How to Count Calories in Ramadan: Suhoor, Iftar and Weight Loss (2027 Guide)

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title: "How to Count Calories in Ramadan: Suhoor, Iftar and Weight Loss (2027 Guide)" description: "How to count calories in Ramadan 2027: split your daily target across suhoor and iftar, get protein and water in before dawn, and check what dates, lentil soup, sambousek and qatayef actually cost." publishedAt: "2026-10-01" updatedAt: "2026-10-01" category: "Nutrition" tags: ["how to count calories in Ramadan", "Ramadan weight loss", "suhoor and iftar calories", "iftar calories", "Ramadan diet plan", "Ramadan 2027"] keyTakeaways:

• "Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on Monday, February 8, 2027, based on astronomical calculations. The actual date depends on the crescent moon sighting in each country."
• "Keep your normal daily calorie target and split it across two meals: roughly half at iftar, a third at suhoor, and the rest in a small snack after taraweeh."
• "Iftar sweets and fried starters carry most of the hidden calories. Lebanese food composition data puts qatayef with ashta cream at 260 kcal per 100 g and kunafa with cheese at 279 kcal per 100 g."
• "Put protein and slow carbohydrates at suhoor (eggs, yogurt, foul, wholegrain bread) and drink 2 to 3 litres of fluid between iftar and suhoor."
• "Studies of healthy adults find an average loss of 1.34 kg over Ramadan, and most of it comes back within weeks. Tracking is what keeps the loss after Eid."
• "People with diabetes, pregnant women, and anyone on GLP-1 medication should speak to their doctor before fasting." faq:
• question: "How do I count calories in Ramadan?" answer: "Use the same daily target you would use outside Ramadan and divide it between the meals you actually eat. A simple split is about 50% at iftar, 15% to 20% in an evening snack, and 30% to 35% at suhoor. Log each meal when you eat it, because the two-meal pattern makes it easy to forget the dates, juice and sweets between iftar and suhoor."
• question: "Can you lose weight during Ramadan?" answer: "Yes, but most people don't keep it. A 2019 meta-analysis in Nutrients found healthy adults lost an average of 1.34 kg during Ramadan and regained most of it within a few weeks. Weight loss in Ramadan still comes down to a calorie deficit. Fasting hours alone don't guarantee one, because iftar and late-night meals can make up the difference."
• question: "How many calories are in a typical iftar?" answer: "It varies widely. Three Deglet Noor dates are about 60 kcal, a cup of lentil soup about 153 kcal, and a plate of chicken and rice can pass 500 kcal. Add fried sambousek, a sweetened drink and two pieces of qatayef and the meal can reach 1,200 kcal or more. Weigh or photograph your plate for a week to learn your own numbers."
• question: "What should I eat at suhoor to stay full?" answer: "Protein plus slow-release carbohydrates. Eggs, Greek yogurt, labneh, foul medames and wholegrain bread or oats all work. The British Dietetic Association recommends slow-releasing carbohydrates and high-fibre foods such as oats and wholegrain bread, eaten as close to dawn as you can."
• question: "When is the best time to exercise in Ramadan?" answer: "Light exercise such as walking fits well in the hour or two before iftar, so you can eat and drink soon after. Move harder sessions closer to iftar or after it. The British Dietetic Association suggests shifting high-intensity work nearer to iftar so you can rehydrate and refuel straight after."
• question: "Is it safe to fast on Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro?" answer: "Ask your doctor before Ramadan, not during it. UK prescribing guidance summarized in The Pharmacist recommends finishing dose titration at least four to six weeks before Ramadan so stomach side effects settle, and watching for signs of dehydration such as dizziness on standing or reduced urine output."

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Callie is our app. This guide covers how to count calories in Ramadan with any method, including pen and paper, and we keep the part about Callie to one section near the end.

The 30-second answer

To count calories in Ramadan, keep your usual daily target and divide it across suhoor and iftar instead of three meals. Eat roughly half your calories at iftar, a third at suhoor, and keep a small snack for after taraweeh. Put protein and slow carbohydrates at suhoor, drink 2 to 3 litres of water between sunset and dawn, and log the dates, juices and sweets, because they are where most Ramadan weight gain comes from. If you have diabetes, are pregnant, or take a GLP-1 medication, speak to your doctor first.

When is Ramadan 2027?

Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on Monday, February 8, 2027, based on astronomical calculations. Current forecasts say the crescent will be sought on the evening of Sunday, February 7. Eid al-Fitr is forecast for around Wednesday, March 10, 2027 (Gulf News).

