WHY keep your food diary hidden?

FITnFIRM4LIFE

Mines private. I eat healthy. I just did not join for people to tell me more or less of this and that.

Bottom line, If I see your diary or you see mine. The choice really lies in the person! If you are going to eat right and exercize you are!
If you see another diary or not.

I do however think it gives people good ideas on what types of foods to eat or better choices.However, that can be seen on forum too. As far as people saying accountability....We are accountable for ourselves. Whatver works for you, is what you have to do;-)

heathero76

At this point, I do not feel the need to share or hear feedback (whether negative or positive). I guess it depends on what people need to hit their goal. If they need the accountability, great make it public.

My problem is with those who chose to get on their soap box and condem if the diary is not open. I dont understand the need or desire for others to see everything I eat.

hbrittingham

I just opened mine to my friends only. I kept it private for the last 10 months for a couple of reasons. One, I like to have a cocktail in the evenings and I didn't want anyone to give me a hard time about it and tell me that I am wasting calories (they're my calories to "waste). The second reason is that I would see friends open diaries complete their day and then make a comment about how they know that they went over on sodium and will do better tomorrow and then the very first comment under that from a "friend" would ream them for how much sodium they had eaten. Ummm, they already know they ate too much sodium. Back off!

Third reason is that I am accountable to myself and only myself. If I am going to succeed, it will be because of what I have done, not because of what my friends have to say about my diary.

UpEarly

My diary is not open to the public because:

1) I eat a SHOCKING number of cupcakes
2) I don't care a fig about watching sodium
3) I still eat donuts occasionally
4) I have a chocolate pastry for breakfast every Thursday
5) I drink hard cider several days a week
6) I sometimes eat half a large homemade pizza
7) I hate whole wheat bread
8) I eat a SHOCKING amount of cheese
9) I went to McDonald's a month ago and I did NOT order a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing

A lot of MFP'ers get very judgmental about stuff like this, and I simply don't want to hear it. :-)

However, my MFP friends can see my food diary and are accepting of the fact that I believe whole-heartedly in 'all things in moderation'.

ItsMeRebekah

im not going to lie.. i so look at other peoples to see what they eat.. sometimes im like what the heck is that? then look for it in the grocery store and try it out LOL

mine is open bc it is what it is what i eat. but nobody has ever said anything to me regarding my food choices.. that would be rude IMO... but i haven't been on this site for years either so, to each their own!

MummyOfSeven

My diary is not open to the public because:

1) I eat a SHOCKING number of cupcakes
2) I don't care a fig about watching sodium
3) I still eat donuts occasionally
4) I have a chocolate pastry for breakfast every Thursday
5) I drink hard cider several days a week
6) I sometimes eat half a large homemade pizza
7) I hate whole wheat bread
8) I eat a SHOCKING amount of cheese
9) I went to McDonald's a month ago and I did NOT order a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing

A lot of MFP'ers get very judgmental about stuff like this, and I simply don't want to hear it. :-)

Hahaha, sounds like my diary!

shamika624

Love this.

HMonsterX

Why would i open mine? For what purpose? I KNOW what im eating. I KNOW what i "should" be eating if i wanted to be 100% healthy. I dont need some pompous tit saying "Omg you have chocolate every day! Thats SOOOO bad for you!". Sigh...

PJilly

Why would i open mine? For what purpose? I KNOW what im eating. I KNOW what i "should" be eating if i wanted to be 100% healthy. I dont need some pompous tit saying "Omg you have chocolate every day! Thats SOOOO bad for you!". Sigh...

Well said! :happy:

grannygethealthy1111

My diary was open when I was losing weight. I locked it when I reached my goal weight. Why? Because I wanted to and it is MY diary. I eat healthy each and every day. I exercise 6 days a week. This is not a diet to me. It is a total lifestyle change. I am cheering my friends along on their journeys. Sometimes I look at their food diaries, sometimes I don't. I would not care if each and every one of them locked their diaries. Why? Because it is THEIR diaries and I am not the food police. :bigsmile:

Mad_Dog_Muscle

I've earned the right to do whatever I please.

