What are the reasons behind a private food diary?

I read a post one day on here from someone who wanted to know why people don't put any pictures of themselves on thier profile. She, like you with the open diary question, offered her own opinion as to why any one would not want to put pictures of themselves up. Maybe the thing to think about is, why do people care what anyone else here does? Everyone here uses this site to get what they want to out of it. I myself did not create my page & think oh I better do something one way or another to please anyone but myself.

i have to say i put mine back to being private just recently because i am embarrased at what i've been eating. I've been logging it.. but i really dont want anyone to know i've been extremely awful in my eating and to assume its not cause i am not serious or whatever.
I know why i'm eating bad.. its emotional.. however, show me someone who has their spouse leave to the other side of the country for a year that doesn't have some kind of emotional issue. Doesn't mean I think someone will be mean about my eating or anything like that. It just I dont want to have to explain why i'm having such a tough time bringing it in right now.. which i guess i just did... but thats the entire idea behind why I have mine private.

your thoughts are good though. everyone is here to help and support so let them help.

For a long time I kept my diary private. I honestly feel that it is my personal information and it is not necessary to share it with anyone, really. I think many people assume that those who keep them private have "something to hide" but that was never the case with me. I am doing this for me, not for anyone else. I log every single thing that I intake, good or bad. I have no shame about anything that I log, because it is a record of my choices and what my body needs at a given moment in my life.

I changed my diary to public for my MFP friends when I began to lose weight in earnest because I see that my choices can be a positive aid to others who are in a similar place as I am, just as my the diaries of my MFP friends have helped to inspire me to stay on track. Still, I respect when people choose to keep that information private. It's your food, it's your diary, it's your life.

I read a post one day on here from someone who wanted to know why people don't put any pictures of themselves on thier profile. She, like you with the open diary question, offered her own opinion as to why any one would not want to put pictures of themselves up. Maybe the thing to think about is, why do people care what anyone else here does? Everyone here uses this site to get what they want to out of it. I myself did not create my page & think oh I better do something one way or another to please anyone but myself.

I agree with this. I didn't even have friends for the longest time. Not that I am against sharing, etc. but I am very self motivated.

You make a point, but... I too do not like unsolicited advice and it was like yesterday that I saw someone copy and past the calorie totals froma friend's diary into a post to get folks to try to help her with her "eating disorder." There are days I don't log, days I go over, and sometimes I eat a cookie or something. I'm not interested in hearing other people talk about it unless I ask them to and invite them to see it.

This!!!!

I had mines private by mistake. I did not know it was private until I couldn't see the "view" option after every time i completed my food and excerise diary. But I'm always honest on mine, I always estimate my dinner intake, because I cook dinner and I know it's not healthy
(well, not that it's not healthy, I just cook a lot of Carb type food) and I don't know how to calucate calories, so I always give an estimate. Within my estimate I always make sure to grab smaller portions so I wouldn't go over broad.

I understand what you are saying, but there are people who are extremely critical of other people's food diary and try to push their views (whether it's veganism, clean eating, etc, etc) at someone.


Plus if I'm holding my own self accountable, why I do need someone else prying into my diary?

A diary for ME is private.. regardless if it's a food diary or a personal diary.. :flowerforyou:

Mine is public, but I will say from that I have gotten some unsolicited advice/opinions! Unless I ask what maybe I could have done differently, I really don't want to hear. But what I find very intresting, is that the person who has done this to me 2 times stated similar reasons as to why they used to have theres private.

This is my journey and and what I do for me is what I choose. Your journey is your journey! No one should judge anyone for what choices they might have made on a certain day.

I think it was really put there to help give people ideas if they need them. This is why I left it open, because I realize some people like to see what other people are able to eat and do eat and those things might help them. But it should be for that purpose only not at all to push ideas or judge their diary. We aren't kids, we are old enough to know whether it was bad or not, I don't need you to tell me! (Not you per se) I personally don't look at anyone's food diary...it's nto intresting to me!

mine is open to my friends as of monday this week, but before that i was just too self conscious to reveal how badly ive been eating all these years. i wasnt even aware how bad it was until i started tracking it and could see it in front of me in numbers.

i wanted some time to get used to tracking, and to assess what changes i could make and make a plan to improve without the extra stress of people seeing what i ate. i know im never going to be that perfect eater, but for me, i like to learn new things in the safety of my comfort zone, then branch out once im more confident.

no one should feel pressure to reveal their diary if their not ready, in my opinion. and regardless if its private or public, your friends can get a general idea of how you're doing and encourage you based on when you post exercise and stay under your calorie goal, etc.

My profile is set completely private, my friends don't even have access. It has nothing to do with me being embarassed by what I ate or what I didn't eat, it has more to do with the fact that this is MY diet and I don't feel like I have to share it with anyone unless I want to.

If I felt I needed advice on my eating habits, then sure - I'd definitely open it up and seek advice.

My feelings exactly

There was a topic floating around yesterday about someone bashing another girls food diary. This is why i want mine private. I'm not ashamed of what I eat...just too many trolls out there looking for drama

AGREE!!!!!

You know, I disagree that it keeps us more honest. I think if you know people are checking it out and judging you are more likely to "forget" that cookie you tasted. Mine is private because I don't care for random advice, which people have mentioned. Mine is also private from "friends" because I have a lot of randomly selected friends. A few people I know in real life too, but most I don't.

I guess its the same for me in real life. I'm way more likely to eat too much in public then I am alone at home. I don't want people to jump all over me about eating this instead of that or forgetting to eat this meal.

Everyone has their own ways of doing things. As long as you keep it up it'll work

but some people do not liked to be judged for what they eat and when. Its their own business :]

That is pretty much it. Mine is closed. I'm not going to lie and say I eat clean all the time but I do not go over and lie about it.

There are some very pious people on here food wise. Ultimately its calories in versus calories burned and i've seen MFP pals have a little moan that the scale hasn't shifted only for someone to come along and say its because youre eating this that or the other..if its high sodium fair enough but there are always ones that think eating clean is the answer. It is to general health but not to lbs lost.

I've also seen pals getting questioned and nagged about their water. If the person has eaten a lot of fruit and veg they may not need 8 glasses of water...I don't drink any water and there is no way on this earth that i'm going to explain why not to a possible ms pious pants who believes ONLY WATER counts

I will freely admit that I eat some crud...i build a chocolate wafer (82 cals) and a packet of quavers (88 cals) in to every days food...I don't always eat them but theyre listed, it keeps me on the straight n narrow knowing i can have it if i want it.

That is why mine is private


EDIT. When i first joined MFP it wasnt to add friends or use the forum, I joined for the recipe calculator, the rest was an added bonus that I started using a few weeks later

You know I agree!!

I'm using my phone primarily to access the site. I'm not sure whether my diary is private or not.

I think it default to private setting