Open vs. closed diaries

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  • Protranser
    Protranser Posts: 517 Member
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    I leave mine open. Judgement happens at all times for all reasons within and outside of food and eating. I can't control other people's behaviors.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    Kimegatron wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    My diary was open for many months but I recently closed it to anyone who is not a friend. Someone decided to go into my diary, after a LCHF debate, and took a screen shot of my diary which they posted with hopes to shame me. They THOUGHT they had a picture of a day when I was eating way off plan and high calories but that person wasn't too bright and didn't read my notes at the bottom. It was actually a day that I posted my husband's food intake for the day when we were discussing his dietary needs and if eating high fat with me was not a good idea to combine with his high carb way of eating.

    I closed my diary to non-friends because I don't need people like that viewing my diary. I was rather surprised and dismayed by the juvenile behavior. I thought I was decades past having to deal with the junior high mindset. Sigh. :(

    Uhhh that is messed up. I mean, this is MFP not FB. What an idiot, hahahaha

    I was annoyed but I also had a good laugh that they picked my husband's log. LOL Idiot is right.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
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    toe1226 wrote: »
    This is all great info!

    It makes me think about how it would be great if the diary had a little comments section like "felt sick today, couldn't eat much." or WHATEVER, not just for others, but for ourselves.
    There's the food note section. I think other posters can see any note you post there.

    Being secretive about my food diary, even to total Internet strangers, is something I don't like to do. I've had problems with disordered eating.

    I've never gotten any flak for eating sweets. If someone wants to say something about that, I'll dedicate my next bowl of ice cream to them.

  • Jayisahomogay
    Jayisahomogay Posts: 10 Member
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    I keep mine closed simply because it's my business, and I will be far more honest with myself if it is private, rather than open for viewing.
  • Mezzie1024
    Mezzie1024 Posts: 380 Member
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    Mine is open for friends. That's just the way I am with all online records of mine; I don't like having everything open to everyone on the internet, even if it's just what I've been eating.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Mine is closed because I'm fine with what and how I'm eating and I don't need advice. Given that the default is closed, and you have to change your settings to open it, opening it is, in my view, somewhat of an invitation for people to look and comment and I don't need them to.

    When I did have it open, after a few people asked, I found that when I got comments I'd either have to feign interest in them or ignore them, neither of which is ideal.

    Mine is locked with a key, simply so I can copy meals over to my husband's.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    This thread has had me really thinking.

    My diary is closed, I have always thought I wouldn't open it even on request. Although I am quite chatty on the forums, I am actually quite an introvert extrovert, and introspective by nature, so never felt the need to share.

    However, I am the little, short, older woman who had a 1200 cal sedentary intake ( doesn't everyone say to the 5'10, 25 yr old I am the only one who should :) ) and was successful losing. It ended up as sedentary maintenance too.

    I eat really well, fit in my weaknesses, wine and desert, almost daily, and use protein bars and shakes to plump up my protein- a recent thing. I can honestly only eat so much in a day.

    I dilly and dally about opening it because I get lots of friend requests and PM asking to see what I eat - the 1200 cal thing, sigh.
    I never know if my diary would help or hinder as so many want to do 1200 when it is not appropriate.

    I think I will stay closed. Heck I have been maintaining 6 years; most days are empty anyway.

    Thanks for letting me think this through.

    Cheers, h.
  • joinn68
    joinn68 Posts: 480 Member
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    Open to friends only. I don't think most people care what I eat really. Who has time to look at everything their friends eat? Some friends have had a look and made comments but usually like "I don't even know what you are eating". Off course you don't! We all have different food cultures and habits. People eating vegemite or mincemeat or kimchi would be totally puzzling to me. I think I've looked at friend's diaries only a handful of times.
  • dorkyfaery
    dorkyfaery Posts: 255 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    ki4eld wrote: »
    My insurance carrier requires I keep my diary public so they and my medical team can monitor my intake without them requiring a MFP account and me having to friend twenty dozen people. The same applies to some of my info on Fitbit. Open is easier for us all. If not for that, I don't know if I'd have it open or closed. Probably open, because I don't care.

    I'm frankly shocked at this due to privacy regulations (which I realize don't currently cover MFP and activity tracker accounts, but still). All your health care team would need to do is create one shared account.

    But then, I'm the sort of person who doesn't use my real name on FaceBook due to their history of privacy abuses.

