To Share Your Diary or Not to Share...

tehboxingkitteh

I have my diary open to friends. Like others have said, I like sharing meal ideas. I've never had anyone critique it so far. On the rare occasion I'm a little embarrassed about something I've eaten, well that's what quick added calories are for!

I've never done quick calories because I want to be accountable for my actions. Other than that, I agree with this.

misuzu437

I prefer not to share mine. My lifestyle is very disciplined, I don't need other people in my head over what I eat. Personally I find it easier to focus on my diet without people judging what I eat.

merryberry99

Thanks, everyone! It 's great to hear your opinions. I first read diaries from time to time, honestly, out of curiosity; however, then I started gaining some GREAT ideas! I even added some of what I saw to my grocery list.

Of course, I also respect the privacy of others and would NEVER expect anyone to open their diary if they didn't actually want to do so.

As someone mentioned before, I feel somewhat embarrassed when people see pizza or a sleeve of chocolate chip cookies listed under my meals, but it also makes me more aware of what I consume, so, for now, I think I will keep mine open. Thank goodness no one has been negative. I think that would be a line crossed.

Again, thank you so much for answering this question!

VeinsAndBones

I keep it open, I like when people go "WTF IS UP WITH YOUR DIARY?!" shock value

TheBaileyHunter

I share mine. It's like an added level of accountability for me, and really I don't care all that much.

This isn't the same as a buffet line and I have worked pretty hard to get over the mental intimidation of 'everyone is staring at what the fat girl is putting on her plate' syndrome.

*as a side note, every time I saw this title I read it as Share your dairy or not...which made me wonder why you're sharing dairy unless of course it's ice cream then yes...by all means, share.*

serendipity57

Mine is closed but whatever I'm eating it's working lol

Csengure

I keep mine closed for the same reason I don't get on the scale every day; I think doing otherwise would make me obsessive to an unhealthy degree. Knowing that someone is paying attention to what I eat leads to paranoia which leads to dishonesty and general emotional grossness. No thank you.

Having said that, I eat much the same things every day and I never bother looking at anyone else's diary either. If I want recipe ideas I go scope out the "Show me your meals" thread.

exohglo

i JUST switched mine from private to just friends. I don't have anything to hide, if anything I welcome tips and advice from people. It was nerve wracking but we'll see what happens.

michellekicks

Mine's totally public. I find it amusing to see peoples' reactions when they find out how much I eat... church potlucks are a good time. I love the looks :noway:

hilaryhill

Mine is open. I eat very healthy, I dont mind if others take a peek.

BinaryPulsar

When I joined mine was closed. It just seemed oddly personal. My husband agreed and felt it was too much of a personal connection with internet strangers.

But, I decided early on to open it to friends. Still seems too personal to open to everyone. I don't have anything to hide. It just feels personal.

One of the main reasons I opened it was so that people could see that I really do eat a lot (just as I say I do).

thebigcb

I share mine, cause I know Im right lol

robdel302

Everyone has different reasons for what they do. I keep my closed just because my fitness level allows me to be more flexible with what I eat and still drop body fat. I don't want to discourage my MFP friends when they see me eating cheeseburgers and drinking beer but still staying below my deficit. I'm deployed so I average burning about 3500-4000 calories a day.

zinatara

I share it with my friends. But I don't know if it's really interesting for my non-norwegian friends. Most of the foods in my diary are listed in norwegian and many are not available in other contries.

cheesyrunner

I guess I thought I'd ask--do you share your diary or keep it secret? Why did you make the decision you made?

I keep it secret. People do not need to see it. I lose weight easily, have a firm knowledge of food (what to eat, avoid, have more of, etc.) and I don't think the sharing of the 'diary' is needed, in my case. I don't need people to comment on my food diary because it hardly changes and if it does, I make a status update about it (mid-morning fro-yo binges or something lol). So, I guess, if i have an issue I will make it public but until then... No. I'm of a small weight too and would prefer food comments to be kept to themselves. If I want to eat crap, I will eat crap (i don't btw... not yet).

12skipafew99100

I used to not share because I did not want to be judged but its open now. I made a declaration to my friends that I do not eat completely clean and please do not correct me. I am trying to make better choices. I have not gotten anything but positive encouragement and I'm glad I opened my diary. It really does help to have mystery eyes to see through when I log my choices.


Also, I saw that others who lost weight could do it by eating normal things and I was encouraged that I myself did not have to have have the perfect diet to lose. I hope to be inspiring to the average Joe or Josey some day. :laugh:

lyttmab

I keep mine closed. I put lots of notes in that are very personal and I have always been a "closet eater" so for me to be completely honest and track everything I eat, I have to keep it private. I would be completely dishonest if I made it public, because I still have the "abused child syndrome" and feel I'm being judged by what I eat (a whole "how I was raised" issue).

