Boy 13, Indian woman: Gold winning slimmers in Dubai

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A 54-year-old woman emerged as the "biggest loser" to be the topmost winner of the competition titled 'Your Child in Gold' campaign while a 13-year-old boy became the winner among child contestants.

Coincidentally, both of them are Indians and reside in Sharjah.

In the neck-and-neck race to bag gold by shedding flab, Sharada Serigara won the battle by reducing a whopping 32.2kg from 96kg during the two-month contest run by the Dubai Municipality last summer.

The second place was shared by Ilesha Nijhawan and Ahmed Emad Ali Sayed, who reduced 31kg each from 110 and 135kg, respectively. Thani Mohamed Alghafry came third by losing 30kg from 100kg.

In the category of children aged 13 and below, Somesh Chakrabortty, a grade nine student of Our Own English School for Boys in Sharjah, won the title by losing 12kg from 97kg.

These toppers, and another 27 winners who managed to shed 20 to 30 kilos were honoured by Dubai Municipality Director-General Hussain Nasser Lootah at a grand function held at Zabeel Park on Sunday evening.

'I wanted to show a woman can beat men'

Sharada Serigara describes herself as a fighter who will not give up the first position in whatever competition she participates in.

"If I'm taking part in any event or competition, I must win it. If I don't have that confidence, I will not compete," says the 54-year-old Indian woman who became the topmost winner of Dubai Municipality's "Your Child in Gold" contest.

It is with the same spirit that Sharada participated in the weight loss campaign and shed 32.2kg to emerge as the winner among 7356 participants.

A UAE resident for 29 years, Sharada is an Indian woman who supports her husband in food business. "It is not just for gold that I took part in this contest. I wanted to be the winner and also show that a woman can beat men in such competitions also," she told Khaleej Times.

She said her body would reduce and gain fat too much depending on her food intake. "If I don't eat well for two days I will lose weight and at the same time if I eat well I'll put on the lost kilos in just two days."

During the campaign, she claimed she did not use any slimming pills nor followed any commercial diet plans. "I tailor-made my own diet and exercise routine." She said she switched to an extreme liquid diet to shed the flab rapidly. "I dieted so much that I used to drink only water and juices most of the days."

Her day would begin with a lemon and honey drink and she gulped a mix of cucumber and orange juices for lunch and dinner with lots of water in between.

A 5km-walk every morning and this liquid diet saw her dropping weight drastically. "I know what I have done is not good and not everybody can do that. But, I was determined to become the winner."

Once she was sure that she almost hit her target, the mother of two grown up girls started having fruits as well.

She is extremely happy that finally has lifted the title and hogged the limelight at the grand prize distribution ceremony at Zabeel Park on Sunday. However, she admitted that she has paid the prize for drastically losing too much of weight as well. Her skin had become very loose and she started losing a lot of hair.

She said she will keep the gold coins for herself as the reward for her hard work and may gift it to her daughters in future. -sajila@khaleejtimes.com

Three other lucky contestants won a raffle and bagged a surprise prize of 150gm of gold each, apart from the gold coins they had already won for the contest.

A total 40kg of gold coins worth over Dh6 million were to be distributed to the 7,356 winners who collectively shed 40 tonnes of flab.

From noon, thousands of winners, including many children, queued up at a huge tent set up for distributing the 24-carat souvenir gold coins in the denominations of 1, 2 and 5 grams. Individual winners received one gram gold for each kilo they lost while those registered in the family category won 2 grams of gold for each kilo they shed if a child participant lost a minimum of 2 kilos.

The municipality arranged 30 counters and allocated the counter numbers for the winners to collect their gold coins. However, the gold distribution could not be completed by 7pm when the grand finale was supposed to be held. Officials said winners could still collect their gold prizes from the municipality's Al Manara Centre within one month. -sajila@khaleejtimes.com

'Pre-diabetic condition motivated me'

When Somesh Chakrabortty was diagnosed with prediabetes last summer, the 13-year-old boy and his parents were shell-shocked.

They never thought diabetes could attack kids. It was that shock and realisation of the reality that motivated Somesh to shed 12.7 kilos during the 'Your Child in Gold' weightloss campaign run by the Dubai Municipality.

The gold-rewarding campaign this time focused on families with obese and overweight children to tackle increasing rates of childhood obesity in the country.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Somesh's father Sudip Chakrabortty said his son had already enrolled for the contest by the time his health condition was known to the family. "Then that became the real motivation for him to reduce weight, more than the gold prize."

A grade 9 student of Our Own English High School in Sharjah, Somesh confessed that he had bloated to 97kg due to the bad lifestyle and eating habits of children like him here.

Too much of junk food and sugary drinks coupled with inactive lifestyle have contributed to his obesity, he said.

"When I return from school, I would head to the grocery and pick up my favourite soft drink"I know most of the students do the same," he said.

Avoiding all these unhealthy foods and drinks and devoting almost three hours for exercise were what Somesh did to reduce his weight during the campaign.

"I was eating mostly salads and avoided carbohydrates as much as possible." He jogged for 45 minutes, hit the gym for almost equal time and played football for an hour-and-a-half everyday during the contest.

"Initially, I used to overdo it and feel exhausted. But my aunt, who is a doctor, guided me and I made changes in the routine. Then I felt happy that I was doing something good for my health. I became happier when my friends, who used to make fun of me for being fat, started appreciating me once I started losing weight."

However, Somesh wouldn't advise all children to go for a regime that he followed.

"I'm six feet tall and it doesn't matter if I don't grow further. But, such a diet and exercise routine can affect growing children even if they are obese. So, I suggest that they should consult a doctor and seek advice. But, I'm sure most kids can become healthy if they reduce fast food and sugary drinks and spend at least an hour to do some exercise." He said he will keep the gold he won as a memoir and a savings for his future.