    My husband participates in a program at work similar to this. He's not required to do it, but he does get a discount on his premium by doing so. I don't know if that's the case here, but I think in many situations people have a choice in sharing that information. Some people decide that the discount is worth the extra exposure.
  • melonaulait
    melonaulait Posts: 769 Member
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    I wouldn't nag anyone about their diaries so I don't fear people are gonna judge me for my choices, either. What's wrong with my diary is I can never stick to one calorie goal for 7 days straight... I tend to eat anywhere between 1300-1700 (without exercise) and sometimes over. And sometimes half of my daily calories or more come from beer or chocolate. Those are really some things I could improve, but... As long as I lose a few hundred grams a month I'll be fine. o:)
  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
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    Open diary, as I found I'm more likely to be honest with my logging with an open diary than with one set to private - which seems opposite to the experience of others.

    I prefer friends who also have diaries which are open as I like looking through them for inspiration - which is why I tend to add european/UK friends than american so I'll have a better chance at sourcing the same food.
  • myssjaxson
    myssjaxson Posts: 89 Member
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    Mines closed I'm guessing, if that's the default. Not sure if I'll open it or not, I don't really care lol. If I stop losing or need advice I guess I'd open it if I asked for help so members could evaluate my food intake, but I'm doing fine so far. I am still learning to log all my food and get into a rythm. You'd see like 3 days of logging if mine was open, it'd be "grapes, oranges, salads" then it'd be for dinner "800 calories of chips" LOL. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm learning, I'm trying. And I'm okay with that.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,926 Member
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    dorkyfaery wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    ki4eld wrote: »
    My insurance carrier requires I keep my diary public so they and my medical team can monitor my intake without them requiring a MFP account and me having to friend twenty dozen people. The same applies to some of my info on Fitbit. Open is easier for us all. If not for that, I don't know if I'd have it open or closed. Probably open, because I don't care.

    I'm frankly shocked at this due to privacy regulations (which I realize don't currently cover MFP and activity tracker accounts, but still). All your health care team would need to do is create one shared account.

    But then, I'm the sort of person who doesn't use my real name on FaceBook due to their history of privacy abuses.

    My husband participates in a program at work similar to this. He's not required to do it, but he does get a discount on his premium by doing so. I don't know if that's the case here, but I think in many situations people have a choice in sharing that information. Some people decide that the discount is worth the extra exposure.

    I wouldn't mind sharing my food and activity log with my medical team. My problem is with medical staff not being able to figure out a way to view it other than it being open to the whole world.
  • walkdmc
    walkdmc Posts: 529 Member
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    Closed because I don't follow a CICO diet plan, don't ask for diet advice and have no interest in unsolicited input.

  • chaines0145
    chaines0145 Posts: 18 Member
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    toe1226 wrote: »
    This is all great info!

    It makes me think about how it would be great if the diary had a little comments section like "felt sick today, couldn't eat much." or WHATEVER, not just for others, but for ourselves.

    The diary does have this section. You can click "add note" just like "add food."

  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    I had mine closed for awhile after I found myself not logging certain items because I didn't want to hear any comments from the food police. I have it open to friends now that I have deleted the people that have a habit of doing that.

    I really don't look at other people's diaries unless they ask for help. I have one friend that I like to check when I need new ideas for recipes.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I had mine open for over 2 years then closed it. I changed my goal to a low goal, knowing I'd be over a lot, but because if I'm not hungry, I'd rather save more calories, and a lower goal helps me to do that (as I see a smaller number, so I'm less likely to eat junk 'because I have the calories for it'). But if I'm hungrier, I eat more, so I'm in the red (even if still at a deficit) and didn't want to see comments about how I'm always eating too much... Plus PMS is insane for me and I didn't want more people judging me for it (because I get VERY hungry).

    TLDR - my diary is a tool for me and I don't want unsolicited 'advice'.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
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    I keep mine open. I like to look at other peoples because sometimes I get ideas on different things I can eat to switch things up since I tend to get into ruts....and vice versa. I don't see what the big deal is. We all eat, so what's the big secret? If anyone criticizes you it's easy enough to delete them.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I keep mine open so other girls can see they don't have to starve themselves to lose weight.
  • Traveling_Kimw
    Traveling_Kimw Posts: 38 Member
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    cnbbnc wrote: »
    I keep mine open. I like to look at other peoples because sometimes I get ideas on different things I can eat to switch things up since I tend to get into ruts....and vice versa. I don't see what the big deal is. We all eat, so what's the big secret? If anyone criticizes you it's easy enough to delete them.
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    I keep mine open so other girls can see they don't have to starve themselves to lose weight.

    This is what I need since I am new but don't even know how to look at diaries. Lol. How do we do this?

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