When expats first move to Dubai they have to adjust to a new culture, lifestyle and diet. And from the moment a ‘newbie’ touches down in the emirate, they put themselves at risk of gaining the dreaded Dubai stone – 7kg of pure fat from living the good life, overeating and getting very little exercise.
Dr Lalit Uchil, specialist physician at Welcare Ambulatory Care Centre, Dubai, estimates that between 30 to 40 per cent of new expats gain weight when they first arrive. “The prime reason is the change of lifestyle — and the hot and humid climate makes it difficult to exercise outdoors on a regular basis,” he explains.
Kelly Lynch, clinical dietician at The City Hospital, Dubai adds: “Most people come from countries where they walk to the bus station to get to work, but here in Dubai we do very little unintentional exercise. Because of the longer working hours, lack of time and stress, people tend to gain weight.”
Aquarius speaks to three women who gained the Dubai stone, but managed to lose it. We find out how they did it.
DEBORAH WILLIAMS
Deborah, 38, is a British midwife.She lives in Al Safa with her husband and two children
Height: 5’3 (160cm)
Weight on arrival in Dubai: 70kg
Weight after gain: 82kg
Current weight: 66kg
“We arrived in Dubai in March 2007 when my son was four months old, and because I’d never lost the weight from my first pregnancy, I had two lots of baby weight to lose. But with two small children, a husband who was busy at work, and a new country to get grips with, it was a stressful time.
Ironically, my weight went down at first because I did not have a car and walked everywhere instead. Then the weather got hotter, I bought a car and we discovered brunch! I used to think, ‘Well, I might as well get my money’s worth!’ My husband and I are both foodies and there were so many different restaurants to choose from and you can get any takeaway you want delivered.
By December 2008, I had gone up from a size 14 to an 18 to 20. Things really hit home when I flew back to the United Kingdom for Christmas and my parents pulled out a picture of me wearing a pair of hot pants at 18.
Back in Dubai, I joined a slimming club called Good Habits that teaches you common sense healthy eating habits. They have weekly weigh-in meetings and I started to lose a few kilograms. But by August 2009 I was stuck again — the weight wasn’t moving. So my husband booked me in with a personal trainer called Matt Walters as an early Christmas present. I remember emailing Matt and writing: ‘I don’t like exercise; I can’t be bothered to do it.’ We started training three times a week at my house. At first I was just doing basic weights; I hadn’t exercised since school and it was a technique I really needed to work on. Soon I was doing cardiovascular exercises such as skipping, jumping and bunny hopping round the living room. Thankfully Matt is a lovely guy and I felt completely comfortable looking like an idiot in front of him. Now I also run three times a week and visit my local gym across the road.
The weight loss has been pretty steady. I’m now 66kg, I’ve toned up, and for the first time since I was 24, I can wear size 12 jeans. Health wise, I’ve got more energy, my cholesterol is within limits and my husband says I’m a nicer person to live with. I’m fitter too. In January, I raised Dh3,700 for Harmony House — a drop-in centre for new mothers in New Delhi, India — by running the 10km race at the Dubai Marathon.
Looking back, I think I was in a post-natal haze for a bit too long. Dubai made me put on the weight, but it helped me lose it too, because in the UK I couldn’t have afforded a personal trainer or a maid who could look after my kids while I hit the gym.”
Deborah’s Diet
Breakfast
Before: White toast with peanut butter and coffee with sugar
After: Weetabix with skimmed milk and dried fruit, and coffee with no sugar
Snack
Before: Chocolate or a packet of crisps
After: Skimmed yoghurt with pureed fruit
Lunch
Before: A sandwich full of mayonnaise with chips
After: Chickpea salad with tuna and a jacket potato
Afternoon snack
Before: Crisps or chocolate
After: Fruit
Supper
Before: Pasta dish with cream
After: Salmon fillet with sweet potato and Mediterranean vegetables
EMMA VERLANDER
Emma, 30, is a British picture editor. She’s single and lives in Bur Dubai.
Height: 5’4 (164cm)
Weight on arrival in Dubai: 72kg
Weight after gain: 84kg
Weight now: 69kg
“I’m very prone to gaining weight. I only have to smell a calorie and my jeans start getting tight. So when I moved to Dubai in August 2006 and was invited to dozens of work parties, I knew I was in trouble. My lifestyle involved going out, not sleeping very much, missing meals or eating late at night before going to bed.
After just two years, I’d gone up from a size 12 to a size 16, and when I flew home for a holiday I felt very uncomfortable on the plane. I still got bigger though. I went on one fad diet after another and then I’d get on the scales and find I’d only lost half a kilo. And if I broke a diet, rather than start again straightaway I’d think, ‘Well, I’ll start on Sunday.’
In October 2008, I reached my biggest at 84kg. I’d stopped going out because I felt so awful in my clothes and a woman in a nail bar asked me when I was due.
I instantly went on a diet, but it was my usual method of depriving myself, losing a couple of kilos and putting another one on.
By January 2009 I’d only lost 3kg. That was when I woke up and realised the fat fairy was not going to dissolve it all away. I joined Weight Watches Online — a British slimming club — and set my first target.
You follow a low calorie, low fat diet but because it’s a points system, you can eat whatever you want within reason. I also joined a circuit training gym for women in Bur Dubai called Shape Express, where you move from one machine to the next every 30 seconds. I went five times a week and would walk there and back too.
Every week I weighed myself; I was losing an average of 1lb a week, but it was hard work and I kept my ‘fat picture’ on the bedroom mirror to keep me motivated. I now weigh 69kg and wear a size 12 to 14. I feel great, but I want to get to 64kg so I’m not stopping yet. I still go out and eat steak but I’ll have it with vegetables and a jacket potato rather than chips.
If I could eat all the things I wanted, I’d go back to my old ways tomorrow, but I know it makes me painfully unhappy in the long run. I don’t think I can entirely blame Dubai for making me big as I think it would have happened anyway.
It’s just easier to do here in a shorter space of time. Friends and family at home will be brutally honest, but if you’re new in town, people won’t turn round and say, ‘You don’t look good’ — that’s the difference.”
Emma’s Diet
Breakfast
Before: Egg mayonnaise sandwich with coffee
After: 30g of cereal (Special K or porridge) with a splash of skimmed milk
Snack
Before: Biscuits or a packet of crisps
After: Coffee with skimmed milk
Lunch
Before: Sandwich with chips
After: Homemade tuna salad
Afternoon Snack
Before: Nothing
After: Two rice cakes or an apple
Supper
Before: Steak and chips
After: Salmon with vegetables, salad and rice
VANITA SAPRE
Vanita, 30, is an Indian banker. She lives in Discovery Gardens with her husband and two children
Height: 5’1 (156cm)
Weight on arrival in Dubai: 53kg
Weight after gain: 84kg
Weight now: 65kg
“I mistreated my body from the moment I arrived in Dubai in March 2003. I’d landed a job at a call centre and only worked night shifts, so the irregular sleeping patterns and strange eating times meant I ate whatever takeaway I could get hold of at 3am. I am vegetarian and love rice, butter naans and oily masalas and because I was a size 10 and weighed 53kg, I didn’t think I needed to worry.
Later, when I became a banker and worked regular hours, there was a lot of pressure and stress and the lifestyle in Dubai did me no favours. In Mumbai where I’m from, I’d walk for up to two hours a day, but in Dubai I’d drive to work and sit at my desk all day. By the time I arrived home the last thing I wanted to do was exercise.
In two years I gained 10kg, and I continued to get bigger after I had my children and did not lose the weight. When I went home for my annual holiday in December 2008, I was a size 18 and weighed 84kg. Rather than ask about my career or growing family, my family and friends only wanted to talk about my expanding waistline.
After that I felt quite depressed. I looked in the mirror and seemed to have no shape. My husband is a very loving person and when I’d ask if I’d put on weight, he’d say, ‘Just a little’, but I knew he was concerned.
Then two things happened. Firstly, I saw Pakistani pop singer Adnan Sami talking about his 80kg weight loss on TV.
Then a close work friend told me I’d changed and should do something about it. That was the spur I needed.
I had a consultation with VLCC, an Indian slimming chain with branches in the UAE, in June 2009. The consultant took down my entire diet and health history and afterwards I told her, ‘If you guarantee me a 20kg weight loss in six months, I’ll join now,’ and she said, ‘You’re the one who has to do it’. And she was right.
VLCC advised me to eat every four hours during the day and I followed the plan very closely. I also parked my car
20 minutes away from the office so that I walked into work. One month down the line I’d lost 4kg. I’d weigh myself everyday and loved watching the grams turn into kilograms. Now I weigh 65kg and wear a size 12 to 14, but I want to get back to the weight I was when I first arrived.
The biggest change has been to my health. I used to start panting after five minutes of talking on the phone. Now I’m more energetic and can keep up with the children when they run around. And the best bit is that people now talk about my weight loss rather than my weight gain.
Vanita’s Diet
Breakfast
Before: Nothing
After: Branflakes or brown bread with green chutney and tea
Snack
Before: Oily paratha and vegetable masala
After: Roti with vegetables, salad and two tablespoons of low-fat yoghurt
Lunch
Before: Chinese takeaway
After: One apple, one carrot and one cucumber
Afternoon Snack
Before: Nothing
After: Tea and toast
Supper
Before: Dal, rice, vegetables and roti
After: Dal and vegetables
