The UpLift Podcast 1

Scarlett Portues

The Uplift Podcast helps women stop fighting their bodies and start building strength, self-trust, and sustainable change - not another how to posdcast

  1. 10h ago

    024 The Uplift Podcast: Dr Megan Robertson on lifting through pain. Perimenopause, Powerlifting & RA

    Send us Fan Mail Hurt Isn’t Harm: Lifting Through Pain with Dr Megan Robertson What if the pain you’ve been told to avoid isn’t the end of your training, but the start of understanding your body? This week I’m joined by Dr Megan Robertson. Meg is a masters IPF powerlifter. She’s perimenopausal. And she has lived with rheumatoid arthritis since her early 20s So when it comes to training through pain, she isn’t guessing. She’s lived it, rep by rep. We talk about the myths that keep women out of the gym, the lessons Meg learnt the hard way, and what strength training has actually done for her pain. In this episode: The story Meg was handed after her RA diagnosis, and what it cost her to believe itThe biggest myths about lifting and pain, from “if it hurts, stop” to “heavy weights will wreck your joints”How to tell the difference between hurt and harmWhat a flare day in the gym looks like nowThe mistakes she made early on, and what made her change her approachWhat lifting has helped her overcome when it comes to managing painHow perimenopause has changed her pain and her trainingHer advice for the woman in her forties who’s starting to feel achy and thinks lifting isn’t for herIf you’ve ever stopped training because something hurt, or been told to take it easy because of your age, your joints or your hormones, this one is for you. Please note: Meg shares her own experience in this episode. If you’re living with a joint condition or persistent pain, work with your GP, rheumatologist or physio on what’s right for you. Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link] Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

  2. Oct 19

    023 The Uplift Podcast: It Looks Good on Paper. So Why Aren’t You Happy?

    Send us Fan Mail Get Out. Get Out Now. Sometimes the thing keeping you stuck isn't something bad. It's something comfortable. The job that pays the bills. The routine that ticks along. The life that looks great on paper. But if it isn't making you happy, and you're not growing or developing as a person, it's not safe. It's just familiar. In this short episode: - Why your comfort zone can look good on paper and still hold you back - The difference between resting and stagnating - How to tell if you've stopped growing - Why "get out now" doesn't mean blowing your whole life up overnight Thanks for listening and for the last 1000 downloads - I appreciate it all!  Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

    023 The Uplift Podcast: It Looks Good on Paper. So Why Aren’t You Happy?

  3. Oct 12

    022 The Uplift Podcast: Period Weight Gain & Why the Scale Goes Up Before Your Period

    Send us Fan Mail Period Weight Gain: Why the Scale Goes Up Before Your Period You step on the scales, you’ve done everything right all week, and it’s up. A kilo, maybe two. Your stomach feels tight and a little voice says “what’s the point?” This episode is here to change that conversation. I break down what’s really happening to your weight across your menstrual cycle, why bloating and water retention happen, and why the mindset around monthly weight fluctuations matters more than the number itself. What we cover: Why your weight can swing by up to 2kg across your cycle, and why it’s water, not fatWhat oestrogen and progesterone do to fluid, appetite and cravingsWhy progesterone slows your gut and how to ease period bloatingWhy tracking changes everything, especially in perimenopause and stressful seasons of lifeWhat the feelings tell you to do, from restricting to “I’ll start again Monday”How all or nothing thinking and body image dips keep you stuck for longerThe practical monthly plan I use with my coaching clientsWhen bloating or cycle symptoms are worth taking to your GPWho this episode is for: Women who weigh themselves and feel derailed by the number before their periodAnyone who feels puffy, heavy or uncomfortable in the run up to their periodPerimenopausal women whose cycles and symptoms no longer feel predictableWomen going through stressful times who feel like their body isn’t respondingAnyone stuck in the restrict, rebound, restart loop who wants a kinder way that actually worksThis isn’t about controlling your body. It’s about understanding it. Kindness isn’t letting yourself off. Kindness is the strategy. Want help understanding your own pattern and building a plan that works with your body, not against it? DM UPLIFT on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching If this episode helped, send it to a friend who weighs herself every morning and needs to hear it. Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

