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

Honestly, the fact that you can’t relax and eat breakfast with your kids on holiday for a week is a huge waving red flag 🚩

Just relax and enjoy your holiday instead of fussing about with bloody Tupperware.

Just have breakfast as late as possible and don’t worry about it for a week or so.

I usually don’t eat breakfast at home until around 11/12 each day but on holiday I go to the breakfast buffet and enjoy it! I don’t eat any bread or pastries and just fill up on high protein foods like Greek yoghurt with seeds and nuts, eggs, fish etc. I generally don’t have a lunch and then have dinner. We usually go to Spain on holiday so dinner is late-around 9 or 10pm. So my usual eating times are out of the window but I don’t care as I’m on holiday in the sunshine!

HA😀 maybe not then, I am sure it will be fine, i generally only eat 2 meals a day im never hungry in the morning but will eat on holiday but usually miss lunch.

Have yoghurt or eggs for breakfast with fruit or sliced cucumbers/peppers. Skip lunch altogether and then enjoy your early dinner.

Keep it to a cup of tea/coffee at breakfast and have a solid lunch instead?

Can you hold the family off till 9 ?

Your update sounds exhausting.
You could have some nice things in the fridge/freezer at home that make it easier to slip back into a routine.

I do intermittent fasting but not every day. I find it really helpful. Instead of having breakfast I have dinner at a normal time and then fast till lunch or have a mid morning snack and then a big lunch.

This works for me on holiday but I do it every other day. I like to go for a run or swim first thing and by the time I've done that, we've got the kids ready and out the door it's 10am anyway. I don't find it restricting on holiday as then eat as I want the rest of the day, usually a big lunch with a beer!

It's really not going to have much impact on your body if the regime is 15:9 or 14:10 for the duration of the holiday. Just go to breakfast as late as possible and have supper as early as possible and don't worry about it otherwise.

Hotels that include breakfast but charge for lunch will be on the lookout for packed-lunch-hoarders. They my even have Ts&Cs that boil down to saying that food on the breakfast buffet is only free if taken for immediate eating, and if you are taking it away it will be charged for.

I'm in agreement with most of the PP here in that I think you should relax your "rules" for these family holidays. It's not a medical issue and an hour or two one way or the other isn't going to make you ill. The fact that you feel that if you do so you are "falling off the wagon" and won't be able to resume your eating pattern when not on holiday is pretty extreme tbh. Why have you adopted this intermittent fasting pattern in the first place?
The problem with your solution of just having tea at breakfast and supposedly not eating anything at lunch either is that you're going to be either very hungry and/or tired. And even if you pack something to eat later at your "assigned" breakfast time, how are you going to do that without inconveniencing the rest of your family and the day's activities?

Same. If we go away then I eat with everyone but would focus on eating protein. When I get home I go back to my natural routine.

Just think about all the different healthy choices there will be on the breakfast buffet- different fruits to what you would have at home, toppings like seeds or dates with honey- you can stick to protein and low carbs, but give yourself a treat of new gut microbiomes. And also a treat of sharing breakfast with your family!

I do 18:6 ish. Roughly. I eat when I feel hungry.
I wave it when it's not convenient. It really won't hurt you and you're more likely to be able to eat more protein and fewer carbs if you have breakfast and are selective than if you skip it and then struggle to find a suitable lunch

Hotel breakfasts usually finish about 10am, so go for breakfast at 9.30am, have a glass of water and a cup of coffee or tea, and then about 9.45am have some eggs or yoghurt. That way you’re very close to your target time. They won’t kick you out at 10am. It just means no additional food is available from 10am.

Eh just eat an hour earlier?

Chances are you'll be more active when abroad anyway, so it's a perfect time to give the diet a rest.

Must hotel breakfast buffets are open until 10, so go at 9.30, get a plate, drink your tea/coffee and then eat the food at 9.45, which is barely any different to 10. Don't take tupperware, hotels hate people doing that, they think you are helping yourself to a "free packed lunch".

To be honest though, I think you need to relax the regime. Intermittent fasting works mainly because you are intaking less calories a day. So if it's important to maintain, just find another way to limit your calories. Lay off the wine (sadly it's booze that piles weight on for me).

Like others have said, you'll have difficulty finding an evening meal at 5.30pm unless you're self catering or there are all day fast food places nearby. You may be better off having lateish breakfast and earlyish dinner and skipping lunch. That's what I do. If it's hot I often find I don't really have much appetite at lunchtime on hols.