Forty female students at American University of Sharjah (AUS) participated in the Third Calorie Burning Competition organized by the Student Athletic and Recreation Department, recently. The month-long competition aimed to instill a healthy lifestyle among AUS students, as it encouraged them to work out and burn calories on a daily basis.

The competition included students using cardio machines to score the highest calorie loss. In first place was Rihab Badshah who burned 10,000 recorded calories; Mizna Saleem placed second with Nada Al Hajasaad coming in third. In addition to that, all participants lost two to four kilograms each. Dr. Mohamed Helal, Director of Student Athletics and Recreation, awarded the winners with the medals.

"The Calorie Burning Competition is a great challenge. I love participating in it and am really pleased that I have won it for the third time in a row," said Rihab Badshah. "It was a challenge as I had to follow a timetable and stick to the schedule or else it wouldn't have been possible for me to win. Finishing up my classes and running to the gym and keeping track of my calories burned was tiring but this type of challenge only comes once a year so I didn't want to lose the opportunity!"

Dr.Moza Al Shehhi, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, said in her message: "Organizing such a competition results in increasing the students' awareness of a healthy life style and the physical activities and exercises in their lives."