anyone fasting for the month of ramadaan

Miss_Chanelle

I just wana see if I'm not the only one here fasting for the month of ramadaan...
Where all my muslims at? (:

2012asv

I haven't done it in years, but this year I am going to give it an honest 100% try. Probably not all 30 days but we'll see! Interested in the responses here... I want some tips on how/what to eat and exercise, etc.....

Hannah_xoxo12

I am!

imondrugz

I am!! We should make a group and motivate each other !!

imondrugz

I haven't done it in years, but this year I am going to give it an honest 100% try. Probably not all 30 days but we'll see! Interested in the responses here... I want some tips on how/what to eat and exercise, etc.....

Fasting is a great method to burn fat !! Just fast the normal Ramadan hours and as soon the sun sets and we're finally allowed to eat. eat 3 dates or something sugary (a little not alot ) and plenty of water this will give you great energy go and workout and have your main meal after that workout!! I promise your going to love the results !! Also remember to stay hydrated throughout your workout!!

sumshe1

How much time you get between Salah time for workout? I don't think so I would have enough time to do workout during that time and then eat. This month, I fast for two days and I did treadmill for 30 mins during the day which didn't hurt my fasting at all... I am thinking to do treadmill during Ramadan and continue my circuit training after Eid.

imondrugz

How much time you get between Salah time for workout? I don't think so I would have enough time to do workout during that time and then eat. This month, I fast for two days and I did treadmill for 30 mins during the day which didn't hurt my fasting at all... I am thinking to do treadmill during Ramadan and continue my circuit training after Eid.

Right after Maghreb eat a couple of dates and rush to the gym do your workout and take a shower then eat a small meal !! Go pray and when your home eat your main meal !!

sumshe1

you mean eat your main meal at like 1130 or so? I hope that schedule works for you becuase not sure how healthy is it to eat and go to sleep and get up and eat again:s

imondrugz

you mean eat your main meal at like 1130 or so? I hope that schedule works for you becuase not sure how healthy is it to eat and go to sleep and get up and eat again:s

All that no carb at night and don't eat before you sleep is bs !! Science recently proved that the only thing that matter is your caloric intake and your macronutrients!! So if you eat at night it's normal !! Go look it up and do the research if you don't believe me !! Source:- always read about nutrition because my goal is to be a bodybuilder and lost 50 pounds eating at night almost every day !!

sumshe1

Well i guess my food would bother me lol becuase its spicy. I might get heart burn if I don't give enough time to digest:s


Do you think its unhealthy to workout while fasting?

imondrugz

Well i guess my food would bother me lol becuase its spicy. I might get heart burn if I don't give enough time to digest:s


Do you think its unhealthy to workout while fasting?

Honestly I think yes!! Because you will be dehydrated and you won't eat anything which means there will be no fuel so your body will end up burning your muscles for energy instead of fat(which will result in lowering your metbaloslim and a lot of other bad stuff) + how on earth can you survive that thirst after working out in this heat >.<!!! If the problem is spicy food take easy on the spices .. I mean it's just a month scarfice a lil to achieve your goal!!

sumshe1

Well I guess I need to figure out my workout time after Iftar now with my lil daughter if she lets me....

moonlightturk

iA I will fast this month!

rabiahassan

Me me me!! InshAllah cant wait, kept a fast last week didn't exercise though as saved my energy for doing more spiritual and faith enhancing activities like Ibadah n Reading quran, will be tough but we will get through it!!

dhakiyya

Salaams everyone. I am.

However I don't think people should consider Ramadan as an easy way to lose fat.... for a start most Muslims gain weight during Ramadan from overeating samosas and other deep fried stuff at iftaar. Also, if you're fasting all the day (and the days are long when Ramadan's in the summer) then not eating enough to sustain you at night, there's a high risk of losing lean body mass. Loss of lean body mass = slowed metabolism = increased risk of rebound fat gain = any short term gains are not worth the long term costs.

Personally I'm planning to eat my inactive TDEE calories (i.e. maintenance calories) during the night and aiming to maintain.

Re working out while fasting - you need water and glucose in your system to fuel your workout or you won't be able to push yourself to what you're really capable of, and you won't get the benefit of the workout. Mild dehydration will make your workout suck, severe dehydration is dangerous. IMO the best time to workout during Ramadan is after you've given iftaar enough time to go down, and had plenty of water so you're hydrated and have food in your system ready to fuel your workout, and you can still drink more water during/after the workout and have a post workout meal.

njgal35

I am. I know I lose a few pounds by the end of the month but my body goes through a lot with lack of water and long days and minimal exercise.

