u2019t want them to call me fat.\u2019<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until she met her husband in her early 30s that Rose began to \u2018fully let go of the notion that [she was] unlovable\u2019 because of her size, and in the years since, she has spoken openly about body acceptance and fatphobia.<\/p>\n \t\t As such, some found it surprising to learn that she\u2019s now taking Mounjaro<\/a> to lose weight, accusing her of \u2018hypocrisy\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m only a hypocrite if you believe that you have to be thin to be beautiful, and I don\u2019t,\u2019 the mum-of-two says in response to these criticisms.<\/p>\n \u2018I have like felt beautiful at a bigger size; it\u2019s not down to how much I weigh. Whether or not other people view it like that is down to the way that they\u2019ve been conditioned.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAsk Metro<\/p>\n Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about \u2013 powered by Metro and trusted publications.<\/p>\n These conversations are among the many Rose deals with in A Matter of Fat, a new podcast<\/a> she\u2019s hosting alongside obesity scientist Professor Giles Yeo MBE, exploring the complicated relationship between weight, health, science and society.<\/p>\n Rose says: \u2018I wanted it to be both science-based and also to have some heart, and to approach it not from that judgemental, moralistic standpoint that assumes fat people are lazy, don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing, or need to just stop eating, but actually brought the more human side.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t It comes at a time when GLP-1 weight-loss drugs<\/a> are exploding in popularity, and women in particular are being bombarded with messages that losing weight is easier than ever \u2013 a far cry from the body positivity movement\u2019s rejection of diet culture.<\/p>\n However, Rose highlights that the two things aren\u2019t mutually exclusive, and although she\u2019s on Mounjaro, she still believes \u2018representation is really important in society\u2019 when it comes to breaking down the (incorrect) idea that \u2018thin automatically equals healthier.\u2019<\/p>\n In her case, she says she\u2019s \u2018not trying to be thin\u2019, and deciding to take the jabs \u2018is all about health.\u2019 <\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t been an easy decision to come to, though.<\/p>\n When GLP-1 drugs first became widely available, Rose felt \u2018very under pressure\u2019 to give them a go.<\/p>\n Following the birth of her second baby in 2024, she was constantly seeing adverts for weight-loss injections, and the day she stopped breastfeeding, she tried her first dose of the \u2018long promised solution\u2019.<\/p>\n Within weeks, she was having \u2018fairly significant mental health<\/a> issues\u2019 due to the way her hormones reacted with the jabs, and realised she needed to come off them.<\/p>\n \t\t In hindsight, she describes that first attempt as \u2018a real car crash\u2019, but in May this year \u2014 armed with better nutrition advice and a clear, achievable goal of getting back to where she was pre-pregnancy \u2014 she decided to try again.<\/p>\n This time around, while she has experienced physical side effects<\/a> like headaches, nausea, heartburn and constipation, her mental health has been much better.<\/p>\n And, crucially, Rose says taking a GLP-1 has changed how she thinks about her own fluctuating weight.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m aiming for a healthier version of myself, and I tried to do that the old-fashioned way with diet and exercise, but my body just wouldn\u2019t budge,\u2019 she explains.<\/p>\n \u2018This has helped me forgive myself in the way that it shows if you just add a dose of a modified human hormone, I can lose weight \u2014 so how much of the weight gain was my responsibility in the first place?\u2019<\/p>\n Still, that doesn\u2019t mean she thinks weight-loss injections are the answer to everything. Far from it.<\/p>\n \t\t Rose is deeply critical of the way GLP-1s are marketed as an easy fix despite the side effects and complicated emotional consequences, not to mention the cost of these jabs, as a lack of financial access creates \u2018an economic hierarchy to who is allowed to be thin\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s a lot of simplistic thinking; that now all fat people should pay \u00a3200 a month as a penalty for something that their body has done differently to someone else,\u2019 she says. \u2018The inequality in that is insane.\u2019<\/p>\n Either way, she doesn\u2019t believe taking them is abandoning body positivity \u2014 rather, we\u2019ve misunderstood what loving yourself actually means.<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t understand why you can\u2019t love yourself and also be proactively trying to change your body if you have your own health reasons for that,\u2019 Rose adds.<\/p>\n \u2018I think accepting yourself and loving yourself also means supporting yourself.<\/p>\n \u2018Essentially, I believe that people should be supported to be the healthiest version of themselves. And for me at the moment, that means losing some weight.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tA Matter of Fat\t\t\t<\/p>\n Rose\u2019s new podcast, A Matter of Fat, co-hosted with obesity expert, Professor Giles Yeo MBE is available on all platforms. Apple users can listen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Rose](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SEI_166307786-ca29.jpg\")
\n\t\tIt took meeting her husband to help her realise she was worthy of love at any size (Picture: Ollie Hinds\/Rose Stokes)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260806_110319-bce2.jpg\")
\n\t\tRose and Prof Giles Yeo are the hosts of new podcast, A Matter of Fat (Picture: Rose Stokes)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PXL_20240615_194334433.MP2-b083-e1789453441246.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe mum\u2019s first \u2018car crash\u2019 foray into GLP-1 drugs was after her second pregnancy (Picture: Rose Stokes)<\/p>\n![\"Rose](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SEI_284452803-a108-e1789453866440.jpg\")
\n\t\tShe\u2019s now five months into her second, this time successful, attempt (Picture: Rose Stokes)<\/p>\n
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