What are the reasons behind a private food diary?

Crowhorse

I read a post one day on here from someone who wanted to know why people don't put any pictures of themselves on thier profile. She, like you with the open diary question, offered her own opinion as to why any one would not want to put pictures of themselves up. Maybe the thing to think about is, why do people care what anyone else here does? Everyone here uses this site to get what they want to out of it. I myself did not create my page & think oh I better do something one way or another to please anyone but myself.

Exactly!

significance

Ah, the old "if you're not doing anything you're ashamed of, you don't need privacy" argument. I'm not ashamed of what I eat, but I don't want to broadcast it. I'm not ashamed of going to the toilet, but I don't want you to know the details. I'm not ashamed of the contents of private emails with friends, but as a matter of basic courtesy, I don't publish them on the net.

spaboleo

Food diaries exist since the first people struggled with the overweight...
Even if try to track mentally how much you have eaten a day is some kind of diaring.

Mine stays private. The community of the friendstream is pressure enough...
I hate every step I do being tracked...

CaroseH

I agree with the poster who said some people are just on here to track their calories and for the information. Not everyone uses the site for the same reasons, mine are just to keep track of my personal calories and to read about questions and get information and guidelines about how to eat correctly. Having people looking at my diary is just not a factor that keeps me either "more accountable" or "less accountable." I eat for myself, and am only responsible to MYSELF for what I decide to eat and when, so there just isn't any reason to have my diary open for others to view.

shelleyrose

I don't know how to change it to make it public. How do you do that?

Karleyyy

Can't we support each other without seeing food diaries? If we wanted people to know we can choose to express it. Why do people make their profiles private? Why is it necessary to know?

knittnponder

I keep mine private because i know how I need to eat and don't really want any unsolicited input. There are so many different ways of eating (high carb, low carb, high fat, low fat, "clean" all the artificial stuff are staples and so on!) I don't need advice from well meaning people who just don't get how "I" am eating. I don't mean to sound snarky! It's just taken me a long time to finally listen to my body instead of the 8 million voices out there telling me how I "should" do things and I don't want to go backwards.

I keep diary on here so I AM honest with myself about what I'm consuming but my diary is for my own personal record. I track everything as I have a "you bite it, you write it rule". I even track the bad days. I track the "absolutely horribly painful to type this in" days! And then I learn from them and move on. Initially I didn't even know it was an option to make the diary public or private.

naebear99

I chose to keep mine private because, while I like the feedback of having a food/exercise diary, I really don't want to discuss with others the days I choose to have the Love It! sized Cookie Doughnt You Want Some in the chocolate-dipped waffle cone. I think I'm frankly more likely to cheat if Im going to have to explain my food choices. By keeping my food diary private, I find it easier to keep it honest, since I'm otherwise only lying to myself. I'll be honest - I've been tempted a couple of times to lie to myself and fail to log something. The fact that only I know has helped me face my own failings, look baldly at the impact, and go forward and do better.

In the month I've been doing it this way, my intake has actually gone down fairly steadily. Meanwhile, the system automatically shares my good news - every time I exercise, every time I stay under my calorie goal. That means I get to look at what I'm doing right (and occasionally get praise for it from other nice people). In short, the default settings are the optimal combination of keeping me honest, and sharing information, allowing me to succeed more readily than I ever have before.

monocot

There are a tons of people who don't come near there calorie goals, I've only once reached a 1000 Calories in one day.
Who wants to be nagged about the importance of starvation mode.
I use this site to just make sure i don't go over my limit, it's alot harder and take alot longer to take the time to record it in a book
I keep mine open cause I don't care what people think of me.
But there are alot of people who care what people think. They hate being judged. Even a glance from a person makes them wonder what they person is thinking.

Pandorian

Mine's open to friends, I had it private but was easier to just share it with the friends I've got on here rather than having to tell them what I ate they could just go look.

But for the privacy stuff, it depends on your security consciousness. My MFP user name is a totally unique, to me, name that I've never used anywhere else and never will, no one username across all the boards I frequent to be able to piece together this and that about my habits.

Facebook etc drives me crazy with adding new features and the default is oh here's a new feature you're wide open on this new feature until you change it, I've got friends on there that update every little thing of their day, "oh I took down the box of kraft dinner, oh I opened it because the waters boiling, it's in the water... " in the end, who cares! I don't, they also post every time they go out of town so anyone that knows who they are / where they live.