    022 The Uplift Podcast: Period Weight Gain & Why the Scale Goes Up Before Your Period

  4. Sep 28

    021 The Uplift Podcast: The "Not Lean Enough" Voice (and How to Turn It Down)

    Send us Fan Mail Welcome back guys for a season return! I have been having a break from recording while we launched the final cohort of 2026 Uplift Project group and now that they are well into week 2 - I sat down and got the mic back out.  Kicking off with one important question - Lean Enough for What? I've been trying to put my finger on something for a while. I can feel really good in my body. Training's going well, energy's up, I'm sleeping, I'm strong. And still, some days, there's a voice saying I'm not lean enough. This episode is me working out why. We get into what we're actually comparing when that voice turns up. Usually it's how we feel against how we look, a real life against a highlight reel, and an "enough" that doesn't have a finish line. In this episode: - Why feeling good and liking what you see don't always line up - What your brain is really comparing when you look in the mirror - Where the "fit ideal" comes from, and why it's just the thin ideal with added muscle - Why energy, strength and sleep never get the same applause as a leaner photo - Four things the research says actually help Your task this week: Three nights this week, write two sentences about something your body let you do that day. Not how it looked. What it did. And next time the "not lean enough" voice shows up, ask yourself: 1. What am I comparing myself to right now? 2. Am I comparing how I feel with how I look? 3. What would I be giving up to have that body? Research mentioned: - Fredrickson & Roberts (1997), objectification theory - Tiggemann & Zaccardo (2015), fitspiration and body image - Homan & Tylka (2014), appearance based exercise motivation - Tylka & Wood‑Barcalow (2015), positive body image - Albertson, Neff & Dill‑Shackleford (2015), self compassion and body dissatisfaction - Stice, The Body Project - Cohen et al. (2019), body positive content on Instagram - IOC consensus statement on REDs (2023) If this one landed, share it with a woman who trains and still hears that voice. And if you want to do this work with support, The Uplift Project is where we do it together. @captain_scarliftcoaching Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

    021 The Uplift Podcast: The "Not Lean Enough" Voice (and How to Turn It Down)

  5. Aug 3

    020 The Uplift Podcast: Starting Over in Your Mid 30s: Maeve on walking away from everything and loving who she became

    Send us Fan Mail Starting Over in Your 30s To close out this season, I wanted to bring on one of my oldest friends in this industry someone who's watched me build this from the very beginning, because we were building alongside each other. Maeve and I met years ago as online coaches and figure competitors having worked with the same coach. We even had a podcast together back then the OGs will know The Figure Forecast. She built a proper business coaching clients, a social media presence, a YouTube channel, the lot. By every external measure, she'd made it. And then she walked away from all of it. In this episode, Maeve tells the real story of what it took to leave a successful business behind in her mid-30s, retrain, and go back to something she used to do years before — cabin crew — but this time as a completely different person living a completely different life.  We talk about the fear of starting over when you've already "made it" once, what it's like going from self-employed to salaried, training and moving her body with zero pressure attached for the first time in years, and why posting on social media now feels like fun instead of a job. This isn't a comeback story. It's a story about choosing yourself over the version of success everyone else can see. If you've ever felt like it's "too late" to change direction — this one's for you. In this episode: Life inside the online coaching and competing world, and when it stopped fittingThe moment Meev knew she needed to leave, even without a planRetraining and going back to cabin crew — familiar job, unrecognisable lifeThe reality of the self-employed to salaried shiftTraining and movement without a business or a stage attachedWhy social media finally feels like hers againWhat she'd say to anyone too scared to make the leapYour host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

  6. Jul 27

    019 The Uplift Podcast: Grumpy, Bloated & Confused: Answering Your Perimenopause, Self Doubt & Training Questions

    Send us Fan Mail This week's episode is entirely from you. I put a question sticker up on Instagram and got flooded with real questions from real women following the podcast — so this is a solo Q&A covering perimenopause, training, nutrition, mindset, and what The Uplift Project actually involves. In this episode: Why perimenopause can make you feel like you're losing your mind — and the hormonal reason behind the self-doubt, overthinking and exhaustionWhy simple tasks can suddenly feel harder than a half marathonThe truth about "metabolic rate dropping overnight" and why the scale isn't always telling you what you think it isWhy perimenopause attacks muscle mass — and what to do about itHow to tell the difference between normal hormone changes and something worth getting checked, even in your early 30sThe lifestyle habits in your 30s that set you up for an easier perimenopause and menopause laterTraining mindset: why doubt creeps in out of nowhere, and the real difference between failure and a planned deloadHow much water you actually need, and whether coffee countsRebuilding confidence after "falling off track" — and why one bad week isn't a collapseWhat The Uplift Project actually involvesIf you've got a question for a future Q&A episode, or have something you'd like help on send it over on Instagram. Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