I also lose muscle.

I would love to see options as to how we can burn more fat and keep our muscle tone during ramadan.

imondrugz

Salaams everyone. I am.

However I don't think people should consider Ramadan as an easy way to lose fat.... for a start most Muslims gain weight during Ramadan from overeating samosas and other deep fried stuff at iftaar. Also, if you're fasting all the day (and the days are long when Ramadan's in the summer) then not eating enough to sustain you at night, there's a high risk of losing lean body mass. Loss of lean body mass = slowed metabolism = increased risk of rebound fat gain = any short term gains are not worth the long term costs.

Personally I'm planning to eat my inactive TDEE calories (i.e. maintenance calories) during the night and aiming to maintain.

Re working out while fasting - you need water and glucose in your system to fuel your workout or you won't be able to push yourself to what you're really capable of, and you won't get the benefit of the workout. Mild dehydration will make your workout suck, severe dehydration is dangerous. IMO the best time to workout during Ramadan is after you've given iftaar enough time to go down, and had plenty of water so you're hydrated and have food in your system ready to fuel your workout, and you can still drink more water during/after the workout and have a post workout meal.

I really disagree with you !! a person can succeed in anything Aslong as he have the will to do what ever it takes!! You said it yourself because people tend to eat fried unhealthy food in ramadan so they end up gaining weight !! It's not only Ramadan if you eat junk food anytime of the year you'll gain weight.. Let's be realistic most of the food we eat in Ramadan is mainly carbs/fats/sugars!! Ofcourse you won't lose fat with such a diet.. As for consuming your lean mass as energy.. Your body only start use your lean mass (aka muscles) as fuel if you have a poor diet and your not smart with the timing of the workout !! Look into intermediet fasting diet and you'll be the suprisped that the people who fast then eat their body consumes their food better and tend to use your body fat as fuel !! Working out should be at night when your well hydrated!! And keep eating healthy your body might be weak the first few days but it's normal Because its adjusting to your new diet!! Finally go do some research calculate your maintaince calorie and eat 300~500 cals under it don't go on a 800 calorie diet and ruin your body >.> or even worse end up at a hospital.... So if someone wants to lose weight during Ramadan it's possible !! Infact it's a great opportunity just do your homework and have a solid plan !!!

hssheikh

I am going to Fast inshaAllah...cant wait for the holy month! ...just keep yourself hydrated, eat healthy at sehr time, and refrain from eating fried stuff at iftar. go for a 30 minute walk after iftar. this is gonna help people who complain tht they gain weight in ramadan.


P.S: im quite happy to see muslims pals in here! wish you all a blessed and healthy Ramadan!

dhakiyya

Salaams everyone. I am.

However I don't think people should consider Ramadan as an easy way to lose fat.... for a start most Muslims gain weight during Ramadan from overeating samosas and other deep fried stuff at iftaar. Also, if you're fasting all the day (and the days are long when Ramadan's in the summer) then not eating enough to sustain you at night, there's a high risk of losing lean body mass. Loss of lean body mass = slowed metabolism = increased risk of rebound fat gain = any short term gains are not worth the long term costs.

Personally I'm planning to eat my inactive TDEE calories (i.e. maintenance calories) during the night and aiming to maintain.

Re working out while fasting - you need water and glucose in your system to fuel your workout or you won't be able to push yourself to what you're really capable of, and you won't get the benefit of the workout. Mild dehydration will make your workout suck, severe dehydration is dangerous. IMO the best time to workout during Ramadan is after you've given iftaar enough time to go down, and had plenty of water so you're hydrated and have food in your system ready to fuel your workout, and you can still drink more water during/after the workout and have a post workout meal.

I really disagree with you !! a person can succeed in anything Aslong as he have the will to do what ever it takes!!

It's not a matter of willpower or not wanting to succeed, it's about what's healthy for the body. Losing lean body mass isn't healthy for the body. Losing weight at all costs is not healthy. Do you want to lose weight no matter what it does to your body, or do you want to be healthy and lose fat? that's the question everyone needs to ask. Our bodies are on trust from Allah, and health should be the number 1 priority for everyone.

