# Overcoming Obesity and Depression | Iman Cave

**Author:** Sh. Abdullah Oduro
**Series:** Iman Cave
**Published:** 2025-02-06
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/24dr27rtA8E
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/iman-cave/overcoming-obesity-and-depression-iman-cave
**Topics:** Allah, Faith, Family & Community, Marriage

## Description
Shaykh Abdullah Oduro and Shaykh Ahmad Hraichie ("The Muslim Undertaker") sit down with three young Muslim men—Joshua, Mohamed, and Karrar—to share stories of pain, faith, and growth. From walking graveyards at age 14 to surviving a house fire, losing a father to war, and receiving a life-saving...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Ibrahim, what's going on man? I want to bring you to one of my temples here in Dallas. Here at Performance Medicine and Sports Therapy.

**[0:15]** Shout out to Derek and Nora for making this possible. Alhamdulillah. Are you ready to get some gains today? Yeah. You're not going to work out in this, are you? Oh, no way. Okay, then let's go. Let's go. As-salaamu alaykum. My name is Ibrahim. I'm 18. I'm currently a student at university studying business. I enjoy lifting weights, training MMA, and

**[0:35]** I also volunteer at the masjid. I am on the audio video team. We stream the khutbahs, all the programs and do some of the social media posts and stuff. I've been on the audio video team for nine years. I wasn't, I was just helping out. And then two of the uncles

**[0:54]** roped me in. They're going to hate that I said uncle, so I got to do it again. They gave me small tasks at the beginning, and then they ended up asking me to join the team and help stream. Ibrahim, alhamdulillah. I saw you in the gym doing a stand up chest press with your man, mashallah. What are your fitness goals, man? Get lean, be more active, like

**[1:13]** I need to improve my cardio. It used to be really good. And then I switched to more weight training, which was less of the HIIT training to build more muscle, but I should have incorporated more cardio into it. And now my cardio is just really bad. I mean, look, usually what

**[1:30]** I do almost every time when I come in the gym is I'm doing some type of full body warmup. The lower you get, it's going to work more of your core and your shoulder. Bam. Yeah, full range of motion. Get that chest. Bam. Good. Boom. Yeah. Into the ground. Yeah. Nice.

**[1:48]** We're staying in one position while the muscle is flat. Core work, baby. Yes. Shoulders back, core flexed. Push off of that right foot to bring yourself. Pull here. Good. Yes. So what made you get into fitness, man? Being overweight. Being overweight. Yeah. Shoulders

**[2:06]** back. Shoulders back. You control it. Don't let it control you. Yes. OK. Now let's push with it. Let's push with it. When did you sit and say to yourself, I'm overweight? Because I mean, sometimes you don't admit it. You know what I mean? So it was, I guess it had

**[2:22]** accumulated over a few years. Like in the beginning, you're like, oh yeah, whatever. And then it just gets worse and worse. How old were you and how old did you weigh? I was 15 and I weighed 250. 250 was your weight? Yeah. At 15 years old? Yeah. After not being

**[2:39]** able to make friends and not having a like decent circle and always being seen as the kid who was volunteering and people not wanting to like associate with me, I ended up eating more because I eat when I'm like nervous, anxious, or just sad. I ended up gaining,

**[2:59]** I want to say 60, 70 pounds in a year and a half, two years. So it just got really bad at that point. Yeah. And then that led me to what happened after. Nothing ever really like. Bring your waist down a little more. Yes. Your parents are telling you? Yeah. And they're like.

**[3:19]** Yes. I like that. That's how you do it. In like 2019. Pushing to the ground. They'd gotten me a gym membership and come with me and stuff. But I never really stuck to anything. Why? I didn't have the motivation to. OK. I was unmotivated. I don't really. Bigger steps?

**[3:35]** I didn't really care. And then 2021 came. I don't know. I just. I didn't like how it looked. I didn't like how it felt. It was. It was tiring to do anything. Tired all the time. Tired sitting down doing nothing. It got to the point where. I was missing my salah or when I was

**[3:58]** praying, I wasn't in it to pray. I was just doing the motions. I was I was oftentimes, I would say daily, probably having suicidal thoughts. It was a place where it's like. You don't want to be.

**[4:18]** When you when you're in that moment, you feel stuck. You feel like there's nothing else. I was feeling lethargic all the time. I don't have any motivation to do anything. Shoulders chest out like even school. The only thing I wanted to do was play video games.

**[4:36]** Did you realize the fact that you were feeling lethargic is because you were overweight? Yeah. And that's what made you say, you know what, I got to do something. Yeah. And then the other thing was my parents were like, because they noticed that I gained a lot of weight and covered. So they're like, look, this is going to happen after the trip. We're going to put you

**[4:56]** in with so I'd be cardio and MMA training, a little bit of weight training here and there. And I was like, OK, fine. The first day comes around. I do not want to be there. Worst day working out of my life. All right. Terrible. When they told you

**[5:13]** that you're going to go with Abdul Kareem, what was going through your mind? He's a fighter. Cool to train with like fighters and stuff like that. So it was cool to train with him. Yeah. Let's be honest. Was it at the same time like, you know, my friends are going to see what I said. What did you do last weekend?

