Ahmed Elbahy never knew the feeling of being fit and healthy.
“I was always fat and almost my whole family was overweight," the 27-year-old engineer said.
"We all like to eat a lot; it is in our genes.
“Being fit was not our focus, I wasn’t raised to be like that.”
He weighed 150kg when he reached a turning point in his life in August 2019.
With a height of 175cm, the Abu Dhabi-born Egyptian said he was “over-obese”.
“I was suddenly fed up with the way I looked and the way people looked at me as a fat person; I couldn’t even be in a relationship,” Mr Elbahy said.
So he made “a final decision” to lose weight.
“Since August 2019 I have lost 62kg. It feels like I dropped another person from my body. Now I am 88kg.”
He started with a strict diet that was limited to liquids and chicken soup.
“I lost a lot of weight during the first month and that was a booster for me to do more,” Mr Elbahy said.
“I decided to join group exercises, so I’ll be encouraged by other people to stay fit.”
He said the group classes helped him to continue “and not get bored”.
Sharing the benefits of losing weight
Mr Elbahy not only became a regular gym-goer, he decided to become a certified instructor.
“One of the exercises that I used to love was body pump, and it made me fall in love with workout because I enjoyed doing it,” he said.
“So I decided to become a certified body-pump instructor to keep doing it and to help motivate other people like me to reach their target.”
He started the certification process with Les Mills Middle East three months ago and passed the course with the help of instructors at his local gym – Gym Nation.
“Before applying for the certification process, I tried to get to know the instructors well and to make myself known to the group classes’ management,” he said.
Fellow gym members helped Mr Elhaby record a video of him teaching a real class that was required to complete the certification process.
Since receiving his certification on May 29, Mr Elhaby has been teaching three body pump classes every week at Gym Nation.
“The number of attendance varies between 20 to 30 people.”
The aspiring coach said he was eager to share the benefits of his transformation with others.
“Losing weight helped me a lot, not only on the fitness level, but also with my personality,” he said.
“I used to be very shy and isolated and hardly communicated with the people around me.
“So it made me gain confidence and become friendly with people.”
Inspired family to become healthier
Mr Elbahy now trains up to five hours a day.
“In the beginning, I could barely endure 30 minutes or an hour a day,” he said.
“Now I train in the morning for about two hours and I come back in the evening for about the same time.
“But I have some resting days of course, the body and muscles need [time] to recover.”
Mr Elbahy said he also inspired his parents to become healthier.
“Their eating habits changed a lot," he said.
"We are using less oil to cook and less fried food. Even the type of food has changed.
“My mother cooks with less salt and sugar now.”
He said he was also persuading them to move more and “start doing some type of exercise at home, step by step”.
Mr Elbahy’s journey had some bumps as well. During quarantine he said he had a slight relapse.
“When we had the lockdown and no gyms were open, I gained a little bit more weight by sitting at home and doing less exercise,” he said.
Mr Elbahy tried to train at home to keep moving, but found it hard to maintain.
“After a while I realised that I started to gain weight again, so I started running everyday down the street, despite the hot weather.”
While Mr Elbahy said he has come a long way since he took the decision to shed the pounds, he would never say that he has reached his ideal weight and insists that his fitness mission is never over.
“One should never say I am satisfied with my weight. I consider fitness a lifestyle now, you don’t reach a certain weight and shape and stop.
“You continue working out to get better endurance and gain more muscles – I will never stop."
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Mountain%20Boy
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The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
