What an achievement!

Over the last couple of days we have been celebrating the achievements of some wonderful folk who have lost massive amounts of weight to be crowned Slimmers of the Year. For the first time we are giving awards to slimmers in different categories because it is impossible to place all great achievers on a level playing field. So in January we will be announcing our Yummy Mummy Slimmer of the Year, our Mr and Mrs Slimmer of the Year, our 40+, our ‘young’, our ‘student’, our Male, our Super Fit and our Action Woman Slimmers of the Year 2010! All of them are amazing and all together the eight winners will have lost in the region of 75 stone!

Because of lead times in putting together our new year edition of our magazine we have to get well organised ahead of time so, over the last couple of days, we have shopped for the clothes that the winners were to be photographed in and then they have enjoyed a total make-over of hair and make-up before being photographed yesterday by a top photographer. It is one of the most exciting days in my calendar. Hard work? Yes, certainly, but so very, very satisfying.

One of the winners lost all her unwanted weight in just this year and when she looked at the shots taken of her today on the computer afterwards, she was visibly shocked. “I cannot believe that’s me!” she exclaimed. “Do I really look like that?” and the tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at this stunningly pretty, super-slim gorgeous creature looking out at her. And this is not an uncommon reaction.

It happened on Tuesday too. We were in M & S trying on loads of different dresses for the women, dinner suits for the men and assorted outfits all round. Every one of the female Slimmers of the Year said ‘I would never have dreamed of trying on this – but it looks lovely!’. The men were more reserved but obviously felt comfortable and confident in the clothes I had selected for them. And they were smiling!

Losing massive amounts of weight doesn’t happen overnight – nor does it go on that way either. It is a ‘work in progress’, either up or down! If you would like to be a potential Slimmer of the Year for 2011, why not start to turn your life around right now! Whether you have 10 stone or 10 lbs to lose, we all have to start somewhere. These amazingly successful slimmers lost their weight through attending Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs. It worked for them, and it can work for you too. Check out www.rosemaryconley.com for details of your nearest class or www.rosemaryconleyonline.com if there’s no class near you. You will be so glad you did.

Convention Celebrations

Last Friday was the day of our Annual Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs Franchisee Convention and what a fantastic day it turned out to be! Tears and laughter, inspiration by the bucketful and lots and lots to look forward to in the new year. Everyone was buzzing!

As well as sharing the new diet plan, which is based on my book due for publication in January, and lots of exciting products due to launched then, we also celebrated the successes of our top franchisees. Our reigning Franchisee of the Year, Sarah Skelton, gave an awe-inspiring speech about how she ran her business, as well as other brilliant presentations from our Training and Marketing Departments. We heard from Nicky Hambleton-Jones, Celebrity Stylist, about making the most of ourselves to build our confidence and all in all, it was a truly fantastic day.

We give out four Awards including a personal award to a franchisee who has unselfishly given a lot of herself for the good of the business. This year I gave my Rosemary Conley Award to Caroline Pitt from Merton, for running our original pilot scheme with the NHS, which has now been rolled out across the network. Our Newcomer of the Year Award is given to a new franchisee who has only been running for the last 12 months and there were three finalists: Philippa Aldridge, Corinne Stevenson and Tracey Telfer. The Award went to Corinne Stevenson from Gloucester.

The Business Development Award is given to the franchisee who has dramatically grown their business in the last 12 months and the five finalists were Philippa Aldridge, Kay Fletcher, Karen Murrie, Francine Vickers and Caroline Willey. The winner was Philippa Aldridge of Abingdon and Oxfordshire.

Franchisee of the Year is for the overall top franchisee in the network. We have ten finalists: Mandi Davidson, Kay Fletcher, Adele Howlett, Jill MacGregor, Lindsey Peters, Sarah Skelton, Jayne Stone, Lisa Thatcher, Sandra Todd and Audrey Zolnierowicz. The winner was Kay Fletcher from Ipswich, and a very worthy winner she was too.

As well as these awards we also gave away a dozen 5 year Awards to our franchisees. I then presented six 10 year Awards to franchisees and two to staff members, plus they were each given a magnificent Christopher Ward diamond studded watch. Then it was time for the 15 year awards. We had three franchisees who had reached with momentous milestone – Wendy Boardman, Judith Sell and Karen Smith, plus two staff members – Mary Morris our Training Consultant and Denise Harriman, our House Keeper at Quorn House. They were each presented with a very beautiful diamond necklace. I love this bit because they are so appreciative that we appreciate them!

