Many women reach the age of 40 and I hear them mutter the same old words of how it’s downhill from here on in with their bodies and their health.
I have heard talk of women just accepting the belief that weight gain is inevitable after a certain age.
Yes, your body and your hormones certainly start to change, but you don’t have to be destined to an increasing waistline and decreasing health.
That had been the belief for Joan Macdonald too, right up until she decided that she didn’t want to continue down the path of poor health anymore.
Her story of declining health to insta famous fitfluencer at the age of 70 started back in 2016. Where she made the decision to do something about the shape she found herself in
I’m often asked by people on the internet, or potential clients if they are too old to get started with health and fitness, and my answer is always that it’s never too late.
So I love sharing stories of people who didn’t even start their fitness journeys until the later seasons of their life and how they are now thriving.
Stories like the 100-year-old marathon runner or the 92 year old fitness instructor. They show what is possible for everyday people who just decided to make a change.
Joan is another one of those people.
She decided to start training at the age of 69 when she came to the decision that she had let her health get away from her as she describes it.
Joan rose to insta stardom because of her incredible body transformation, she has now amassed 1.8 million Instagram followers and has just been featured on the cover of the American edition of Womens Health
She has now written her first book titled Flex Your Age (note this is an affiliate link).
Now dedicating her life (having given up retirement) to inspiring and uplifting as many people as she can, to show that you too can transform your health.
As she says in many of her Instagram posts, that:
the first step to any change is to believe that you can.
You are never too old, never too sick, it’s never too late to turn things around.
She shares how she was only eating about 1100 calories per day, but it was very irregular and sometimes I would eat a whole bowl of peanuts while on my computer at night. Only worked out occasionally in the gym, and had gained and lost hundreds of pounds over my adult life. She had a hysterectomy at 46 years old, has arthritis, Kidney disease, was on blood pressure medication and my doctor was about to increase it” The decision was made to change.
Not only has she transformed her body, become the family daredevil, but she has found a completely new lease of life. She is proud to announce that she is now off all medications and I think we can all agree from the pictures that she is in incredible shape though it’s really the shine of her smile that tells the whole story.
The trigger for her transformation was when her body-building daughter saw her struggling and getting out of breath as she tried walking up the stairs and she convinced her to start doing something about it.
The fear of not ageing well, needing support or being put in a home is when she decided she was going to take action.
She started out with the advice of her daughter and son-in-law with 3 strength training sessions a week and a yoga class to help improve her mobility. She started making progress with her fitness and her strength. Started eating better to support her training.
She now trains 5 times a week and can deadlift 175lb and losing over 60lb and is inspiring older women across the globe.
Let this story serve as proof that weight gain is NOT inevitable, it doesn’t have to be your destiny and that you can take ownership of your body and your health once again when you get intentional and learn to listen to your body’s individual needs and start to take action.
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