'60 is the new 40'

Jan 9 2007 By Hannah Stephenson

As the diet season kicks in, weight loss goddess Rosemary Conley is still living and breathing health and fitness at 60. She talks about her low-fat lifestyle and why she doesn't eat out much, as her new book, Rosemary Conley's Ultimate GI Jeans Diet, is published.

HAVING lunch with diet and fitness guru Rosemary Conley is a daunting prospect for anyone,especially when you're an overweight writer with a penchant for crisps and chocolate.

As we settled in an upmarket hotel in Knightsbridge for a light lunch I found myself in a quandary about what to choose from the menu.

The club sandwich was bound to be caked in calorific mayonnaise,the burger and chips was a definite no-no and so the safer option was a platter of assorted finger sandwiches, which came with a side order of chips or salad. "Salad please," I found myself saying to the waitress.

Rosemary,who has just turned 60, is tiny. She's 5ft 2in and weighs around eight stone, she says,although she only weighs herself about once a year as she can tell from her clothes if she's putting on weight.

She admits she used to be obsessed by food and thought about it all the time,but not any more.She truly practises what she preaches - low-fat, sensible eating,smaller portions than many of us are used to and a good exercise regime.She's a woman for whom moderation has become the watchword for her whole way of life.

Today, she eats three of the four finger sandwiches on her plate,leaving the egg mayonnaise (the most fattening of the offerings,which also included cucumber, smoked salmon and lean ham).

She won't have butter or any sort of cooking oil at home in Leicestershire (think of dry roasted potatoes and you get the drift) and avoids keeping crisps, chocolates and other fattening foods in her cupboards.

Nor does she go out to dinner much these days.She observes:

"Food has lost its attraction - and I get very irritated by people watching what I eat. Also,if you go to a restaurant you'd have double the calories.I don't want to feel over-full."

But because she has lived the low-fat life for so long,she doesn't think about food as much, she reflects,and feels more energetic than ever at 60, still taking two exercise classes a week at the Hilton in her home town of Leicester.

"I've always said 60 for me was the new 40. We've got a gardener who works for us who's 82, my beautician is 83 and I think that 80 is the new 60. I've got more energy than I had when I was in my 20s.

"Ageing is horrible," she admits."My eyes are not as good as they were.It's the one thing that really irritates me."

Rosemary's come a long way since selling Tupperware at parties in the late 1960s.She's just released her 28th book, Rosemary Conley's Ultimate GI Jeans Diet,and her umpteenth fitness video,GI Jeans Weight Loss Workout.

Contrary to her ice queen image,she is a genial, likeable woman who won't have fattening goodies in the house simply because she wants to be slim.

Doesn't she ever get the munchies in the evening,when she would yearn for a packet of crisps or a man-size bar of chocolate?

"Never.The chocolate wouldn't be in the house," she asserts."I don't want chocolates,they are going to make me fat. It's just in my brain."

Dinner guests will also be served low-fat meals,which she insists are just as delicious as full-fat offerings.If she serves pavlova, for instance,she will fill it with Greek yogurt instead of double cream. She insists that it tastes just as delicious,but I beg to differ.

"We make choices in life.I make the choice that I want to be slim," she says simply.

Behind the immaculate image lies a clever brain. She's an astute businesswoman who turned her initial success at losing weight in the 70s into a £13 million business empire.

When her weight ballooned after taking a Cordon Bleu cookery course,she began her own slimming club and was able to empathise with fellow dieters.

She may have reached 60, but she hasn't gone for cosmetic surgery to keep ageing at bay.

"You might not come out looking like you,"she says."And where would you stop? I don't think I'll go for the knife, but ask me again when I'm 80."

* Rosemary Conley's Ultimate GI Jeans Diet is published by Arrow, priced £6.99. Her accompanying DVD, GI Jeans Weight Loss Workout is also available, priced £17.99.