UAE weight-loss: ‘How I lost 30kg in 6 months in Dubai thanks to mum’

UAE weight-loss: ‘How I lost 30kg in 6 months in Dubai thanks to mum’

The past year has been a rollercoaster of emotion for Dubai born and raised Mansha Thawani, who put on about 30 kilos in two months when COVID-19 struck the world and restricted travel. "You are just home and feel depressed and eat junk," she explains of the rapid weight gain. Her reflection made her sadder. "I just did not look good," she says. I had become 95kilos," she says. The five-foot-seven-inch Indian expat called her mother, who is in India, to ask for advice. "Listening to the sorrow in her daughter's voice, Premila Bakhru, took it as a personal challenge. Bakhru, who Thawani, describes as a fantastic cook, began with putting together meal plans. These comprised of small quantities of low calorie foods spread over six meals across the day. The last meal would come at 7pm. Every morning would begin with home remedies to boost metabolism; cumin and carom seeds in hot water followed by lemon in hot water. Thawani's family eats vegetarian food on some days and non-vegetarian meals on others; this is a religious constraint. Keeping this in mind, Bakhru would tweak each meal to ensure it would follow protocol. Breakfast, for example, could be a small