New Year Preparations

I know it’s Christmas Day on Friday but we’re all chasing our tails trying to get everything ready for the New Year. There is SO much happening!

Firstly, my new and highly effective diet book – Amazing Inch Loss Plan – is about to be published. It is very exciting to have written a book that I know people will love because I know there are lots of people out there who would love to lose a stone in a month and that is what you can do with this plan, (that’s assuming you’ve more than a stone to lose!).

Next, my latest and last (yes, really) DVD is due out on 28th December. It is a brilliant programme and I know folk will love it. It has great music, fun routines and it is all extremely effective.

Then there’s our brand new food range called Solo Slim. It is only going to be available by mail order or through our classes as I’m disillusioned with the supermarkets and feel we can give a better service and lower prices, if we deal with the customers direct. There are fabulous ready meals and soups, all fresh ingredients, specially packaged so they have a long shelf life. They taste amazing and we can supply a week’s worth together with my fab low fat cheddar cheese and low Gi nutrition bars, and with a diet plan, all delivered directly to your door. I know this is going to be a real hit too.

Lastly, but by no means least, we launch our online television channel. www.rosemaryconley.tv on 5th January and people will be able to enjoy a vast array of interviews, inspiration and information, expert advice, exercises, recipe demonstrations and much, much more! It is fabulous and the biggest project we have undertaken since we launched our magazine back in 1996. Which brings me to...

Our 100th edition of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine is on sale 31st December with the first four of our eight Slimmers of the Year stories. It is our biggest and best issue ever and includes a pull out booklet of my 100 favourite recipes.

I know my feet won’t be touching the ground as soon as Christmas is over as the publicity tour takes full flight. The book has no less than three serialisations running in national publications! Very exciting.

I’ve also invented something that I think you’ll love. It’s called Magic Measure and it is a clever bit of kit that shows you how many inches you lose as you progress on your weight loss campaign. Log on to www.rosemaryconley.tv on 5th January to see how it works or join your local Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club in the new year and you will be given one for free. Classes re-open from 4th January.

If I don’t blog again before Christmas, have a truly fabulous time. Enjoy love, happiness, the joy of giving, having fun and being with your loved ones. Happy Christmas!

What a wonderful day!

I’ve been in the weight loss business for 38 years now and I’ve been fortunate enough to have enjoyed so many exciting events and activities, privileges and performances but on Friday I experienced something for the first time.

I held a reception for a very special group of VIPs at Quorn House, (our offices). The guests were my Trial Dieters.

At the end of May I met for the first time a group of overweight, unhappy, timid folk who desperately wanted to lose weight. They had responded to an appeal on BBC Radio Leicester for volunteers to try out my new diet. I remember them as they sat on the chairs in our Drawing Room, filling every inch of the seats on which they were sitting.

A month later, the mood was completely different. In just one month of the trial this group of 50 volunteers lost no less than 50 stone! An average of a stone in a month! That proved to me that you could lose a stone in a month if you combined a healthy calorie controlled diet and exercise, no matter what your age. The youngest Trialist was 18 and the oldest, 70 years young. They were thrilled and I was totally delighted plus I had the basis on which to write my new diet book.

After the initial one month trial, all the participants were given the option to continue a weekly weigh-in and measuring session at Quorn House with my Trial Manager, Sue. Six months on, the Trialists had lost significantly more weight and a monumental number of inches, and on Friday everyone was invited to return together for a celebration of their success. This time it was their smiles that filled the room, not their size. Their newly-found confidence and fitness was in abundance. Conversation was flowing as they shared their stories of improved self-esteem and health-improvement – and some were dramatic.

For instance, Bill Wiltshire was our Champion Trial dieter after one month having lost a gob-smacking 1st 10lbs in the first four weeks. But shortly afterwards Bill became very ill, was admitted into hospital and diagnosed with cellulitis. The surgeon told his spouse that he may have to amputate the leg as Bill’s condition was so serious. However, because Bill had been exercising and eating healthily as part of the Trial, even in that short time his circulation had improved so much that the blood-flow was working more efficiently and Bill could, after all, keep his leg! It was great to see him again when he joined the party.

So, on Friday I was standing amongst a group of Trialists who had followed a new diet, exercised regularly, transformed themselves health-wise and shape-wise. And they looked fantastic. John Newcombe was the overall Champion having lost 4st 1lb in the six months.

This was the first time I have ever run a large Trial where all my Trialists had been so closely monitored every step of the way and over such a long period. And now the evidence was standing there in the room looking at me. That was why it was a unique experience. It was brilliant!

