Ramadan workout timing and meals: what to eat at suhoor and iftar

Updated October 2026 · 10 min read

In Ramadan you have two eating windows, iftar and suhoor, and the question is how to fit training and food around them. This guide gives you the timing options, what to eat at each meal, a sample day and the mistakes to avoid. For the training programme itself, see our Ramadan workout plan.

Three ways to time your workout

Many guides for athletes put hard training after iftar for a simple reason: you are fed and hydrated, and you can eat and sleep afterwards. Option 3 has the advantage that your recovery meal arrives right away, but you train fasted and thirsty, so keep it easy. Do not train hard just after suhoor. A full stomach and lost sleep cost more than the workout gives back.

A sample day

These times are only an example, for a day when iftar is at 6:30 pm and suhoor ends at 4:30 am. Yours will differ with your city and the season, so use the order, not the clock.

What to eat at iftar

Break the fast in two steps. This is easy on a stomach that has been empty all day, and it keeps you from overeating.

1. First, a light start. Water and 2 to 4 dates give quick energy and begin to rehydrate you. Add a bowl of soup, such as lentil or vegetable, which brings fluid, a little salt and fibre. Read more about dates.
2. Then, after prayer, the main meal. Aim for about a palm or two of protein (chicken, fish, lean meat, eggs, lentils or beans), a fist or two of carbohydrate (rice, potato, bread, pasta), and half the plate as vegetables. Add a drizzle of olive oil.

If you plan to train within the next two hours, make that meal smaller and lower in fat, and have the rest after the workout. Fat and large amounts of fibre slow digestion and can leave you heavy.

What to eat after training

• Aim for about 20 to 40 g of protein plus some carbohydrate, within a couple of hours.
• Easy options: Greek yogurt or labneh with dates; a glass of milk and a banana; eggs on bread; a chicken sandwich; foul with an egg; a protein shake if you use one.
• Keep it simple. This is not another feast.

What to eat at suhoor

Suhoor has to carry you through the day, so build it from foods that digest slowly.

• Slow carbohydrates: oats, whole-grain bread, beans such as foul, lentils, brown rice.
• Protein, 25 to 40 g: eggs, yogurt, labneh, cheese, tuna or chicken.
• Some fat: olive oil, nuts, tahini or avocado, which keep you full for longer.
• Fruit and vegetables: for fibre and fluid, such as cucumber, tomato, banana or an orange.
• Fluids: two glasses of water. Plain water beats sweet drinks.
• Go easy on: salty food and pickles, which make you thirstier, and sugary pastries that burn off by mid-morning.

How much protein, and when

The International Society of Sports Nutrition says people who train regularly generally do well on about 1.4 to 2.0 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day, spread across the day in portions of roughly 20 to 40 g. In Ramadan you have fewer meals, so use all of them: iftar, a post-workout snack and suhoor. For a 75 kg person the target is about 105 to 150 g a day, which works out at around 30 to 40 g in each of three or four moments.

You don't need a perfect number. If you reach the lower end of the range and keep training, you will hold on to your muscle.

Water through the night

You can't drink during the day, so spread your fluids over the evening and not all at once:

• At iftar: 2 glasses with the dates and soup.
• Through the evening: a glass about every hour, and extra with the workout.
• Before suhoor ends: 2 glasses.
• Total: roughly 2 to 3 litres, more in hot weather and on training days.
• Pale yellow urine is a good sign. Include fruit, vegetables and soup, which carry water.
• If you sweat a lot, a pinch of salt in your food is enough. See our natural salt guide, and the notes on water and digestion about drinking with meals.

If your goal is fat loss or muscle gain

• Fat loss: keep protein high, keep training, and take a modest deficit. A crash diet while fasting costs muscle. Cut the fried food and sugary drinks, not the main meals.
• Muscle gain: it is hard to eat enough in a short window. Add a calorie-dense but easy snack, such as a smoothie with milk, banana, oats and peanut butter, and treat maintaining as a win if gaining is hard.

Common mistakes

• Training hard straight after a large iftar.
• Filling up on samosas, fried pastries and sweet drinks, and skipping protein.
• Skipping suhoor, or eating a salty, sugary one.
• Drinking all your water in one go, or coffee late at night.
• Training late, then losing sleep, which hurts recovery more than anything. See our article on sleep and waking.
• Pushing through dizziness or chest pain.

When to stop, and who should ask first

• Stop and rest if you feel dizzy, faint, have a pounding heart, chest pain or severe thirst. Break your fast if your health requires it.
• Ask your doctor before fasting and training if you have diabetes, heart or kidney disease, low blood pressure or take regular medicine, or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
• The Qur'an makes allowance for those who are ill or travelling (2:184-185). Ask a scholar you trust and your doctor if you are unsure.

References

Research and guidelines:

• Aspetar clinical guidelines: Ramadan fasting and exercise for healthy individuals (Tunis Med, 2023)
• Nutritional strategies for fasting athletes during Ramadan (Tunis Med, 2025)
• International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise (2017)
• Effects of Ramadan intermittent fasting on sports performance and training: a review
• NHS: Dehydration