UAE: Dubai residents take part in a weight loss challenge that rewards dieters with a gram of gold for each kilo lost

Record ID: 846672

  • Title: UAE: Dubai residents take part in a weight loss challenge that rewards dieters with a gram of gold for each kilo lost
  • Date: 12th November 2013
  • Summary: VIDEO OF SHEIKH'S VITAL WEIGHT STATISTICS
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Arab Emirates
  • City:
  • Country: United Arab Emirates
  • Topics: Health,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA7Y4U3VEKAV8WKJSS3NXAQOY6K
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  • Story Text: A glittering ceremony was put on for the winners of Dubai's "Your Weight in Gold" dieting challenge on Thursday (November 7) to celebrate and reward the 'biggest losers' in the competition with gold coins.
    Syrian architect, Ahmed el-Sheikh, was the grand prize winner of 63 grams of gold worth over AED10,000 (2723 U.S. Dollars) after shedding a whopping 26 kilos during the six-week campaign.
    Sheikh, who weighed 146.7 kilos at the start of the competition, said twice daily work-outs and climbing 16 flights of stairs helped him shed the weight.
    "When you exercise a lot and walk up 16 floors by stairs and don't use the elevators this helps a lot to lose more weight. It's also better to train more regularly - ideally in two goes - and to sleep early and wake up early," Sheikh said at the prize giving ceremony.
    The 27-year-old said he had tried to lose weight several times before the challenge of the competition spurred him to keep going.
    "I tried losing weight before. I would lose 5 or 6 kilos but thanks to Dubai Municipality and this great initiative I had the push and encouragement to fulfill this dream. I would really encourage everyone to try (to lose weight) because nothing is finished and we are all capable of doing anything," added Sheikh.
    The 2648 winners of the challenge thronged to Zabeel park on Thursday afternoon to pick up their gold coin winnings ahead of the ceremony.
    The challenge by Dubai Municipality awarded participants one gram of gold for every kilogram of weight lost. Anyone who lost more than 5 kilograms got two grams for every additional kilo and three grams per kilo if they shed more than 10.
    Nael Asaad said the challenge of a competition helped him shed seven kilos, winning him nine gold coins.
    "Every person tries to push themselves but the competition helps. It's not really about the gold - most of the people here look like they're financially comfortable and two or three grams of gold isn't a big deal, but the competition itself and the push to see how much you can lose in a specific space of time really helps," Assad said.
    The total value of the gold rewarded totalled AED2.6million (707868 U.S. Dollars) and weighed 16.823kilos.
    "Today we [gave out] about 16,000 grams - the equivalent of 16 kilos of gold - a number that surprised us and everyone, but it just goes to show how successful this campaign was and that people really were able to lose weight during this period," Director of Corporate Marketing and Relations for Dubai Muncipality, Mohammed al-Noori, said.
    The campaign began on July 19 and coincided with the holy fasting month of Ramadan in August when Muslims refrain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. It was initially set to run for one month but was extended by two weeks after becoming so popular.
    Final weigh-ins took place on September 5.
    Artisiom Dzendzivitski from Belarus was another one of the competition's top winners who shed 24 kilograms during the campaign.
    Although grateful for the competition's encouragement he warned winners not to lose momentum and go back to old habits after collecting their gold.
    "If you stay for a month and a half and don't eat nothing and then take the gold and go eat fast food then you will be bigger and maybe lots of trouble and have problems with health so if you start this you have to go straight [on]," Dzendzivitski said.
    Obesity is a serious problem in the Gulf and the Municipality said it would be putting on more initiatives to encourage people to lose weight and exercise.
    Twenty nine people lost over 15 kilograms during the competition and five people lost over 20 kilograms.
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