Systematic undereating (which it would be if you fasted all day and ate at a deficit during the night through the whole of Ramadan) will lead to lean body mass loss. The idea that you only lose it in extreme circumstances is not correct. I studied this at university (amongst other things) i.e. what happens to the body during starvation, and that was just a purely academic/physiology thing, it wasn't applied to dieting/fat loss etc. Lean body mass loss starts very early on. Body builders have devised all kinds of strategies to prevent it such as nutrient cycling, refeed days etc, and they wouldn't have done this if there was no risk, they'd just eat at a straight deficit through the cutting phase. Also, the leaner you are the more likely you are to lose lean body mass. The very obese can get away with a lot more than people with just a little body fat left to lose. It's also why the last few lbs are the hardest to lose.

I've looked into intermittent fasting and tried it, it totally does not work for me at all. And all the IF plans I've seen advising taking BCAA's while "fasting" to prevent muscle loss during the time of not eating. IFers also drink water while fasting, so that's another reason why IFing does not put as much strain on the system as Islamic fasting. As far as I know they do help to prevent LBM loss while fasting, but taking BCAA pills would break your fast during Ramadan, so that's not an option

And to be honest I'm not really bothered what other people do, I'm just putting the advice out there. For me, I have to be very careful not to lose lean body mass because I struggle more with avoiding undereating than I do with overeating, and I know first hand just how much damage systematic undereating does to the body composition, because I've lived it. And no I don't have an eating disorder, the undereating was accidental due to other problems I have that make me lose my appetite. The result was piling flab all around my middle and ending up obese with a slow metabolism, and having no idea that's what was keeping me fat. What fixed it was focusing on not undereating, and doing exercise (mostly weights, some cardio). There are a lot of people whose dieting efforts are being sabotaged by the fact that they're not eating enough. Very often they don't see it, and think that more undereating is what's going to fix the problem. Mostly I don't comment on this because it's a topic that causes lots of arguments, but I do think it's necessary to warn people of this, because having been through this myself I know it's real. And yes I have lost lean body mass quite significantly after just one week of undereating - I know because I've measured my body composition carefully so I can see if this happens. Most people wouldn't notice that it's happened, they'd just think "yay I lost 3lb this week great progress" and have no idea that they just lost 1.5lb fat and 1.5lb LBM.

Dead_Darling

Insha'Allah I'll be fasting

sumshe1

Yup I am happy to see other Muslims here too... Can't wait for Ramadan. I usually avoid fry food in Ramadan and eat just regular dinner. Taraweeh namaz is good exercise after Iftar though lol but I will try to do some more if time and my daughter permits me. If not then I will just try to eat healthy and no or less junk food.

dhakiyya

BTW sorry for the lengthy post I'm not against IFing if it works for you. And I recognise that there's a big difference between someone who's doing fat loss during Ramadan scientifically by applying IFing principles, however most Muslims I've come across are not doing this, they are under the delusion that fasting all day will make the fat melt off easily, and see Ramadan as an easy fat loss plan, when it's not they just end up with muscle loss and rebound fat gain. Also I didn't mean to imply no-one could make fat loss work during Ramadan.... if you've got a lot of fat to lose then you have less risk of losing LBM, if you've never had a history of undereating then that would probably help too. And there are other individual differences.............. but just following the fast the usual way is not a guarantee of fat loss, usually it's a guarantee of fat gain.

As for what I'm doing, I know I have a higher risk of LBM loss than other people, due to being already quite lean and also due to a history of undereating and slowing my metabolism which alhamdulillah I've overcome but I'm not risking going back there and I can't afford to lose any more LBM so that's why I'm being so conservative about eating at TDEE not trying to lose any fat.

And sorry if any of my posts come across in any way negative, please read them in a light and fluffy tone of voice, I just want to get the information out there so people are informed about the risks and can make intelligent choices.

And SALAAMS everyone may Allah accept your fasts and increase your emaan, ameen

sfb2510

i'll be fasting too x

AleefahW

I am,insha allah.

hssheikh

Fasting is by no means related to or about losing weight. It has other benefits and is meant for the purification of soul, patience, your honesty, and your devotion towards Allah by obeying and catering for the obligations of Fasting. it should not be taken as a good way of losing weight. just keep your diet healthy, eat clean, and focus your energies and thoughts on something greater than just losing weight! being healthy is obviously important but the month of Ramadan is meant for much much greater things than this!

sukaera

Blessings everyone,
I am not fasting but I would definitely like to learn more about this fasting of a different culture...
Where can I read more information about this?
:-)

dhakiyya

Fasting is by no means related to or about losing weight. It has other benefits and is meant for the purification of soul, patience, your honesty, and your devotion towards Allah by obeying and catering for the obligations of Fasting. it should not be taken as a good way of losing weight. just keep your diet healthy, eat clean, and focus your energies and thoughts on something greater than just losing weight! being healthy is obviously important but the month of Ramadan is meant for much much greater things than this!

