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We are now a few weeks into the new year and I wonder how the New Year Resolutions are shaping up? I am totally in favour of making resolutions because it gives us a focus on trying to stop the bad habits and to make the effort to develop more of the good ones.
After being so incapacitated last year due to my foot op, I was determined to make a big effort with my fitness in 2025 and I’m pleased to report that I have dusted off my FitBit and I find that very motivational. I put it in the drawer about 18 months ago when I couldn’t walk far because of the pain in my foot. Now, I am really enjoying my daily walks, ensuring that every day I walk up a hill to increase my heart and lung fitness and rebuild my muscles in my legs and backside!
For those who want to lose weight, whether it is just a few lbs or several stone, it is at this stage in early March that folks may find themselves disappointed and disheartened if they have not made the progress they had hoped for. They can feel that they have ‘missed the boat’ of the January motivation, but fear not. As we enter this wonderful season of Spring, this is the perfect time to dig deep and make a big new effort because nature is motivating us with longer hours of daylight, warmer temperatures and daffodils bursting into life. In the freezing cold we can hide ourselves in bulky thick jumpers that hide a multitude of unwanted inches, but soon it will be sunny and warm and we will be shedding some layers so we need to get cracking!
Here are my 10 Golden Rules for getting back on track:
- Only weigh yourself a maximum of once a week, in your birthday suit ideally, on the same day of the week on the same scales in the same place. Always weigh first thing in the morning, before having a drink and after you have been to the loo. This is your lightest time of the day.
- Eat three times a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Plan your meals and don’t skip any.
- Batch-cook recipes so you have portions of your favourite meals frozen in the freezer. It saves you time and having to think about what to eat.
- Stop snacking completely!
- Vegetables (excl. potatoes) are unlimited so eat plenty with your main meal, or a side salad with your lunchtime lighter meal, to fill you up and help your gut to be healthy - which aids weight loss.
- Eat foods that are homemade rather than mass produced. Your body will function better and you are also in control of your portion size.
- If you eat foods higher in fibre and goodness, they will keep you feeling fuller for longer so your hunger levels will be satisfied until your next meal, and your digestive system will work a treat. It really will.
- Make going for your daily 30 minute walk a definite commitment. If you are unable to do 30 minutes in one go, break it into 15 or 10-minute mini-walks. Also try to include an incline to walk up to boost your fitness and really work those leg muscles. If you go for your walk every day you will be amazed how quickly you will get fitter!
- Remember to do your three strength workouts every week, if you haven’t done them already, try the daily Amazing Inch Loss Exercise Plan videos as they are only 10 minutes long so easy to accommodate every day.
Here are my 10 Top Tips for low fat cooking:
Fat contains twice as many calories as protein or carbs, so it makes sense to keep fat consumption to a minimum:
- Rather than frying with oil or butter, use FryLight Rapeseed Oil Spray, or nothing at all if you use non-stick pans.
- Trim off the fat from meat before cooking and try to avoid eating the skin from chicken as that’s where most of the fat is found.
- Never eat leftovers. If there’s a lot, save it for another day.
- Make it a rule to only buy the food you need and don’t be tempted by special offers.
- When cooking mince, dry fry and drain away the fat.
- Only cook the food you know you will eat.
- Try the Recipes on our website as they are all low fat and many of them have demonstrations of how to cook them. We are continually adding new ones.
- Get into the habit of batch cooking – it saves time, money and calories as we pack the meals in portion sizes and freeze them ready for use.
- Avoid adding butter to mashed potatoes, sandwiches, jacket potatoes or vegetables. Butter is saturated fat and 80% fat which is not good for our heart.
- Always check the nutrition labels and only buy products with minimal additives and less sugar and fat, and if possible, more protein as that will keep you feeling fuller for longer.
Here are my 10 Top Products:
Some, but not all of these, are available on our website and I wouldn't sell them if I didn't believe in them. You may have one or more of them but are you using them? They are all designed to help you but they will only do that if you actually use them regularly.
- My Magic Measure® is the perfect motivational tool to enable you to see the inches disappearing.
- Keep those portion sizes in check with Portion Pots®!
- Use your very own home gym with a Toning Band to strengthen your muscles as you tone up. See our Toning Band Workouts.
