From overweight teen to gym buff

Dubai expat

Prachi Thakur wasn’t always the biggest fan of fitness.

She was overweight during most of her teenage and early adult life and weighed over 100kg. After spending years in depression and low self-esteem, she decided it was time for a change.

This year is her first participation in the Dubai Fitness Challenge, and it’s an initiative she has proudly partaken in. Her goal is to continue her journey in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but as part of the challenge, she hopes to inspire many others.

The 23-year-old Indian expat’s profession allows her to do just that as she is a personal trainer at a gym — a career she thought she’d never have.

“The Dubai Fitness Challenge is perfect for me because I work at a gym. It’s a time where everyone is motivated to get fit and work towards their fitness goals,” Thakur said.

“For my own personal goals during this challenge, I’m ensuring I get my usual 45 to 60 minutes of workout done. However, the key is consistency and that is something this challenge tries to target. Thirty minutes of exercise every day gives you consistency. My focus is a mix of strength training with cardio.” Thakur may be confident now with her fitness goals, but she said the journey to the healthy lifestyle she lives today had not been easy.

She had been trying to “lose weight” since she was in school. Even though she failed a few times, she continued to motivate herself to reach her target weight and a healthier lifestyle overall.

“I remember when I started, I was all weight-obsessed and wanted to get my weight down as soon as possible; therefore I started with crash dieting — crashed to the point that I used to have one apple in the whole day. I was very low on energy, so emotional, so cranky during that time,” she said.

“This continued for about 17 days and I lost about 8kg. But eventually, I had to come back to a normal diet and it took me approximately two months to eat like a normal person. I managed to keep the weight off. Then, I realised it was the wrong way, but it gave me the motivation that I can do it.”

Thakur hopes to inspire her clients, friends and family with her story. She also hopes that more people take on the Dubai Fitness Challenge and adopt the exercise routine as a lifestyle, rather than a monthly activity.