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. 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":85309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64939,28022,64943,64933,64919,64938,64940,64930,64937,64942,18758,275,2112,64929,64920,64934,64926,64935,64941,64918,46925,64936,14991,4791,64923,64932,12932,64917,64922,111,139,69,64931,64916,64915,19691,64921,22777,6494,145,64928,64925,64927,3695,64924],"class_list":["post-85308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-anorexia-nervosa","tag-arthritis","tag-bone-density","tag-bone-density-loss-in-women","tag-bone-loss","tag-bone-strength","tag-broken-wrist","tag-buff-bones","tag-build-bone-strength","tag-bulimia","tag-calcium","tag-canada","tag-colorado","tag-dexa-scan","tag-dr-athena-au","tag-eat-well-as-you-age","tag-fitness-influencer","tag-healthy-bones","tag-hip-fractures","tag-hormone-replacement-therapy","tag-how-to-age-well","tag-how-to-maintain-bone-density-as-we-age","tag-influencers","tag-instagram","tag-joan-macdonald","tag-loss-of-bone-density","tag-menopause","tag-menopause-hormone-therapy","tag-michelle-macdonald","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oestrogen","tag-oestrogen-replacement","tag-osteopenia","tag-osteoporosis","tag-rebekah-rotstein","tag-resistance-training","tag-strength-training","tag-technology","tag-the-wonder-women","tag-trainwithjoan","tag-tulum-strength-club","tag-vitamin-d","tag-weight-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Joan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cafbca8e-555a-4a9d-8d41-730f30b47323_d0d7b69c.jpg\" "\\"Joan")
Joan 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