With that said, I have never even thought about looking at any of my Friends' diaries, so I guess it all works out in my situation. It's nice to know that I can change it any time, though.

glovepuppet

it's not even a decision for me. i've got no reason to make it public.
i don't need advice and i don't fancy myself as inspirational.
what is there to gain from people snooping at my food?

LMT2012

I have mine open to my friends...If I ask for help "Why is the scale not moving", Friends can look at my diary and make suggestions on changes I should maybe consider. I look at my friends diaries for meal and snack Ideas.

To me, this is a good intended purpose. You have to have a lot of maturity and lack of ego to get to this point. And look, she's had a LOT of success.
I've opened mine recently just because it seems to be of interest. Also, I might be less likely to eat those cookies if I know everyone will see that.

Achrya

Mine is open to friends. I fail to see what interest the general mfp community could have in my diary, unless you're interested in all the unseasoned grilled meat i eat with sides of unseasoned canned veggies and wheat bread or all the take out i eat (no recipes to be found here). In which case we can be friends.



Also you're weird.

KimJohnsonsmile

I like to see what people eat. It gives me ideas. I don't think itd be fair not to share mine.

This! I get lots of ideas by stalking my friends diaries. So, mine's open too. Fair is fair.

NHoughton13

Closed. I keep a diary for myself and keep myself accountable. I never ask diet advice on here, if I did..then I would open it. What I am doing is working for me, so that is all that matters..I don't need a critique of it.

^^This. If the scale doesn't move I don't cry, "What's wrong? I'm doing everything right!" I'm honest with myself and know what I'm doing wrong. And it usually involves chocolate:)

afgrpa

I have mine open. I came for weight loss support which includes exercise and nutrition. If someone sees me making a bad choice regularly I would hope they would say something. Thats why I'm here. I figure if someone is being nasty I can just delete them from my friends and keep only encouraging people on my friends list.

I do view peoples diaries and wish everyone felt comfortable keeping it open. I like to see what others are eating, whats working for them. Don't we all find ourselves struggling to figure out what we SHOULD eat sometimes?

I love the advice and encouragement I've been getting from my new friends!

Francl27

Mine is public. Frankly I don't care, lol. I don't eat totally clean but it still looks better than a lot of diaries I've seen out there.

glovepuppet

i honestly don't get the eating clean, making bad choices & being accountable guilt trip that a lot of people are on. eat wrong & you won't feel as good. eat too much and you'll gain weight. why do people turn it into naughty/good, moral/sinful, proud/ashamed thing? it's food!

like running any engine, we tinker about with it to get it running at its best. that's really all there is to it.

fit4lifeUcan2

Closed. I keep a diary for myself and keep myself accountable. I never ask diet advice on here, if I did..then I would open it. What I am doing is working for me, so that is all that matters..I don't need a critique of it.

^^This. If the scale doesn't move I don't cry, "What's wrong? I'm doing everything right!" I'm honest with myself and know what I'm doing wrong. And it usually involves chocolate:)

Exactly! Its no ones business what I eat. I only have to answer to myself.
I had mine open when I first started on here till someone out of nowhere sent me a snarky message saying I ate too much yogurt and went on and on about dairy and animal products. Thats when I closed it. I don't snoop around anyone elses diary. I could care less what others eat. If you ask me what your doing wrong that would be different. Then your asking me to check things out. Other wise I don't look nor do I care.

momzeeee

After the last thread about this question I went ahead and made mine open. I only spot track (maybe 2-3 times a month), to track my macros, but I'm very happy with how I eat now and maybe someone else trying to figure out maintenance will get some ideas from it

Th3stral

Mine is open to my friends only. I have a whole host of allergies which obviously make restrictions on the variety of my diet, I don't ever log salad (I don't use dressings) and I rarely log vegetables either, and I eat a high amount of home made raw foods, so when I've logged 'brownie' in my diary, I've not eaten chocolate and sugar filled commercial made brownie, but raw vegan brownie made primarily from linseed and nuts. So lots of what I have can be misleading in terms of content.

I'm not in any way ashamed of what (or how much) I eat, I spend all day eating high nutrient based foods. But I guess from an outsider (and, dare I say it, potentially someone young and influential?) it can look like I'm achieving weight loss eating naff foods which isn't something I'd ever want to personally promote. Nor would I like people to get all judgemental over my diary without knowing the full facts of the situation.

rochellena

I kept mine open for a long time, but as time went on, I noticed that when I would have bad days, I would just not log them because I felt embarrassed, like I was failing the world. Of course this guilt coupled with my not keeping track of what I was ingesting was taking bad days to being bad weeks and eventually bad months. If there was one thing I didn't need more of in my life it was more shame coming from eating/weight/etc So I decided to close it for now and be honest and log everything. I've been doing pretty good again about logging regularly, and I'm working on the shame/guilt issues on their own. Maybe I will open it back up, but right now the best thing for me is to keep it private.

whiteheaddg

Open to the public.

I like to show that it is entirely possible to maintain a healthy weight (155 @ 5'10") and lifestyle without extreme measures and fad diets while enjoying food (and wine).