Question 3 – Many men and women in Dubai see dieting as a quick fix to a problem. Can you explain why quick fix diets tend to not work and why it is more important to see weight loss, training and nutrition as a lifestyle change?

Any dieting approach works in the beginning, name it Keto, intermittent fasting or crash diets. And there is nothing wrong with fads diets if they are used properly.

For example, the keto diet should be used for clients who are insulin sensitive, not a way to gain quick results and the same goes for other diets.

Don’t eliminate too many food groups

The reason any diet works in the beginning is because clients tend to eliminate all the carbs and junk food they usually have while dieting.

However, after some time their body metabolism adapts accordingly and they go back to square one.

The reason those diets don’t work because it was used a quick fix without study or any science put into it.

For example if a client needs to consume 1500 calories to reach certain weight. They can do so by following a regular diet, keto, or any other diet as long as they consume the right amount of protein, carbs and fats.

However when a client decides for example to follow keto, they eat 80% of their diet from fats and they don’t consume enough green and fruits, so they don’t get enough nutrients.

Of course they lose weight because they eliminated the bad stuff, but they eliminated the good stuff as well because they are not educated on the matter.

This approach is not a good long term strategy when it comes to losing weight and keeping the weight off. People decide that after listening to a video on YouTube to follow a certain trend but they have no knowledge on the long term effects. What’s more this kind of guidance isn’t tailored to their individual needs, body type, physical activity level and much more. 

This is why these kind of diets and approaches to losing weight in Dubai don’t provide long term benefits – you end up putting the weight back on and more. 

Question 4 – Although everyone is different with different starting weights and goals. In your experience if someone sticks to sensible advice, follows a nutrition and diet plan and exercises regularly how much weight can they expect to lose in a 3 month period?

That will be very difficult to say, because a lot of factors will impact the fat loss process.

• Age – Younger clients will be more likely to loss weight faster than elderly clients
  
  
• Gender – Mostly men have faster and different metabolism than women, so they tend to lose weight fast, on the other side, women can tolerate muscle soreness better than men and their bodies are more efficient in terms of recovery
  
  
• Metabolism – Client with faster metabolism will tend to loss weight faster, same clients will take longer to build muscles.

Although from my experience as a personal trainer in Dubai, I had two male clients whose main goals were to lose fats, both in their thirties. One client lost 10 kg in 3 months and the second client lost the same weight 10 Kg in 6 months.

The first client was super disciplined with his nutrition and followed all the nutrition tips 100%. The second client was not that disciplined, he still followed some of the nutrition tips but was enjoying his pizzas and junk food regularly.

I can’t speculate that if the second client would have followed all of my nutrition tips fully, that he would have lost for sure the 10 Kg in 3 months.

However, he would have seen for sure much better progress, because as mentioned earlier everyone has a different metabolism and even the same person metabolism changes from time to another.

Question 5 – As part of your personal training for weight loss in Dubai what would you say are the most effective exercise methods to accompany a diet plan and why do you think these work best?

“Periodization” which means simply increasing the intensity of the workout and sessions according to a designed plan in cycles and according to the clients goals, as well variety is important however it has to be designed properly.

Periodization involves the client being able to track their weight loss/diet progress on a regular basis.

So, doing every session with random episodes of training exercises to keep the client entertained is not efficient at all.

I know that is what the clients are experiencing on social media nowadays, a selection of fancy exercises that promises exceptional results.

However in real life I design a program for my client, that he/she will stick to for the whole month, they will track every week their progression, to experience how stronger and more efficient they become in performing the same exercises.

That is telling both of us that they have gained strength, which means building more muscles and more toned physiques and as I mentioned earlier most of their fat loss process should come from their diet.

Question 6 – How many times per week should men, women and children in Dubai train (or take exercise) in order to get the best possible results when it comes to weight loss?

Minimum 3 times of strength a week, 1-2 times of cardio (if weight loss is required).

The above recommendation is for beginners, as clients get advanced, they can train up to 5-6 times a week for even better results. 

Question 7 – Often we think of restricting certain foods when dieting and training for weight loss. Is this the right approach and if so what foods do we really need to look at cutting back on?

Dieting in Dubai can be difficult, there’s no doubt about that. However, it can be easier than you think.

I always advise my clients that they can enjoy all their favourite foods as long as falls within caloric intake. So if a client should consume 1500 calorie with 100 gm of protein, they can have whatever they want as long as it falls within those numbers. One of the many reasons people fail when dieting is because they are restricting too many food types so I do try and avoid that in my weight loss training plans. 

Of course the more fried and junk food, it means less calories and less food choices so they will end up being hungry and not having proper nutrients for their muscles.

That is why it is important that clients get most of their food options from healthy resources and still enjoy a treat here and there but not the other way around

Having a junk meal once a week or enjoying 1-2 glasses of wine a week is fine but not making it a daily habit.