Dubai: The past two weeks of the Dubai Fitness Challenge has seen the participants Gulf News is following bursting with more energy as they push themselves to the limit everyday during the monthlong fitness campaign.
Apart from exercising everyday, the two couples have managed to modify their diet and are now opting for healthier meals, with one ditching fried foods.
Here’s their account of how the few days for four participants have been so far.
Anish Panicker and Anshu Anish, Indian
Goal: To be fit and lose 2kg to 3kg, and 5kg, respectively
“I’m more active now. I used to be very dull and unmotivated. Now, I’m doing 30 minutes to 45 minutes of yoga and Pilates daily. We take time from our daily schedule to do whatever we can. We sometimes play badminton or basketball. The challenge is very motivating. We have also started having nutritious food. We’re avoiding junk food and everything unhealthy. We no longer have the full Indian breakfast every day but just three times a day and instead of having stir-fried or oily stuff, we steam or grill. We also consume more salads now,” Anshu said.
“The past two weeks of exercise have boosted our energy and have given us vitality. I jog and walk most of the time, sometimes I play badminton. But because of my work, I still daily have to convince myself to take 30 minutes off my day to exercise. It’s very hard but we’re able to do it. We’re doing it for ourselves. We’re investing in ourselves. I have, in fact, set a daily alarm for it so I have no excuse not to go,” Anish said.
Joseph Wanyaga and Margaret Mandaine, Kenyan
Goal: To lose weight overall
“I’ve been pretty consistent over the past 10 days but my whole body is aching. I would often do cardio by watching and following group cardio exercises on YouTube so I can do it at home. I feel very energetic because in the morning I would have fresh homemade ‘energy juice’. I am more active now and I don’t get easily fatigued anymore like before. My metabolism has improved. When I’m running, I can now do 3km unlike before. Also, exercising together as a couple motivates me because we also compete against each other. But my husband wins most of the time,” Margaret said. “We have got huge progress, more so for myself, since we started. I have not measured by pants size yet but they have started to fall off a bit. My tummy has slimmed down considerably. I do a mix of exercises. I cycle usually in the morning, jog, swim and do boot camps as well,” Joseph said.
