70-Year-Old Grandma Reveals Her Simple Health and Beauty Tips

At 70, Sydney grandmother Dagmar Carr is showing that growing older does not have to mean becoming less active.

Her radiant skin, strong physique and seemingly endless energy often leave people astonished when they learn her age.

While some women spend heavily on anti-ageing procedures and luxury wellness treatments, the Mosman personal trainer says her youthful appearance is mostly the result of straightforward, consistent habits.

Dagmar points to resistance training, wholesome meals prepared at home, regular quality sleep and two inexpensive beauty products she has relied on for years.

After discovering the benefits of weightlifting in her late 60s, she turned her newfound enthusiasm for fitness into a second career dedicated to helping others remain strong, mobile and independent.

The German-born grandmother of two retrained as a personal trainer in her late 60s. She says long-term consistency matters far more than costly wellness fads when it comes to looking and feeling your best as you age.

“I think we owe it to ourselves to take really good care of our bodies,” Dagmar told the Daily Mail.

Although she acknowledges having had some cosmetic assistance, Dagmar insists the most important part of ageing well is not found in a bottle or applied to the skin.

The exercise routine that transformed her body

Dagmar had always stayed active, but it was not until her late 60s that she experienced the life-changing benefits of resistance training. The shift came after her husband died, leaving her drained both physically and emotionally.

She had continued practising yoga and Pilates and enjoyed swimming, yet she realised her strength had declined significantly. For the first time, she said, she could feel the effects of ageing.

Her son Daniel, who owns several gyms around Sydney, encouraged her to begin lifting weights. Within just a few weeks, Dagmar noticed improvements in both her strength and muscle definition.

The results were so powerful that she retrained as a personal trainer at 68, following a 21-year corporate career supporting chief executives.

She now works with clients at Daniel’s boutique gym in Northbridge, including couples in their 70s who are focused on better balance, flexibility and independence.

Dagmar follows a demanding schedule herself: resistance workouts twice a week, three more sessions focused on strength and balance, yoga and Pilates two or three times weekly, plus swimming whenever possible.

She says preserving muscle, supporting bone health and maintaining good posture become increasingly important later in life. Her advice is for women to introduce resistance training well before reaching retirement age.

The diet she swears by to look radiant at 70

When it comes to food, Dagmar follows what she calls ‘nutritional awareness’, prioritising fresh, wholesome ingredients and avoiding heavily packaged or processed foods wherever possible.

‘If it’s in a packet, I tend to avoid it.’

Her supermarket trolley is typically filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, organic eggs, cottage cheese, yoghurt, rolled oats, meat and fish, while her daily meals follow a simple pattern of eating more earlier in the day, then gradually reducing her portions towards the evening.

Breakfast is a colourful combination of psyllium husks soaked in warm water, organic cottage cheese, flaxseed oil, banana, pawpaw, kiwi fruit, berries and a drizzle of raw honey, which she prepares the night before and often divides into two portions.

Lunch is a rotation of eggs, steak or fish with vegetables and plenty of olive oil, while dinner is much lighter, such as soft-boiled eggs with sourdough bread and cream cheese.

One of her biggest dietary rituals is preparing a large five-litre pot of homemade broth every week, a tradition she grew up with in Germany and continues to enjoy as part of her daily routine.

The health conscious trainer is also a fan of healthy fats, including avocado, nuts and olive oil, although she happily indulges in almond-flour vanilla crescents, dates with peanut butter and the occasional alcoholic drink with friends as a treat.

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She takes several supplements, including magnesium, vitamin D3, vitamin K2, probiotics and flaxseed oil, and believes looking after her gut health is particularly important.

However, she insists eating well doesn’t mean depriving yourself of the foods you love, instead focusing on quality ingredients and habits she can maintain for life.

Her affordable beauty buys

While her approach to nutrition and exercise is meticulous, Dagmar’s skincare routine is refreshingly uncomplicated, with two inexpensive supermarket staples taking pride of place in her bathroom cabinet.

‘I’ve been around long enough to have tried a variety of things, and you know, the one thing I always come back to is the good old Nivea creams.’

Despite regularly receiving compliments on her glowing complexion, she says people are often surprised to discover she doesn’t rely on an expensive collection of anti-ageing serums and moisturisers.

Instead, she removes her makeup, washes her face and applies a generous layer of the iconic dark-blue Nivea Creme ($10) before bed, while her morning routine involves massaging Nivea Rich Body Lotion ($6.99) into her skin all over.

She rarely wears foundation during the day, preferring a little blush, lipstick, eyebrow makeup and mascara, and refuses to obsess over the pigmentation and imperfections that naturally come with age.

‘I do have some, you know, as you age, there are some spots there, but I’ll be darned if I’m worried about them.’

However, she is open about having undergone upper eyelid surgery approximately 15 years ago to address inherited heavy eyelids, and admits she still has Botox around twice a year.

Early mornings and the importance of sleep

Three mornings a week, Dagmar wakes at an eye-watering 3.45am to prepare for early yoga classes or personal training clients, but despite her busy schedule, she makes a point of getting seven to eight hours of sleep every night.

Rather than rushing out the door, she prefers to begin her mornings mindfully with a shower, time in the small infrared sauna on her veranda and a proper sit-down breakfast.

Making her bed, leaving the house tidy and preparing meals in advance are also important parts of her routine, which she believes contribute to her overall sense of wellbeing.

While her early starts might not appeal to everyone, Dagmar says the consistency of her routine has helped her maintain the energy needed for her active lifestyle.

Dagmar’s biggest secret to ageing well

Despite her dedication to fitness, nutrition and skincare, she credits the most powerful anti-ageing tool of all being a positive mindset, something she developed after losing her mother in her 30s.

‘My mum died when she was 39. So, for me, ageing is something absolutely wonderful and something I’m very grateful for.’

‘And I think to age well, it’s to do with attitude.’

Rather than viewing another birthday as something to dread, she considers growing older a privilege and encourages women to remain curious, maintain meaningful relationships and appreciate what their bodies can still achieve.

She also believes the way people carry themselves can make an enormous difference to how youthful they appear, from standing tall and maintaining good posture to smiling and engaging with the world around them.

And for women in their 40s and 50s hoping to look and feel their best at 70, her advice is refreshingly simple.

‘Get moving, value your relationships and choose good relationships.’