Send us Fan Mail For as long as I can remember, I was trying to shrink. Compete, cut, lean out, take up less room my body was always a project to be fixed. This episode is about what changed when I turned 34 and finally started respecting my body instead of managing it. I'm coming to you as both here: the coach, and a woman still doing this work in real time. We talk about the decade nobody warns you about, why the strategies that used to work stop working, and why I'd rather build the foundation now than claw it back in my forties. This one's honest. Come as you are. - I spent most of my life trying to make myself smaller and how I'm unpicking it - The "skinny is better" story we were all sold, and why it was never true - Both sides of the coin: this isn't anti-diet — it's anti-extremes - What years of extreme dieting actually cost me (and why I can't diet the way I used to) - Why my body is now so sensitive to stress, poor sleep and alcohol — the mechanism, in plain terms - Perimenopause: what's really happening, and why your mid-thirties are the window that matters - Why strength training is the single most valuable thing we can do for the decades ahead - "But I don't feel excited about being strong" — the reframe for when there's no buzz in it - The honest truth about quick fixes, supplements and weight-loss medication - Three small shifts you can make today — permission, not a programme 1. Respect lives in the middle. Extreme restriction and not caring at all are both extremes — neither is respect. 2. Constant restriction isn't neutral. It's a stressor, and stacking it onto a body heading toward perimenopause asks an enormous amount of it. 3. Think in phases and cycles, not one long punishing effort. There's real value in the steady, "boring" maintaining phase — that's where you build. 4. Start strength training in your thirties, not your fifties. Bone changes slowly, so give the slow process a long runway. 5. The excitement was never in "strength." It's in the capability it hands back — the life you can live because of it. ───────────────────── LINES THAT STUCK WITH ME ───────────────────── "That story — that super skinny is more admirable, more disciplined, just better that's exactly what it is. A story. Somebody sold it to us." "Respect lives in the middle. And the middle is the bit nobody makes content about, because the middle doesn't sell." "You cannot build a body you respect while you're constantly tearing it down." "The fun was never in the strength itself. It's in the life the strength quietly hands back to you." This episode touches on my own history with extreme dieting and body image. If that's tender ground for you, listen when you've got the space for it, and be kind to yourself. If you're struggling with your relationship with food or your body, please reach out to someone qualified — you don't have to work through it alone. 📍 Instagram: @captain_scarliftcoaching — my DMs are always open 💬 Curious about coaching? DM me RECLAIM and I'll tell you how it works 🎧 Follow The Uplift project 1 so the next episode lands automatically ↗ Enjoyed this one? Share it with a woman in her thirties or forties who needs to hear she's not broken, and she's not too late Keywords: perimenopause, strength training for women, midlife women's health, diet culture recovery, body respect, menopause prevention, women's strength coaching ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support the show Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening, You can find more information on the Uplift Project at - @theupliftproject1 on instagram for our next group cohort. My personal page - Scarlett_portues on instagram where you can enquire regarding 1:1 coaching. I'm more than proud to have worked with females for the last 6 years both in physique development, strength and real lifestyle change. Now moving into the womens health space.
