200-Pound Victory: Hard Work Wins

“If you don’t fix this, within two years, you will no longer be with us. You’ll be dead.”

That was the assessment InnerFight CrossFit owner Marcus Smith delivered to Mohammed Faisal Al Qassemi after putting him on a body-analysis machine.

Al Qassemi was nearly 230 kg (around 500 lb.) at the time and could barely walk the length of the gym floor. Overweight and lacking self-confidence, he wasn’t sure he could make the commitment he would need to change.

Smith was optimistic: “Your life changes today. Forever.”

Smith pointed out that it takes incredible commitment to wake up and eat junk food every day for years despite feeling terrible. Al Qassemi just needed to flip a switch and turn that commitment toward his health instead.

And what a difference that switch has made.

After devoting himself to CrossFit training and healthy eating, Al Qassemi is now down more than 200 lb.

He’s one of the lucky ones.

Smith notes that in the United Arab Emirates, obesity rates have exploded over the last 20 years. That explosion, he says, corresponds to the influx of fast-food options in the area.

“The state of convenience, that it’s there, … it’s sort of given me a habit of emotional eating,” says Al Qassemi.

Fortunately, his sister, Shaikha Al Qassemi, happens to be one of the fittest athletes in the UAE, and she was able to lead him to his lifeboat.

“Eat well and move. That’s all you need to do,” she says.