I log everything here, if I ate it it gets logged, good or bad, and it's working, I'm losing weight, which is what I signed up here to do.

MakingAChoice

Mine was set to friends only before since it is the default. I changed that a couple weeks ago because I too thought there was no reason why anyone shoudl not be able to see what I am logging. If I have a day of poor choices, so be it. I am not going to hide from those choices, I made them and take responsibility for any of my choices.

watermelonstarfish

i have mines set to friends only, just to have trustworthy eyes besides mines viewing it. I do no have it set to public. I'm very aware of the flaws in my diary and am working on it at my own pace. For someone random to point out a bad choice to me is just stating the obvious. The sky is blue. Blood is red. duh, ty captain obvious.

eveunderground

Facebook etc drives me crazy with adding new features and the default is oh here's a new feature you're wide open on this new feature until you change it, I've got friends on there that update every little thing of their day, "oh I took down the box of kraft dinner, oh I opened it because the waters boiling, it's in the water... " in the end, who cares!

lol not to turn this thread into a facebook rant but I think the exact same thing!!! what is wrong with those people who update fb every time do anything...sheesh...do they really think people are that interested in their every move? It drives me crazy, I've taken numerous breaks from facebook because of all the lame updates...it has become so boring (to me anyway).

paroxysm

Mine's private. I don't really feel like being judged and most people on here are on low calorie diets and I am on a maintenance - bordering on a gain diet. I eat between 1900-3000 cals daily (sometimes more, sometimes a touch less depending on activity/hunger)
I'm underweight, hungry, and active and I think on a 'weight loss' centered site I'd probably be harassed for 'going over calories' haha or sodium or fat or carbs or or or or or.
I love MFP but people on here get very judgemental if things aren't done their way.

abyt42

I don't care if anyone sees my bad days,but when I get unsolicited advice ... it gets on my nerves.

My diary's open, but this is why I've played with it. It's just weird for me when someone looks at my diary then comments about it to me. Particularly if it's for a day when I log after I eat (rather than the regular "log the day in the morning" method I prefer to use.)

cynusps

idn't realize it wasn't. So I found out where to change it. You are right we ae all humna and going to fall off the wagon occasionally. Then we just pick ourselves up and start agan.

angela828

I keep mine private. For me, keeping a calorie count is something I am doing just for me. I rarely look at other peoples diaries. I know that I am eating healthy and can see what areas I need work on (sodium!!) and I feel I don't need anyones "approval". If I have a bad day, oh well.. I usually post a status saying I'm having a bad day anyway.

Also, i have seen how rude people can be on this site to other members.. especially about their food diary. I don't feel like dealing with rude people, especially on the sensitive subject of food! I like to eat one "bad" snack a day.. that is a WW ice cream, or a fun size candy bar, or like today I have a little baggie with chocolate chips to curb my chocolate craving. I feel like people will read that and focus only on that.. rather than the 800 cals I burned exercising, the 10 glasses of water I drank, or the healthy low cal salad I ate for lunch (and dinner).

Honestly, I think it's your choice - if you make it public, good for you! If not, good for you too! While I like the support I get from my friends on here, this is also a site I check for my own personal journey.

Syreeta6

Amen!! Now let me check my profile to be sure mine isn't private. LOL

LOL!!!

Agreed

Lexie71

I keep my food diary private because part of what got me to a point of being so overweight was the "Food Police" which caused me to stop trusting my own body. I don't want anyone's input on what I am eating. It's my decision. I no longer believe in dieting. This works for me. I will share my diary with a few individuals when I am telling them about "Am I Hungry?" so they can see that you can lose weight in a healthy way in an "all foods fit" approach. Other than that I don't want someone to get only part of the story (by looking at the food journal) nor do I want to hear what they think of my choices.

WarmDontBurn

I haven't read ALL the post but I keep mine private because IMO what I eat shouldn't matter to anyone and half the time if I view someones diary 9 times out of 10 most items I have never even heard of or have access to any of the foods listed. I keep track of my food for me so there is no need for others to view it. Not sure if friends can see it or even if they would want too...lol. I admit I may not make the best choices but at the end of the day they are my choices. I get my motivation and support from exercise and keeping under my calories.