These are forecasts. The actual start date is confirmed only after religious authorities in each country sight the crescent, so it can differ by a day between countries. February fasts are also shorter than the summer Ramadans of recent decades, which makes them easier to plan around.

Can you lose weight in Ramadan?

You can, but most people don't keep it. A 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis in Nutrients found that healthy adults lost an average of 1.34 kg during Ramadan, and most of it was regained within a few weeks after the month ended (Fernando et al., 2019).

Fasting doesn't change the basic arithmetic. You lose fat when you eat less energy than you use. A 14-hour fast followed by a large iftar, a sweet plate after taraweeh and a heavy suhoor can add up to more than you would eat on a normal day. The fast shifts when you eat. It doesn't decide how much.

That is why counting calories during Ramadan is useful. It shows you whether the two meals you eat fit inside your target, and it gives you a routine you can carry past Eid.

How to split your daily calories across two meals

Start from the target you already use. If you don't have one, our maintenance calories calculator and how many calories to lose weight guide will give you one. Then divide it:

The exact split matters less than two habits:

1. Break the fast in two steps. Have dates and water first, then pray or wait 10 to 15 minutes before the main meal. Eating the whole iftar at once is how most people overshoot.
2. Don't skip suhoor to "save" calories. It makes the next day harder and pushes more eating into the evening, when sweets are on the table.

Protein and hydration at suhoor

Suhoor is the meal that decides how the next fasting day feels. Build it around protein and slow carbohydrates:

• Protein: two boiled eggs give about 12.6 g of protein for 155 kcal, and 170 g of nonfat Greek yogurt gives about 17 g for 100 kcal (USDA FoodData Central). Labneh, foul medames, cheese and leftover chicken also work.
• Slow carbohydrates: the British Dietetic Association recommends slow-releasing carbohydrates and high-fibre foods such as oats, wholegrain bread and brown or basmati rice, eaten as close to dawn as possible (BDA).
• Fluids: the same BDA guidance suggests 2 to 3 litres of fluid, split across iftar, suhoor and the hours in between. Water, laban and soup count. Sweet drinks count toward fluid too, but they also count toward calories.

If you want a protein number, our protein calculator gives a daily target, and you split it the same way you split calories.

Calories in common iftar foods

Ramadan foods are poorly covered by US databases. We used two sources: USDA FoodData Central for basic foods, and the Lebanon Food Composition Data report from the Lebanese University and the WHO Eastern Mediterranean office, which lab-tested traditional dishes and Arabic sweets (Lebanese University and WHO, 2021). Where neither source has an exact match, the table says so.

Three things to know about these numbers:

• Sambousek has no entry of its own in either source. The USDA samosa is the closest match, a fried pastry at 310 kcal per 100 g, so treat the range as an estimate. Baked sambousek will come in lower, and cheese or meat fillings change it.
• Qatayef depends on how it is cooked. The lab value covers qatayef filled with ashta cream. Qatayef asafiri served fresh is closer to that figure. Qatayef that is stuffed with nuts, deep-fried and soaked in syrup isn't in either table and will be higher. We couldn't find a published value for it, so we won't invent one.
• Portion size moves the total more than the food choice does. One Medjool date is three times the calories of a Deglet Noor. A ladle of soup in one home can be twice the size of a ladle in another.

A sample suhoor and iftar day (about 1,700 kcal)

This day is built for weight loss on a target of around 1,800 kcal, using the values above. Swap foods freely. The structure is the part to keep.

Iftar at sunset (about 900 kcal)

• 3 Deglet Noor dates and a glass of water: 60 kcal
• 1 cup lentil soup: 153 kcal
• 1 cup fattoush: 104 kcal
• 50 g hummus: 73 kcal
• 120 g grilled chicken breast: 198 kcal
• 1 cup cooked white rice: 205 kcal
• 1 cup laban: 105 kcal

After taraweeh (about 190 kcal)

• 2 portions of qatayef with ashta (74 g): 192 kcal

Suhoor before dawn (about 610 kcal)

• 170 g nonfat Greek yogurt: 100 kcal
• 2 boiled eggs: 155 kcal
• 100 g foul medames: 116 kcal
• 1 large wholewheat pita: 168 kcal
• 28 g feta: 74 kcal
• Water through the meal

Total: about 1,700 kcal and roughly 117 g of protein. Almost 40% of that protein lands at suhoor, which is what keeps the next afternoon manageable. Note what isn't in the day: fried sambousek and a sweetened drink. Two large sambousek and a cup of tamarind juice would add about 890 kcal, which is half a day's target.

