Obesity is becoming a major problem all over the world, and it is severely affecting the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This inspired us to create a mathematical model that allows predicting the weight, as a function of time, based on two factors: diet and exercise. An early model dealing with diet only was used as a starting point, and then the exercise component was added based on an experiment we have performed where a group of students, wearing pedometers, have walked on a treadmill for thirty minutes in an average temperature between 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, with fixed speed. Data was collected and used to calculate the relation between weight and the energy burned, then Mathematica® was used to find how many days a person needs in order to reach his ideal weight calculated based on the Body Mass Index (BMI). Finally, we analyze the model, show that it is realistic with identified limitations, and we present future perspectives.
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