Then it’s time for our Convention Ball. A great time was had by all and we danced till 1 am and we had a not-for-real-money Casino which was perfect for those not wanting to boogie! Everyone looked so incredibly glamorous and I do not believe there is any other gathering of women in the UK who are so fit, so confident and so gorgeous. I am very proud of every single one of them!

Exciting times

Every year we hold our Annual Convention when all of our franchisees from across the United Kingdom come together to hear of the plans for the next twelve months. This year is going to be particularly exciting as my brand new diet book will form the basis of the diet plan offered to members of Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs in 2010. It is a fantastic diet that is massively effective so there will be an air of expectation on Friday when I tell our franchisees all about it.

The event is well organised and thoughtfully put together and everyone attending, hopefully, will go away fully motivated and firing on all cylinders. We work very hard to make our business effective and fun for everyone. On Friday we will have lots of fun, tears and laughter.

You may think it’s strange that I say there will be tears but I get so emotional at these events! We give Awards to our top performers and as I read out their citations I fill up because I know how hard everyone has worked and how much it means to the finalists and particularly the winners! We give Awards for Newcomer of the Year, Business Development Award and Franchisee of the Year. I also give a personal award to the person who I feel goes the extra mile for the good of the company and her members – though most of the franchisees do that! We also give awards for franchisees and staff who have been with us for five, 10 and 15 years and that is very exciting too.

In the evening, after the Convention, we have a Gala Dinner and everyone gets dressed up to the nines. You will never see a room so full of super fit, beautiful women who just love dancing! As soon as the first song is played on the disco, the dance floor will be full! The husbands and boyfriends are invited too so it is a very lovely evening. I’m really looking forward to the whole day.

Watch those portion sizes!

We live in a super-sized society when everything to do with food seems to be getting bigger! Cereal bowls, soup bowls, plates, wine glasses, dessert dishes – they’re all much larger than they used to be and it isn’t good for us.

I am sure that those fabulous and enormous platters that your haute cuisine is served upon in a stylish restaurant were not designed to be full! So when we see them in John Lewis or Harrods, we delight at their magnificence and buy them for those special occasions when we want to impress our guests and make our dining table look impressive. The problem is that, whilst some wondrous chef creates a work of art on 15% of the plate’s surface in the restaurant, when we serve it up at home it doesn’t quite work out that way. To present such a dish would cause ridicule. So we fill it!

Last year we launched Rosemary Conley Portion Pots as an aid to help folk quickly measure their appropriate size portion of cereal, rice, pasta, baked beans, peas, wine, orange juice, and so on. They are brilliantly simply and extremely helpful.

Each morning I use my yellow Portion Pot to measure my serving of Fruit ‘n' Fibre and it is enough to keep be going – just – until lunchtime. When we are serving rice with our evening meal, if I’m cooking for just me, I can use the blue Portion Pot to measure enough basmati rice for one. If I’m cooking for the family then I drain the cooked rice and can take a red Portion Pot for the equivalent quantity of rice but measured now it is cooked. Simple!

If you are eating healthily and cannot understand why the weight isn’t shifting as quickly as it should, I bet you it’s your portions that are too big.

Treat yourself to some small cereal bowls, smaller wine glasses and plates and watch the lbs slip away. If you would like some Portion Pots, log on to www.rosemaryconley.com to buy them or join one of our classes when you will be given some with your New Member’s Pack.

Amazing weight losses - amazing people!

Last Thursday we had a very exciting day at Quorn House. Fifteen delightful folk descended on our offices for the judging day of our Slimmer of the Year competition. We had invited three men and twelve women to come and meet me together with my Magazine Editor and Art Director. The place was buzzing in anticipation and excitement.

After a welcome cup of coffee I took them on a tour of the house, with all its remarkable history – we are the first people to own Quorn House since the previous owners who had lived in the present Georgian property from when it was build in 1920 and, before that, the previous house, since 1238! Set in 147 acres of magnificent parkland, it is a really special place to come to work!

As the Regional Slimmers of the Year sat in the drawing room with their friends and, in some cases, their RCDFC franchisee, it was brilliant to see this sea of smiling confident faces on super slim bodies. It would have been a very different story if they had been sitting there a year ago.

Our Regional winners had lost a variety of amounts of weight – all significant weight reductions but some were massive losses. First we invite them to workout in our studio so that we can see them in fitness wear. It is helpful to ascertain figure shapes and sizes. Then it’s time for a personal interview with myself and the other judges. The ‘before’ photographs are crucial at this stage and we are always eager to hear their stories of their successes. All will appear in our magazine over the coming months.

