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

[Kitchenbattle]

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.

Personally I'd aim to go low-carb on the holiday (if you want to stick to something) and forget the 16:8. It's easy to maintain when you are in your own routine, in your own place, but very hard when having to fit in with 'normal' mealtimes and other people's needs. I usually skip breakfast, eat a large low-carb lunch (French school cantine) at 12h15, a light dinner at home, and stop eating by 8pm. It's dead easy because it fits with the regular French lunch routine and our British family dinner time. But on holidays it all goes out the window

I’ve been doing 16:8 for a while now and my plan is just to relax it on holiday as a week or two off it won’t do much harm!

I have been following the 16:8 fasting regime for 2 years now and it’s brilliant for me. On holidays I have to relax the rules a little bit around breakfast time. Most breakfast services are open until 10.30, so you should be fine. Sometimes I take Kind bars for in between breakfast and dinner, I believe most of them are gluten free and quite filling.

Could you all the hotel top make a gluten-free breakfast for you to take away? Then you can eat it later when it fits your window. Win-win. However I echo the comments that you should relax and enjoy time with family. My husband normally eats his first meal at 12 but in holiday has breakfast with us and just goes back to his fasting routine when we get home...

Genuinely, what difference would it make if you ate earlier if it was the same caloric intake?

Asking as I've been slim since shedding the lbs 20 years ago and what I tend to do at hotels is eat a massive but low calorie breakfast (beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, veggie sausage) and then eat again at dinner time. Could you do that?

It's only really a problem if you're leaving the hotel as 10am is a long time for people to wait for you if you want to sit down. Otherwise just do as you've said, portion it into tupperware and eat it on the hop at 10am. If you aren't going out, just go to breakfast twice. It's your holiday too.

But in all honesty I'd try to adjust as it'll be inconvenient working around your breakfast everyday.

And if I'm really honest, if you can't adjust, even for half the week, it isn't really a lifelong solution to managing hunger.

I’m not hungry until about 9:30/10 usually. I have never been the type of person to wake up and eat straight away. The very odd time I might be hungry and when I was pregnant, I was a little hungrier in the morning. Whenever I eat early, I feel really sluggish and horrible for the day and that’s probably because I was also eating the wrong foods for me but the timing has a big impact for me too.

I try and do 16:8 too most days but i stop when on holiday

Just eat eggs, bacon, mushrooms, yoghurt? Cheese and ham? Surely you can come down to breakfast at 10 if you like? On holiday? Just avoid bread, pastry, potatoes.

I don't think I could handle eating my evening meal at 5.30pm though! Especially in hot weather.

My friend’s husband is super sensitive so things like people bringing toast over and touching it before touching the meat platter would be a problem. And nothing worse than being unwell on holiday! I’d react if someone touches shrimp and then touches the serving tongs and there’s just no control over other people at a buffet. Love a breakfast buffet though as there’s (almost) never any shellfish.

Sounds like you have a solution that works for you now though. Might be worth considering self catering in future though as then you can eat whenever you want.

Fair enough, what about skipping breakfast and starting your eating window at noon? You could transition to that over a few weeks. It's the same period to eat and might work better for later dinners?

As I said, I tend to eat like a snake as I like big portions, so it's either big breakfast and dinner on holiday or at home I'll pick through the day and eat a big meal at night, so them I'm notnhungry in the morning - maybe if you adjust in the weeks before you could see if the later breakfast and dinner work for you? When I eat that way, I tend not to be hungry until afternoon as I had a big dinner x

So you usually eat two meals a day - late breakfast and early dinner?

If it were me, I would stick to the two meal pattern but shift/extend the fasting window based on having lunch and a later dinner. Say lunch at noon, and then dinner at 7pm.

It's easy to join your family for breakfast and have a cup of coffee, while legitimately saying you're not hungry yet.

This isn’t an issue. DH has a medical condition and can’t eat too late - we’ve always found restaurants across Europe happy to cater to us around 6pm. Even in Italy when we ended up eating with the staff at their staff meal.

If I were you, I'd go down to breakfast as late as possible and eat then. Otherwise skip breakfast entirely and have an early lunch if possible.

But we are more than likely be gone by 10. We would like to go out and do things.

I love fasting, but, as someone currently fallen off the fasting wagon, I understand your desire to protect it!! If you feel you can, I’d do the tea only at breakfast (ideally no milk so you stay in autophagy) and break your fast with lunch at 12ish. That way if you end up eating a bit later too, it’s no biggie.

I normally fast day to day (well, I skip breakfast and have lunch at 12pm) but I don't worry about it on holiday. Just have a small healthy breakfast with some protein (e.g. yoghurt & fruit; or a boiled egg) with your family in the morning.

Fair enough. Im a lazy bugger who thinks 10 sounds pretty early to wake up! I guess sneak a bunch of ham and cheese and stuff or ask your mates to order an omelette then stash it?

Are you very fond of hotel breakfast? You could always just forget it exists as you don't usually eat at that time? But I guess it'd be good to get your money's worth if it's nice.

God I would love to be able to sleep late 😅 7:30 is a lie in for me 😭

Just don't eat it 🤷🏻‍♀️Or relax you're on holiday!

I'm sure there will be other options for you to eat at your allocated time, or grab some fruit

As far as your diet is concerned, it won’t make any difference when you eat breakfast as long as your total daily calorie intake remains the same as when you were following the 16:8 regimen.

Aww, well I hope you enjoy your holidays! 😁 X

Let the family eat when they want - have a glass of water while they have breakfast.

pack and bring some protein bars with you and eat it at 10 if that is your normal time and is impossible for you to change.

I’m diabetic and coeliac and i manage my conditions with pretty consistent foods and food times at home - but on holiday - I just adjust my insulin and my expectations and get on with things - especially when your normal food / timings aren’t always available / the same as the hotels. Always carry safe snacks . It’s not hard.

don’t make this holiday about your diet.

Skip breakfast and have lunch instead.

relax it a bit, that’s what I do, and go for yoghurt, fruit and nuts for breakfast rather than carbs. I find that stops me feeling sluggish

I would definitely skip breakfast and just have lunch and dinner.

(Well, I wouldn't as I love pastries on holiday and eat far too many!)