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Original poster

How to manage hotel breakfasts abroad while doing 16:8 fasting

156 replies

Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 08:07

Posting here for traffic. Need a bit of advice and/or perspective perhaps. I have started a new way of eating (I hate the term diet) and that involves 16:8 intermittent fasting. My question is I’m due to go abroad a few times this summer. And breakfast is included in the hotel and I will be with my family. I don’t normally eat my first meal until 10. How will I manage this? I don’t want to eat breakfast too early. Should I just take what I can from the breakfast buffet put it in a Tupperware and eat at 10. I also am avoiding carbs as as much as I can. And I am coeliac, so I can’t just go have a croissant and I won’t want to either. So I’ll need protein etc. Anyone else in the same situation who can give some advice?

we will normally have dinner around 5:30 six so that’s not a problem really. It’s just breakfast.

OP posts:
mismomary · 19/06/2026 16:42

Enjoy the holiday, enjoy the breakfast. I say this as an IF-er.

JillThePlantKiller · 19/06/2026 16:38

I’m very much an all or nothing kind of person too, and I find that if I try and keep up these sort of things on holiday I damage my rhythm more than if I just treat the holiday as an isolated period.

On holiday, I either have to compromise and eat something I don’t want, or the level of restraint needed is so much higher than it is at home. It’s impossible to keep the conditions consistent.

For some reason my brain can move from all to nothing fairly easily as long as I haven’t overwhelmed my restraint capacity on the holiday.

Givemeausernamepls · 19/06/2026 16:32

Life is too short.., eat your breakfast and enjoy it. if it’s a lifestyle change and not a diet it needs to be flexible to every day life and sometimes that means eating pizza or cake, or buffet breakfast!

Eelge · 19/06/2026 16:26

Have you been on holiday since your coeliac diagnosis @Kitchenbattle ?

I find holidays really hard, breakfast buffets mostly need to be avoided anyway - they'll sneak flour into things like scrambled eggs and bacon and that's before any cross contamination considerations

Ponderingwindow · 19/06/2026 16:14

i often find my choices very limited at the hotel buffet given my allergy restrictions. You just can never predict what they are going to put out. Adding needing it to be something you can take and stash in your bag for later is going to make things even harder.

if this is your plan I think you should have a cup of tea and bring some sort of bar or something with you that you know you can eat on the go. I keep a nut bar in my purse at all times for food emergencies since there is always a chance of not having anything to eat when I am out of the house.

Anjelika · 19/06/2026 16:13

I had the same dilemma last year. The first day I had a coffee and took a few bits for later but then decided life was too short and just ate what I fancied about 9.30am then nothing other than maybe an ice cream till dinner. After getting home 18 months ago, I can honestly say it was really easy to go back to not eating before 12.30pm and I don’t think I’ve broken my rule since.

TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis · 19/06/2026 16:11

Is it a big deal if you don't eat breakfast with everyone else? I skipped breakfast on holiday in March, it was fine.

But I also have a "holiday diet" that serves me well:

1 day no meat/cheese
1 day no alcohol
1 day no meat/cheese/alcohol
1 day free choice

That and swimming 1h a day usually keeps me in check over a week or two.

Original poster
Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 16:07

Birdshitbridgegotme · 19/06/2026 16:05

Why not have your breakfast at 9 with everyone and then start your fast a hour earlier in the evening u will just push your 16/8 a hour earlier than normal

Because then I’m forcing everyone to have dinner at or before 5. 😭

OP posts:
FusionChefGeoff · 19/06/2026 16:07

If you’re fasting a bit of fruit is the worst thing to have as an ‘early’ breakfast as it will break the fast and spike your blood sugar.

Tea / coffee at breakfast then eat lunch and dinner with family. 2 meals with a large gap between them.

Birdshitbridgegotme · 19/06/2026 16:05

Why not have your breakfast at 9 with everyone and then start your fast a hour earlier in the evening u will just push your 16/8 a hour earlier than normal

concertinacornflake · 19/06/2026 16:04

Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 08:52

OK, I suppose my main issues that my family would want to eat breakfast probably around eight. Which is two hours earlier than what I normally do. I know a lot of people are saying to relax and eat with them and that’s great if people can do that, but I don’t think I can. Because of the nature of the kind of person that I am all or nothing so if I fall off the bandwagon on holidays, I will stay off the bandwagon and it will be very hard for me to get back on. So for me, it is important that I stay somewhat within my 16:8. In terms of dinner we always have dinner at that time and we’ve always managed to have dinner abroad at that time so I’m not worried about that. I could push that out to 6:30.

this is not something that I’m vocal about it it’s very much for me in my head so I would never make it an issue with the rest of the family. I will sit and have a cup of tea while they eat their breakfast. Help the kids get their breakfast, etc. My DP eats breakfast a lot earlier than me naturally anyway. We won’t be hanging around in the hotel for me to nip back down at nine-ish. I imagine we’ll be out doing things. But we’ll see.

