Rosemary Conley - Biography

Biography

Conley was attended Bushloe High School and Goddards Secretarial College. She then studied for an RSA in Exercise to Music. After losing weight herself, Conley began by running evening classes for local women looking to lose weight in 1972, under the name the Slimming & Good Grooming Club. She established a number of slimming clubs which she later sold to IPC for £50,000, working for the company to oversee the expansion of the club network. After suffering from gallstones, she adopted a low-fat diet as an alternative to surgery, and the resulting fat-loss inspired her to promote the diet to others. She became nationally famous in 1988 via her book The Hip & Thigh Diet, which went on to sell over two million copies. The Rosemary Conley approach is characterised by a low-fat diet regime, but what distinguishes the organisation from its competitors is that classes also offer a 45 minute aerobic workout with a trained instructor. Thus it provides a fitness club for people wanting an alternative to gym membership rather than simply another club for dieters, although there are similar product endorsements of foods and kitchen equipment. Conley's personal fortune expanded as the Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Club franchise expanded to 180 clubs by 2004, with 80,000 members. In 1998 the cost of starting a Rosemary Conley franchise was £12,000.

In 1999 Conley was appointed as Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire. In 2001 she became the first woman to be granted the Freedom of the City of Leicester. She was awarded a CBE in 2004.