A 79-year-old mom hasn’t looked back since her daughter suggested she start going to the gym.
Joan MacDonald from Collingwood, Canada, had reached the point of feeling “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Her daughter and fitness coach Michelle MacDonald could see her mom was struggling with everyday tasks.
“I was really struggling with some basic things like climbing up the stairs, shoveling snow and getting up off the couch,” Joan told Newsweek. At the same time, the pair were watching Joan’s own mother’s rapid decline in a nursing home.
“Michelle told me that if I didn’t turn my lifestyle around, I would likely suffer the same fate,” Joan said. “She already had years of proof showing me what was possible if I trained with weights and changed my eating around. We both knew that the window of opportunity was narrowing.”
Joan, who is also mom to sons John and Andrew MacDonald with late husband Norman, began her fitness journey in 2017 feeling tired, overwhelmed and afraid it might already be too late. She was carrying an extra 70 pounds on her 5-foot-3 frame, dealing with shortness of breath, acid reflux, vertigo, arthritis and edema.
“It was very humbling,” Joan said. “I realized just how out of shape I was. My balance was really off, and I just couldn’t catch my breath.”
With no fitness apps to guide her or trainer by her side, Joan printed out workouts, studied exercises on YouTube and followed coaching from Michelle, who was living in Mexico at the time.
The process was imperfect and challenging, but within the first month, she lost nine pounds and inches from her waist. It was a statement from Michelle which put things into perspective for Joan: “You deserve to feel alive again.”
Once she accepted that no one else was responsible for the life she was living, she stopped making excuses. After seven decades, Joan realized discipline was not a punishment, but a gateway to the life she wanted.
Her workouts evolved alongside her confidence. Early sessions were built around machines like the leg press and chest press, with just a handful of exercises that nonetheless took hours once warm-ups, cardio and instructional videos were factored in.
“Now, I push myself just as hard, but the exercises themselves are more challenging, and I am stronger now,” Joan said. “What I can bicep curl now is heavier than what I was able to do back then.”
Looking back, Joan feels gratitude for her transformation. She sees how years of self-doubt and age-based stereotypes nearly dictated her future, and how choosing to believe in something better opened new possibilities.
She also now has her own fitness app: Train with Joan, and documents her progress and workouts on her Instagram page (@trainwithjoan).
For those who might think it’s too late to start their fitness journey, the mom of three refutes that theory entirely.
“It’s never too late to get started, and waiting for the perfect moment isn’t going to make it any easier,” Joan said. “You have to really stay committed to rolling up your sleeves and doing the required work through thick and thin, be really honest with yourself, and most of all, fan the flames of hope for a better quality of life. You are worth it.”
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