why are people congratulating this??

bigmamma3

I know I don't eat enough cals quite a lot and I expect to be told by my friends on here . but I have seen people on here congratulating young girls for eating 400cals who's target is 300a day do they even read their diaries or do they just say the same things to everyone.

It just worries me as they are pretty much telling these people they are doing well starving themselves. Am I the only one who's noticed this?

I don't want to upset anyone but this can't be right can it?

tashajayne2011

I haven't seen this (I have only been here a few days) but no, that doesn't sound right at all

Atlantique

I know I don't eat enough cals quite a lot and I expect to be told by my friends on here . but I have seen people on here congratulating young girls for eating 400cals who's target is 300a day do they even read their diaries or do they just say the same things to everyone.

It just worries me as they are pretty much telling these people they are doing well starving themselves. Am I the only one who's noticed this?

I don't want to upset anyone but this can't be right can it?

I agree with you. That's why I NEVER comment on diaries that I either can't see because they are not open or because I simply didn't have time to check.

Unfortunately, a lot of people just run through their home page congratulating anyone who was under goal without checking the diary and unwittingly support very dangerous habits.

jennywrens

I feel exactly the same, I don't congratulate people on their diary completion unless a. I can see what they ate and b. they ate well.

I wont call people up on their bad choices as sometimes we have the occasional bad day where we don't eat enough or the wrong things etc, but if they asked I'd tell them.

rtmama

I try not to "congratulate" anyone who I know is not eating enough calories, especially if they are under 1000.

I try to make a point to encourage someone when they eat their calories plus daily exercise calories! It's how I lost and it's how many other people here have lost.

And I agree that if I can't see their food diary, then yeah, I don't know how or what they are eating. I usually just say nothing. But I totally understand why people don't want to open their diaries. I only just recently opened up mine to friends. It's a very personal thing to do. I can understand the hesitation.

Sarah_uk

It might be a group of people who all have eating disorders? Then they would congratulate eachother for eating 300/400 calories.

Not very healthy though.

Janworkingitout

You're not alone on this, I've seen it too! In fact I've experienced it. Once I was fasting for a medical procedure and ate less than 300 calories for the day, I had a bunch of great jobs, well dones, etc. I suspect some people don't actually look at the diary, especially if they have a lot of friends.

Of course some people don't want you to be critical of their diary and just want credit for keeping a diary. If I make a comment on a diary, I make sure I've looked at it. In fact some of my comments may not be appreciated, but we're here to help each other, not enable unhealthy habits.

MelissaL582

I try not to "congratulate" anyone who I know is not eating enough calories, especially if they are under 1000.

I try to make a point to encourage someone when they eat their calories plus daily exercise calories! It's how I lost and it's how many other people here have lost.

It's about half and half on my friends list. Some will workout ridiculously and only eat 1200 without eating their burnt calories back. Yes, they are losing quite a bit but I'm afraid for them. I know I don't eat 1200 net every single day but I get damn close to it. I too, have learned that slow and steady and eating most of my calories back, I'm losing the weight healthy. People want quick results but they forget that it took time to get the weight on.

I do try to look at all my friends diaries, not only to see what they ate, but to also get some food ideas.

TourThePast

Unfortunately, a lot of people just run through their home page congratulating anyone who was under goal without checking the diary and unwittingly support very dangerous habits.

Interesting, I've done that when I'm in a hurry, but won't do it again. Though to be fair I haven't seen any of my friends ever do anything as stupid as eat only 400 calories!

What I'd much prefer to see would be a feature where instead of the report being "Completed their diary" or "Completed their diary and was under their goal" you got a report saying "Was within 10% of their goal.

Right now, you get "rewarded" if you've eaten dangerously little, and you lose the "under their goal" kudos even if you were only one calorie over.

mom23nuts

unfortuantely event he website congratulates you when you are under on calories adn I mean even really under until it gets to a tipping point of you are not eating enough message that pops up.

I have had people look at my diary and tell me I am really not eating enough on some days and eating too much sodium on other days and I wappreciate their honesty where the website tells me congratulations keep eating like this and you will be X many lbs in 5 weeks and in a person's mind your think "hey that # looks really good and I got a congratulations so I can keep going with this"

I have written in to a moderator about this and I think it needs to be fixed but oh well.

