Food Diary Help~

loseit4good52

I have a question. Do you have to complete your food diary every day? Today I have been doing awful and frankly I don't want everyone to see how bad I did and I plan on starting over on Monday. I don't want to make it private either. Thanks for the help!

soccermom004

You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I record my stuff, good, bad and otherwise. We all have good and bad days. I think it's important for me to see both. My diary is public as well. But you can do whatever you are comfortable doing.

ricnrac

Everyone has moments of weakness. Accept it and move on. No one will criticize you on here. Also, why restart Monday, restart now :-)

ChefJenn

you can log it and just just change your viewing party if you dont want others to see.

but we are human.. we have good and bad days.

i log mine everyday. so i can see the things I ate each day , b/c i sure will not remember what i had last monday but i use it to look back and see what i had and that way i can plan meals again

Pebble321

It's entirely up to you - if you are happier to leave a day or two blank and start fresh on Monday then go for it.
However, I suggest thinking about WHY you are recording and what you want to achieve for yourself. No one else's opinion matters in the end, it is you who are in charge of this journey. You might decide that it's better to record what you ate so you can come back later and review the days when you were over and see if there are some patterns that you can work on changing.
I find that just knowing I'm going to be writing down what I'm eating helps me stop at one or two of something... But everyone has different opinions and objectives, you need to use this tool in a way that works for you.

kimwig

I have a question. Do you have to complete your food diary every day? Today I have been doing awful and frankly I don't want everyone to see how bad I did and I plan on starting over on Monday. I don't want to make it private either. Thanks for the help!

There was a big thread on just that recently...You may get thoughts from it to help
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/180892-recording-calories-on-bad-days

laurabeth02

It's ok to have slipups every once in awhile. However, I would recommend never telling yourself, "I'll start over tomorrow" or I'll get back on track next week..." this mindset started a vicious binge/diet/binge/diet cycle for me. Your body can easily handle a 'cheat meal' but a 'cheat weekend' can be really hard to undo. If I'm having a bad day, I tell myself that it's never to soon to get back on track and I also think about the progress I've made so far. I wish you the best!!!

hyoung3

This journey is just like any other.... there will be uphills and there will be downhills along the way.

We all have strong days and we all have weak days, so it's okay to have challenges.

I didn't gain weight overnite and I'm not gonna lose it overnite has been on my mind since i started this journey,
but I also realize that it's not gonna come back overnite, either.

Use the 80/20 rule..... 80% good days and 20% bad and you'll find that you can add in a nice stretch of "perfect", too.

McKayMachina

I am religious about my food diary. I stay within my calories but do NOT eat a balanced diet yet. I eat junk mostly. Working slowly into the good stuff. But I keep my diary private for now because I'm ashamed. haha

Now, I almost "gamed the system" last night because I went over on cals for the first time. Like 700 over! BUT! I realized the only one I was gaming was myself. So I logged the cals correctly and took a 30-minute "guilt" ride on my bike. I burned 300 cals meaning I was really only over 400 for the day. But it was the realization that I'm WORTH the honesty that did it for me.

You just have to do what works for you and leaves you feeling proud of yourself at the end of the day. Trust me. Your diary is there to help you. It's a powerful tool. I say use it as scientifically/mathematically as possible. That's my vote!

JulieTX86

Log it, log it, log it...

I just wrote this on another post...

just because people can see what you eat doesn't mean the number on the scale will change. so why not just log it and move on? It will probably be good for you to see the grand total of the calories. Maybe it will guide you to better decisions in the future.

strandedeyes

I have a question. Do you have to complete your food diary every day? Today I have been doing awful and frankly I don't want everyone to see how bad I did and I plan on starting over on Monday. I don't want to make it private either. Thanks for the help!

The journal should only be for you and you shouldn't be writing stuff down to please others. Keeping your diary public is great, especially if you want feedback, but remember that it isn't for any of us but for you and only you. I have had many slip up days but logging it only helped me, not any of my friends or family. Good luck.

t1981

My food diary is public and I always log everything, even when I eat badly- which has happened several days this week The only time I didn't log was a couple of weeks ago when my husband had a surgery and I was too busy. But I find if I don't log what I eat I can't keep track of all the calories and they start adding up.

susanswan

I decided to make mine public. I am trying to be completely honest with MYSELF this time around. You can see what I eat, what I weigh, and my slow progress. I have nothing to brag about or be ashamed of. I have only been here for a couple of weeks, but I would like to believe that everyone here is in the same boat. We all got here by over eating and we all had a hard time finding the strenth to start over again. No body is perfect, and if they are, then good for them! Everyone has a different philosophy and a different path to get to their goal weight.

I would like you to be honest with yourself and DO NOT DELAY in starting over again. Don't stray too far from your plan. Your old habits are fighting tooth and nail to get back into your life. Remember that those habits are what led you to being overweight in the first place. You will need to be strong to get rid of them. We all slip and fall from time to time or find ourselves in enviornments where the food may be out of our control, but don't throw away the whole weekend over it. but it is your choice, and you are perfectly capable of making your own decisions. I am personally pulling for everyone here because the more successes I see reinforce to me that I will be successful, too! good luck to you!

TonysMiss

Maybe for now, mark it private. That way you can stay accountable to yourself first and foremost. I did HORRIBLE yesterday and also thought to myself....."I don't want to log it". But I decided to because I'm not doing myself any favors by NOT doing it.
Sure, you can have a "fresh start" but if you keep what you DID eat viewable to even just YOU, you may give yourself even more motivation to CONTINUE or maybe even START the new start. lol....that make any sense? haha
When and if you are ready you can make it viewable by others or friends and quite honestly, if anyone was anything other than encouraging or offered anything other than constructive criticism, they shouldn't be on your friends list. = )
I believe with my "opinion" stated, you should do what ever you are comfortable with! This is after all about YOU. = ) You do it your way.
Good luck to you my fellow MFP member!!