Young Emirati lost over 100 kilos

Gulf News

Mohammad Qasimi made the difficult transition from nearly dying due to obesity, to living a healthy life. Here is a sneak peek into his story.

Transcript

00:00If you're obese or overweight, trying to find a plan to help you lose weight could be a

00:08daunting experience. Even figuring out what that first step is could be quite a challenge.

00:13We've come to meet a young Emirati who's lost over 100 kilograms. But at one point

00:19he was so heavy he almost became immobile. Let's see what his story is.

00:24Growing up, I took solace in food. So eventually to the point where I got to the ripe age of

00:3513, it escalated to the point where I started to binge eat. And I just kept going and going

00:43and going. And that was probably most of my life.

00:48Mohamed's battle with weight gain started early on in life, mostly due to his bad food habits.

00:54My typical meal in my day-to-day life, back in the day, used to be whatever my family

01:00cooks with a side of snack foods.

01:05By the time he was in college, Mohamed's fast food and sugar consumption shot up rapidly.

01:10It would be two meals as a lunch or a dinner with a side of sweets, ice cream. And it could

01:21happen probably five to six times a week.

01:25When Mohamed graduated in 2015, he was around 175 kilograms and entered a dark chapter in

01:31his life.

01:33There's a moment of time where I called the year of darkness or the age of darkness where

01:39I've succumbed to the feeling of depression or as I would start to believe in a depressive

01:48state that would keep me completely antisocial, away from my family, in my room for the longest

01:56time and easily I would stay in the same place for about 19 hours with five hours of sleep.

02:04It was not a good year.

02:06His self-imposed confinement further contributed to his lack of movement, causing his weight

02:11to skyrocket and life became very limited.

02:16During that time I couldn't even move about in a normal pace or in a simple pace or even

02:25I couldn't wear normal clothes. I would get from these stores that have up to 6XL sizes.

02:32I couldn't sit in my own car or in cars in general and it would be to the point of where

02:43my stomach would be touching the dashboard and I would have to slide it all the way to

02:50the back and lean it backwards just to have enough space to breathe.

02:55He even took the extreme measure of trying out surgery.

02:59Around 2015-2014, around that time, I had a procedure. I had a gastric balloon for six

03:10months in my body, lost 10 to 20 kilos, I can't remember, I think it was 10, and as

03:18soon as I was done, right back up.

03:21Finally, a simple invitation by a friend to just hang out in 2016 helped Mohamed snap

03:28out of the state he was in.

03:29There was this feeling of clarity that, hey, it's been a while, he invited me out, I should

03:37take this chance. And it started to make me realise, wait, what am I doing? Why am I sitting

03:42here doing nothing? Why am I just in this spot for the past 10 months?

03:51And I met up with my friends, I apologised to them and they accepted me back into their

04:00lives and stuff was getting better.

04:06He also took up an invitation by one of his sisters, Sheikha, who is a CrossFit athlete

04:11to attend one of her competitions in Kuwait. Little did he know that the experience would

04:16become a turning point in his life.

04:19So my sister went to this competition in Kuwait, which is a CrossFit competition, and she invited

04:27me, I declined for a bit, but then I realised that I could actually see my friend who lives

04:32there. So I accepted, went there with her, saw her compete, and saw some stuff that I

04:40didn't think that were possible by normal people. But then there was this idea that

04:45got stuck in my head. If he can do that and they can do that, would I be able to do that?

04:54Would I do that? Can I do that? Then it got to the point where I wanted to do that and

05:00from the amount of excitement that I felt, that it welled up, I just blurted it out and

05:06kept cheering my sister.

05:08Inspired to change his ways, Mohammed signed up to do CrossFit at Dubai's Inner Fight Gym.

05:14My sister introduced me to who is now my trainer, Andre, and the owner of the gym, Marcus.

05:21And there was this thing that Marcus said that really, really, really stabbed me that

05:27I needed to hear in my life. That if I don't do this within the next couple of months,

05:34I'm going to die. And that really stuck to me until today. And I have to keep that idea

05:42in mind because if I stop all this, everything is just going to go back up. My body is going

05:49to, I can't really say decompose, but it's going to deteriorate and I'd love this new lifestyle.

05:56Having not exercised for so long, Mohammed's start at the gym did not go particularly smoothly.

06:03I hated everything about it to the point where I took a few steps, hyperventilated, sat down

06:10just to rest for a few minutes and the dumbfounded look on Andre's face said it all.

06:18He was so heavy that exercises had to be modified so he could do them without hurting himself.

06:24Even using the machines was not always a possibility.

06:27It was so torturous to do all of the exercises that we had to adapt everything from the ground up.

06:35So skiing, I sat down on a box and just used my arms. Rowing, I kept my legs on the ground

06:42and just rowed with my arms. I couldn't even do weights, they were too heavy for me.

06:48Today, his food and general lifestyle habits are miles apart from what they used to be

06:54just two years ago. And the changes he has made have transformed his life in more ways than one.

07:00Day one, I wanted to quit. But I just kept thinking that everybody wanted to support me,

07:05wanted me to have a better lifestyle. So I just took it day by day. We had three times a week.

07:12It was just enough to have it shrink a little. And around the second to third month,

07:20I got that idea out of my head that I didn't want to do this anymore, I want to quit.

07:25Instead, I had, I want to do this, let's do this. I can see my body changing. This is good for me.

07:33I overcame my fear of driving and now I'm driving everywhere. I'm actually properly fitting in my seat

07:42and not like leaning back, like proper upright. And it's the best thing ever. I find it therapeutic.

07:48His advice to others who may also be struggling with their weight and don't know where to start?

07:54Research. Check who does what. Check what food gives what. See how much sugar they give.

08:02See how much sugar they give. I am not lying to you. Check sodas. Look at the calories on the back.

08:07Do they say zero? Yeah. Do you think that those are healthy? Nope. They're crazy. It's crazy.

08:14I'mma tell you, this is bad for you. Chocolate bars, they're bad. They're real bad.

08:20You think that they are healthy? No. You know the amount of sugar, but you haven't in your life.

08:28You like it. You like that sugar, but no. Having a healthier lifestyle is way better than having

08:33a chocolate bar. Believe me. So yeah, do some research before you start everything and start

08:39to slowly ease into it. Although Mohammed has had huge success with his impressive weight loss,

08:45getting into a healthy regime and a healthy lifestyle has been his biggest achievement

08:50and his journey. Sarbi Grandpaia for Friday Magazine.

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