This is where you can benefit from exercise and eating plans from Joan MacDonald. Just a few years ago, this septuagenarian wasn't happy with how she looked and with what she ate. With help from her daughter Michelle-a certified strength and conditioning specialist-Joan developed exercise and diet goals as well as objectives for how to change her mindset-not just how she saw herself physically but how she felt about herself mentally regardless of her physical fitness.

Every section talked about mindfulness (great, but also without the depth needed to make it practical). There's a big focus on the lived experience of the author and those profiled in the book, which had me feeling like I was reading / reviewing a coffee table book of someone's really healthy, older mom, doing all sorts of active things. Their origin stories are exceedingly annoying. The way they write about hardships and challenges sounds, to my ears, like they’re saying that they were the only ones who went through this. When it was actually extremely common during the times they are talking about. What I thought I was getting was a program tailored to an older woman - fitness plans, ways to deal with the inner grumbles, tactics to help with aging and changing hormones, solid dietary advice specifically geared to the older woman. But, what I found was the same old suggestions, based on data compiled more than 100 years ago, on young men. So… ectomorphs eat this way, endo's this way, here's a new word called 'macros', and you'd better just grin and bear it if you're not feeling like exercise today, because it's good for you.

Success!

I just wanted to write the review before I gave up on it. I’m going to try and finish it but I have to say it is very disappointing.

This isn't your typical exercise book or your standard cookbook or your tried-and-true self-help guide. Train With Joan offers fresh, exciting, and engaging ways to get more out of your life. These features As we get older, our bodies go through many changes, especially physical and mental. Most are out of our control. But for those that aren’t, all we need sometimes is advice about how to make specific, sustainable, and successful decisions that can alter the course of how our lives go from that point forward. Bottom line: Joan made a miraculous transformation (helped by Michelle). The book includes motivation techniques, fitness and nutrition fundamentals, and tips on how to “find and contribute to a community of support.” I see very little value in the content. A good article in Runners World and another one in Cosmopolitan magazine would pretty much say everything they have to say. So that’s why I bought this book. A bit of inspiration and support on changing my mindset. That however, it is not what I got.As we get older, our bodies go through a lot of changes. Most are out of our control. But for those that aren't, sometimes all we need is some guidance on how to make specific, sustainable, and successful modifications that can alter the course of how our lives go from that point forward. I also found this book to be full of platitudes not inspiring statements but just platitudes, things that have been said better hundreds of times. This isn't your typical exercise book or your standard cookbook or your tried-and-true self-help guide. Train With Joan offers fresh, exciting, and engaging ways to get more out of your life. These features include: