The Secrets of Staying Young

Never has there been a better time to be fit and glamorous as a mature woman than right now! My date of birth might say that I am going to be 65 next birthday, but in my body I feel 35. In fact there is nothing that I used to do thirty years ago that I don’t do now. I totally love life and want to live to be 100!

Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to tell you to eat seaweed or even put tea bags on your eyelids. Nor will I suggest cosmetic surgery, because I’ve never done it. But in The Secrets of Staying Young, I have given lots of advice on how to lose weight and suggest easy-to-do exercise regimes that will keep you in great shape, no matter what your age. Plus there are tips on dressing to flatter your shape; facial exercises to help counter the effects of ageing; and advice on hair, make-up and how to take care of your skin.

This book is all about embracing our advancing years and maximising our opportunities to present ourselves as the attractive and confident women we are.

Rosemary Conley CBE is the UK’s most successful diet and fitness expert. Her diet and fitness books, videos and DVDs have consistently topped the bestseller lists with combined sales approaching nine million copies.

Rosemary has also presented more than 400 cookery programmes on television and has hosted several of her own TV series on BBC and ITV, including Slim to Win with Rosemary Conley, which was first broadcast in ITV Central and Thames Valley regions in 2007, with a new series in 2008. In 1999 Rosemary was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire. In 2001 she was given the Freedom of the City of Leicester, and in 2004 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for ‘services to the fitness and diet industries’.

Together with her husband, Mike Rimmington, Rosemary runs five companies: Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs, which operates an award-winning national network of almost 200 franchises running around 2000 classes weekly; Quorn House Publishing Ltd, which publishes Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine; Quorn House Media Ltd, which runs rosemaryconley.tv, an online TV channel; Rosemary Conley Licences Ltd; and Rosemary Conley Enterprises.

Rosemary has a daughter, Dawn, from her first marriage. Rosemary, Mike and Dawn are all committed Christians.

It has been a real pleasure to write this book because it’s quite different from my usual diet books or cookbooks. It has made me think about what I have learned over the years from a lot of lovely people who have been an inspiration to me. I hope this book will encourage you to find the determination to put some of these things into practice so that you can feel younger for longer.

I want to say a big thank you to Dr Hilary Jones for his encouragement and help in putting together the health advice in this book and also to Professor Raj Persaud for his wisdom and insight into the psychological aspect of ageing and how to live younger for longer. These are two exceptional guys who never cease to inspire, educate and support me and I’m extremely grateful to them both.

Fitness expert Mary Morris and I have worked together for almost 18 years. Mary has been my fitness mentor and inspiration for as long as I can remember and I have learned so much from working alongside her. I don’t think I have ever met anyone who has such a passion for helping others to become fitter and healthier by teaching people how to exercise safely and effectively. This book offers a variety of fitness advice and Mary helped me to put together the workouts for the different body shapes as well as the Forever Young Workout, which is designed to help us stay mobile as we reach the winter of our lives. Thank you, Mary, for everything you do and for everything you are.

Thank you to my wonderful chef, Dean Simpole-Clarke, who works so hard to create recipes for my magazine and my cookbooks, and who worked with me to create the recipes for this book.

Makeup artist extraordinaire Jane Tyler has transformed my face and my hair on many occasions over the years. We first met when I was appearing on ITV1’s This Morning in the early 90s and since then we have worked together on endless fitness DVDs, magazine shoots and my own personal photo sessions. I’ve learned so much from Jane and she has taught me that knowing how to apply makeup and which brushes to use really can transform our looks. Thank you, Janie. You are a star!

Special thanks must go to my favourite personal photographer, Alan Olley. Alan seems to be able to capture me at my best and I am so grateful for that! We have worked together for years and always enjoy the photo shoots of successful slimmers for my Diet & Fitness magazine. Thank you, Alan, for always going the extra mile to get that special shot.

Thank you also to Clive Doyle for the still-life photography. Photographing food and products is a very different skill and you do it brilliantly, Clive.

Thanks are due to June Kenton, founder of Rigby and Peller, for her guidance on finding underwear to enhance the different body shapes; to franchisee Maureen Hyndman for so bravely volunteering to be the model for the hourglass shape workout and fashion shots; and to the successful slimmers who kindly gave their permission for their before and after photographs to be included. Well done to all of you for keeping your weight off after reaching your weight-loss goals. Thank you also to Siân Lee for sourcing the various products I mention so they could be photographed.

A big thank you to my PA, Diana Buchanan, for so carefully managing my manuscript as I was churning it out, and to our Executive Secretary Anja Zeman for her wizardry in calculating the calories in the diet plans. You are both brilliant.

Huge thanks must go to my long-suffering editor, Jan Bowmer, for her meticulous eye for detail and special talent for making everything in my books flow logically; to designer Roger Walker for his care and attention in making this book easy to follow for anyone who reads it. Thank you also to Susan Sandon and Gillian Holmes at the Random House Group for commissioning this book and making it possible for it to be published. Last but by no means least, I must thank my mother-in-law Jeanne. Now in her 90th year, Jeanne gamely agreed to be photographed doing the Forever Young Workout with me, much to the delight and amazement of everyone who was there. Jeanne, I want to be like you in 25 years’ time! You really are an inspiration and a delight.

There’s never been a better time to enjoy being fit and glamorous as a mature woman than right now. Thanks to mature female role models and reality television shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, it’s universally acknowledged that age needn’t be a barrier to looking good, nor an excuse. When actress Pamela Stephenson reached the semi-finals of Strictly in 2010 on her 61st birthday, the nation was full of admiration – not just for her energy, but also for her glamorous appearance and zest for life. At no time did Pamela make any excuses for her age, she just got on with the job – and did it magnificently. And that’s what this book is all about: embracing our advancing years, maximising the opportunities to present ourselves as attractive and confident women, staying youthful and feeling fit in our maturity.

I’m not a fan of cosmetic surgery, nor am I a fitness fanatic. I’m not going to ask you to eat seaweed or even put tea bags on your eyelids – because I don’t do that myself. I firmly believe that we can enhance our figure, minimise our wrinkles and create a good look by adopting some simple and healthy habits – such as eating well and getting our weight to a healthy level, being physically active and keeping our minds sharp by staying motivated and stimulated.

At the time of writing, my birth certificate states that I’m going to be 65 next birthday (Dec 2011), but my body feels like 35. I have bags of energy, I don’t have aches and pains or mobility problems, I wear high heels most of the time and I love dressing up. In fact there’s nothing I don’t do now that I used to do 30 years ago. I love life and want to live to be 100!

Now, I’m not holding myself up as some great example of staying young – I have wrinkles, just like anyone else of my age, and that’s not what this book is about. Rather it’s about keeping our figures despite our advancing years, maintaining our facial muscle tone so we don’t have a saggy face, and dressing to flatter our figures by camouflaging the worst bits and maximising the best features. I want to help you achieve a fit and healthy body as you progress into the autumn of your life and it’s a goal that is very achievable.

Over the last 40 years I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some amazing experts in the field of nutrition, fitness, physical and mental health, as well as in cosmetics and fashion. I’ve learned so much from them and it has been a very exciting education. I’ve put that expertise into practice in my business, my Diet & Fitness magazine and in my personal life, so I know it works. Now I want you to have the benefit of that experience. I’m going to share with you the secrets of staying youthful and feeling 30 years younger. My aim is to give you as much information, help and encouragement as possible to enable you to live your life to the full – and to look and feel your youthful best.

Throughout this book I refer to a number of products that I’ve produced and developed over the years to help people to lose weight, become fitter, look younger and live more healthily. I work really hard to ensure that every product that enters my range is of high quality and that it works, and nothing is included unless I have personally tested it. You can be confident that I don’t sell any product that is ineffective or that doesn’t provide genuine value to the consumer. You can find full details of these products on my website (www.rosemaryconley.com). Also, I’ll mention other products that I use and can recommend. These endorsements are given without inducement or reward and reflect my genuine opinion and experience.

What’s happening to my body?

Once we understand what happens to the human body as we get older we can take action to counteract it. Our skin becomes looser and drier, our muscles smaller and weaker and our metabolic rate slower, making it easier for us to gain weight. Our eyesight becomes less sharp (though the bonus is that we can’t see our wrinkles as easily!) and our memory fails us in a variety of ways. All of these things do happen and we can’t avoid them completely but we can counter the effects of this bodily deterioration very effectively if we put our minds to making some lifestyle changes and adopting healthy habits that will keep us youthful.

If you are overweight, then I will help you lose your excess pounds and, I promise, you will feel years younger very quickly. After all, you could be walking around right now carrying the equivalent of your holiday suitcase, in which case there’s no wonder you get tired, your joints hurt and you can’t wait to kick off your shoes at the end of the day.

When I was preparing to write this book I decided to find out how it would feel to be very overweight at my age. My only genuine experience of being overweight was in my early 20s, but what about now – now that my body, my joints and bones, were so much older?

The photograph above was taken in 1985 before I started eating the low-fat way.

This photograph was taken in 2000.

I decided to dress up as a very overweight woman and then go out in public and walk around town, so that I could absorb the whole experience of being and looking obese. I wanted this to be a serious test and to really feel what it must be like to be getting older when you’re heavy and significantly less mobile than you used to be.

To make my face fatter I had a prosthesis made, which gave me a couple of extra chins. I wore a ‘fat jacket’, which added considerable weight and bulk around my abdominal area, and had a ‘Little Britain’ fat suit cut down to fit my small 5ft 2in frame. By the time I was all ‘assembled’ I guess I must have looked about 4 stone overweight. In reality, the weight of all my additional bits and pieces of my costume added about 2½ to 3 stone. Instead of wearing my usual size-8 clothes, I wore a size-18 skirt and a size-16 top. To finish off the look, I bought some comfy flat shoes. I looked matronly and I felt awful – huge and unattractive, and embarrassed at stepping out in public.

I got out of the car and to my utter amazement no one batted an eyelid! As I made my way down from the car park to The Shires Shopping Centre in the middle of Leicester, other people who looked just like me got into the lift. It was strangely reassuring. Out on the street an elderly lady in a motorised scooter whizzed past me and looked even bigger than me. Nobody looked at her either.

I walked around the Clock Tower in the city centre and looked at the clothes in the shop windows, imagining what it would feel like to go in and ask to try something on. It must be so stressful to try to find something that fits a very oversized body. I felt so ‘big’ and took up so much room everywhere. Getting back into the car was really hard work. Walking had made my knees and feet ache and all I’d wanted to do all day was to sit down. Then when I eventually sat down, I found myself sitting with my feet apart to accommodate my vast stomach and realised why older women sat like that.

Going to the loo was a nightmare. I couldn’t pull my tights up! There was so little room in the cubicle. How on earth do very overweight folk manage on an aircraft where the toilets are tiny? When I dropped something, picking it up again was a major operation. I could hardly breathe. Being so big was just awful and I felt 20 years older.

These were the physical inconveniences and emotions I felt, but what about the physiological damage it would have caused if my padding had been for real? If I truly were 4 stone overweight my blood pressure would be up, putting me at risk of having a heart attack or stroke; I would almost certainly have Type 2 diabetes, which can be life-threatening; my knees and hips would probably need replacing at some point and my back, feet and ankles would be killing me. Everyday activities would be hard to cope with. Even having a bath would be difficult, and the pace at which I did everything would seem so slow.

By the end of the day, I felt exhausted. I wouldn’t have believed that I could exercise – after all, going upstairs was really difficult. I imagine it would all seem so hopeless and I’d probably write it off as ‘I’m getting older and I just can’t do what I used to. Get used to it.’

But it so doesn’t need to be like that and this book will help you transform your life so that you live younger for longer.

We filmed my day in the fat suit from beginning to end and you can view it by logging on to www.rosemaryconley.tv/rosemary/fatsuit.

Use it or lose it

If you don’t exercise at the moment, I’m going to encourage you to start, even if you do only a little bit of activity at the beginning. Getting fitter by doing some activity that you enjoy on a regular basis is the most effective youth-giving medicine you could ever have. It exercises the most important muscle in your body – your heart – and just like any other muscle, for instance the bicep muscle in your arm, if you exercise it regularly it will become bigger and stronger. The heart is the ‘engine room’ of the body, so getting it fit and strong provides the foundation for a fit and youthful future. Exercise also burns calories, which helps you to control your weight as well as dramatically improve your body shape.

There’s a natural tendency for our bodies to ‘head south’ as we get older if we leave them to their natural path. Our boobs droop, our tummies get bigger, our waists thicken and our bottoms sag. It’s not an attractive prospect for any of us, but we can reverse all these with a bit of effort. Better still, we can prevent it happening in the first place if we develop a healthy and active lifestyle from our 40s or 50s.

In our younger years we are more physically active because we have to be – carrying a child on one hip while reassembling a pushchair, carrying the shopping, chasing after the children, doing our household jobs before and after we go to work. Life is extremely hectic and our muscles get a great workout without going anywhere near a gym. As we get older the pace of life changes and with it our energy expenditure (calories spent), which is why we often gain weight. We may not be eating very differently from the way we’ve always done and so we can’t understand why we gain weight and our body shape changes. It all seems so unfair.

Once we pass childbearing age, the body’s metabolism slows down dramatically. In fact it starts slowing down from the age of 30. But we can counter this in two ways. We can stay fit so that our muscles remain strong, which will help us to maintain our metabolic rate. Secondly, we can keep our weight at a healthy level so that we are able to move around easily without becoming exhausted, and exercise and activity will then become a pleasure rather than a chore.

When I’m out and about I see folk of my age carrying several stone of excess weight and struggling to even walk. It’s heartbreaking, because if only they could shed some weight they’d be able to walk around with ease and their whole life-quality would be totally transformed as well as their inner health.

So, in order of importance, to get yourself feeling youthful again, your first step is to SLIM DOWN.

They did it – so can you!

For further inspiration, take a look at the successful slimmers on the following pages. All these ladies, whose ages now range from 53 to 74, found a new lease of life after losing their excess weight and getting fitter. Not only did they transform their figures, but also their health and their energy levels – and they all look and feel more youthful.

Jacki Franklin

Jacki Franklin, 57, lost almost 4 stone at her local Rosemary Conley class and turned her life around. Jacki, from Suffolk, says: ‘Losing weight and getting fitter was the best move I ever made. I’ve ditched my “granny knickers” and now wear size-12 skinny jeans. I feel years younger, and losing so much weight and getting fit has helped my health enormously. Now I can really enjoy being a grandmother and live life to the full.’

Jacki Franklin before she lost her excess weight.

Jacki Franklin, having lost nearly 4 stone.

Ginny Jones

When Ginny Jones, 61, weighed over 21 stone she was virtually housebound. With an underactive thyroid, diabetes and almost crippled with arthritis, Ginny could barely shuffle a hundred yards with a walking stick. Her doctor warned her that her health was in serious jeopardy if she didn’t lose weight. Ginny, from North Wales, joined her local Rosemary Conley class and in three years she lost 11st 4lb. She now fits into a size 12 instead of the size-34 clothes she used to wear and is always on the go. Ginny says: ‘I can do so much more with my life now. I even go belly dancing once a week. Because I did so much exercise along with the diet, my skin is really well toned too. I really believe that doing this has saved my life.’

Ginny Jones when she weighed over 21 stone and wore size-34 clothes.

Ginny Jones, having lost 11st 4lb.

Sylvia Willis

Sylvia Willis is 74 and now feels younger than she did 40 years ago. Having shed 4st 8lb in 12 months at her local Rosemary Conley class, Sylvia, from Surrey, was so excited when she bought her first pair of jeans at the age of 69! Now, five years later and still slim, Sylvia says: ‘I dance and live life to the full. I don’t see why older people should act their age! I buy size-8 T-shirts from M&S and I now have a lovely size-10 swimming costume, which feels great. I hadn’t felt comfortable in swimwear for years!’

Sylvia Willis at 18st 4lb.

Sylvia Willis, having lost 4st 8lb.

Christine Cox

Christine Cox, 54, had attempted to diet for years but suffered serious food cravings to the point she became obsessed with food. Vowing never to join another slimming club, she enrolled at a salsa class, not realising it was one of our Slim & Salsa classes! Christine, from Hertfordshire, went on to lose a couple of stone in a few months. She says: ‘I’m in better shape now both physically and mentally than I’ve ever been. I’m not obsessed with food any more and for the first time in my life I’m happy with my body. I feel younger and physically free and my marriage has been rejuvenated.’

Christine Cox at 11 stone when she was obsessed with food.

Christine Cox, having lost 2 stone.

Pat Wolfendon

Ward sister Pat Wolfendon, 53, from Lancashire, used to weigh 17st 9½lb. After years of chronic ill health and failed attempts at dieting, Pat joined her local Rosemary Conley class, where she lost an amazing 7st 4lb in just one year. Now Pat’s a trim 10st 5lb and as her weight plummeted her confidence soared. She says: ‘Before I lost weight I looked and felt like a fat blob. I had no self-respect and zero confidence. Now I can walk along the street full of confidence. I never stop smiling because life is so good!’

Pat Wolfendon weighed 17st 9½lb at her heaviest.

Pat Wolfendon, having lost 7st 4lb.

How to lose weight

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