Reasons for making (or not) your food diary public?

I keep mine public because I need accountability. I know there are a few people on my friends list who will check my diary and tell me what's up if they see something they know I should fix. Also, if I have a problem losing & can't figure it out (or am in denial), I'll post asking for help and then I don't have to make it public everytime I do this (I've posted at least 4x doing this -- lol). Also, I like to be able to help others figure out new ways to eat foods or come up with different combinations, as I like to see others' diaries for this same reason.

I keep mine public just in case my buddies can spot a problem if I start complaining and don't know what's wrong.

Mine is available to my support buddies. I enjoy looking at my "friends" diaries, it helps me look for new items to try.

Mine is viewable to friends mostly for accountability, but also to give others a chance to peek at what I eat, because I definitely peek at what some of my friends are eating. I like to see what other kind of food options I may have and to compare what I eat to what other people eat. If one of my friends is consistantly losing every week I will sometimes check in on their diary to see the choices they make, and since I check on their's I keep mine available for them to check in on me.

Mine is private. I've never really thought about opening it up, maybe I should...I just thought I'd confuse people I always do it one day in advance, then I often chop and change things...I also log every single little thing (ie every splash of milk in my tea etc), and often out of order, so people would probably have trouble figuring out exactly what it is I'm eating. I also hit the 'complete' button numerous times a day once I change stuff, so my friends would constantly be getting notifications that I'd completed it lol!

haha... I wonder if this thread was a coincidence, since I just made my diary public and got BASHED, lol... But I learned what I'm doing wrong, and because of that I'm happy I did it.

I keep mine private mostly because I'm a private person. Much in the same way I don't like working out around other people (I much prefer my fitness center at my apartment over the gym for this reason) or even shopping with other people, I just like to be able to pick and choose what I share.

I already know that I eat more processed food than I really should, partially because of time, partially because of cost. I also go over my sodium more than I should, but I've never noticed myself being bloated or feeling like I have "water weight", even during TOM. Which is probably a result of the fact that I drink water from the moment I wake up to the time I go to sleep (I always have) - half or more of which I never log because I just don't think about it.

The way I see it, ultimately, the only person I have to be accountable to is myself. If I were to ever lie or not log something, no one looking at my food diary would know that looking from the outside, only I can know that. So as long as I'm being honest with myself and logging every single thing I eat and being truthful in what's logged, that's all that really matters. Having other people looking at it and judging me based on what I've entered isn't going to do anything for me.

If something seems to not be working or I hit a stall, I hit the internet, do some research and move on from there. I've lost 43 pounds, five pants sizes, made it through two plateaus, have gone from barely being able to jog for a minute to jogging 30 minutes without a single pause (and felt like I could keep going) and have invented so many new recipes that friends and family have been begging me to start a blog for them all for months, so I figure I must be doing something right. lol

I've had mine public since I joined MFP, but I honestly am debating making it private.

I've had a lot of success with my weight loss (a lot of which was not due to MFP or food logging) and I love encouraging and helping people, but lately I've felt a bit stalked, lol. (There is no way to not make me sound crazy, lol).

I know none of my friends here mean any harm, but sometimes I feel so looked up to (which is still a very weird concept for me to wrap my mind around) that I put pressure on myself and stress out if I don't have a 'perfect' eating day. It's silly because I'm worried what people are going to think of my food diary.

Ultimately, I know it's my problem for feeling this way, but I'm debating whether or not I should make the diary private to take the pressure off. For me, I don't need the accountability from others. I am and have been accountable to myself for how I eat. I've only kept it public to help others up to this point.

I love helping people and want to whenever I am able, but not at the expense of my own progress if it starts interfering.

I keep mine private only because I'm keeping track of what I eat for "me". I'm only trying to maintain and possible gain a few pounds of muscle. I've never had a problem with my weight except for putting it on. It sounds crazy but I weigh the same as i did in high school. Only difference is my body fat isn't as low as it used to be...but working on that now.

When I first joined, I had no friends or anything, so no reason to make it public. But I haven't changed it now that I do. I don't need anybody else to keep me accountable- I'm accountable to myself. I don't need to feel like I need to make excuses for why I ate something- why I went out for lunch with friends or why I went to the drive through for dinner or why I ate a piece of chocolate or whatever. And the comments that people might make on such things would drive me crazy- whether it is an encouraging "its ok that you ate xxx, just do better tomorrow!" or "don't eat that" I wouldn't want any of it.

I don't think that my eating habits are so great that I could possibly help anybody, so it isn't like that is a motivation for me to make it public, either.

I think that if it is going to cause you to stress and not be honest with your logging, keep it private. If it will force you to be honest because people are watching, make it public or friends only. Whatever is best for you is what you should do.

Edit: Actually, wolfchild said it perfectly. I'm exactly the same way.