I Lost Weight on Ozempic. Here’s What the Debate Gets Wrong.

Listen to and follow ‘First Person’
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon Music

When Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford entered medical school in the early 2000s, obesity medicine was not part of the curriculum, even though obesity rates in the United States have been steadily rising since the 1980s.

Since then, she’s spent her career pushing for changes in the way the medical establishment thinks about and treats obesity, calling for interventions that recognize the condition as a disease, not simply a failure of willpower.

And one of those interventions is medication. As new weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy enter the market, Dr. Stanford finds herself at the forefront of larger cultural debate about weight loss, body image and the role of medication in it all.

(A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Follow Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Twitter: @lourdesgnavarro

“First Person” was produced this week by Sophia Alvarez Boyd, with help from Derek Arthur. It was edited by Anabel Bacon and Kaari Pitkin. Mixing by Pat McCusker and Isaac Jones. Original music by Isaac Jones, Pat McCusker, Sonia Herrero and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. The rest of the “First Person” team includes Stephanie Joyce, Olivia Natt, Rhiannon Corby, Wyatt Orme and Jillian Weinberger. Special thanks to Kristina Samulewski, Shannon Busta, Allison Benedikt, Annie-Rose Strasser and Katie Kingsbury.