I will write more about the health benefits they all enjoyed on another day but for now, be encouraged that this new diet, my Amazing Inch Loss Plan, has been proved to be unbelievably effective and it will be available for you in the New Year. Enjoy what it does for you.

Christmas really has arrived in Quorn House!

Our offices are situated in a beautiful Georgian property in the heart of Quorn in Leicestershire. We moved in there to create Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs back in 1993. We were the first folk to buy the house as it had been previously owned for centuries by the Farnham family.

When we bought Quorn House it was in a pretty neglected state but now it is in prime condition and every square inch of the house is used for offices and our new television studio is housed in our old warehouse next door. Our forty five or so staff love driving up the magnificent tree-lined drive to the house which sits in 150 acres of unspoilt park land. The cows graze happily and contentedly on the grass. It is an idyllic setting to work and we are all very grateful that we are surrounded by such picturesque working conditions.

This year my artistic friend Jennie has spent a couple of days decorating the house for Christmas. It looks truly magnificent. Garlands are draped up the fabulous staircase, and over the hand-carved fireplaces that feature in every room. Bowls of baubles, a 10 ft Christmas tree with its twinkling lights and wreaths adorned with bows and berries finish off this festive extravaganza. And everyone is loving it.

On Friday my 50 Diet Trialists are coming for a party and BBC Radio Leicester and the Leicester Mercury (our local paper) are coming along to meet them. They will be celebrating losing a significant amount of weight this year and the fact that their lives and, more importantly, their health have changed dramatically. This year they won’t be dreading the office party. This year they will go there feeling confident and fit, happy and content that this year they have achieved something special. A new body. And that’s the best Christmas present any of them could have had.

It’s December and I love Christmas!

This year Christmas is going to be special. It’s not that we are doing anything exotic or different, it’s just that it’s been a pretty tough year in many respects and now it’s all coming good!

I knew this year would be busy. I had to write a new diet book and record a new fitness DVD. We also decided to build a television studio and launch a new online television channel. To do that, you also need to film a lot of stuff! Then we decided to launch a range of ready meals and soups and sell it by mail order. In the Spring I had a brain-wave and had an idea for a motivational gadget so we set to work to make it. In the midst of all this my lovely mum-in-law became really poorly and we thought we might lose her – thankfully, we didn’t. She’s moved in with us now and she is positively flourishing! We haven’t had a holiday since early June because we couldn’t leave MIL – but that’s fine.

So now it’s December. The book is written and, having tried and tested the diet with a team of 50 Trialists, I know it works better than any diet I have ever created. It will be published on 6th January. My 30th (and last) DVD was recorded in March and will be released on 28th December. It is a cracker and I think folk will love it. The television studio is finished and is fabulous. rosemaryconley.tv is being tested right now and will be available to everyone, 24/7 in January. My range of Solo Slim meals is complete and will launch after Christmas. With no ‘E’ numbers and a shelf life of up to 12 months, this is a very exciting proposition for dieters. And my motivational gadget will be launched in January. You’ll love it and everyone who joins one of our classes in the New Year will get one free.

To top it all we have 8 Slimmer of the Year titles to announce in the New Year with the very best slimming success stories you will have ever heard. You will be able to read about them in our 100th edition of my magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness, which will be out in the New Year, together with a free 44 page recipe book of my favourite 100 recipes from across the years included in every copy. You’ll love that too!

So yes, I’m looking forward to Christmas for the fun and relaxation with all the family – and particularly having my mum-in-law here with us. I’m looking forward to the New Year because I know it’s going to be really, really exciting. We’ve worked our socks off this year but in January I know that all that hard work will have been worth it. That’s why I love life so much - because it’s fun!

Launch of rosemaryconley.tv

Last week I carried out a very interesting interview with a gastric weight loss surgeon for my forthcoming rosemary conley.tv channel, which is launching on the web on 5th January next year. I felt it was important for viewers of rosemary conley.tv to be able to hear from a surgeon who actually performed gastric banding, gastric bypasses and so on because I think many folk consider taking these drastic measures when they feel a hopeless failure after they have fallen off the wagon from yet another diet.

Mr Chris Sutton is well-known for his gastric obesity surgery and it was extraordinary to learn how the various procedures are carried out. Whilst he stated that they were not particularly dangerous procedures, I would imagine that undergoing such an operation and a general anaesthetic had to present some risk to the patient.

I was assured that gastric surgery was only carried out as a last resort and was only undertaken under the NHS if it was thought that the patient was at serious risk of death without the surgery.