- Practice and improve your balancing skills with a Balance Cushion.
- We have a variety of DVDs with workouts choreographed by Mary and presented by yours truly, that are as effective today as they were the day they were recorded.
- Why not dust off one of those diet books that worked for you before - there's nothing to stop you doing it again!
- If you have an old FitBit, why not get it out of the drawer, like I did. It really is very motivating to keep you moving. You may have an Apple Watch or similar which also measures your activity. Use whatever gadgets or Apps you have at your disposal.
- Make home-made weights for strength work by filling a litre bottle with water - or sand (which is heavier). Or put a couple of cans of beans (or more) in a small carrier bag in each hand to provide resistance as you work your muscles.
- As well as working the muscles in our limbs and torso, we can also tone and strengthen our muscles in our face. Facial-Flex® is clinically proven to strengthen the muscles around the mouth, neck, chin, jowls and chest and only takes two minutes, twice a day.
- Gadgets and gizmos only work if we use them and use them diligently, so think before you buy. If you do decide to invest, commit yourself to use your purchase very regularly and then you will reap tremendous rewards.
Losing weight and getting fitter takes time but with determination we can do it. It involves being disciplined with our food, (no cheating), conscientious with our exercise (we must do it) and we must adopt a positive ‘I can do this’ attitude! If you can commit to all three, I promise you will be ‘over the moon’ with the results!
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GAMMON STEAK WITH PEACHES
Serves 4
Per serving 212 calories, 2.2% fat (excl. accompaniments)
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
4 lean gammon steaks (approx. 100g each), all visible fat removed
2 peaches, cut in half and sliced
6 spring onions, chopped
2 beef tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 tsps mint jelly
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
- Preheat a non-stick griddle pan.
- Pat the steaks dry with kitchen paper and place directly on the griddle pan and cook for 1 - 2 minutes each side. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
- Add the sliced peaches, chopped spring onions and tomato wedges to the griddle pan and cook briefly until soft. Stir in the mint jelly and coriander and serve on top of the steaks.
- Serve with 115g boiled new potatoes (with skins) per person and unlimited other vegetables or salad.
Chef's Tip: Cut away the fat from the steaks with kitchen scissors and then soak the steaks in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking, to remove the brine.
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Don't forget, you can download and print a copy of all our recipes if you click on the image to go to the recipe's page on the website.
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Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.
We humans are very habitual beings, to such an extent that we easily fall into a way of living every day that is very do-able and also very comfortable. Much of what we do is done without any thought at all, as we are in an 'automatic' zone. Well, just occasionally, I like to take my class members out of this comfort zone and challenge them to do something different. This is good for them, I tell them, and it’s all for the benefit of their long-term health!
We are very good at talking to ourselves all day long. 'I should have done this...’ ‘I could have done that better.’ ‘I said I would do that but I didn't'. All of these kind of thoughts are quite normal, but what we generally find ourselves doing is what we normally do. To change that we have to take ourselves out of that comfort zone and into a whole new area of 'doing' things differently, and that may become a challenge, possibly uncomfortable and probably hard to sustain.
Rosemary has always been keen to give a specific timeline with her diet and exercise programmes - The 28-Day Immunity Plan being no exception. The feeling is that a short term period in which to attempt to make significant changes can be endured by most people, and the hope is that it results in even moderate changes to our lifestyle, then that can have a bigger impact on our health than we might think.
To make long-lasting changes in an attempt to form new and healthier habits, we need to start with repetition, not perfection! That way the new habit becomes progressively more automatic, simply because we keep on doing it. Occasionally we may lose focus on it simply because we’re human, but over 28 days of repetition, we will be well placed to continue with at least some of that healthier behaviour.
That's why for the month of February (a perfect 28-day month) I set a Challenge for my groups, giving them plenty of choices from which they could choose which goals they would set themselves.
And now it's your turn. Here is the Challenge I set. Hopefully, there’s something for everyone so just select the challenges you want to try – it could be two or more. The choice is yours!
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Shape Up for Spring Challenge
Challenge 1.
Walk 5 times a week for 30+ minutes, including inclines. It may be that your walks have become a little less regular, particularly over the Winter, so this is designed to encourage you back to walking regularly with the cardiovascular benefit of going uphill.
