How I got in the best shape of my life at 75

Joan MacDonald transformed her life with strength training, good nutrition and a positive attitude. Photo / trainwithjoan, Instagram

When mild-mannered Canadian Joan MacDonald was 70, she was over 14 stone (90 kilograms), and on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and acid reflux. “I felt miserable,” she says now, “and so negative about myself.” Her daughter Michelle lives in Tulum, Mexico so Joan only saw her once or twice a year. When she arrived in Canada to stay for Christmas one year, Michelle - a health and fitness coach - realised Joan was on a slippery slope to becoming less mobile. “My health was really deteriorating,” says Joan. “When Michelle saw how I was, huffing and puffing trying to go upstairs… well, she knew she had to do something.”

Joan’s waist measured 39 inches - anything over 35 is considered obese - and Michelle warned her mother that she was storing up health issues for the not-too-distant future. Spurred on by a doctor’s advice that, if things didn’t change, she’d be on medication forever, Joan picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Michelle. This was January 2017. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” she smiles.

Six years on, Joan has lost over four stone, is medication-free, and can bench press 35kg. She shares strength training tips, nutrition advice and motivational words with her 1.7 million followers on Instagram. She has launched a fitness app and her first book, Flex Your Age, is out this month. Proof, if it were needed, that sometimes life begins at 70.

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Over Zoom from Tulum, she is chatty and engaging. She tells me the transformation didn’t happen overnight, of course, but she was ready for the challenge. “I told Michelle, I don’t want to lose weight fast because I’ll end up gaining it all again. I want it to be sustainable, for the rest of my life. You’ve got to be positive and believe that you’ll be around for a while.”

The changes that she made were simple: more vegetables and protein, with no snacking but smaller meals more often, up to five a day. Michelle devised workouts to build Joan’s strength up slowly, which mother and daughter do over Zoom when they’re apart. Joan works out for 90 minutes, five days a week, doing a combination of aerobic activity and weight training.

She also ensured she was getting enough sleep, managing stress and doing things that make her happy. By the end of the first year, she had lost weight, of course, “but it took three years to get the definition in my arms and legs that I have now”.

Other changes happened more quickly. Within three months, her doctor had lowered the dose of her medications. By 10 months, she was off them completely. The biggest change, though, was in how she felt. “With each year, I felt better. It was like someone had stopped the clock - I wasn’t ageing.” Now, she’s a huge believer in the mind-body connection, and says she became overweight in midlife because she was unhappy.

Like many women, she lost her identity to marriage and parenthood (she also has two sons who work in construction in Canada). Part of the process has been learning mindfulness and living more intentionally. “So many people become obese because they are unhappy,” she says, “but they’re not able to verbalise it. Instead, they learn to live with it. That’s not healthy. Now, I’m so much happier.”

Michelle started the Instagram account for her mother in 2018. “She wanted to get me out of my shell,” says Joan. “And the community on Instagram is just fabulous.” But becoming a public figure in her seventies has been an adjustment. “It’s a little disconcerting, to say the least,” she laughs, confessing she’s often approached in the street. “It’s only really in the last year that I’ve accepted it and said to myself, ‘OK now, people recognise you, so you’d better smarten up!’ Michelle tells me: ‘Get your lips on!’ I never used to wear lipstick, but now it’s become part of my ritual.”

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Disconcerting it may be, but she loves hearing stories from people who have been inspired by her to change their lives, or that of someone they love. She tells me about one woman whose mother was very frail, with early Alzheimer’s, and couldn’t even turn a doorknob, let alone walk very far. The woman followed Joan’s advice and got her mother eating well and moving more. “And now she’s walking two blocks, turning door knobs, having conversations,” grins Joan. “I cried when I heard that.”

The book is part health manual and part motivational manifesto, with personal anecdotes from Joan and Michelle throughout. They don’t shy away from difficult memories, such as an eating disorder that Michelle had as a teenager. “I didn’t even realise she was going through it,” says Joan, her smile fading for the first time in our conversation. “Which makes me sound like a very bad mother.

But I had a lot on my plate with three kids. It was awful. I tried to keep everything together. At that time, my husband was not much of a help. Now, he sees where he went wrong, but that’s the past. I can’t get that back.” Michelle got psychological support, but struggled with disordered eating throughout her twenties. “Until she took up yoga,” says Joan, “that’s when the healing started.”

Michelle is now 51, and the healing is ongoing. Joan and her husband got through their midlife rough patch and he’s supportive of her transformation, although not to the extent of joining her in the gym. “But I recently found him sprinkling protein powder on his breakfast cereal, so who knows,” she laughs.

Next month, Joan will turn 77, and she has no intention of slowing down. “You see people that are in their 40s giving up on their health because they’re going through menopause,” she says, incredulously. “Yes, it’s horrible, but you have a choice. You can wallow in it, or you can work at feeling better.”

Her advice for anyone who feels that they’re just “not a fitness type of person” is clear. “Don’t compare yourself to anybody else,” she says firmly. “Only compare yourself with how you used to be, and aim to be a little bit better. That’s always possible. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes. Learn from them and try again. There’s no reason why you can’t be healthier than you are now. We all have that ability. Take each day as it comes, one step at a time. It can be miraculous.”

What about those days when you just don’t feel like exercising? “Remind yourself that, once you start, that feeling goes,” she says. “It’s the endorphins. Force yourself to do it, and you’ll feel better. Some people just don’t want to get off the couch but, if they don’t change that attitude, one day they’ll never get off the couch.”

Joan’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious. She is an excellent advert for what she does, and living proof that there is no age limit on transforming your fitness. “If you don’t try, then you’ll never know what you’re capable of,” she says. “If I can do it, so can you.”

Three strength exercises anyone can do at home

1. Incline push-ups (start with three sets of 8-10)

Place your hands on a surface (you can use a park bench or even a kitchen counter), keeping your spine, hips and heels in a straight line, nice and tight. Lower your chest to the bench, and then press back up until the arms are straight. Avoid hunching the shoulders and sagging the belly. As you build strength, try a lower bench.

2. Body weight squats (start with three sets of 15-20)

Stand with the feet wider than the hips, toes flared out. Squat by bringing the hips back and down, aiming to keep the torso upright so the legs are doing the work, not the back. Try to squat low, so the hips are below the knees. Make sure to keep the abs engaged, and the feet flat on the floor - avoid going onto your toes.

3. Floor slides (start with three sets of 10-12 reps per side)

Wearing socks, lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift the hips up, creating a straight line from knees to chest. Now push one heel away from you, until the knee is almost straight, keeping the back straight and glutes tight. Return the foot to its original position and extend the other leg in the same way.

• Flex Your Age: Defy Stereotypes and Reclaim Empowerment by Joan MacDonald. Out January 19, published by DK