**[5:31]** Yeah. I love it. I love it. I love it, bro. And they had told me this before we went on the trip during the trip, just something like, oh, I have to do I have to actually push myself. I don't want to do this anymore.

**[5:47]** But then I guess so when I started, I still don't want to do it every for the good first month. Every time I had to go, you're terrible. Yeah. When I was there, I felt really good even after the workout. But then every time before, because I don't want to put myself through the pain.

**[6:03]** It is a pain to work out in the beginning. Speaking of pain, how's it feeling in your legs? And I see you pacing. You're ready to go. So I'm talking. That's why I love farmers. Let's just start with let's see how you are with the let's see what you put at the OK, you point at the come scenes, the come scenes. Let's go. That's crazy. You said you felt better

**[6:23]** after you were done. Yep. Let's even rewind that even while you were doing it, while you're doing it's pain, while you're resting is nice. Nice. It's especially in the beginning. Adversity is hard, but you just have to push through it.

**[6:40]** I love it. I love it. When did it switch as soon as you started jumping rope or something like because you said while you're in the car, you don't want to go. Right. Yeah. Why didn't you want to go? What was it? I don't know. I knew what was going to happen. I knew that at least I knew the beginning workouts. I didn't know anything else. What? I knew that

**[6:58]** I have to go on the salt bike for five minutes. I'm getting a horrendous warm up. He got you on the salt bike in the beginning. Warm up every day. What's going through your mind as a 16 year old that is 250 pounds

**[7:18]** what are you thinking that makes you keep going? Like why you're on the assault bike? Cause I know if I stop, he's going to make me do more. Why do you care? You just say, look, I'm ready to go home because I don't have a car. My parents, I have to be there for an hour. So there was a portion of no options in your mind. Okay. Okay.

**[7:38]** Is that when it switched? Like we say, okay, I got no option. Mine as well. Might as well make the best of it. Might as well make the best of it. Might as well make the best of it. When do you start to say to yourself, this is working. This may help me. When I actually started seeing

**[7:53]** results. What were you, what were you facing socially? Like at the Masat, at the Masjid, if there was. So at the Masjid I was kind of known as the kid who volunteers. Okay. So it didn't all help, I guess, because there's sometimes, I guess some people think if you

**[8:10]** volunteer at the Masjid too much, you don't have anything else to do. It actually hurt. It hurt because they didn't know that like, I was into the same stuff, like cars, video games. Like I didn't spend my whole day at the Masjid. I was there sometimes, but those times that I

**[8:28]** was there, they would always see me doing stuff. Kids take the perception of their parents. So there was, I'd say a group of people, like actually a lot that didn't actually want to like associate with me or be my friends because of that. So that hurt mentally. So I would keep,

**[8:49]** that was like a main trigger. Like I didn't have much of a social circle. Why was it like, okay, we don't want to befriend Ibrahim because he's involved in Masjid. Is it because due to the fact you're involved with the Masjid, you're not cool? I'm not cool. And maybe I'm too good for them.

**[9:05]** That's deep, man. Like, I didn't really care at that point. Like I was a little bit overweight then. Like I was, Put that left shoulder up. Yes. I was, I think I was 160. Control your walking. You control it. Don't let it control you. I think I was 160 at like 13, 14 maybe. But then at that point I was like, people aren't

**[9:25]** going to be my friends anyway. So what's the point? And then after that, then I started getting bullied for being overweight. So that just hurt even more.

**[9:41]** And things just piled up. How did that make you feel, man? I hurt because it wasn't just the kids. There'd be some uncles too. I was like, come on guys, why y'all gotta do this? Like what would they say to him? Like, oh, you need to start working out. You're overweight. Like stop eating so much.

**[10:01]** Do you think that they're, they feel they're giving you good advice? Yeah. All the time. But it's also See, if it was someone I knew or maybe like respected, I'd take it. I don't know you well. Why am I going to take advice from you?

**[10:18]** So you're going to the masjid and you're still going to the, they're actually going through the motions, but you're inside, it's piling up. You're not feeling it. You're doing it to do it. You're not having the connection. So why do you think

**[10:34]** the youth, like young guys, if they're going through that depression, they're going through that sadness, you know, frustration, lack of motivation, what keeps them going to the masjid? A lot of times they don't, but then it like, in my case, my parents would make me go,

**[10:51]** which is honestly, if I didn't have that, I don't know where I'd, because you still have some sort of connection, but it's like, you're going there to pray, but you're not having the connection, but you're still going there to pray. I feel like once I started working out, a lot of things like just changed.