You are right sometimes too many of us look too quickly at the bottom line and go wow that person was way under and we really should look at how much and what quality calories they get too.

dls06

The people who are congratulating this are probably young girls who are doing the same thing. We all know this is dangerous but until they mature and educate themselves they will keep doing it. I seen a commercial on tv promoting some kind of weightloss supplement that Kim Kardashian endorses where the girl say's she went from a size 8 to a size 0 and she loves it. The girl looks and probably is anorexic. She looks scary skinny. It's sad that young girls think they have to look like this to be beautiful.

joanneeee

What I'd much prefer to see would be a feature where instead of the report being "Completed their diary" or "Completed their diary and was under their goal" you got a report saying "Was within 10% of their goal.

Right now, you get "rewarded" if you've eaten dangerously little, and you lose the "under their goal" kudos even if you were only one calorie over.

this is a great suggestion. go gryffindors!

milaxx

I only just noticed this. i congratulated a few folks on my friends list thinking I was encouraging them only to see half filled diaries of folks I know are overeating, or diaries full of junk food that somehow was under calorie. Now I'm beginning to be a bit more particular. In my own diary, if I skip a meal, I add a bit in notes. This often only happens when I go to the doctor since I have to fast for that.

debbiequack

Welll.....

I think most people are doing the best they can do so I try not to be so judgmental. There was someone on my friend's list, who made it under their goal but drank 12 ounces of vodka. But this person keeps logging, every single day, and I give them credit for that. So I might say "Way to log it", but I'm simply happy people are on MFP.

Speaking of which, my friends have stopped saying nice things to me on MFP. I promise my diary looks pretty darned good. Anyone out there looking for new friends.

Best,

Debbie

SarahLovesCheesecake

I once looked at a post of a girl who I thought looked ace on her lost 30lb pics then she lost another 30 lbs, I was thinking OMG but didnt like to say....

mabear74

I do not, by rule comment on anyone's diary.......Mostly because I don't have the time to actually check out the diary's.. Being under usually isn't a good thing, and being over isn't always a bad thing.......

chelsky90

To be honest i am one of these people that is constantly under my calorie goal. At the end of the day i will have 800 odd calories left. However im trying to eat more, but to be fair i eat breakfeast, lunch and dinner and have pieces of fruit, smoothies. so i wouldnt say that everyone is starving thereselves. Aswell as that, i dont see why people who are under shouldnt be offered some nice words... thats just my opinion

funkyspunky871

To be honest i am one of these people that is constantly under my calorie goal. At the end of the day i will have 800 odd calories left. However im trying to eat more, but to be fair i eat breakfeast, lunch and dinner and have pieces of fruit, smoothies. so i wouldnt say that everyone is starving thereselves. Aswell as that, i dont see why people who are under shouldnt be offered some nice words... thats just my opinion

300-400 calories is extreme. I wouldn't congratulate death. A few months ago (and just last week), when I was also eating 300-500 calories a day, I hid my diary from my friends. I knew what I was doing was dangerous and wrong; I didn't want anybody to be congratulating my death too. Now, I'm eating 1450 calories a day with my diary open to all my pals.

chelsky90

im not saying congratulate death, but just because people are under their calorie goal does not mean there not trying.

Atlantique

im not saying congratulate death, but just because people are under their calorie goal does not mean there not trying.

That's true. If you know one of your friends is struggling with a certain goal, then you can certainly try to support their progress towards it. Unfortunately, some folks really are trying to adhere to dangerous calorie goals, but there is a difference between them and those who are trying to work their way back up into a normal range.

TourThePast

At the end of the day i will have 800 odd calories left.

If you have 800 calories left because you've earned a lot through exercise and don't feel particularly hungry on that particular day that's not a disaster, nor is it dangerous to do that occasionally.

If you have 800 calories left because you've only eaten 400 that day, that's a really REALLY bad idea.

But I'm sure it's not the latter - as you say you're eating breakfast lunch and dinner, and fruit and smoothies, you can't possibly be doing that on 400 calories a day! Unless breakfast is one crispbread, and the fruit is one grape :bigsmile: