Why Hide Your Profile / Diary?!

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Replies

  • jmcdaniel0
    jmcdaniel0 Posts: 130 Member
    Sorta off topic here... but is mine open... I dont remember what i chose when i set it up, and I only have on friend... lol which is my wife. So yea. No hiding from her, no matter what i do.

    jcmcdaniel, your diary is closed, breathe easy!

    How do i open it? I dont care what people see and/or think?
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    Oy. I was just wondering when this question would come up again. :wink:

    Please choose from one of the following options:
    - I didn't know my diary was private
    - I don't want people judging my eating habits
    - My diary is open to friends (and no, I won't friend you)
    - I don't care, anyone can see my diary
    - I eat only the blood of live chickens
  • jmcdaniel0
    jmcdaniel0 Posts: 130 Member
    Sorta off topic here... but is mine open... I dont remember what i chose when i set it up, and I only have on friend... lol which is my wife. So yea. No hiding from her, no matter what i do.

    jcmcdaniel, your diary is closed, breathe easy!

    How do i open it? I dont care what people see and/or think?

    Never Mind! I found it under the Diary Settings!
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    Sorta off topic here... but is mine open... I dont remember what i chose when i set it up, and I only have on friend... lol which is my wife. So yea. No hiding from her, no matter what i do.

    jcmcdaniel, your diary is closed, breathe easy!

    How do i open it? I dont care what people see and/or think?

    Go to your own Home Page > settings (top right) > Diary Settings (sixth one down) - scroll to the bottom and you will find the option there :)
  • MNA76
    MNA76 Posts: 1,541
    Mine is open to my friends. I do it to because it helps keep me accountable.

    Having said that, I now realize (after posting my stupid 'open mouth, insert foot' forum post a while back), that this is first and foremost a tool for the member to use how they see fit. That most people have very personal reasons for keeping things private or they may simply use this site for logging only - nothing more.
  • Pocket_Pixi
    Pocket_Pixi Posts: 1,167 Member
    I left my profile open and the combined awesomeness between my diary and my profile would make mfp crash more than it does now.
  • tamheath
    tamheath Posts: 702 Member
    "You drink too much wine, have fun being fat forever"

    Random PM from someone who saw me on a forum...that was nice :flowerforyou:


    WOW !!! People never cease to amaze me.
  • tjwood70
    tjwood70 Posts: 16 Member
    Why do so many people hide their profile and food diary?

    When I see things like "I lose 1-2 lbs a week and I'm eating this many colories, etc".. then I click on their page and nope, can't see what their stats are to compare myself.. or to see what they're eating to get ideas of how healthy they are eating to also compare...

    :sad:

    It helps me see the different variety of foods in others that are this journey as well, I like the open diary's!
  • crimsoncat
    crimsoncat Posts: 457 Member
    In real life pre-MPF I learned that having people involved in my diet was a bad idea. If I decided to treat myself one day, my well meaning friends would be like "OHMYGOSHBUTYOU'REONADIET!" I also tried it with my fiance once and learned that it made me stress out ALL THE TIME no matter how nicely he said it. In the end, I decided that the only one responsible for my diet was me and therefore, I should be my own judge. I'll open my diary if I need help, but unsolicited advice will probably just hurt my mental well being.

    Edit: I will also add that I just like to block people's access to me over the internet for safety reasons. I feel like there is already a ton of info about me out there and I just don't think I should add more.
  • marylynn85
    marylynn85 Posts: 496 Member
    Mine is set to private because I am in no way a clean eater. I do a lot better than I used to but I do still allow myself treats sometimes. Going through the forums for just a short time I saw way too much rude criticism on what people were eating. I dont need that from people, I already know its bad.
  • mipanda
    mipanda Posts: 43
    "You drink too much wine, have fun being fat forever"

    Random PM from someone who saw me on a forum...that was nice :flowerforyou:


    :laugh: What a *kitten*

    I keep mine private because if it were open to be read, I would lie.
  • impyimpyaj
    impyimpyaj Posts: 1,073 Member


    Yeah, but at the same time, everytime I see someone doing well, or a success story I don't want that to add up to 100's of friends, it'd be nice to be able to check quickly see what they're doing, and be on my marry way :drinker:

    Right, but they're not here for you. They're here for themselves.

    Mine is open, because I don't care either way. I keep private the things I need to keep private. My eating habits are not one of those things. But I don't have a problem with people who keep their diaries private. It's their journey, and it doesn't affect mine in the slightest. People have all kinds of reasons for keeping their profiles and food diaries private, and none of those reasons has anything to do with me. If somebody has a success story and I'm just DYING to know exactly how they did it, I'd probably shoot them a friend request with a message. But generally I don't do that, because it's really none of my business and I respect people's privacy. If you want to ask a question, ask it. But it's nobody's responsibility to inspire you.
  • SingerJennXXXX
    SingerJennXXXX Posts: 54
    I don't see the need to share.

    That said, I also don't ask why I'm losing weight or what I'm doing wrong. There's no reason for anyone to look at mine other than myself.

