Judging our Slimmers of the Year!

On Monday we had our judging session for our Slimmer of the Year Contest. There was a massive file full of applicants who had lost over 8 stone. That’s what I weigh! I cannot imagine what life must be like carrying that sort of weight everywhere you go.

We were spoilt for choice and will shortly be inviting our Regional Slimmers to attend a ceremony at Quorn House for for us to make our final selection. It should be a very special day.

On Tuesday we had our Low Fat Food Awards and representatives from many of the companies came along to Quorn to receive their awards. It was exciting and rewarding as all of the awards were voted for exclusively by our readers and members. Well done to all those who received awards. Look out for the results which will be published in our next issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Magazine out on 11th November.

Last Friday we had a Roadshow in Maidenhead and we had a great day. The weight losses of some of those present were awesome and two were entrants for our Slimmer of the Year awards. It was exciting to say the least.

Today we had a photoshoot for the cover of our Christmas edition of our magazine. Our cover girl is such a beautiful girl who looks like a fairy princess in her Christmas party dress. We also photographed other successful slimmers who also looked stunning! I love these days.

The pups are growing fast and are giving Mike and I so much joy as they are just lovely and Waise adores them so everyone’s happy.

If you want to lose weight, check out all that we have to offer. If you saw as many successful slimmers as I did, you would join our classes and transform your life! That’s what they did!

Why I think 5-a-day is still good news!

I’m back from our two week holiday and of course we find ourselves in the middle of Election Fever. May the best man win!

Anyway, the news emerged last week that eating our five-a-day didn’t have the cancer-preventing qualities that the nutrition experts thought it had after all. Reducing levels of obesity and smoking are, apparently, more effective.

I think it is really sad that all the progress that has been made over the last seven years in educating the population towards the importance of eating more fruit and vegetables has been sent backwards by this non-story. After all, by eating your five-a-day you still reduce your risk of cancer by 3%. Surely that’s a reduction worth working for?

I remember a few years ago the story broke that HRT increased our chances of contracting breast cancer. The research of the day said the risk was between 1 – 2%. As a result, millions of women stopped taking HRT which, in my opinion, is a magical medication. A few years later the research was turned on its head and the risk from HRT was confirmed as so minute and that the risks were far outweighed by the, now confirmed, many health benefits. By that time millions of women had come to terms with living without HRT and their lives and their health may well have suffered as a result. I insisted on staying on hormone replacement therapy because if made me feel 25 years younger. It still does and I intend to stay on it for ever.

Now, back to our five-a-day fruit and vegetables. If 3% of the population benefit significantly from eating five-a-day, that has to be good news, surely. Add to this the fact that eating more fruit and vegetables also helps reduce obesity, why on earth come out with a negative news story that is unhelpful to our health! Vegetables are full of low calorie, low fat nutrients that give us a multitude of vitamins and health benefits – as well as filling us up at mealtimes and providing a tasty low-cal snack.

So, I wonder how long it will be before they come up with another story that confirms the wisdom of eating more fruit and veg? Soon, I hope, because if we eat less than we already do, heaven help us!

In the meantime, enjoy the Spring sunshine and get out there in the open air and enjoy being more active. Check out our website if you need some help to lose weight or become fitter. Our latest issue of our magazine is published this week and it is packed full of loads of delicious recipes for you to try. If you can’t find it at your local supermarket, you can always subscribe via our website and get it delivered to your door before it reaches the shops. Enjoy your week.

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!

I used to be a binge eater!

Yesterday I was chatting to Professor Raj Persaud for a project we are working on at the moment. Raj writes for my magazine and is an eminent psychologist and psychiatrist who I first met on ITV’s This Morning with Richard and Judy. I am fascinated by the whole subject of psychology, particularly relating to the subject of weight loss.

Among many other topics that we were discussing, ‘binge eating’ was an obvious subject to be covered, and one that I was particularly interested in as I used to be a serious sufferer of the condition.

I first became overweight in my teens, having been a skinny child due to being a chronic asthmatic on the one hand but always pretty active too. As I left school just before my 15th birthday to go to secretarial college, I became fairly sedentary and my weight started to creep on. When I took at job at an American company where they gave you a half pint cup of all milk coffee and a Penguin bar each morning, it didn’t take long for the pounds to pile on. I slimmed down to eight stone for my wedding at 21 and then took a Cordon Bleu cookery course which taught me how to cook gorgeous food which I couldn’t stop eating. Then my weight problem really started. I started binge eating and the more I worried about my weight, and the lower my self-esteem became, the more I binged. It was as though my mind was fixated on becoming slim but my mouth was determined to eat as much ice cream; toast spread with lashings of butter and heaps of marmalade; bowl after bowl of cereal; any left-overs – even off other people’s plates and chocolate.

I would eat until I felt sick and then promise that the next day I would skip breakfast to compensate. Then, as I continued to binge, I would vow to skip lunch and then, later, dinner and have a fasting day! I felt so utterly miserable and totally stressed by what I was doing. I would get on the scales the next day and my heart would sink. I’d have gained lbs. As I skipped breakfast and lunch I still felt miserable, and by five o’clock I was starving and by six, I was in binge mode again. It was a relentless cycle of self-destruction and one that I battled with for years. By age 23 I was 10st 4lbs and at 5’ 2” tall I looked very overweight.

I managed to reduce my weight to an acceptable eight-and-a-half stone through enormous effort and at age 25 I had decided to help others who struggled with their weight and start my own slimming group with six of my neighbours. This was the start of a business that would change my life. But I still binged, right up until I had to go on a low fat diet for my gallstones in 1986. Going on a low fat diet transformed my eating habits and I haven’t binged for over 20 years!

I learned that by eating three, regular, meals a day I could eat a sufficient quantity to satisfy my appetite but, because the food was low in fat and therefore lower in calories, I could keep my weight at a lower level. I even dropped six pounds in the first three weeks and have pretty well maintained my weight at around eight stone ever since.

But there was something else I learned to do and that, I believe, is the reason for that success. If I did have a binge, I made myself eat my normal scheduled meal anyway – even though I was no longer hungry. By not starving myself to compensate, I stopped the binge-starve cycle and I have never looked back. And that was exactly the advice given by Professor Raj Persaud yesterday. So, if you are a binge eater, you are not going mad, you’re just trying too hard to compensate. So, eat more meals and, hopefully, you’ll stop your binging.

For more help with weight loss, have a look at my website at our Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs and Rosemary Conley Online services. Have a good day and eat your meals!

Being more than you thought you could be

Yesterday was a very enjoyable day. It was the photoshoot for the slimmers who will be appearing in our Christmas edition of my magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness. These days are always special but yesterday was particularly so.

Just after Christmas, my final fitness DVD will be released. It is my 30th and I have no regrets that it is my last one. They involve a huge amount of time and energy but each one has been special. Yesterday we photographed three of the girls who feature in this last DVD - a mum, Sue, and her twin daughters, Cassie and Caroline. I class them as friends because we spent a great deal of time together earlier in the year when we rehearsed and perfected our routines before going into the studio to record the DVD. Every one of the seven of us worked our socks off, as well as our fitness consultant, Mary Morris, and the crew . There was a camaraderie that developed between us all as we gave the DVD our best shot and the result is an extremely effective DVD which tens of thousands (hopefully) of folk will work-out to for many weeks and months from next January. If they do, they will become healthier and fitter as a result. It works and the three girls who came for the photoshoot today are testament to that fact. They have lost five stone between them and have maintained their weight loss for over a year and today they looked stunning in their fabulous clothes and professionally created make-up.

Another member of my DVD team also called in yesterday - 19 year old Allyson Wicklen. Allyson is stunningly pretty and 5’ 11” tall and she used to be a size 22. Now she’s a size 12 having lost 4 stone. Today I introduced Allyson to Pat Keeling, the proprietor of the Pat Keeling Model Agency in Leicester. I have known Pat for almost 30 years and, having worked with her recently on a charity event. Pat came along to Quorn House for the shoot just out of interest and to meet the girls. I introduced Allyson to her. Allyson is model material and I hope that one day she will carve herself a career that will capitalise on her natural assets.

Another successful slimmer who was invited to the shoot today was Cheryl from Wales who had lost 4 ½ stone with our Online Club, (www.rosemaryconleyonline.com). Cheryl is a mature student who is studying Egyptology for a Masters degree and, as there is no Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club in her locality, opted for our online service instead. Cheryl looked fabulous. With an enviable figure and now wearing size 8, it was an easy task to dress her to look stunning.

As I looked at the five folk who had visited us that day, I felt a real sense of pride. Not that I had created a diet or fitness regime but that, somehow, through the wonderful team with whom I work, we had provided the facility to enable these lovely people to make a choice to change their lives for the better and live it to the full. That, is brilliant. And it is that, that makes me want to get up in the morning. And long may it continue!

Win, win, win in the new look website competition

As you may know, earlier this month we launched our new-look website www.rosemaryconley.com. We hope you like the enhanced site, which has been made easier to navigate and has a fresh new feel.

To make it even more exciting, I’ve launched our first-ever competition on the site and ten lucky visitors can win one of ten one-year (9 issues) subscriptions to the Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine worth £19.99 each - just by answering a simple question!

So, that’s a whole year of receiving your copy of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine delivered to your door – before it even hits the shops!

Each issue is packed with great diets, tasty recipes and fab food ideas, along with real-life slimmer stories and advice from our panel of experts and it can really help you to lose weight and, most importantly, keep it off once your reach your goal.

We pride ourselves on the excellent content of the magazine and I can honestly say that I read every word that goes in it. I care passionately what is written and included as I want it to be informative and accurate, and inspirational to our readers. I love it when readers tell me they read it from cover to cover and then read it again!

The competition is easy to enter, simply click here and complete the form, and make sure you get your answer in by 31st August. But, if you’re not successful, check out the latest subscription offers to make sure you don’t miss every issue.

When confidence is key

Last evening I was asked to speak at a Model Show held in Loughborough Town Hall in Leicestershire. It was organised by the local modelling school – the Pat Keeling Model Agency – and the event was being held in aid of the charity STEPS Conductive Education Centre in Leicestershire, of which I am Patron. The event was supported by Next, John Lewis, Adams and George.

The theatre was full and 130 students of the modelling agency strutted their stuff, danced and posed like true professionals. Their ages ranged from as young as four to models in their mid twenties – boys and girls. Everyone had fun! The students had obviously worked extremely hard to practise their routines and the adoring audience of friends and family were encouraging them every step of the way. Pat Keeling should be proud of what she had achieved as the event went seamlessly. The very notion that you could organise 130 young people to be at the right place at the right time wearing the right clothes was impressive.

Some of the models were outstanding. There were glamorous models, male and female, in their early twenties who had stage presence, looked stunning and were confident without being too much so. I have no doubt that they will go far and develop a successful career in this cut-throat business. Some of the children were unbelievable too – gorgeous smiles, confident on a big stage in front of hundreds of people, and a dream for any children’s fashion house. Others were less comfortable and probably won’t make it to the big time but that doesn’t matter. Just going through the process of learning how to walk elegantly, how to smile, how to stand tall and hold yourself well, and generally, just building self-confidence is brilliant. Every single one of those young people, potential models or not, will have benefitted from going to the school and performing last night.

When I was 18 I went on a modelling course at night school. I learned about hair, make-up, how to stand for a photograph, how to dress and so on. My intention was not to become a model but to learn how to make the most of myself and the confidence it gave me was priceless. I would not be where I am today without the confidence that the course gave me. Little did I realise then that years later I would be putting what I had learned into practise at photoshoots for the wonderful folk who appear in my magazine. And that’s why I am at every shoot that we do, to make sure we make our successful slimmers look their absolute best in the photographs. Check out our latest issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness at your local supermarket or call us to take out a subscription if you have difficulty finding a copy. Call 01509 620444 and ask for Lucy who is our Subscription queen.

So, if your son or daughter want to go to a modelling school, encourage it. It will build their confidence and enable them to grow as individuals. I am so glad I did all those years ago.

The Inspiration of a Successful Slimmer

Yesterday we had one of our photoshoots for my magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness. Four delightful women, with ages ranging from 23 to 49, travelled to our offices in Quorn in Leicestershire for a very exciting day. Their weight losses varied from two stone to six-and-a-half stone and every one of them was an inspiration and brings to life the reason I do the job that I do.

As I sit behind my desk trying to come up with a new diet that will be healthy and easy to follow, and not involving foods that folk just don’t like eating, I write in the hope that people will be able to shed their unwanted weight. When we put together one of my fitness DVDs, we bear in mind that people don’t have loads of space in their living room so we keep the movements to a manageable level within a confined space, but most of all, I want the exercises to be do-able, safe and effective – so that folk will workout regularly and burn away their unwanted fat and slim down to achieve a healthy, fit body. So, when I have the pleasure of meeting successful slimmers who have followed my diets, worked out to my DVDs and been to our classes regularly, it is very exciting.

When the girls arrive in the early morning, we ask them to come without make-up as our make-up artist will see to all of that later, after we’ve been shopping. I drive the slimmers to Fosse Park on the outskirts of Leicester where we usually go to the massive Marks and Spencer store, or, as we did for the shoot on Monday, to Next.

One by one I take them round the shop to select the clothes I think will suit their colouring, shape and age-range. It is tremendous fun and the assistants in the shop are always astonished when I tell them how much weight the slimmers have lost. The girls are made to feel like film stars and we all have a great time. They are happy to try on colours and styles they are not used to and so often announce that they ‘would never have thought of wearing that’ had they been shopping on their own. I love pushing back the boundaries for them and witnessing the reaction from others when we find something that suits them beautifully.

Of course, their body shapes vary enormously from being heart shaped with a large bust, apple shaped when they have slim legs but not much of a waist, and pear shaped when they have small waists but wider hips and thighs. That’s why I like to take them shopping rather than have a stylist come in with a variety of clothes. Until I meet the person, I don’t know what will suit, what leg length they are, what ‘style’ or colour suits them as an individual. Each one is unique and every ensemble needs to be spot on for that person as an individual.

After selecting the clothes, then the jewellery and shoes, we drive back to Quorn for hair and make-up. The photographer is waiting and as each girl emerges from being made-over, we see the true beauty of our wonderful successful slimmers. And they do too! Next, it’s to the photographer. For all of them, until recently, having their photograph taken was the one thing to be avoided at all cost. No one wants to be photographed when they are overweight so now they are entering into new territory. Different people react in different ways. Some are embarrassed and it takes time to relax them to get that wonderful shot that will appear in the magazine. For others, they suddenly find a previously hidden confidence which is now being allowed out for the first time for years. But for all of them, once they see their image on the laptop (which these days happens instantaneously the photograph is taken) they cannot believe what they are seeing! ‘Oh my goodness! Is that really me?’ they say with tears of joy in their eyes as they see this beautiful, slim swan that has emerged from the lacking-in-confidence, overweight, unfit, unshapely individual they once were.

Our magazine photoshoots are hard work but, my goodness, they’re so rewarding! And yes, it is a fantastically proud day for me as I see the results of those hours of wracking my brain for ideas for my diets. It is also a day for recognising the investment we have made into selecting and training the brilliant franchisees who run our Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club classes because they are the ones who help these folk to reach their dreams. And long may it continue.

