MFP Diary: to share or not to share?

I've always had mine open. I've never had a comment one way or the other about it. Then again, I'm a middle of the road eater. I don't eat all that poorly, or that great either. Heck, after looking at a couple of my days, the reader probably gets bored, since it's almost always the same foods over and over. Lately, I haven't even been logging, since I'm eating the same meal 3 or 4 days in a row.

Sheesh, I'm boring!

I leave my open, because sometimes people need something to look at! :flowerforyou: And I look at other peoples, (those with great successes) so that I can get ideas, or if I am bored with my diet, or if someone I know tends to eat more protein then I check their diet to see how they are getting extra protein in. If people don't want to share then that's fine, I completely respect their feelings. Also I wonder how people lose so much flipping weight, so sometimes I check to see if they exercised like crazy, ate more calories or less. I am nosey! But never judge!

I share mine because why not? I tend to eat the same things over and over, which works well for me. I don't know if looking at my food diary would ever help anyone else, but it's an open book in case it could.

Mine is public and to be honest, I would love for the Food Police to call me out!!! (Or congratulate me!)
I have one friend here and we check each other's food diaries everyday...........the good, the bad, and the ugly! lol

At first it was open only to my friends on the site. When I started to have some success at losing, I had quite a few people asking me what I did, how much I ate, what I ate, etc. I really love helping to give people ideas, so I figured that maybe making it public was a better idea (not that I mind the messages!).

I wavered with this for a bit because I started to feel guilty about some of my "free days" (or "high calorie days" as I like to think of them) and think that people would judge me or something. But then I figured "No. This is how I eat! Sometimes I have some pizza or some ice cream. I almost always have at least some chocolate. I might have an occasional day that I am over by 900 calories. I try to eat unprocessed foods, but I'm not perfect. BUT, I'm trying to make this about a sustainable lifestyle and all of these things factor into a long-term lifestyle change." I even had someone tell me something to that effect. She said she had poked around in my diary and saw a particularly indulgent day and the fact that I was still losing weight and it made her feel better.

It also keeps ME accountable knowing that others might be peeking in. I have realized that my biggest problem in the past hasn't been the occasional indulgent meal, but it has been "falling off the food-logging wagon" when my perfectionist tendencies sneak in. I used to only log "perfect days" and as soon as I slipped up I would stop logging all together and pretty soon every day would be a high calorie day because I wasn't keeping track!

I think different people need different strategies.

I don't eat well 100% of the time. Especially when I travel! My diary is open so that anyone can view it. I've never received anything but positive feedback. I'd welcome negative feedback as long as it was constructive and helpful. Like others have mentioned, I like to get ideas from others diaries.

Occationally I'll see somethat that may not be eating what I think is enough calories, or too many, or garbage food. It's not something that I discuss with them unless they specifically ask for advice. It really isn't my business unless they ask me to be involved.

I have mine open to friends because someone asked me to open it. I considered closing it earlier this week because I kind of "took a break" from logging my meals... not an intentional break... life just got a little too hectic to keep up with posting... but then I decided, ya know maybe someone else needs to see that occasionally I don't log all my food and occasionally I go over on my calories and occcasionally I'm under on my calories... and I'm still losing and I'm still here.

I'll admit, I look at my friend's diaries and if I see a consistent area of concern... I'll check in with them. How we're eating can be an indicator of emotional issues that maybe we need to talk about... "Hey, I noticed that you ate out fast food 3 nights this week... everything ok?" or "I noticed that you're not eating all of your calories, are you feeling okay?" Those private messages have allowed me to be there for people who had a family member in the hospital (hence they were eating out a lot) or who were experiencing sickness (couldn't eat all their calories) or were on the verge of giving up... I'm glad to be able to support friends through the issues that they're having.