    I agree with this, and I also don't ask people what I'm doing wrong. I have my food diary locked because I am using this site as a tool for myself to track what I'm eating. I just started, so I don't see why I should open myself up for the "food police".
  • Brenda_Pancakes
    Brenda_Pancakes Posts: 288 Member
    I like to peruse through people's diaries randomly. So I appreciate when someone has it open. That's the only reason I really keep mine open - cuz I like to look at others; so I might as well offer the same. I'm never on the lookout to criticize anyone - it's not my business what anyone else eats... But it is nice to sneak a peak at someone who has, say, lost a bunch of weight in a short amount of time... I'm always curious "ok, what's your calorie intake like?". Sometimes i'm really suprised. Sometimes not.
  • slick_fox
    slick_fox Posts: 85 Member
    I agree. In the few weeks I have added my pals and I cannot view their diaries. This is fustrating.
  • Kincar
    Kincar Posts: 601 Member
    I vary between open and closed. Right now I'm closed and that's because I was starting to feel a pressure to "perform" for my mfp buddies in my diary. Closing it temporarily is an experiment in self-sufficiency and to see if it helps me log better even on my bad days. When I feel comfortable I'll open it up again. I'm sure I'll go through similar peaks and troughs during my whole getting fit experience.

    This is exactly why mine is private atm. People would comment on what I ate, and I felt judged. I started to feel the urge to lie or not log. I need to be honest with myself without unsolicited comments from other people.
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
    I posted this same question a couple weeks ago and the overall responses seemed to indicate people either did not want to share because they wanted to keep it to themselves, or they had at one time shared and gotten negative feedback from people who just had to make comments about the not so great things they ate.

    I have an open diary and I love looking at others diaries. I have had one or two less than helpful comments and there is a magic button that fixes that called the "delete friend" button. It's a wonderful tool. Since I used that, no more smack talk about my noms!
  • petite_boleyn
    petite_boleyn Posts: 144
    I had mine private up until today, and I'm a little nervous to have it on friends-only. I know that my caloric intake is too low, but I'm working on it. That said, I don't want people to automatically get upset because I'm only eating X amount of calories a day.

    I do love checking out other people's diaries though, because I know I can always find something creative to incorporate into my life. Plus, it helps to see that people can eat SO much and still be under their goals.
  • bebreli
    bebreli Posts: 227 Member
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  • SoozeE512
    SoozeE512 Posts: 439 Member
    Sometimes I like to snoop too to see what has helped others -- but it would also be helpful if people asking for advice on forums would open up their diaries instead of having everyone playing guessing games. If you're going to ask for help, you're not going to get any real help unless people can see exactly what you're already doing to suggest effective changes. Otherwise, it doesn't make a difference to me if anyone else chooses to keep their diary locked or not.
  • ABetterBalance
    ABetterBalance Posts: 298
    Oy. I was just wondering when this question would come up again. :wink:

    Please choose from one of the following options:
    - I didn't know my diary was private
    - I don't want people judging my eating habits
    - My diary is open to friends (and no, I won't friend you)
    - I don't care, anyone can see my diary
    - I eat only the blood of live chickens

    Geez, some people are so crazy restrictive with their diets. Incorporating the blood of frozen chickens into your diet now and then is JUST as healthy, and no one should judge you for that. :happy: :devil:
  • Genericwit
    Genericwit Posts: 70 Member
    I'm with all of the people who have it closed because of fear of judgment.

    I used to stress eat, and one of the key times when I stress ate was when someone pointed out I was making bad food decisions. The fatter I felt, the more I ate. And now that I'm eating healthier and losing weight at a steady rate, I don't want anyone to mess that up, especially not someone who's just 'trying to help.' I don't need the constructive criticism. That's what I have my physician for.

    And if I mess up, I don't want someone to tell me. I know I messed up. It's self-accountability. That's all I need. If someone random rubs it in, whether intentional or not, it's going to make me feel bad about myself. And I don't need that kind of pressure.

    Obviously, something's working for me since I'm losing the weight, and if I have any questions or need any advice, I'll ask for it. And for anyone who wants to know how I'm losing my weight, they can feel free to message me. As people have done in the past. I have no qualms about sharing my general weight loss plan, because I'm proud of it, but I see no reason to give everyone a specific calorie-by-calorie recap.

    I have no problem admitting I'm still on very fragile ground when it comes to food. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. Hell, even seeing people posting on friends' diary updates stuff like, 'don't you think you should be doing this instead?' makes me self-conscious.
  • jfrog123
    jfrog123 Posts: 432 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jfrog123/view/why-my-mfp-diary-is-private-227790

    This person said it better than I could have.

    Thank you for the compliment. I actually wrote this as a response in a similar thread. Once I had written it, I decided to post it as a blog entry so that my friends would see it and read it. I had a couple of new friends ask me why my diary was private, and it was easier to have them read this than explain to them individually. I am glad that so many people who feel the same have read it and know that they are not alone.

    I had wondered why I was getting new comments on that old post, then I saw this thread :-)
  • AimersBee
    AimersBee Posts: 775 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jfrog123/view/why-my-mfp-diary-is-private-227790

    This person said it better than I could have.

    Thank you for the compliment. I actually wrote this as a response in a similar thread. Once I had written it, I decided to post it as a blog entry so that my friends would see it and read it. I had a couple of new friends ask me why my diary was private, and it was easier to have them read this than explain to them individually. I am glad that so many people who feel the same have read it and know that they are not alone.

    I had wondered why I was getting new comments on that old post, then I saw this thread :-)

    Just trying to help you out with more comment posts ;) JK, you don't need the help, it was a great read! Anyways understandable about your situation, and I understand that sometimes it's better to just keep it closed due to the lying to yourself, no need for that. As for myself, I'm the type where I just write whatever I eat, and I expect the criticism if I don't follow what I should be doing, keeps me on my toes, just what works for me. And what works for YOU is what should be done, I was just confused due to not being in the situation, and I'm glad I got the feedback from everyone.

    I appreciate it, thanks.

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