Twenty-four-year-old Sharjah-based Pakistani Khizer Khan is six-foot-one and fond of exercising. Before university, he says, he was skinny. But once he did, all those assignments and erratic work timings got to him.
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“Because of my university time and projects, I never used to have any time to focus on my diet, so I [put on] weight. But I was a lot into boxing, lifting weights and so on,” he recalls. So there were muscles, they were just wrapped up in fat.
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Over the years he put on 4-5 kilos every annum – finally, his weighing scale shot up to a 115kg.
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That’s when he met a woman who would eventually become his business partner. She introduced him to a transformation challenge called 30 Days Body and Mind. “They used to give me food plans and some exercises, and I used to follow that. I used to spend about 1-1.5 hours in the gym,” he tells Gulf News.
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Khan, who following his own transformation has turned instructor for others hoping to get fit, says there is a simple way to good health that doesn’t involve feeling weak or starved. These are his tips:
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1. Watch that plate: “70 per cent of food and 30 per cent of workout [that’s the ratio] when you want to lose weight, when you want to get in shape,” he says. And so while on the plan, he stuck to a pre-planned menu, which meant zero junk food.
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2. High protein-low carb works: “My diet was very proper. It wasn’t that I was starving, I was eating 4-5 times a day, but my food was a high protein, low carb. The only time I used to have carb was before my workout, so that I [could] get the energy to work out. I used to eat chicken/mutton/beef,” he says.
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3. Cardio is key: “I used to spend about 1-1.5 hours in the gym. I focused on cardio,” he explains. This type of exercise raises your heart beat and in turn helps fast-forward the rate of burning calories.
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4. Forget low-fat: He drank full-fat milk and ate full-fat yoghurt. “Just normal things,” he promises.
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5. Nothing happens overnight: Khan is committed to fitness. “For me, if I decide I have to achieve a goal, I have to achieve it anyhow. Of course sometimes you get frustrated because sometimes you need to reduce fat as fast as possible, but it takes time,” he says, adding he hasn’t had a cheat meal in three months.
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Three months from when he began, today Khan is looking to put on some weight – as muscle. He’s always been fond of exercise, the results are finally starting to show.
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Daily menu
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Breakfast: 3-4 eggs with yolk + 3 spoons of yoghurt, ½ apple and pomegranate and nuts + coffee with milk
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The meal: Chicken/mutton/beef gravy (with minimum oil) + salad (mixed vegetables and fruits) + a bowl of lentils.
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Snacks: Almonds, walnuts
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Every three hours, Khan ate a small meal.
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