Tears and Laughter!

It is now Day 6 of our splendid holiday in the Austrian alps. Everyone is energised and very relieved that the Concert, held last night, is over! Not only that, they have now had their final weigh-in too.

Despite having a vast array of foods on the breakfast buffet each morning, eating traditional Austrian food in a hut in the mountains yesterday, and a delicious four-course meal last evening – and plenty of drink to help people cope with their pre-concert nerves - most of the guests have lost weight this week. In fact three of them have lost over 6 lbs! One has hit ‘eight-stone-something’ for the first time in twenty years and gave me a kiss! Another admitted that normally on holiday she gains half a stone in a week so the half pound she’s gained this week is a remarkable achievement.

Our annual Concert is unique. Always held on the Thursday evening of our week, this unique exhibition of talent never ceases to amaze me. Where else would you see hotel guests stand up in front of an audience of ALL the hotel guests, from various countries, and perform? There were fourteen acts in total including Amanda who was a stand-up comedienne, Averil mimed to ‘Always the Bridesmaid, never the Bride’, Ann and Margaret had written a hilarious song, Ella told a very poignant story, Mary told jokes as well as compered superbly, Anne played the piano as Betty, Gwen and Rachel sang Edelweiss, Hazel sang Julie Andrews’ reworded version of ‘My Favourite Things’, Pat read a poem about living every day to the full, and 15-year-old Charlotte played a piano solo and then later sang a solo so beautifully we had tears in our eyes.

Always at these concerts we like to involve the audience and last night was no exception and as this is a fitness holiday, that participation has to involve physical actions! And the audience didn’t disappoint. To see everyone – including the foreign guests in the hotel - doing hand-actions, standing up-down, up-down, even jumping on the spot, when directed was just brilliant. Everyone had a ball! And it was all thanks to Mary, my friend and colleague, who is magnificent on these occasions, holding it all together and ensuring that everyone is ready and prepared for their piece. We all say she could have had a career on the stage!

So, if people weighed a little less on the scales this morning I guess they burned off some extra calories last night through adrenalin and laughter – and that has to be good medicine.

Everyone is fired up with enthusiasm to keep up the good work now that the foundations have been laid to eat healthily and take more exercise. They have averaged around 20,000 steps a day on their pedometers and loved every minute of being so active. They have stocked up on aids to help them on their onward healthy lifestyle journey and have treated themselves to my Gi Hip and Thigh Handbook (it’s like a diary to record what you eat and do every day), Facial Flexes to tone up their faces, Portion Pots to measure their portion sizes from now on and DVDs to exercise to once home.

Tonight everyone will be given an award for making such a great effort throughout the week and tomorrow we travel home again, back to our normal lives across the UK. But none of us will forget the fun and laughter of this week and we have all made lots of new friends. We are fitter, slimmer, healthier and happier than when we arrived so that has to make the holiday a success. I guess that’s why we keep coming back year after year.