The 15 folk present had lost a total of 126 stone! And they looked toned and healthy – which is very important. The results of the judging will be announced in the New Year and this time our line-up of awards will be a bit different from previously. All very exciting!

One day in these wonderful peoples’ lives they decided enough was enough. They needed to lose weight and go on a diet and do some exercise. And that they did – brilliantly! If you are thinking you need to lose weight and you’re serious about it, then join one of our classes as soon as you can. That’s what they all did and it changed their lives. Nobody can lose your weight for you but we can certainly lend you a helping hand to make your hopes and dreams turn into reality. Just do it!

Check out our website www.rosemaryconley.com or slim online with www.rosemaryconleyonline.com. It’s easier than you think!

When change can be fun!

For the last 24 years I have held two diet and fitness classes at the Holiday Inn in Leicester city centre on a Monday evening. It has been a long and happy relationship and five years ago the Holiday Inn have even named a meeting room after me – The Conley Room. Hundreds of ladies and some men have happily come along to enjoy a workout and dietary advice every week during that time. In fact the classes were being held there even before my famous Hip and Thigh Diet was written or published. Today, 15 or so of my members have been attending for over 20 years! And yes, they do get a concession!

This Holiday Inn was built in the 1960’s and right next door is an NCP car park. This is a perfect scenario. Lots of parking next to a large hotel in the centre of a city. However, the problem that has arisen is that NCP have decided to increase their tariff to a level that makes parking there just too costly. For one of my members to park for the 1 ½ hour class duration, it costs £3.10. That means that for someone paying the full class fee (i.e. not someone who has been coming to me for the last 20 years) has to pay £5.50 + £3.10! The Holiday Inn has no control over these charges and it must be really tough for them. If you stay as a resident at the hotel you obviously get your ticket stamped and the hotel pick up the tab. If you are attending a function or meeting, obviously they don’t. I dread to think what the increased cost must be doing to their business.

Anyway, back to my class. I have now taken the decision to relocate my class slightly out of town. I have found a beautiful suburban golf club who are happy for me to book their function room and offer free parking, and my members have been amazingly accommodating. Some have had a trial run in their cars, some have consulted the bus timetables and others have arranged car-sharing to get there. I am grateful to them. We start in our new venue on 2nd November.

The funny thing is that I’m actually quite excited about it all. I am looking forward to welcoming new members from the locality as well as continuing to support my long standing and loyal ‘Gold Star’ members. If it were not for their loyalty over the years maybe I would not still be taking classes but we have a fun time and we are all slimmer, fitter and healthier as a result. They provided the model for the creation of Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs that now run all over the UK today – almost 2,000 classes a week attended by around 80,000 members. Our fabulous franchisees, all highly qualified, are doing exactly the same thing for their members and making a difference to their lives. Long may we all continue!

For details of your nearest class go to www.rosemaryconley.com or visit www.rosemaryconleyonline.com if there is no class near you.

Awesome Women!

Yesterday I was honoured to be invited to the Women of the Year Lunch at London’s Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane. It is always a prestigious affair with an array of women who have achieved all kinds of success in any manner of fields of life. Of course you have your celebs such as Esther Rantzen, Maureen Lipman and Katherine Jenkins as well as household radio names such as Sarah Kennedy and Sue MacGregor, but it is the non-famous special women who you find yourself talking to that make the event even more special.

On my table I found myself sitting next to one of the original WI Calendar Girls from Yorkshire. Since that original calendar was launched, over £2m has been raised for Leukaemia Research. Next to her was a woman who took over the Woolworths store she had worked in for 18 years after it closed down in January and is now making a success of Wellworths, in partnership with the landlord. On my left was the General Manager of Sadlers Wells and next to her, a lawyer and barrister who has helped launch a charity called Family Law Services. They advise on divorce in a practical way. The charity explains the facts of life about divorce and many families go away and sort out their differences rather than proceed towards that terminal split.

The lunch was a celebration of women who made a difference. Awards were given to Hilary Henriques for Outstanding Achievement for, 19 years ago, co-founding a charity called Nacoa to provide support for young and adult children of alcohol-dependant parents. The Window of the World Award was given to Jane Walker who founded the Phillipine Community Fund. Jane has managed to build a school for 1000 pupils to teach them up to college level. The Women of the Year Award was given to 23 year old Emily Cummins – an inventor. Emily has invented a solar-powered refrigerator suitable for use in the third world. Emily has taught the villagers in Africa how to build it and has given them the design free of charge. Such achievements were humbling for everyone present.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Dame Vera Lynn. At 92 she is as bright as a button and gave an incredibly moving speech and made us all feel encouraged that perhaps we had hope of many more years in our own lives than we thought possible, and still be 100% mentally and physically fit.