Challenge 2.
Do a Strength Programme 3 times every week. Following a regular strength programme is harder than going out for a walk but being part of a Challenge focusses the mind and commits us to do what we say we are going to do. There's plenty of choice on the website, why not choose any of the hand weight or resistance band workouts available on the Strength and Toning Exercises page?
Challenge 3.
Lose weight (1-2lbs per week = 4-8lb loss in 28 days). For this Challenge I recommended Rosemary's 7 Day Higher Protein Eating Plan (Newsletter 199) or to follow the The 28-Day Immunity Plan.
Challenge 4.
Do the Home Programme for Fall Prevention every day. (Newsletter 202) This is a short exercise programme designed to teach you all the exercises necessary to prevent falling.
Challenge 5.
Do a 5-minute daily stretch. The value of a short stretch programme done daily is very well researched and the commitment to doing one every day for 28 days can result in improved flexibility making everyday tasks much easier due to having more mobile joints. You can find The Whole Body Stretch Programme on the website to give you some guidance.
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I gave my groups a clipboard to sign up to the challenges of their choice. They could choose more than one if they wished and they were provided with a Challenge Record Sheet to display in a prominent position at home and fill in as they competed their tasks. Filling in a Record Sheet hugely motivated them to complete the task. There is a sense of pride in what they had achieved and it is there in black and white to prove it!
The Results
So many of my members have benefited greatly from being set a Challenge and have given some very encouraging feedback. Here are a few snippets:
Hazel wrote:
First of all, thank you for taking the time to organise our February challenge. Every day your challenge has worked its magic and got me out walking. The morning stretch is also a winner although I tend to do this at any time during the day - just to get a point! It has definitely kept me focussed! So, thank you again.
Helen wrote:
Lifting weights at least 3 times a week, for 10 minutes a session, has definitely made me feel stronger and has certainly helped when lifting a 2 and a 4-year-old grandchild in and out of car seats over half term!
Shirley wrote:
Taking part in the challenge certainly gives you the motivation to complete it every day. I signed up for the daily stretch and Falls programme.
Sally wrote:
Hand on heart - slow start but definitely feel the benefit, especially in my hamstrings. I am currently trying to touch my fingers when doing the hands behind the back exercise. Leaving my chart out is a reminder to stretch!
Jean wrote:
I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed the Challenge.
Ishbel wrote:
I have been inspired by your challenge! I'm patting myself on the back for what I am achieving rather than beating myself up about what I'm not managing.
I love what Ishbel has written here as it is very honest and realistic about what is manageable. A bit of a push in the right direction over one month can produce real benefits, even if only a part of that Challenge continues afterwards. It's all a step in the right direction!
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Did you know... 
Were you 'shriven' on Shrove Tuesday?
(Or as it is commonly known these days, Pancake Day?)
While you were enjoying your pancakes (carefully using up all the eggs, butter, milk and other goodies that you stop consuming during the 40 days of restraint and fasting known as Lent) did you give any thought as to why that particular day is denominated "Shrove Tuesday"?
The name comes from the old word shrive, meaning absolution following confession. Christians traditionally visit their church on Shrove Tuesday to confess their sins and clean their soul, thus being shriven (absolved) before the start of Lent.
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And finally...
Well, this is an action-packed edition to get you back on track if you are needing any motivation to get stuck in and shape up for the spring.
Mary and I wish you well as you select your personalised Shape up for Spring Challenge. Enjoy the results and the many health benefits that accompany it!
Have a great week.
With love and best wishes,
Rosemary Conley CBE DL
PS. This Sunday evening I will be glued to the TV for the final of ITV1's Dancing on Ice. Mark Hanretty, my professional skating partner when I took part in the show back in 2012, is skating with Michaela Strachan. This will be Mark's final year competing in the programme as he is retiring from the show, and his last chance to achieve his ambition to skate the Bolero if they are fortunate enough to get through to the final skate-off of this series. Fingers crossed Mark - I'll be voting for you, and maybe a few of our readers might be too.
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LIVE LONGER | LIVE HEALTHIER | LIVE HAPPIER
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