Having a private diary seems so counter-productive to me....

xjulesjx

Each the their own I say

Mine's open though.

I had someone saying that they thought something was missing from mine the other day.

I asked them what? they replied no fruit and veg??

I was like errrr I've had salad and veg today??

See I don't mind my diary been open, but when folk start harping on like that, when I didn't ask for advice, peed me off..

lol..

:huh:

megsmom2

I have mine open to my friends, but since it's mostly a tool tor my own use I don't want it open any further than that. Too many trolls out there. The diary is like my own workbook and I'd rather keep it private.

saragato

I keep my diary private since first and foremost I joined this site just to log my food and exercise and make sure I kept myself on track. I am well aware that having "friends" on the site as well as being active in the forum allows me a broader perspective but if I want someone's advice on how I'm eating or what I'm eating, I want it on my terms not at any given moment. Is it a helpful tool to have an open diary? I'm sure it is, it seems to work for plenty of people but I would rather not have a stranger peering into my diary and saying I eat too much of the same thing or why did I choose to eat a cookie today or I was under a certain calorie deficit so many days in a row that's unhealthy. I have a short fuse, very little patience, and I'm rather sure if some of those things, even said with the intention of helping and not judgment, would get me banned simply for what I'd say back.

Fact of the matter is I'm losing weight doing things the way I have them which to be honest is a way many many people here would grab a torch and pitchforks over and haul my butt out the door, so I am avoiding the needless drama. This may be a place to get support and advice but I'm not here for that. If I want it then they there's a convenience, but I generally don't. So my diary is closed.

budgetqueen79

I started locking mine after discovering I can't eat fruit and I have food allergies b/c I got tired of explaining myself over and over so lock and no headache for me. There are some diary police but I'm not one of them. I'll tell you what I eat and I vlog about it also.

obsidianwings

Personally I don't need the motivation or help unless I all for it, I just use mfp as a tool to track for myself. I'm not against people seeing my diary, just haven't changed it because Theres been no need to.

PeaceCorpsKat

I keep mine private because I don't want peoples opinions to change my food choices. I know what I have to do, and my food choices are about me, no one else.

My friends know if I eat more than i should - it says I am over calories (which I haven't been since I started :laugh: ) but they don't need to know what I eat.

I like my privacy, so I keep it. However, I am doing very well and for me, personally, it would be detrimental to thinking what other people would think of my food choices.

kristinL16

Mine is open. Some days having it open gives me motivation to make better choices but other days I just have a harder time logging everything because I know people will see it and I don't feel like I was "good" enough . Seeing other peoples logs helps me to realize that I don't have to eat perfectly every day in order to have a loss, which is helpful.

katiebythebay

I have it open to MFP friends only. I don't trust the outside public either, like some of you.

I've been fortunate so far, I haven't run into anyone who's been mean here.

There's a small (very small) group of friends that actually watch each other's back on what they see on a daily basis.

I like that because most of the time, they're correct and I already knew it but needed to hear it from someone else.

Cheers. :flowerforyou:

kluvit

I share my diary with my personal friends who have similar goals and eating habits. I'm making great progress toward my goals (faster than expected) without depriving myself. As long as what I'm doing is working for me, I don't need to set myself up as a target for the judgement that's so prevalent on this site.

thistimeismytime

I have mine open, which you know since we're friends But some days I do hate it and wish it was closed....just being honest. Everyone is very supportive...it's not that. It's just that I've felt judged for much of my life for my food choices, and it's a VERY very personal, touchy thing for me. I know how I should be eating, and I know I will never live up to the whole "clean eating" concept. I only opened mine because several people asked me to, but I still don't really like it sometimes....I'm working on getting over it. :flowerforyou:

c_bruna07

I'm not worried about people seeing a binge day (I don't have them); I know that people are extremely judgmental of even healthy diets that do not match their own and I don't want to deal with it. If you spend two minutes randomly flipping through forum posts, you'll have no trouble finding people whining and criticizing and blatantly insulting others who don't happen to meet their standards for what a diet is supposed to look like. Pretty much daily, I see people with perfectly healthy diets accused of eating disorders, starving themselves, making stupid unhealthy choices, and so on. And those people eat a lot like I do.

Honestly, I don't need help. I know what I'm doing. The last thing I need is a bunch of self-righteous food police who know nothing about me or my circumstances calling me names and telling me I'm an idiot. Don't get me wrong, I recognize that the majority of people aren't like that, but I'm not willing to open myself up to abuse from those who are.

