My daughter told me I should start going to the gym. At 79, I'm in the best shape of my life.

"It was one of the few times that my daughter, Michelle MacDonald, lost her cool with me. She'd moved to Mexico the previous month and was visiting. "I won't get to see you as often as I like," she said. "And, every time I leave, I won't know whether it will be the last time I see you." Then she made another blunt comment that changed my life. "Mom, why don't you go to the gym?" she said."

"Growing up in Canada, I'd been an active child. I played ball, skated in the winter, and went bowling. I enjoyed doing them because they were fun. But I was by no means an athlete. I got married a month before my 21st birthday and settled into married life while working as a driving examiner. I juggled work with motherhood, raising Michelle and her older and younger brothers."

Joan MacDonald approached her 71st birthday overweight by at least 70 pounds, with high blood pressure and kidney problems that risked dialysis. Her daughter Michelle, a fitness trainer, urged her to start working out after a visit in January 2017, expressing fear she might not see her mother again. Joan recalled being active as a child but settling into married life and work as a driving examiner while raising three children, during which gym culture was absent from her social circle. Medical warnings and family motivation prompted a lifestyle change toward exercise and improved health.

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