^^^THIS^^^^^^ I have to admit, I never look at anyone's diary. I am not that interested, sorry if that sounds mean or not being a good friend. As for mine, I don't feel I have to have it open. Its my choice. I know when I have eaten bad and when I do, I log it. I don't need anyone telling me that pizza and beer is bad and full of calories. Uh, ya, no shi*t. But I still log it, and if I am over for the day, that's my burden to deal with. I am not that confused by what is good and bad, what has too much of this or that. If I were to ask for help, then I will open my diary, but for the time being, I am fine keeping it private. If one of my friends really has an issue with this and feels they absolutely can not give me a "well done" for the day because they can not see my diary, then that is their choice. Besides, my diary is not that interesting. I am a guy, I eat meat and potatoes and a lot of grilled chicken. You wont see tofu or greek yogurt.... because I cant stand it.

futuresize8

I didn't even know mine was until I saw people commenting about hidden diaries on this board! I went in and changed it. So...I'm thinking it's lack of knowledge for some, privacy preference for others maybe?

CorinthiaB

My dairy is open to my friends only. A lie is a lie no matter how it is told. I can have my diary open to the public and if I am not accountable to myself then I can just pretend to forget to log everything to make it look like I am doing great. How can you tell if someone is really being honest with a public dairy? The answer is you can't. You just have to take their word and hope that they are being honest. I can easily manipulate the weight lost tracker and the diary. However, I choose to be honest.

HMonsterX

I am a guy, I eat meat and potatoes and a lot of grilled chicken. You wont see tofu or greek yogurt.... because I cant stand it.

HERE HERE!!!! *CHEER!!!*

cramernh

I've earned the right to do whatever I please.

^^^THIS^^^^^^ I have to admit, I never look at anyone's diary. I am not that interested, sorry if that sounds mean or not being a good friend. As for mine, I don't feel I have to have it open. Its my choice. I know when I have eaten bad and when I do, I log it. I don't need anyone telling me that pizza and beer is bad and full of calories. Uh, ya, no shi*t. But I still log it, and if I am over for the day, that's my burden to deal with. I am not that confused by what is good and bad, what has too much of this or that. If I were to ask for help, then I will open my diary, but for the time being, I am fine keeping it private. If one of my friends really has an issue with this and feels they absolutely can not give me a "well done" for the day because they can not see my diary, then that is their choice. Besides, my diary is not that interesting. I am a guy, I eat meat and potatoes and a lot of grilled chicken. You wont see tofu or greek yogurt.... because I cant stand it.

There aint nothing better than a big *kitten* barbeque grill and smoker going with chicken, beef, pork ribs, and drinking a beer all at the same time!

chosengiver

On several occasions, I have asked some of my running/training friends to view mine and critique it. I keep it open to friends, as I am not ashamed of the things I eat or drink. I have found among my selection of friends that we all go astray from our plans and are accepting and encouraging of each other. Also, especially if we eat overboard and off plan, others will encourage us to get back at it and shake it off. This is the reason I use MFP, not only to stay accountable to myself, but to gain insight from others, because to be quite frank, I don't have it all figured out.
Some of my friends in the running community open theirs to their friends, and I am so grateful. I peek in on their diary to see what they eat before and after training runs and it really is beneficial to me. Luckily, everyone is not under the umbrella of thinking: "I eat/drink what I want and it is no one else's business."

ryno0618

I think its important and helpful to share food diary with friends!! its helped me a ton to stay more accountable to what I eat and to logging everything

sewerchick93

I've earned the right to do whatever I please.

^^^THIS^^^^^^ I have to admit, I never look at anyone's diary. I am not that interested, sorry if that sounds mean or not being a good friend. As for mine, I don't feel I have to have it open. Its my choice. I know when I have eaten bad and when I do, I log it. I don't need anyone telling me that pizza and beer is bad and full of calories. Uh, ya, no shi*t. But I still log it, and if I am over for the day, that's my burden to deal with. I am not that confused by what is good and bad, what has too much of this or that. If I were to ask for help, then I will open my diary, but for the time being, I am fine keeping it private. If one of my friends really has an issue with this and feels they absolutely can not give me a "well done" for the day because they can not see my diary, then that is their choice. Besides, my diary is not that interesting. I am a guy, I eat meat and potatoes and a lot of grilled chicken. You wont see tofu or greek yogurt.... because I cant stand it.

