How to maintain your muscle mass during Ramadan

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How to maintain your muscle mass during Ramadan

During these long hours of fasting and the interruption of any food and drink to the water, Ramadan is a challenge for athletes or those interested in building bodybuilding and fitness in general, due to their continued need for integrated food - especially proteins - and water to maintain body fluids, concentration and energy needed to exercise and maintain their muscles gained from Atrophy or being consumed as an energy source during fasting.

In this article, we will provide you with recommendations to minimize the chance of losing muscle mass and reducing strength and ability during Ramadan.

Here are also the best nutritional supplements to take in Ramadan.

The effect of fasting on muscles and strength

Fasting has many great benefits for the body, such as cleansing the body of toxins, reducing the chance of developing some types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and improving blood fat levels. It was also found that fasting improves the response of cells to insulin throughout the entire body as in the case of fat cells, so it may reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

Despite its mentioned benefits, it causes changes in the metabolism and physiological and psychological responses of athletes, such as low concentration, bad mood, dehydration, slow metabolism and oxygen delivery to the muscles, and increased feelings of hunger, laziness, and lethargy, which combined may negatively affect their athletic performance.

Therefore, it is necessary to consider planning an appropriate sports and nutrition program during Ramadan, which reduces the side effects of fasting for athletes.

Recommendations to reduce muscle loss during Ramadan fasting

Plan ahead. Having a clear plan for your training schedule during Ramadan is the most important step you can take, so set a schedule for your exercises, main and light meals, sleeping hours and naps until you produce the best results during the month.

Keep your training. But adjust the intensity of the training. To reduce muscle wasting during fasting, you must maintain the same level of training that you used to do before Ramadan as possible, but avoid high-intensity training 

Select the training time. Training during fasting hours is not recommended, as it has been found that long training periods during fasting may not allow muscle tissue to heal and adjust after training. To get the double benefit of fat burning and muscle maintenance, train two hours before breakfast or 2-3 hours after breakfast.

Eat sufficient quantities. You need sufficient energy and an appropriate proportion of the major energy producing elements - especially protein, to maintain muscle tissue and prevent its consumption by the body as an energy source, so focus on high-calorie foods during breakfast hours.

All the right foods. Focus on dense foods rich in essential nutrients such as fruits and vegetables to take advantage of the short breakfast hours open to you during the summer.

Focus on foods rich in protein, such as fish, eggs, chicken, meat (low-fat), milk and milk products, in addition to seeds, nuts and legumes. Apart from helping to maintain your muscle mass, it reduces your feeling of hunger during fasting (since protein foods take longer to digest than other foods).

Make sure to distribute different foods in balance during your open breakfast hours, for example:

-For breakfast, eat fish, meat, and chicken along with vegetables and starches.

- In the following hours, you can eat milkshakes, fruit milk, or nuts and seeds as a snack. 

-- For suhoor, eat eggs, legumes, (turkey meat), cheese, cootag and tofu.

Summary of the above:

One reliable study supports that athletes who maintain appropriate consumption of total calories and energy-producing nutrient ratios, level of training, distribution of body components, number and quality of sleep hours per day are not likely to experience a decrease in performance during Ramadan.

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