When to exercise during Ramadan

You don't need to stop training, but you need to move it.

• Light exercise before iftar. A walk or easy session in the hour or two before sunset works well, because you can eat and drink soon after.
• Hard sessions near or after iftar. The BDA recommends moving high-intensity sessions closer to iftar, so you can rehydrate and refuel right after (BDA). Many people lift 2 to 3 hours after iftar, once the main meal has settled.
• Avoid hard training right after suhoor. You would start a long fast already short of fluid.

Keep your strength training going if you do it already. It helps you hold on to muscle while you are in a deficit.

Who should not fast, or should see a doctor first

If you are on a GLP-1 medication and do fast, protein matters even more, because appetite is already low. Our GLP-1 diet plan covers how to eat enough of it.

How Callie helps in Ramadan

This is the part about our own app, so weigh it accordingly.

• Arabic throughout. Callie's interface is available in Arabic with a right-to-left layout, and the AI coach replies in Arabic. You can ask it how much protein is left for suhoor and get the answer in Arabic.
• Photo and voice logging in Arabic. Photograph the iftar table, or type or say what you ate in Arabic. One caveat: our own voice accuracy test included an Arabic-English mixed phrase, not a full Arabic benchmark (details).
• Review before confirm. Iftar plates mix several dishes, which is where photo estimates go wrong. Callie shows every detected food, portion and calorie value on an edit screen and logs nothing until you confirm. You can correct "two ladles of soup" before it is saved.
• A fasting timer. Callie's intermittent fasting support includes a fasting timer you can set to your suhoor and iftar times.

Callie is free to download with 3 AI logs to try it. After that it costs AED 99.99 a year in the UAE ($34.99 in the US). It doesn't have a Ramadan-specific mode, and its database of regional packaged foods is smaller than MyFitnessPal's, so for branded products the barcode scanner or a manual entry is sometimes faster. Our Arabic calorie app comparison covers the alternatives, including Arabic-first apps.

When calorie counting is the wrong tool for Ramadan

Counting isn't right for everyone this month:

• If you have a history of disordered eating, a month of restricted hours plus numbers can make things worse. Skip the tracking and talk to a clinician.
• If your goal is just to maintain, you may not need to log at all. Two balanced meals, a limit on fried food and sweets, and enough water will do most of the work.
• If your doctor has advised you not to fast, follow that advice. A calorie target is no substitute for medical guidance.

Not sure which app to use? Which calorie tracker gives one pick for each kind of user.

Related reading

• Intermittent fasting vs calorie counting, on why timing alone doesn't create a deficit.
• Best calorie tracking app in Arabic, comparing real Arabic support.
• How to track calories from a photo, useful for mixed iftar plates.
• GLP-1 diet plan, on protein when appetite is low.

Sources

1. Gulf News (updated September 1, 2026). "Ramadan 2027 Date: Expected Start, Moon Sighting Details and Eid Al Fitr Explained." https://gulfnews.com/uae/ramadan/when-does-ramadan-2027-begin-everything-you-need-to-know-1.500630523
2. Fernando HA, Zibellini J, Harris RA, Seimon RV, Sainsbury A (2019). "Effect of Ramadan Fasting on Weight and Body Composition in Healthy Non-Athlete Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis." Nutrients 11(2):478. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11020478
3. Lebanese University with WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (2021). "Lebanon Food Composition Data: Traditional Dishes, Arabic Sweets and Market Foods." https://ul.edu.lb/files/ann/20210422-LU-RePa-Report.pdf
4. USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (2018) and FNDDS (October 2024 release) datasets (accessed October 1, 2026): dates 168191 and 171726, lentil soup 2707462, samosa 2708730, buttermilk 2705393, tamarind drink 2710568, egg 173424, Greek yogurt 170894, rice 168878, chicken breast 171477, pita 174916, feta 173420. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
5. British Dietetic Association (April 7, 2022). "Sport and exercise during Ramadan." https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/sport-and-exercise-during-ramadan.html
6. The Pharmacist (July 29, 2026). "Fasting and weight-loss medications: what to advise your patients." https://www.thepharmacist.co.uk/clinical/nutrition-and-gastroenterology/fasting-and-weight-loss-medications-what-to-advise-your-patients/
7. International Diabetes Federation and DAR International Alliance (2021). "Diabetes and Ramadan: Practical Guidelines 2021." https://www.daralliance.org/daralliance/idf-dar-practical-guidelines-2021/