How world went from fat to fit for Dubai's gold winners

While the gold reward was the initial driving force for thousands of residents to sign up for Dubai Municipality’s ‘Your Weight in Gold’ campaign, the winners of the glittering initiative claim they are determined to continue their new, healthy lifestyle.

Nisar, who hails from India, lost 10.5kg in the six-week campaign to win 15grams of gold. “Although I decided to participate because of the gold, now I understand the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle,” he told Emirates 24|7.

“This Ramadan, I was planning to lose weight. We all try to control our food intake during the holy month, but we end up eating a lot. And, it’s during this time that the Dubai Municipality announced this campaign.” The timing was perfect, he added, as it allowed him to learn how to control one’s mind.

“During those six weeks, I completely avoided rice, and my diet mostly comprised of fresh fruits. “I also exercised regularly, and worked on a simple, yet systematic way to lose weight.”

Nisar is ecstatic about his gold reward, and plans to gift it to his wife and mother. “They can make some jewellery, and seeing them wear it, will always remind me of my win.”

Jason Cambridge, who hails from Trinadad and Tobago, decided to participate because he thought it would be a good memory of Dubai.

“I lost 7.7kg, and I won 9 grams of gold. It’s also a good motivation to turn healthy. I hope to continue this lifestyle. I hope to play football twice a week.”

His pal Grace Mata added that the gold was a motivating factor, but she knew deep down that she had to lose weight. She went on to lose 6kg and won 7grams of gold.

 “I haven’t thought about how I’d celebrate my win. But, I am determined to continue this healthy sprint.”  Caroline Mwangi from Kenya lost 4kg and won 4gms of gold.

“I signed up because I wanted to keep fit. The gold did motivate me, but deep down I wanted to stay fit. This has been a great start and I am going to continue to exercise.”

Douglas Leach, who hails from the United States of America, lost 12.5kg to win 21grams of gold. “I mostly did this to tell my pals about how Dubai goes all out to reward us. It was the gold sovereigns and something fun to do with my friends.”

Talking about his secret to shedding the extra kilos, he added, “I followed a strict regime. I cut out soft drinks, sugar and fried food. I cut out meat in the last couple of weeks, and exercised a lot. My goal was to lose a lot of weight and regain half of it back.”

Over 2,600 residents were rewarded in gold during a celebration at Zabeel Park last Thursday. The total value of the gold rewards totalled to Dh2.6million and weighed 16.823kg in total.

Syrian-born Ahmad Ebrahim Al Shiekh, who won 63grams of gold for losing a staggering 26kg ilos in the six-week weight-loss campaign, was the star of the evening.

“We want everyone to understand that ours is an international city, and we are hoping this will be recognised for Expo 2020,” said Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality.

According to a top official, ‘Your Weight in Gold’ “is one of the most successful campaigns. We’ve seen that this has helped people become more disciplined about their health”.

He noted that earlier people would head to a gym, but not everyone was serious about adopting a healthy lifestyle.

This attitude, he added, has changed drastically since the launch of the campaign.

The success has been encouraging, and the civic body is planning to create similar campaigns in the future.

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