Forth Road Bridge

Today I’m in Fife for one of our Roadshows and last night we drove over the Forth Road Bridge, which goes over the River Firth. It is the most magnificent feat of engineering and of course it needs painting. As the saying goes, when you get to the end, it’s time to start painting at the beginning again, in other words it’s a lifelong activity!

It brought to mind the similarity with healthy eating and exercise. It isn’t about a quick fix just before you go on holiday but a lifetime of investment into good health and a fitter body which will serve you brilliantly for as long as you are alive.

In a week’s time it will be the Spring Bank Holiday weekend which somehow signifies the beginning of summer and we all become more weight conscious as we prepare to shed some of the layers and strip off for the warmer weather. Whilst it is good to have any incentive to encourage and motivate us into action, we have to take the healthy eating philosophy and more active lifestyle as a long term commitment and not just a short-term action, so we look good on holiday. It needn’t be difficult and a lot can be achieved by just making some simple changes.

To find out more, look at our latest magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness, for a diet and exercise plan, lots of recipes, as well as inspirational stories. The magazine is available in most large supermarkets but if you have difficulty tracking down a copy, call 01509 620444.

What is your favourite low fat food?

I wonder what is YOUR favourite low fat food? Mine are Total 2% fat Greek Yogurt, my own branded Less than 5% Mature Cheese made by Wyke Farms, (found in Asda and Morrisons), Dolmio Light Bolognese Sauce, and not forgetting, of course, our RC Low Fat chocolate mousse, (sold in Asda) which is unbelievably delicious. They all taste great and don’t taste like a low fat food. And that’s the key, in my opinion. But it’s good to know what you think and to that end last year we launched the Rosemary Conley Fab Low Fat Food Awards voted for by readers of my magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness.

This year's nominations can be found in the latest issue, or, if you would like to vote online for your favourite food please click here . Please take the time to vote because we want to encourage manufacturers to keep making delicious but low fat food and these awards reward excellence. Every completed entry automatically gets entered into a free prize draw and you could win a spa break for two at the fabulous Ragdale Hall.

If you love cooking you will find loads of easy to prepare recipes included in the magazine as well as a diet which, if you follow it and take some extra exercise, you could enable you to lose 7 lbs in 14 days.

Successful slimmer Katharine Murkett decided to lose weight because she didn’t want her son growing up with a mum who couldn’t do things with him like ride a bike. She joined her local Rosemary Conley Club class weighing 18st 11lbs and with a BMI of almost 40. Katherine now weighs 9st 13lbs and has a BMI of 21! Beautifully toned up and now stunningly attractive and positively sylph-like, Katharine has proved that you can lose almost 9 stone and look fantastic. Katharine’s full story and lots more photographs are in the magazine. Be inspired!

May issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine published today

As I’m sitting here in the sunshine it makes me realise that Summer’s around the corner and lots of women across the UK will be preparing to run the Race for Life. Training for such an event gives us the motivation we need to be more active and there’s nothing better to motivate us to lose those winter pounds and get fit. This year we thought it would be really helpful to create a safe and effective training programme for anyone walking or running the 2009 Race for Life to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. Mary Morris is a fitness guru who has worked with me for the last 14 years choreographing my last 15 DVDs as well as heading up our training department for Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs. Mary has designed a training chart and fitness programme especially for my magazine and it comes as a free gift with the latest issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine, which is published today. You should be able to get it at any supermarket, at any of our classes, or you can order a subscription online (we have a 25% off offer at the moment).

We pride ourselves on the excellent content of the magazine and I read every word that goes in it – proof reading it is the only job I do while I am away on holiday! I care passionately what is written and included as I want it to be informative and accurate, and inspirational to our readers. I love it when readers tell me they read it from cover to cover and then read it again!