Whilst it was fascinating to hear first-hand what was involved with each of the operations, how they were done, how long they took, how much they cost (when done privately), and the dangers, I couldn’t help feeling it was an enormous shame that people needed such surgery. By cutting back our quantities of food by 20-25%, taking more activity, joining one of our classes and moderating alcohol consumption, weight can be significantly reduced and our health dramatically improved. There is no short cut or quick fix answer to obesity, it has to be a lifestyle change otherwise we will forever be battling the bulge.

You can watch my interview with Mr Sutton from 5th January 2010 on rosemaryconley.tv.

You’re never too old!

You’re never too old!

Last night I went to my diet and fitness class as usual. It is very exciting to be meeting lots of new members now that I have changed my venue from the centre of Leicester where car parking fees were extortionate to a suburb where parking is free.

Last week two new ladies joined - one in her mid-eighties and the other a little younger. With new hips and knees their mobility was somewhat restricted and whilst I tried to show them how to exercise sitting in a chair, it was obvious that this wasn’t really working. I had given them our Kick-start diet to follow but I couldn’t help feeling that with the cakes in the afternoon, the chocolate that they both confessed to love greatly, that were part of their life, I wasn’t too optimistic about either their success on the diet or with their activity. I even doubted whether they would return this week. I had suggested that walking was a really good form of exercise and the more they could do the more it would help them.

Imagine my delight when they both arrived last evening. Walking over to me at the scales they were full of excuses. ‘I don’t think I’ve lost anything but I have stopped the chocolate and I have been walking – and we won’t be staying for the exercises’ said June with a sense of disappointment at letting me down. Elsie, the older of the two, added to the pre-scales-excuses with ‘I’ve not done any exercise but I have stopped eating chocolate!’. I was impressed that they had made at least some effort and made some changes. June stepped carefully onto the scales, closed her eyes with a face that said she was bracing herself for the bad news but she had lost 4 ½ lbs! She couldn’t have been more thrilled if I’d told her she’d won the Lottery! She stepped off the scales and would have done a jig if it hadn’t been for the two new hips and knees!

Then it was Elsie’s turn. I held her hand as she stepped gingerly on to the scales. Elsie had lost 3 ½ lbs and shrieked with delight, smiling from ear to ear like a teenager! The two of them almost skipped to their chairs and were truly thrilled and encouraged. There was a feeling of ‘new beginnings’ about them.

When June came forward with a spring in her step to collect her Slimmer of the Week certificate the room cheered and applauded. It was a magical moment. That’s why I love my job!

The value of team spirit!

Last week our lovely staff went on a challenging bike ride together to raise funds for Steps Leicestershire Conductive Education Centre in Shepshed, Leicestershire, which is the main charity that Mike and I support.

The bike ride had started in the Spring of this year with the idea that, cumulatively, the staff would cycle the 2,775 miles which is the distance of the circumference of the UK and, by doing so, raise sponsorship to support Steps. With the end of the year approaching it was decided to hold a half day bike ride and the more folk that joined in the fewer miles everyone had to cycle to meet the grand total of 2,775 Miles. In the end the distance to be cycled by everyone was 17 miles.

So, last Wednesday, in the middle of a gale and torrential rain, it was decided to close the office and mount the bikes. Sadly (?) I couldn’t participate myself as I had a prior speaking engagement in Essex that evening, but the majority of the office staff did cycle with a few volunteering to prepare refreshments - faggots and mushy peas and soup and bread - when the cyclists returned.

Of course there were a few punctures, minor accidents when riders fell off in the mud, but all in all it was, by all accounts, a fantastic afternoon. Our housekeeper and our gardener were the marshals on the course, and indeed everyone was involved. Despite them all returning back at Quorn House totally frozen, soaked and exhausted, the overall feeling was that of elation! They had pushed themselves, encouraged and supported each other and had a lot of laughs. People’s roles within the company were totally irrelevant and there is nothing better for building camaraderie than putting everyone on a level playing field and letting them interact – particularly for a great cause.

As I was being driven down to Essex in my warm and cosy car and dictating replies to letters and emails from my in-tray, I felt a mixture of relief that I had a legitimate reason for not participating in this physical and presumably unpleasant activity, combined with a feeling that I’d missed out on all the fun. And I was right. They had had enormous fun and the aching limbs and sore back-sides evident as folk walked around the office like John Wayne the next day were testament to that. Everyone enjoyed it so much they’re now looking forward to the next staff bike ride and, yes, next time I want to do it too. Hopefully it will be in the Spring!