It's all been very busy!

I feel guilty that I haven’t blogged for a month! We’ve been on a skiing holiday in Austria for two weeks which was brilliant but somewhat blighted by the fact that my hubby Mike had a serious chest infection while he was there and half of one of his lungs appears not to be there. However, his chest infection is now better and he is in significantly better health and on the mend. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

We then returned to the usual backlog of work awaiting us and my serious schedule to get on with my new book. It’s coming along really well and I’m enjoying writing about something different from solely diet and exercise. This book is about staying youthful and looks at skincare, bone care and loads more.

Last week I visited Leicester Prison to give a talk to visiting employers to encourage them to consider employing ex-offenders on a two-week work experience experiment. If ex-offenders are given the opportunity to work for a company for two weeks, unpaid, and leave with a reference and a certificate that they completed the two week stint, then they are 70% more likely to achieve gainful employment which then reduces their chances of re-offending very significantly. Other Speakers explained how they had transformed ex-offenders who rose to the challenge and were offered permanent employment. They turned their lives around and made brilliant, hard-working, loyal employees. We had a tour of the prison and met a couple of the inmates. It was a fascinating experience.

Yesterday I had a radio day with Dr. Hilary Jones discussing the subject of gastric bands and how two of our Slimmers of the Year had avoided the operation. Having originally asked their GPs for the surgery, and joining their local RC Diet and Fitness Class, they lost weight on a sensible low fat diet and through exercise at our classes and took great delight in turning down the operation as they just didn’t need it anymore!

Plans are now afoot for our Training Convention at Center Parcs at the beginning of April and also for our four day presence at the Vitality Show in London's Earl Court. Details are given on our website but the Vitality Show is hard graft for all of our team. To be on the stand for four days meeting thousands of lovely people is a delight but tiring. I also give a talk each day and this year I’ve been asked to speak at the Ideal Home Exhibition which is going on at the same time! Hey ho!

On Saturday 12th March I launch Get Fit with Fido at Crufts! I love dogs so I know I will enjoy it but I don’t usually work at weekends.

One thing’s for sure. No-one can say my life is dull.

Slimmer of the Year Celebrations in London

Wednesday was such an exciting day! This year we awarded 10 Slimmer of the Year titles including Bride Slimmer of the Year, 50+, Super-Fit, Biggest Loser, Entrepreneur, Student and we also gave our first ever Slimmer of the Year title to one of our Online members.

The event was held at the glorious Marriott County Hall Hotel on the Thames in London. Each winner enjoyed being made-over with our team of hair and make-up artists and, once dressed in their beautiful evening wear – except the Bride who wore her wedding dress, and our two male winners in their evening suits, they were ready to meet the press. They looked stunning – toned, confident, beautiful - and you would never have guessed that between them they had lost a monumental 100 stone! It was a very proud moment.

Press PLAY to watch a video from the event:

Dr. Hilary Jones also joined us for the celebrations and had a one-to-one medical consultation with each winner to establish their current health status. With several of the winners having halved their weight the results were impressive. Not only had they turned their health around by losing their weight, they had added years to their life expectancy – in fact, cumulatively, 87.5 years!

I had asked Dr Hilary to come along this year because I had never had so many successful slimmers who had lost weight so fast. I wanted to be able to confirm to the press that with a healthy low fat diet, group support and regular exercise, it is possible to lose weight fast but safely. Dr. Hilary confirmed this and he was really impressed by their levels of fitness and improved overall health. Depression, diabetes, asthma, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, joint pain - the list of conditions that these 10 folk had had was endless, but now it was different. So many were now off their medication completely. They really had saved their lives!

The champagne flowed, the TV cameras rolled and the flash bulbs went crazy as the press captured the moment. Many regions carried their stories in their 6 O’clock News bulletins that evening. It is such an exciting time for everyone and has a real touch of Hollywood about it!

But the best bit of it all is just seeing the smiles on the faces of the winners and the pride on the faces of their husbands, wives, families, RC class instructors and friends who were there to witness this exceptional event. An event that celebrated a massive amount of dedication, determination, will-power and energy expenditure! These worthy winners had worked very hard to achieve the trimmed down and toned up body that they owned today. They each totally deserved their £1000 prize.

Here is a quick rundown of our winners but check out http://www.rosemaryconley.tv/ and click on Slimmer of the Year 2011 to see them in person. You can also see them being individually interviewed on the channel.

Biggest Loser – Female: Stephanie Hughes. Steph lost 12st 7 lbs in a year on my Amazing Inch Loss Plan and at her local RC Class.

Biggest Loser – Male : Michael Hutchinson. Michael lost 12st 7lbs in a year on my Amazing Inch Loss Plan and at his local RC Class.

Super Fit – Male: Carl Williams. Lost 10st in 9 months on my Amazing Inch Loss Plan and at his local RC class and by using his Wii Fit for two hours a day!

Super Fit – Female: Joanne Dreher. Jo lost 11st 6 lbs and halved her weight as a member of RC Classes but now she is a qualified exercise teacher taking six RC classes a week!

50+ Margaret Balneaves: Margaret lost her husband because he was so overweight and decided to lose weight in his memory. Margaret lost 10 stone.

Online : Patricia Harvey works night-shift for NHS 24 in Scotland and couldn’t attend classes. Patricia lost 6st 6 lbs with RosemaryConleyOnline.

Entrepreneur: Sarah Humphries suffers with dyslexia and dyspraxia and had been bullied throughout her life. When she was made redundant from the bakery at Morrisons she set up her own dog walking business and now walks between 5 – 25 miles a day! Sarah has lost 10 stone!

Bride: Laura Powell: Laura lost 11 stone to look like a princess on her wedding day last week!

Yummy Mummy : Fiona Dunn. Fiona lost 8st 7 lbs to become a slim and fit mummy who can now run around with her two young boys.

Student : Eve Leonard. Eve shed 6st 4 lbs to transform herself from an unfit student to a stunning young lady!

A massive well done to all our winners and I hope you will be inspired. If they can do it, so can you!