**[11:08]** When you're putting your time into one thing and then you, you actually focused on something. You have, you have time for other things, I guess. Things fall into place. Things fall into place. So the, the, what the, the behaviors and skills that you've

**[11:24]** got from working out transfers over to other things in life. Dedication. Dedication. And mental fortitude. So that, how does that translate over into the deen? Because you know, you have to do something like if, Like salah for example. Like salah. You know, you have to do it, but now you're doing it,

**[11:43]** not just to do it, but to actually reap the benefits. So that increases your connection with Allah ta'ala. Okay. And I feel like it helps when you have a stronger connection with your deen,

**[11:59]** it helps you push through like workouts. Oh man. You can see you're going to make another show, man. No doubt. No doubt about it. And that's why I love it so much. It's worship for me. Yeah. And that's where that's where you get into the, you know, this is actually worship because it's a temple that Allah has given you.

**[12:15]** And so, let's see, let's see, let's see your side. Let's see. Actually. No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I apologize. I apologize. Shay. You're going to go 25. All right. You good with it? Sure.

**[12:31]** We'll see. Put a bismillah on it. Let's go. All right. All right. Stay tight at the bottom. Breathe in deep. Breathe in deep. Make your stomach. Oh yeah. Nice.

**[12:46]** Breathe in deep. Everything. Give it everything. Give it everything. Come on. We're going for five. Yes. Okay. Okay. Oh yeah. You got three more. You got three more. Let's go. And the left side.

**[13:02]** Nice work, baby. Nice work. Nice work. Nice work. I like it. I like it. So you ready to go transition to get some protein? Yes, sir. I'm going to be like, you ever heard of a company called Smokey D's? Yeah, maybe. Maybe? Maybe. Okay. Let's get some. Bismillah.

**[13:18]** Is this the official Smokey D's barbecue sauce? Yep. How do you apply it? How do you don the Smokey D's onto the... You can pour a little bit onto the ribs. Okay. When you're eating brisket, people pour it onto the... It's like frowned upon. Give me the Smokey D's filk.

**[13:34]** You can't microwave it. That's basically haram. Really? You have to re-oven it? Yeah. You got to put it in the oven. Oven and butter. And then, even for ribs. And then don't pour sauce all over your brisket. It's disrespectful.

**[13:50]** But pouring a little bit on the ribs is fine. Okay. Because we've gotten your brisket. We microwaved it. But it's still fire. But you're supposed to... Oh, okay. That takes too long to put in the oven, man. True. But it tastes so much better. It tastes so much better. I mean, what you were telling me about... It was interesting what you were telling me about how people not wanting to be considered,

**[14:10]** you know, like you're in need or to know that you're someone that has quote-unquote problems. But how did this help you with your deen? Like your iman, your faith in Allah and your practicing the deen consciously. Like I said, like dedication and mental fortitude and working out.

**[14:29]** You have to apply that because once you start doing it a little bit, you'll see the barakah in your life. There's this feeling that you get when you're actually like holding on to your faith. And you're... Especially in the beginning, like when you haven't done it in so long

**[14:46]** or when you weren't as connected to it. The connection is that when you don't pray, you miss it or you feel wrong that you don't have it. Interesting. But when you do have it, you feel fulfilled. Where did friends come in, man? I mean like friends, I mean like... Okay, so you're coming back to the deen, but some friends may not be coming back to the deen. You know, not all of them are gonna work out, right? Mm-hmm. Did you have to leave some off? No, no. Alhamdulillah, no. Because at that time, everyone was basically pushing each other in the group. Really? Other people were going through different things. So we were all just like getting on top of it. It helped to have that circle. I mean, everyone's going through things, but if you can find

**[15:29]** a group of people, a community, a circle, a group of friends that will actually help you and push you and you can push them at the same time, you found the right people. So taking that advice, did you have to call some of your friends out every now and then? Mm-hmm. Really? Yeah. And they called me out too.

**[15:48]** So what would you advise the young guys, man, as far as fitness is concerned? What are some guys that don't want to work out? I mean, what it did for you, it's not gonna work for everybody. Things don't happen as fast as we want them to. You find a lot of guys who want things to happen overnight, a lot of things in life? I wanted it to happen overnight. I didn't want to go train three days a week.

**[16:06]** But you said when you started seeing the results in your stomach, you're just like, okay, this is working. Yeah. Did you have friends at that time? That's right. When COVID stopped. So we'd hang out more. I want to ask you, like, how do you find the balance between family, school, work and social life? Like there's so many different things to juggle.

**[16:27]** One thing that I realized is that the focus is knowing what to deny yourself. So you have to know what to say no to in regards to your family. You have to know what to say no to in regards to your work. You're going to know what to have to say no to in regards to the gym, you know, fitness.

**[16:44]** It's knowing what to say no to in each and every aspect of your life to where you're able to focus on what to say yes to. So for every 100 no's should be one yes. I need to be focusing on this more than that right now. I need to be focusing on being with my boys on the weekends or whatever, as opposed to going to the gym at that time. So it's just knowing what to say no to. And going through that is a process.

**[17:07]** You eventually have to, I like to call it like a, I call it the ER, like to evaluate and recalibrate. You got to evaluate your situation every month, you know, every so on. So if you're in school right now, you got to make every Jumaara, every month, every semester. Okay, this next couple of months is going to be finals. I'm going to have to say no to recording at the masjid. So it's knowing what to say no to, evaluating it, and then recalibrating.

**[17:35]** I think that's just the whole process of life to where when you become a father, when you become a husband, because you practice it now, especially at a young age, you'll know what to do when you get married. And your wife will see that, bro. She'll see that. She'll respect you. That's just a little tip.

**[17:52]** I'm telling you, man, when she sees that you have your ambition and you're disciplined and part of discipline is telling her no as well. She's not going to like it at times, but it's okay because she knows that you're moving forward for the right reasons. And I'm going to deny you a certain things as you see me deny myself a certain things. Right. I think it's just really understanding the power of no.

**[18:18]** And seeing how far that takes you. What's one last word you'd give to these young guys, man? These young guys, like you're my age. You're still young, man. You're still what? You're a sophomore in college. Don't give up. There's other people out there that are going through the same thing. You're not alone. Find someone to talk things out with or people. You need someone there.

**[18:41]** Don't do it alone. You know, just pushing through it and staying motivated and having people around you, man, because sometimes you can see it in someone's eyes. Sometimes I've come to them. I'm like, how you doing, man? And there was a time I said, brother, how you doing? He just broke down. I said, how you doing? He's like, I'm good. I said, no, how you doing, man? He just broke down, man. You need those people every now and then, man. And I know you've had some people, man. You mentioned brothers that had an impact in your life. I think you know this person.

**[19:11]** Hey, Salam alaikum, Ibrahim. I just want to let you know I'm really proud of you. I'm really happy to be part of your journey. You know, since you were a little kid training at the masjid until you started doing those like intense trainings, we did those training camps together. Really proud of you, man. Seeing the growth you've been through. And I know you're going to do great things in your life, man. Keep it up. And you have all the characteristics that it takes to be a leader. So keep going. And inshallah, look forward to see you soon.

**[19:41]** I brought back a lot of memories. Inshallah, man. You see the blue background, the blue mats, the Palestinian flag. Oh, the first day I hated him. First day I hated him. I'd gone to meet him before and like saying that we're going to do it and stuff. But I was like, OK, this is going to be fun. The first day, not even the first day, first few weeks while we were working out, I'd hate him. Like, why do you got to put me through this torture? This is terrible.

**[20:10]** Him pushing me was like him pushing me as an older brother. He was there to help me through it. If you didn't push me as hard, I don't know where I'd be today. So it helped a lot. That's why I really like combat sports. When you're fighting, there's so many points where you just want to give up. But your coach is there telling you, no, you still have this. It's the same. You can apply the same thing to life. You're not out until you're actually out.

**[20:39]** I think that's important for parents to know, particularly moms. A number of moms come into me and they don't want their kids to get hit. They don't want their kids to get injured. The first thing they're worried about is being haram and getting in the face and things of nature. But that doesn't mean you still can't practice it. The physical activity.

**[20:55]** Yeah, my grandparents were so scared when I started sparring with him. And then I remember one day I came home with a black guy and they were like, oh, you're not going to do this anymore. Like, no, I enjoyed it. The pain is temporary.

**[21:10]** I love it. I love it. Do they see the change in you? Yeah. And they acknowledge that the garage training was... The garage changed me. I have so many memories from that garage. Times where I was so happy and times where I was so sad. Times I didn't think I could actually finish what I was going to do. But seeing that and then looking where I'm at today, I was like, got it done.

**[21:34]** May Allah bless you. May Allah bless your parents, man. May Allah bless your grandparents, your family. You for sticking your friends, you know. And may Allah bless the community that was there to be there as a general social environment for you to always go back to.

**[21:50]** And may Allah bless Abdul Kareem, man. Amen. You know what I'm saying? For sticking it out, man. If you don't have any friends already, honestly, I'd say go to the gym. Go to the gym. You're going to find like-minded people there. People in the same situation as you and trying to get out. And you guys can push each other.

**[22:05]** No matter where you are, no matter how stuck you are, there's always a way out. You're not alone. You don't have to think you're alone. There's so many people out there that are going through the same things. You just have to find the right people. And it's not hard. It's not hard. It's easier than you think.

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