Dubai: A long line of Dubai residents stood outside the Al Safa Park Gate 2 registration stand waiting to sign up for the Dubai Municipality ‘Your Weight in Gold’ initiative.
Aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle and losing excess body weight, the 30-day weight loss programme will reward the first three winners who lose the most weight with gold equivalent to Dh20,000 each, said Eng Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General, and senior officials of Dubai Municipality.
“Participants who reduce a minimum of 2kg and above will get one gram of gold for each kilo reduced,’ he added.
With five different registration stands located across Dubai, residents will be able to sign up at the stand closest to their homes every day throughout the 30- day programme from 8pm to 12 midnight.
Registration sites are Al Safa Park Gate 2, Zabeel Park Gate 3, main Gates of Al Barsha and Al Khawaneej and the starting point of Al Mamzar Track.
Gulf News talked to Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC), during the launch of the initiative.
Bin Sulayem said he encourages people to participate in this great opportunity and emphasised the long-term message of the programme. “I hope the participants enjoy the workout but also continue to adopt a healthy lifestyle once it’s over. I hope they get addicted to exercise,” he said.
All registered participants will receive a call or SMS to confirm their registration and will have to return to one of the five registration sites on August 19 to record their final weight before the top three winners are determined.
Patiently standing in line at the Safa Park registration stand, Asma Abdul Qawi from Germany told Gulf News that she first heard about the initiative through a German online newspaper. “I heard about it and was really excited that something like this was happening in Dubai,” she said. Asma said she doesn’t have a goal in mind but is hoping to lose as much weight as possible by going to the gym three times a week and attending zumba dancing classes.
Another excited couple standing in line was seven-year Dubai residents Jang Xu and James Pullem. “I am planning to lose 5 to 7 kg in 30 days - let’s hope I can do it,” said Jang who also plans to shed some of the weight by taking zumba dancing classes.