  7. Jul 16

    018 The Uplift Podcast - The Waiting Room Theory: why "I'll Be Happy When" is lying to you.

    Send us Fan Mail You know the sentence. "I'll be happy when I lose the weight." "I'll be happy when I hit that number." "I'll be happy when the shoot's done." I've been on both sides of it — the teenager who thought happiness was attached to an image, and the bodybuilder who stood on stage having done the thing, and found the feeling wasn't waiting there either. In this solo episode, I'm unpacking why that happens — and it's not just a mindset thing, there's real research behind it. We get into the arrival fallacy, why over 70% of people report feeling less happy after hitting a big goal than they expected to, and why your brain is actually wired to reward the chase, not the catch. Then I bring it home to what I actually believe: chasing a body composition goal, getting stronger, losing fat — I think it absolutely will make you happier. Just not because of the result. Because of what becoming that person demands of you. If you've ever felt like you're waiting for permission from a future version of yourself to start enjoying your life — this one's for you. In this episode: The arrival fallacy and why reaching the goal rarely feels like you think it willThe research: the 70% study, the tenure study, and what neuroscience says about dopamine and pursuit vs. arrivalWhy women in particular get stuck living in a "waiting room"The reframe: why the goal is the vehicle, not the destinationFour practical shifts to start living in the process of becoming, starting todayIf this episode struck a chord, DM STRONG to @scarlett_portues and let's talk about building that discipline with real structure behind it. And if you're ready to stop waiting and commit to becoming — properly, alongside a group of women doing the same thing — The Uplift Project is where that starts.  Find us @theupliftproject1. Your host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

  8. Jul 13

    017 - The Uplift Podcast - overcoming injury & mindset shifts for your bodies longevity with Gemma Lucas

    Send us Fan Mail Gemma has trained with Scarlett for over four years through a powerlifting competition, two physique photoshoots, and two rounds of the Uplift Project. Then, at 37, her body made a call she never asked for: a full knee replacement.  Now she's facing another one — perimenopause — while working one of the most physically demanding jobs there is, training horses for a living. This episode isn't about choosing to get fit. It's about what happens when your body decides things for you, and why the strength Gemma built years before she needed it is the only reason she's still standing on the other side of both. Guest Bio: Gemma is a professional horse trainer and long-term client of Scarlett's, with many years of training history spanning a powerlifting competition, two physique photoshoots, and two rounds of the Uplift Project. She underwent a full knee replacement at 37 and is now navigating early perimenopausal symptoms at 40 — including inflammation and reduced mental resilience — while working physically every day. In this episode: What it's actually like being in pain at an age you'd never call "getting older"What that pain taught Gemma that training never hadHow her mindset has shifted from chasing a look to building a body that worksThe early signs of perimenopause showing up in an already highly active womanWhy the 35–40 window matters more than most women realiseHow Scarlett's coaching has adapted over four years to meet Gemma where she actually isYour host Scarlett Portues - Thanks for listening!  Navigating perimenopause and wondering what’s changing in your body? The Reclaim Reset is the place to start: https://captainscar6.gumroad.com/l/ydmhpe Want support building a training plan around your body as it is right now? DM me UPLIFTSTRONG on Instagram @captainscarlift_coaching Want to do this alongside women who get it? Follow @theupliftproject1 to join the 2027 waiting list Never miss an episode. Join my weekly email, landing the day before each new episode: [mailing list link]

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About

The Uplift Podcast helps women stop fighting their bodies and start building strength, self-trust, and sustainable change - not another how to posdcast

Information

  • Creator
    Scarlett Portues
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The UpLift Podcast 1
  • Show Website
    The UpLift Podcast 1

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