I generally can’t have sausages from a buffet because they’re not gluten-free. So it will have to be bacon and meat and cheese. Possibly boiled eggs if they have them.

I don’t have lunch. I just have two meals. Solid breakfast and solid dinner.

Edited

You have the power to decide to restart as soon as you come home.

Crocsarentslippers · 19/06/2026 16:00

I would relax it and try and strike a happy medium by trying to impose your usual regime in a different environment which means not eating and enjoying food as a family, and blowing all the hard work you are proud of.

Just eat well at normal times and get back on the 16:8 when you are back home.

lulubalu · 19/06/2026 15:50

16:8 works for me when at home but I take a break on holidays, it just doesn't really fit in with holiday vibes (my eating window is 12-8pm)

Takes my body a while to get back into 16:8 when I get home though 🙄

Original poster
Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 15:46

Ibi · 19/06/2026 15:34

What’s ridiculous about eating at 1930? That’s the earlier side of normal. Even my five year old doesn’t eat that early!!

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It’s just a ridiculous time for us. We go to bed at 9:30 most nights 🤣

OP posts:
Ibi · 19/06/2026 15:34

Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 13:18

Because that’s when we eat dinner, we always eat dinner at that time. Unless we’ve been invited out to a restaurant for something we have to go to and it’s at a ridiculous time like 7/7:30

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What’s ridiculous about eating at 1930? That’s the earlier side of normal. Even my five year old doesn’t eat that early!!

ChateauMargaux · 19/06/2026 14:45

PS. I resonate with everything you explained...

Original poster
Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 13:44

WarthogWoman · 19/06/2026 13:43

Why do you have to eat breakfast? Just go and sit with them and have a cup of tea. Start your eating window later and then you can have dinner a little later too

Edited

Well, I don’t have to eat breakfast. I don’t technically eat breakfast I eat my first meal at 10 o’clock.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 13:43

Velocity · 19/06/2026 13:41

I also IF and prefer a low carb approach so in your situation I would have breakfast with the family but just just have my normal black coffee. If I really thought I was going to get hungry and wanted something from the buffet to eat later I would grab a
boiled egg, cheese perhaps some cold meat. I would then eat lunch/dinner as normal - just avoiding carbs which is easy enough. I don’t see it as dieting - I have found a way of eating that makes me feel good, gives me the right energy - why wouldn’t I want to feel like that on holiday?

@Velocity thank you! Yes! I this exactly. feel great tbh and I’m not going to drop it all on holiday I want to feel great then too

OP posts:
WarthogWoman · 19/06/2026 13:43

Why do you have to eat breakfast? Just go and sit with them and have a cup of tea. Start your eating window later and then you can have dinner a little later too

Velocity · 19/06/2026 13:41

I also IF and prefer a low carb approach so in your situation I would have breakfast with the family but just just have my normal black coffee. If I really thought I was going to get hungry and wanted something from the buffet to eat later I would grab a
boiled egg, cheese perhaps some cold meat. I would then eat lunch/dinner as normal - just avoiding carbs which is easy enough. I don’t see it as dieting - I have found a way of eating that makes me feel good, gives me the right energy - why wouldn’t I want to feel like that on holiday?

ChateauMargaux · 19/06/2026 13:31

Could you let you husband do breakfast with your kids.. then at or around 10 / 11.. could you have a tin of sardines and an avocado.. and then a salad with the family at lunch time?

Original poster
Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 13:18

Ibi · 19/06/2026 13:11

I’d be more annoyed having to eat my dinner at 1730 - lunchtime is barely over by then?! Why so early? Are restaurants even open at that time?

Because that’s when we eat dinner, we always eat dinner at that time. Unless we’ve been invited out to a restaurant for something we have to go to and it’s at a ridiculous time like 7/7:30

OP posts:
Original poster
Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 13:17

Sartre · 19/06/2026 13:10

Why are you dieting on holiday? Surely holidays are the perfect time to unwind and not think about restrictions like that!

Because I don’t see you just dieting I just see it as the way I eat. I’m not going to eat if I’m not hungry.

OP posts:
tiramisugelato · 19/06/2026 13:12

Kitchenbattle · 19/06/2026 13:08

OK, @tiramisugelato I’m not arguing with you. You see what you want to see. That’s fine.

Edited
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Thanks for the permission 😂

Ibi · 19/06/2026 13:11

I’d be more annoyed having to eat my dinner at 1730 - lunchtime is barely over by then?! Why so early? Are restaurants even open at that time?