This Dubai-based blogger has the most incredible transformation story

Like a lot of other people, I came across Nadine's Shibly's story on Instagram. While health bloggers and influencers are a dime a dozen today, Nadine isn't just another trainer showcasing rock hard abs and green smoothies. Instead, she's an ordinary woman who, like a lot of us, struggled with her weight for years, before taking that active step to change her lifestyle. 28 kilos down, the mother of two tells us why she's never felt healthier. or happier.
Packing on the pounds
"A lot of people think the weight that I gained was because of my pregnancies - but it wasn't," Nadine tells me during a candid chat in her home. "My two daughters were born about a year and five months apart. But after I gave birth, I lost the weight. The weight gain was due to another reason altogether."

Having previously worked in advertising and marketing as a media manager, Nadine Shibly quit her job when she and her husband moved to Qatar. Shortly after having her two daughters, Nadine lost her pregnancy weight, as mentioned. However, in the four to five years that followed, being a stay at home mother in a new country caused her to sink into depression.

"I used to think, 'okay, I've quit my job, but for what?'" Nadine says. "Changing diapers - is that my true purpose? I was at home with the kids and suddenly, I didn't feel like myself anymore, I didn't enjoy doing anything anymore. And then I started snacking on comfort food and gaining weight."

Being a tall persona - Nadine is 178cm- the weight gain wasn't evident at first. The family shifted to Kuwait because of her husband's job and Nadine found herself having a lot of aches and pains that came with the weight gain - her knees would hurt and she couldn't sleep on her back.

"That got me interested in dieting," she says. "Over the next seven years, I would try everything - crash dieting, pills, detox sessions. Like everybody else, I was looking for that quick fix, usually before I had to go home for a wedding or a holiday. One year, I lost as much as 15-18 kilos doing a high protein diet - but when I would come back home after the holiday I would gain the weight back. I didn't know that I was doing horrible things to my body, the aftereffects of which I'm carrying with me even today."

The wakeup call
In 2014, Nadine and her family moved to the UAE. With her husband working in Saudi, and she being a stay-at home mom looking in a new country, Nadine's depression worsened.

"There are days I used to forget to brush my teeth! At some point, I stopped recognising myself. Although people in Dubai are quite sociable, it is difficult, in the beginning, to meet people," she explains. "I didn't feel sorry for myself - rather I would have this mindset that everybody was against me. It's a very negative frame of mind, and it got me started with emotional eating. Even though I would make nice healthy, home cooked food for my daughters I wouldn't eat it because I'd be snacking all day long. I would go from salty products to sugary products but I wasn't really hungry. I was trying to fill that hole in my emotions - not my tummy."

In 2016, her weight reached its peak of 98 kilos ('more even than when I was pregnant!'). As a result, her health suffered. She developed scoliosis as well as kyphosis due to her sedentary lifestyle. When she went home for the summer holidays, her mother looked after the kids as she had a bad back and had to be in bed.

"It was a chance visit to my childhood dentist that changed everything," she says. "At first, he did not really recognise me! But then he put me in touch with his wife's sister who happened to be a dietician."

Wary of more diets, Nadine was reluctant to go at first, but ended up visiting the dietician, who ran a number of tests - and told her the results did not look good. Specifically, she had a high amount of visceral fat, the fat located near vital organs that can cause a number of serious, long-term, life-threatening medical conditions including heart attacks and type 2 diabetes. Usually measured on a scale of 1-59, a normal person's visceral fat level should be below 13. Nadine's was 39.

"When the dietician told me this, I jokingly asked her how long I have to live," Nadine says. "She looked at me seriously and said that if I don't change my lifestyle, in the next one or two years, I would be taking medication for conditions such as diabetes and cholesterol. I was shocked."
Making the change
It was the wakeup call that she needed. When she came back to Dubai with her family, the very first day her kids had to go to school, she dragged herself out for a walk.

"It was a challenge - I was carrying so much extra weight," she says. Unlike her other diets, she didn't make abrupt changes, but slowly started incorporating healthier eating habits into her daily diets, by throwing out all the junk food and downloading fitness apps.

"I started reading up on nutrition. I would research how many calories I could have and think about what would happen if I ate healthy fats with protein, etc. A lot of people thought I was just on another crazy diet, but that just gave me further motive to do this."

Nadine joined an indoor cycling class, and after her first workout session, was surprised to find that, despite the aches and the pains - it truly made her happier than she felt in a long time. After that, there was no stopping her. She became stricter with what she was eating - cutting out junk food and sugar - and going for a number or different workout classes.
Maintaining a balance
"It was around that time that I started my Instagram page. When I posted my first before and after picture, people started messaging me, asking me if there was some new miracle product out there," she laughs.
However, social media fueled her passion to get fit - so such an extent that no amount of weight being dropped was enough. "On my birthday, I had a bit of cake, and I was so guilty that I could not sleep all night," recalls Nadine. "I had a lot of energy but I used to obsess over the workouts, and I was always tired."

It was a routine checkup where Nadine discovered that a lot of the ailments that bothered her before had gone away. However, the medical practitioner informed her that she was obsessing over her weight in an unhealthy manner - and that it was okay to let loose every now and then, a lesson Nadine takes seriously today.

"Losing weight and working out is not the biggest challenge," she explains. "Anybody can lose weight using unhealthy methods and crash dieting. It's maintaining that healthy weight that should be our real goal. Working out and being healthy is like a job - you can't just do it one day and then go back to your regular life. You have to commit to it."
Becoming a health enthusiast
After that meeting the medical practitioner, Nadine has finally learnt to let her hair down, to an extent. She enjoys having her favourite sweet (kunafa) once a month and will happily pick up a few chips when out at a dinner with friends. She works out about three to four times every week. Adding another feather to her cap, she recently completed her certification with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in order to become a health coach and is now in the process of becoming a personal trainer. Her mission - to help people like her.

"I want everyone to know that this is not a race but a journey. You have to keep running, and running and running. Don't beat yourself up for the little things, and learn to have a healthy lifestyle that you are comfortable with."

And there's no better time to do this, than during the Dubai Fitness Challenge which begins next week. If you're planning to join in - for any reason - it's a step in the right direction, says Nadine. "Dubai Fitness Challenge is one of the most accessible initiatives out there. We all know the importance of daily exercise and eating healthy, yet most of us don't think about what 30 minutes of exercise can do to the body. But as the entire city is mobilised, there will be many people who are joining in just because they don't want to be left out - and that is the best thing. If you want to get into a healthy habit, just join a fitness community. It will change your life forever - mentally and physically."
janice@khaleejtimes.com