-

TO all DreamBody competition followers,

First of all, I would like to congratulate all the participants in the DreamBody competition. You are all winners!

Our founder and the creator of the competition, Suhail Algosaibi, is on vacation so I would like to take this opportunity to reply on his behalf on how we chose our DreamBody competition winner.

Our judging committee consisted of six people and it was a challenge to sift through everyone's amazing results and bring it down to just one winner. The winner was chosen based on their achieved goals, their before and after picture, their written essay, and their commitment and effort.

Here is what Suhail said on his blog, www.suhailalgosaibi.com when announcing the competition winner.

"I have to say it was not an easy decision. The judging committee sat for a long time trying to make sure the right candidate is chosen. It came down to Simon and former GDN journalist Mohammed Al Garf. Though they both worked hard and got very good results, we went for Simon, due to his superhuman effort in attending the DBC."

Suhail also spoke to Mohammed directly and emailed him the following:

"As I mentioned over the phone, the two finalists for the competition were you (Garf) and Simon. You have lost more weight than he did, over 26 kg vs. his 11kg. However, the competition was not based solely on the amount of weight lost, otherwise only the most obese people would have a chance of winning.

So, seeing that the 'relative' results were similar, we decided to look at the attendance.

Seeing Simon's dedication and hard work, we decided to go with him. That is not to say that you did not put in any effort, you clearly did. It's just that he put in more."

Having said that, I know that there are a lot of Mohammed fans out there, and deservingly so. But I'd like to add that his biggest fans are at the DreamBody Centre.

Our whole DreamBody Centre team, who saw Mohammed's transformation every week, rejoiced with him on his amazing progress, called him when he missed a workout, motivated him to come in and answered his questions when he was in doubt. And, I'm happy to tell you that Mohammed has also entered our second competition with a very positive attitude and we support him 100 per cent. There is more than one competition and of course the Grand Prize to look forward to.

Here's something that Mohammed said in his essay for the competition, before he knew about the winner.

"I have really already won. I won a lot of myself back and my self-victory came with great results. Whether, I am the DreamBody competition winner or not, one thing is for sure, I now see myself as a champion - and a much slimmer one at that!"

Those are the words of a winner who has won his identity and his health back.

Numerous other people achieved amazing results and changed their lives for the better through our competition and I'd like to thank and congratulate everyone who took this step to a healthier life. Amani, Hamad, Abdulla, Fiona, Archana, Peter and so many more! You all have amazing results and we see all your progress and your efforts.

All your support to Mohammed is admirable but let's also support and congratulate Simon on his efforts and his winning. He deserves it too.

Saba Saleem,

marketing and

operations manager,

DreamBody Centre.

I LOVED GulfWeekly's editorial work. The information was accurate and the picture looked great.

Abdulrahman Alkhan ,

managing director,

Pet Arabia .