One of the most popular fitness
influencers on Instagram is a 75-year-old woman who began her weight-loss
journey only five years ago.
Joan MacDonald, a 70-year-old woman from Ontario, Canada, weighed
198 lbs. and was on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
and acid reflux in 2016. In addition, she was dealing with painful arthritis
and was rarely active.
MacDonald told MSNBC, "I was really huffing and puffing
climbing up and down the stairs." "My daughter got really, really
concerned. She thought that if she wanted me around, she'd better
intervene."
Joan enrolled in her next Wonder Woman transformation program at
her home in Tulum, Mexico, where she and her husband own a gym, thanks to her
daughter Michelle, a fitness coach and bodybuilder.
Joan told Good Morning America, "When Michelle gave me that
ultimatum to do something about my life, I believed it was now or never."
"I was sick of being sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick
and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired of It didn't even
live, it just existing."
With a focus on weightlifting, water intake, eight hours of sleep
and a revamped diet that prioritized macronutrients, Joan lost about 10 lbs.
during the first month. She had difficult days, but she overcame them by
thinking how better she had already felt.
Michelle told GMA, "It was difficult at first."
"People don't realize [my mom] was in the trenches, trying to figure it
out and getting frustrated."
Joan also had much non-scale success. She quit taking her high
blood pressure medication after the first year, and now she's off all of them,
has lost 68 lbs., and can bench press 80 lbs.
"Nothing in this world is magical. It's work, but it's work
you'll enjoy doing "she stated. "At the end of the day, all that
matters is that you're stronger and healthier."
Joan now works out five days a week and has become an Instagram
sensation, with more than 1.6 million followers of all ages. Michelle was the
one who suggested that her mother start utilizing social media to share her
late-in-life success.
Joan, who now has a YouTube channel and a fitness app, told MSNBC,
"I guess because I was so late getting to use an iPhone, I didn't realize
these apps are how people communicate."
There, she encourages followers to "get up off the couch or
the chair and move," and emphasizes that if she could make a change at 70,
anyone can.
"I'm a heck of a lot happier than I ever was," Joan said. "Now I'm living. When I started, I felt that I was just existing, waiting for the day when I'd check out."