Rosemary has lived in Leicestershire all her life and left school at just 15. After training as a secretary and working as a Tupperware dealer she started her own Slimming and Good Grooming business in 1971 with an investment of just £8, and ran classes across the city and county. Ten years later she sold the classes to IPC Magazines for £52,000, but continued to run them until 1985, when she went freelance again.

In 1988 she wrote her internationally bestselling book The Hip & Thigh Diet, which took her all over the world. Since then she has written 37 diet and fitness books, presented 31 fitness videos/DVDs with combined sales of 9 million, has had her own TV shows on BBC and ITV, published her own magazine for 16 years and has run franchised diet and fitness clubs for 21 years.

With the advancements in technology and in the market itself, Rosemary now chairs one of the UK's leading online weight-loss clubs, rosemaryconley.com.

In 2004 Rosemary was awarded a CBE in the Queen's New Year Honours for 'services to the fitness and diet industries'. In 2012, at age 65, Rosemary took part in ITV1's Dancing on Ice and holds the title for being the oldest contestant in the history of the show to progress the furthest in the competition!.