DUBAI // Ana Sousa-Matos knows only too well the benefits of eating right and staying in shape, but that didn’t stop her from slipping into a sedentary expatriate lifestyle and piling on the weight when she moved to Dubai.
Eight years ago, the mother-of-two underwent treatment for rectal cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy, fortunately, helped to beat the disease. The 46-year-old, however, was advised by doctors that as a recovering cancer patient she had imbalances and weaknesses in her body that meant leading a healthy lifestyle was more important than ever.
But after moving to the UAE two years ago she gained the infamous “Dubai stone” as the weight piled on.
“I gained about two or three kilos in a month,” she said. “I was out of control, eating out, eating what I wanted at whatever time, it had to stop. I couldn’t keep doing that.”
As well as cutting back on junk food, Ms Sousa-Matos was advised to add weight training to her fitness regime to improve her mobility, energy levels and general mood. For the past 18 months she has been working with personal trainer Malin Blomdahl-Lenner.
Before Ms Sousa-Matos could even focus on losing weight she had to work on rebalancing her body and gaining back the mobility she had lost after the cancer treatment, something which gets more challenging with age and childbirth.
“After the surgery, I couldn’t even bend over to do up my shoes,” she said, adding that although she had returned to fitness training after her radiotherapy treatment it had only been since coming to Dubai that she really began getting her body back on track.
She started to realise that weight loss was not the priority, instead regaining her movement and strength were more important.
“I needed someone who didn’t pity me for having had cancer, someone who could see my potential and push me because they believed in my capability.”
Ms Blomdahl-Lenner said that it was evident her client had limited movement and a lot of weaknesses, especially on one side. For the first 20 sessions they worked on improving her range of movement. “It’s only really now that I feel happy to put a [weight] bar on Ana’s back,” said the Swede.
As a parent Ms Sousa-Matos felt it was vital to be a role model to her children. “One of our missions as parents is to be a good example, not just to say. I was showing the wrong example. The changes I’ve made have now benefited the whole family, the way we eat, the way we live.”
Even in her forties, she said she wanted to inspire other women and show that “it’s never too late” to make changes to your life and focus on long-term health.
mswan@thenational.ae