^^^^Double This^^^^^...but I'm a meat and potatoes girl!!!!!

jenn_is_trouble

I'm not on here to be held accountable for my actions, I am on here for myself: to make better choices and make changes in my lifestyle. If I make friends along the way, great. I like to hear feedback from others on how they have made changes in their lifestyles and ideas on how to eat better. I also changed my news feed settings so people I friend don't get bombarded with updates on every little thing I do. IMO, that's what blogs are for...

jenn_is_trouble

I've earned the right to do whatever I please.

^^^THIS^^^^^^ I have to admit, I never look at anyone's diary. I am not that interested, sorry if that sounds mean or not being a good friend. As for mine, I don't feel I have to have it open. Its my choice. I know when I have eaten bad and when I do, I log it. I don't need anyone telling me that pizza and beer is bad and full of calories. Uh, ya, no shi*t. But I still log it, and if I am over for the day, that's my burden to deal with. I am not that confused by what is good and bad, what has too much of this or that. If I were to ask for help, then I will open my diary, but for the time being, I am fine keeping it private. If one of my friends really has an issue with this and feels they absolutely can not give me a "well done" for the day because they can not see my diary, then that is their choice. Besides, my diary is not that interesting. I am a guy, I eat meat and potatoes and a lot of grilled chicken. You wont see tofu or greek yogurt.... because I cant stand it.

There aint nothing better than a big *kitten* barbeque grill and smoker going with chicken, beef, pork ribs, and drinking a beer all at the same time!

Amen :drinker:

CoryIda

I kept mine public for most of my weight-loss journey but I made it private a couple of months ago (I'm done losing and am maintaining) because I don't always track anymore - pretty sporadically just to make sure I'm staying on track. I do share what I eat on my wall pretty regularly to both give people some ideas and also to keep myself accountable, but I don't need to share every little thing that goes into my mouth with all 200 of my friends or all of MFP - if you want to know what I eat, just ask. I will tell you. I'm pretty boring, too, as I am a total creature of habit and eat the same things pretty regularly.

etremoi53

I don't feel like sharing it and I don't think it will help if I did. I can imagine that it might help to keep some people accountable though and if it works for you to share, more power to you.

MissFit0101

Oh THIS again? Might do some good to first learn to mind your own biz then secondly use the search function at the top of the page as this has been asked numerous times.

snookumss

Because they don't want the whole world to see the bad choices they may make.

NaturalinCO

I think I've been scared of people judging me. Like, even if I am within the right limits of calories ~ will they judge me for not eating the right sort of food etc.

Since going vegetarian I have learned that people are QUITE judgmental about food - something so simple and necessary. So I try to do open diary, but it doesn't last long. For me it's just not comfortable. Some days I eat great, some I don't, I log it ALL but definitely feel a sinking feeling when I post my not-so-good days and have my diary open. It's just me

softwind

Mine is open to friends. Sometimes I look at theirs for meal ideas, but never to scrutinze.

Kaddyshack21

I just recently opened up my food diary to everyone .Not that I believe that all will want to sneak a peek it's not that interesting but I thought it was an important step to take for me.

I have always had a very unhealthy relationship with food and so eating has almost been a shameful thing. So the salad that I would eat in public is so far from the reality of what I truly ate. However, since I have always been overweight I felt that whatever bite I put into my mouth every single person would be thinking...." why is she doing that, doesn't she see how fat she is??? She needs to put that fork down!!"

So opening up my diary to everyone wasn't an easy thing for me it took me a while to believe that I wasn't going to be completely criticized for what I ate good or bad. Even now if I have a bad day, I really struggle to be honest in my food diary b/c with every entry I truly believe that some someone, somewhere might think less of me. But I am trying.

I am a work in progress.

maidentl

Because they don't want the whole world to see the bad choices they may make.

Because of people like this.

MrsKunz

keep it public for myself to keep myself accountable of what i eat im not ashamed so come look

Kaddyshack21

Oh THIS again? Might do some good to first learn to mind your own biz then secondly use the search function at the top of the page as this has been asked numerous times.

Why bother even posting?? Seriously.