Cambridge Weight Loss Scientist: Your Brain Fights Weight Loss! Why Diets Are So Hard To Stick To, The Truth About Calories & How To Keep Weight Off | Prof Giles Yeo
Thriving Minds with Alberto ZandiShow Notes
Professor Giles Yeo MBE has spent 30 years studying one of the most misunderstood questions in health: why some people feel hungrier, gain weight more easily and find it much harder to keep weight off than others.
He is Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology at the University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on how our genes, hormones and brain control appetite and body weight. In 2026, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his internationally recognised work on the genetics and neuroscience of obesity.
And one of his central messages challenges the way many of us think about weight. Two people can be faced with exactly the same food, but experience very different levels of hunger, fullness and reward. Your biology does not remove personal responsibility, but it can dramatically change how difficult the same decision feels.
In this episode, you will learn: • Why your brain actively fights weight loss, increasing hunger and changing your metabolism when you lose weight • Why two people can eat the same food but experience completely different levels of appetite and food noise • What calories fail to tell you about food, and why protein, fibre and ultra-processed foods affect your body differently • How Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs actually work, why weight often returns after stopping them, and the risks people need to understand • Giles's simple 16:30:5 framework for eating enough protein and fibre to lose weight while reducing free sugar without obsessing over individual meals
Giles also speaks personally about his son's experience with obesity and GLP-1 medication, and admits that even after spending his career studying obesity, he still had to fight the human instinct to blame.
Follow Prof Giles Yeo: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/giles-yeo-2062969 https://www.instagram.com/gilesyeo/ https://www.facebook.com/giles.yeo/
#ThrivingMinds #AlbertoZandi #GilesYeo #Neuroscience #AppetiteScience #BrainHealth #WeightLoss #HungerHormones #NutritionScience #ObesityResearch #HealthPodcast #MetabolicHealth #FoodScience Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Thriving Minds with Alberto Zandi
Kaspar Basse founded Joe & The Juice in Copenhagen in 2002 with a few thousand dollars and an ambition that was anything but small: he wanted to build something that could compete with Starbucks. Two decades later, Joe & The Juice has grown into a global brand with over 500 locations and was valued at $1.8 billion in 2026. But Kaspar believes one of the biggest mistakes companies make happens precisely when they become successful. As businesses grow, they introduce managers, processes, controls and layers of approval to protect what they have built. And in doing so, they can gradually remove the very thing that made them successful in the first place: culture, and quality. Kaspar does not believe great company culture comes from music, office perks, parties or paying slightly more than your competitors. It comes from people feeling agency, challenged, trusted, capable of improving and proud of what they do.
Jay Sean is one of the most successful and influential artists in modern pop music.
Touker Suleyman is one of Britain’s best known entrepreneurs and investors, with more than 50 years of experience building, buying and transforming businesses. But long before millions knew him from Dragons’ Den, Touker lost everything.
Rose Ferguson is one of the UK’s leading functional medicine practitioners and has spent nearly two decades helping people understand why they can be doing everything they think is “healthy” and still feel tired, bloated, foggy or stressed.
Simon Alexander Ong is a globally recognised personal development coach, international speaker and bestselling author who helps people rethink success, protect their energy and build lives that actually feel worth living.