This.

victoria4321

I keep mine private because its a diary which is personal to me. Sometimes, I do open it up. When I'm eating terrible I lock it again. Sounds crazy but I dont want to feel like I have to eat a certain way to keep a good log. When I know I'm the only one seeing it, I log absolutely everything. If it was always public I might be swayed to add junk food as quick calories. So far i've logged everything for almost 300 days

GREAT job at logging so faithfully... I still dont understand why you wouldnt keep open... is it b/c people give you crap about how little/ or too much you are eating? Thats the reason I keep mine open... I want the feedback from the success stories so one day I can be the success story... not arguing.. I really do just want to understand! Thank you for responding!

Nah, I log around 1700 calories net, so around 2100 total on a regular basis. when I first started I logged in 1200 net because mfp said to. I Just dont really like on the days when I'm way over, like if I go out or something, for everyone to say "great job logging!" I know its a weird thing to be annoyed by but I dont understand the encouragement of negative behavior so i'd rather have no comments. Plus, I like to remember that i'm doing it for myself also.

jsp2374

Over the years I have had too many people be overly critical of the choices I make. Be it food or any thing else. I am very affected by criticism I get from others. It is something I try to let go, but for some reason I just can't. So my diary is closed. I keep it that way because I KNOW that if people said something to me that I would probably up and quit. Too many people in my life think they can do it better than me. That they can tell me how I SHOULD be doing things. SO for me it is better to just keep it private. I am doing what I need to do in order to lose the weight. I don't need anyone telling me oh you shouldn't have ice cream and malteasers every day for a week. Even though that week I actually lost 3 kilo's. That was also the week I decided to try this whole eating more to lost thing. It works for me. I have been losing a pound a week since then, unless it is that time of the month. I don't want to have to justify that though, and explain that. I know I don't get enough protein. I don't need anyone telling me that.

I hope that made sense.


Oh also, I find having the ticker at the bottom, of my posts to be a lot more helpful than an open diary. I want to keep seeing that number go down. SO I want to keep losing the weight.
Jackie

slkehl

I'm a few months away from graduating as a nutrition major, and I sure as hell know a lot more about what I'm doing than people commenting on my diary and giving me advice that's blatantly wrong.

KGFitnessGuru

I keep mine open for friends only cause if they do have questions I am there and know who has access to my info. So it is open just have to be a friend to see mine.

smkafka

I keep mine closed because I got a lot of harsh feedback about eating too few calories. I follow my Doctor's advice and it doesn't agree with a lot of others here on MFP. Although, I know most of them mean well, I just need to focus on what my doctor has said.

dinosnopro

Mine is open to friends only, but I rarely click the "finished logging" button. If someone wants to stalk me and call me out for the McDonald's food that I eat from time to time.......meh, that's their deal.

kazzari

It wouldn't occur to me to question someone's decision to keep their diary private or open only to friends. I think I may have glanced at one or two other diaries, just out of curiosity, but I wouldn't comment on the diary of someone who isn't a friend, anyway. My diary is open but I doubt anyone is looking at it, certainly no one has commented. I don't care one way or the other, I log to track calories and my sodium and potassium levels, not for opinions.

ChasingSweatandTears

Its a really personal part of your life to share with people you don't know....... Mine is open to my friends some days and some days it's not. Depends on my mood lol

CeeRawr89

I'm not worried about people seeing a binge day (I don't have them); I know that people are extremely judgmental of even healthy diets that do not match their own and I don't want to deal with it. If you spend two minutes randomly flipping through forum posts, you'll have no trouble finding people whining and criticizing and blatantly insulting others who don't happen to meet their standards for what a diet is supposed to look like. Pretty much daily, I see people with perfectly healthy diets accused of eating disorders, starving themselves, making stupid unhealthy choices, and so on. And those people eat a lot like I do.

Honestly, I don't need help. I know what I'm doing. The last thing I need is a bunch of self-righteous food police who know nothing about me or my circumstances calling me names and telling me I'm an idiot. Don't get me wrong, I recognize that the majority of people aren't like that, but I'm not willing to open myself up to abuse from those who are.

^This, I could have wrote this exact reasoning for why my diary is closed. I have bad days, (who doesn't) I don't mean binge go over your calories, but the days where fatty foods are tasty to me, and salty foods are appealing, and where I just don't give a damn about what I am going to eat that day, also, if I have too few calories, I'm afraid I'll get crap.