100% agree

dhakiyya

Blessings everyone,
I am not fasting but I would definitely like to learn more about this fasting of a different culture...
Where can I read more information about this?
:-)

well I can run you through the basics.... a good book about Islam for the basics is "teach yourself Islam" by Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood.

During Ramadan, you fast from dawn (i.e. first light) until sunset. While fasting you refrain from eating, drinking and sex. These things are allowed during the night. Usually you have two meals a day, iftaar just after sunset, and suhoor before first light, which means getting up in the night to eat it. Snacking during the night is allowed, and also for health reasons you need to keep drinking water through the night otherwise you won't stay hydrated during the fast.

At sunset it's traditional and recommended (but not compulsory) to break the fast with a glass of water and one or three dates. (it's traditional to eat dates in odd numbers). After breaking the fast, you do the sunset prayer, then have iftaar, preferably with family and friends. This should be a special occasion, but it's also taught that what you eat during the night should be enough to sustain you, and not extravagant. It's strongly advised to give food and/or money to the poor during this time, so what you save on food can be given to people who need it. After iftaar everyone prays the night time prayer, and during Ramadan there are extra prayers after this called Tarawih, where 1/30th of the Qur'an is recited by the imam each night. There are 30 days in Ramadan, and the whole Qur'an is recited, 1/30th each day. Also Ramadan is a time to renew your faith and make a renewed effort not to do any sins they may have fallen into the habit of doing.

Because fasting can be quite strenuous on the body, there are some reasons for people being excused - anyone who is sick is advised not to fast (if it's something mild like a cold you can, but any illness that would be made worse by fasting, you shouldn't fast) also if you become ill while fasting you break the fast and eat something. Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers can choose to fast or not fast depending on how they feel, but if they are afraid for their child's safety they mustn't fast. Also travellers are excused from fasting, and women are excused while menstruating. If the reason for not fasting is something temporary, you make up the fasts later on when that reason does not apply. If you're excused from fasting, you don't eat publicly, because you don't want to eat in front of people when they're fasting (plus it can draw attention to you like "hi I'm menstruating" kind of thing!!)

At the end of Ramadan, there is the festival Eid al Fitr, where people meet up with friends and family, go to Eid prayers and generally have a good time. There's lots of food around at Eid, naturally, as it's the first time you're able to eat again during the day. Eid lasts for 3 days. You're not allowed to fast during Eid, so anyone with fasts to make up because they couldn't fast for some of the time in Ramadan has to wait until after Eid before they start fasting again.

hssheikh

thanku @DHAKIYA..u gave a very detailed information in a precise manner for people from other cultures to atleast have an overall idea about what fasting in ISlam is all about.

heretoloseit95

Hey there
Inshallah, i'm going to be fasting, Feel free to add me
we can support each other during the holy month )
take care!

Quasita

thanku @DHAKIYA..u gave a very detailed information in a precise manner for people from other cultures to atleast have an overall idea about what fasting in ISlam is all about.

The reality of it is, ritual fasting in most religions is about the purification of the body and soul, to bring focus from the hedonistic enjoyment of such things to the reliance on the higher power to guide us through life.

I'm not Muslim per se but I observe Ramadaan and tend to wear my hamsa during this time, when I feel in need of protection and guidance. My plan this year is to give my body over to true purpose. I was raised Catholic, and used Lent similarly. I adopted Muslim practices while dating my last serious ex.

One thing I don't quite understand is how, if you are seeking purity of the body, why you'd gorge on unhealthy foods anyway! To me, it is an insult to overindulge, even during the holidays. Mind you, I have no issue with enjoying yummy foods but I strive for moderation even when the sun goes down.

I plan to use this year's holy month to instill a sense of order to my currently chaotic health. Insha'Allah, I will end the month feeling healthier and more grounded.

I also want to point out that it is acceptable by teaching that if you have an extenuating circumstance that requires you to eat during the sun hours, during Ramadan, you can, if such eating is moderate and held specific to needs. My ex was diabetic and could not go without eating during the day, so we worked together to have a good plan for our faith building together.