This is the last year that Joan Armatrading will be President of the Lunch, and Sandi Toksvig is standing down as compere for the event. Both have served the Charity brilliantly for the last five years. The charity owe a great debt to these wonderful women who, with their fellow committee members, do a brilliant job. Well done to them and to all the wonderful women who attended yesterday. Keep up the good work!

The inspiration of meeting successful slimmers!

You would be amazed how often we are asked by the press for a before and after photograph of one of our slimmers who fits into a specific profile: eg in their twenties, forties, who’s lost 6 stone, who can wear a bikini, etc., etc.

Last Thursday we had a wonderful day at Quorn House when we invited some fabulously successful dieters who had attended our classes to be photographed specifically for the press. So at 9 o’clock I met the first three at Marks & Spencer at Fosse Park in Leicester, so that we could sort out a perfect outfit for them to wear. At 10 o’clock three more arrived and at 11, two more.

One by one we found a dress or suit or skirt and top or whatever, found the perfect shoes and jewellery to complement them, and then sent them over to Quorn House, our offices, to find the make-up artist to be made up and have their hair styled before being photographed by a top photographer.

The cumulative weight loss of these eight lasses amounted to 50 stone! They looked fabulous and perhaps the most exciting message that came out of the day was that they wore clothes they wouldn’t normally have dreamed of even trying on let alone believing they would feel fabulous wearing it. When each one saw themselves in the finished photographs, they were astounded at how beautiful they looked. All of them.

Every one of these successful dieters had attended Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs. It works. The combination of a healthy diet, a fitness class, camaraderie of other class members, plus the instruction and support of a qualified teacher makes for a winning formula. If you want to start your diet today, check out our website for your nearest RC class or join our Online club. Go to www.rosemaryconley.com for details of both services. It really, really works!

Only do the things that only you can do.

This is the advice I gave myself 20 years ago and also to some very enterprising women I have had the pleasure of meeting in the last couple of days. Let me explain.

I actually enjoy cleaning. When I do it I think I do it well but twenty years ago I realised that there was stuff I should be doing, that only I could do, that I didn’t have time to do because I was cleaning. So, I decided to employ someone else to clean while I wrote books and presented fitness videos.

When I meet young women who are starting their own businesses, working incredibly hard and having great and worthy aspirations, I suggest they stop and think what they want to achieve. Money? Fame? Recognition? Respect? The interesting response, and one that I relate to totally, is that they want to ‘enjoy’ what they are doing and, without hesitation, they say that once the job becomes a chore, they will jack it in.

The problem for women is that we have to juggle home life with work commitments. Someone I met yesterday said that she didn’t believe in child care. She wanted to always be there for her little girl, during the school holidays, after school, at weekends. That’s tough if you’re also going to build a successful business because not all business appointments and commitments fall in to school hours!

One of the most useful decisions I made a few years ago was to employ a freelance driver. It may sound incredibly indulgent but actually, it’s not. I use my own car and employ a professional driver to drive it. Because I use time in the back of the car as office time, I can achieve SO much work while someone else takes the strain of finding the right location, coping with the frustrations of traffic, speed restrictions, direction and safety. Could I go on the train? Probably, but I find carrying all my kit (computer, briefcase etc) on to a train too tiring and I only need to find myself sitting next to someone who wants to talk for England and it’s hard to concentrate on the job in hand. No, working in the back of the car is brilliant for me.

When I spend a day with trainee RC franchisees I ask them what help they would love to have to help them to cope. Someone to do the ironing is almost always top of the list. For around £10 most of us can get the majority of your ironing done for us and it can free us up for a couple of hours that can transform our weekends. Think about it.

There isn’t a working mum in the world who doesn’t feel guilty that she works. We all do. But, with a little thought and planning, we can achieve more than we thought possible and still have a good home life!

Fat parents = fat kids?

It is very rare that I will use the ‘f’ word ‘FAT’. It’s not very PC in the world of diet and exercise and one that often causes offence. It’s a word we use on ourselves but not one we like people to use to describe us.

So how about ‘obese’? That is a much more offensive word, in my opinion, and one that we would never use to describe ourselves yet it is a word used every day in the media and by medical professionals. By way of definition, if you are about three stone overweight, you are probably obese.

So, whilst we are all only too ready to describe ourselves as ‘fat’, if someone describes us as ‘chunky’, ‘well built’, or ‘a bit overweight’ we take great offence. In fact I remember going for a medical when I was about 20 years old and considering taking out a life insurance policy. When the doctor left the room for around 20 minutes I couldn’t resist the temptation to read his notes detailing my medical status. He described me as ‘well covered’. I was deeply hurt. ‘That means I’m fat!’ I thought to myself. At the time I weighed 8st and was 5’ 2” tall – a very healthy weight – yet that remark switched a switch in my head that made me very conscious of food and over the next two or three years I gained two-and-a-half stone!

Whilst part of me is grateful to the doctor, for without gaining the weight and learning how to lose it again, I would not be in the situation I am in now, of helping people to get in shape with a healthy diet and exercise, but nevertheless, his words had a profound effect on my life and how I felt about myself.

So when the media talk about overweight parents being much more likely to produce overweight children, there will be some kids out there who are now seriously worried about their size. For some that may be completely counter-productive, as it was in my case. And it is for precisely that reason that we started Kids2 which helps to educate parents and children together toward a healthier lifestyle, irrespective of their size. Instead of making the children feel guilty, we should be encouraging children to eat healthier food and for the whole family to be more active.

Why cereal is still the best breakfast

I heard on the news this morning that it has been recognised that some breakfast cereals contain a lot of salt. By ‘a lot’ I think they are meaning ‘more than you would imagine’ rather than a ‘salt-pot-full’. The majority of breakfast cereals offer less than 1 gram of salt per serving and we are recommended to restrict our daily salt intake to around 6 grams a day. So what’s the fuss?

We are consistently told that we should eat breakfast. Cereal is a low fat, quick and mostly healthy way to start the day, AND it gives us the opportunity to consume almost 190ml ( 1/3 pint) of milk which is full of calcium, protein and lots more. Cereal is often high in fibre, and all cereals are fortified with vitamins so offer a really great meal at the beginning of the day when the body is crying out for nourishment.

We know that skipping breakfast will result in our not only lacking concentration at school or work, research has shown that breakfast-skippers are likely to be fatter than those who do eat it.

So, we hear on the news that cereal may not be as good for us as we thought. What are the alternatives? Toast with butter and marmalade? There’s salt in bread and the butter/margarine/spread. Sausages, eggs etc.? There’s salt in sausages. Bacon contains salt.

Recently I was with a group or children talking to them about healthy eating. I asked each of them what they had for breakfast and the answers were alarming, varying from ‘nothing’, ‘crisps on the way to school’, ‘chocolate bar’ to ‘my mum and I eat biscuits for our breakfast’! Some did eat cereal, thankfully!

Eating cereal is one of the most nutritious ways to start off our day. It is my breakfast of choice and I use my own branded Portion Pots* to ensure I don’t eat too much as I want to stay slim.

Whoever is behind this latest report, I hope they realise that the media are only looking for a story. They are quick to spread the news which just leaves the consumer confused when we are all - including the government - trying so hard to educate the general population to eat healthily.

*Rosemary Conley Portion Pots are available from our website or given to members free when they join Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs, see www.rosemaryconley.com for details.

Free parking for hospital visitors

So the government are talking about allowing free NHS hospital car parking for those visiting their loved ones. Good! Let’s hope it happens. For anyone who is visiting a hospital the whole experience is difficult. Knowing where to go, worrying about getting there on time, queuing up for visiting, taking time off work – the whole experience is stressful and tiring yet incredibly valuable to the patient’s recovery. For the one or two hours a day, seeing familiar faces and chatting with family is a tonic and a lifeline. To charge car parking fees in NHS hospital car parks is scandalous and the sooner they are scrapped the better.

But I’m puzzled. Why this sudden gesture of goodwill when only two weeks ago plans were being discussed for charging employees to park in their employers’ car parks when they go to work? This is planned to be tried out in Nottingham and the whole scheme is outrageous in my view. Are the government trying to disincentivise us to work? I don’t think so! I could go on at length on the wider issues here but this isn’t the time or place.

Anyway, I’m not a politician, I’m a diet and fitness expert so perhaps I should stick to that. Or maybe I’m becoming like Victor Meldrew and just thinking, ‘I can’t believe it’ every time I hear of a new proposed political policy being discussed. Let’s hope that in the next few months the country isn’t messed up too much in a desperate attempt to win voters at the next General Election!