{"id":129064,"date":"2025-10-17T23:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T23:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/129064\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T23:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T23:32:08","slug":"how-79-year-old-influencer-lost-30kg-and-now-has-the-bone-density-of-a-20-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/129064\/","title":{"rendered":"How 79-year-old influencer lost 30kg and now has the bone density of a 20-year-old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joan MacDonald is an unlikely influencer. At nearly 80 years of age, she has garnered 2 million followers on Instagram since she began posting on the platform almost a decade ago. During that time, she has transformed her life and her health. Now she helps others to embrace ageing with strength and grace.<\/p>\n

At 70, MacDonald, a Canadian living in Ontario, was experiencing several age-related health issues: high blood pressure<\/a>, acid reflux, arthritis and obesity. Weighing 90kg (198lbs), she often felt tired and uncomfortable and was finding it increasingly difficult to move about easily.<\/p>\n

Her daughter, Michelle MacDonald, the elite coach behind women\u2019s fitness platform The Wonder Women and co-founder of online coaching brand Tulum Strength Club was concerned about her mother\u2019s health. She challenged her to make a change under her guidance.<\/p>\n

Joan accepted and overhauled her life, as evidenced on social media. Now, the regular weight trainer is not only a trim 59kg, she is also stronger and less likely to fall<\/a>, break bones or develop osteoporosis.\"JoanJoan MacDonald lifts weights at the gym. Photo: Joan MacDonaldAs we age, we are at greater risk of losing bone density. Without a Dexa scan<\/a> to measure our bone density, we may remain unaware that our bones are weakening until we suffer a fracture. The first sign of osteoporosis, or its precursor, osteopenia, is often a broken wrist.<\/p>\n

Osteoporosis can also affect people early in life. Bone health specialist Rebekah Rotstein was diagnosed with osteoporosis at just 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joan MacDonald is an unlikely influencer. At nearly 80 years of age, she has garnered 2 million followers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[77738,3457,77742,77732,77718,77737,77739,77729,77736,77741,141,995,7544,77728,77719,77733,18,77724,77734,77740,46271,77725,77735,19,2926,876,17,77722,77731,19618,77717,77721,77730,77716,77715,30057,77720,4630,3401,82,77727,77723,77726,11699,24922],"class_list":{"0":"post-129064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-anorexia-nervosa","9":"tag-arthritis","10":"tag-bone-density","11":"tag-bone-density-loss-in-women","12":"tag-bone-loss","13":"tag-bone-strength","14":"tag-broken-wrist","15":"tag-buff-bones","16":"tag-build-bone-strength","17":"tag-bulimia","18":"tag-calcium","19":"tag-canada","20":"tag-colorado","21":"tag-dexa-scan","22":"tag-dr-athena-au","23":"tag-eat-well-as-you-age","24":"tag-eire","25":"tag-fitness-influencer","26":"tag-healthy-bones","27":"tag-hip-fractures","28":"tag-hormone-replacement-therapy","29":"tag-how-to-age-well","30":"tag-how-to-maintain-bone-density-as-we-age","31":"tag-ie","32":"tag-influencers","33":"tag-instagram","34":"tag-ireland","35":"tag-joan-macdonald","36":"tag-loss-of-bone-density","37":"tag-menopause","38":"tag-menopause-hormone-therapy","39":"tag-michelle-macdonald","40":"tag-oestrogen","41":"tag-oestrogen-replacement","42":"tag-osteopenia","43":"tag-osteoporosis","44":"tag-rebekah-rotstein","45":"tag-resistance-training","46":"tag-strength-training","47":"tag-technology","48":"tag-the-wonder-women","49":"tag-trainwithjoan","50":"tag-tulum-strength-club","51":"tag-vitamin-d","52":"tag-weight-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}