What are the reasons behind a private food diary?

my diary is public.. havent had any negative feedback from the foods i eat.. but im not doing this for other people im doing it for me and my family... im not here to crucify what ppl eat im here to get help and help others if i can... thank u.. feel free to add me if u like..

Let me just say FIRST, I am 100% honest in my food diary and TWO except for a weekend out of town and my annual vacation I have NEVER gone over in my calories and even then it was not by a lot, nothing like 5 slices of pizza. Now with that said, my food diary is private to the public but open to my friends and that is only because of some of the RUDE trolls on here. A month after I began there was someone trolling around on random peoples diaries and then would critisize their diaries! I most certainly didn't NEED that and it is not anyone's place to do that without a person asking. Heck, just last week, one of my actual friends received a private message from some RANDOM person saying "you know, you would lose more weight if you quit eating so much cheese!" First of all she has lost 59 pounds and is doing quite well, CHEESE AND ALL! Second, she is always under her calorie goal and works the cheese in just fine. Third, THAT WAS FLAT OUT RUDE! So you bet my food diary is private to the public and I would thank you to not presume something about someone that you don't even know.

My diary is public-I have not had any negative feedback at all. I like being able to view other people's diaries to get food ideas and to learn how to incorporate healthy food into all areas of eating. I have had some REALLY bad days but that is life. I do what is best for me and want to support others on their journey to becoming a healthier person.

My diary used to be private when i first started. And then one of my friends commented on how everyone's was private, she said she just wanted to see what others were doing. After i found out how nice everyone on my friends list was and how they did not judge me i decided to open it. I think that people are embarrassed because that is how i felt but then again nobody sees things the same so there are probably other reasons as well.

I think it should be private. We can share how we track our calories and workouts but as far as the food that we actually eat I do think that is a private thing. I am a picky eater and what works for me will not work for someone else. My BMR is also different from other people so that is private too. I might go over the calories as set here and still have a deficit. I would never question someone else's diary I don't even look.

I first joined mfp when I got the app on my iPhone - I then told my friend who lives in South Africa about it... and we both started logging.

It wasn't until after a couple of weeks that we realised that we could share our diary - as y friend was curious as to what I was eating that was getting the results. So I think an open diary is a good thing, as it will help & give my friend ideas for a meals.

As for the friends I've just made on mfp - at first I was uncomfortable about my diary being open - because I felt a bit self conscious. Because what you eat, is actually quite a personal thing - even though, it's something you also so in public...!

But now, I realise that having can help me (stay accountable) and possibly help others by seeing my varied diet & that I still lose...

Let me just say FIRST, I am 100% honest in my food diary and TWO except for a weekend out of town and my annual vacation I have NEVER gone over in my calories and even then it was not by a lot, nothing like 5 slices of pizza. Now with that said, my food diary is private to the public but open to my friends and that is only because of some of the RUDE trolls on here. A month after I began there was someone trolling around on random peoples diaries and then would critisize their diaries! I most certainly didn't NEED that and it is not anyone's place to do that without a person asking. Heck, just last week, one of my actual friends received a private message from some RANDOM person saying "you know, you would lose more weight if you quit eating so much cheese!" First of all she has lost 59 pounds and is doing quite well, CHEESE AND ALL! Second, she is always under her calorie goal and works the cheese in just fine. Third, THAT WAS FLAT OUT RUDE! So you bet my food diary is private to the public and I would thank you to not presume something about someone that you don't even know.

Mine was initially public but I had the same exact thing as above happen to me. Totally unsolicited random person decided to send a private message to me to tell me that my drinking wine was not healthy and proceeded to rattle off all the statistics re: health, weight loss, etc. Seriously?? I don't remember asking for anyone's advice!:explode:

I know I'm not perfect. Do I know that the couple of glasses I have each evening probably aren't the best thing? Of course. But 95% of my time I am under calories. So I decided to make it private because my eating habits really aren't about anyone but me. I love this place and it's so supportive but there are a few people out there that have no boundaries and ruin it for everyone else.

I think it's really a matter for preference mostly, whether or not to have it public.

Originally had mine public but there are a lot of MFP trolls here. People who've lost 2 lbs in 2 months and think their experts. You also have BIG TIME "Sodium Stalkers", you know them they don't every comment on your exercise but are addicted to you sodium intake. Then you also have the Eat back all your Exercise Calories corporation. I don't know about you but I got over weight by eating when I'm not hungry and refuse to do so now and have been losing weight just fine.

It's unfortunate but not everyone is supportive and some just don't know what the heck their talking about.

So mine is password protected and I have given the password to lots of my supportive friends here.

Mine's private from everyone, cuz it's really nobody's business what I eat. I'm tracking for myself. Believe me, I'm perfectly honest with myself..if I wasn't I might be more likely to share it.
I could give a rip what anyone else on here eats either..I don't look at food diaries.

Im the same as you and to be honest I think some folk are more likely to be a bit thin with the truth so that they dont get slated for eating over or wrong, they make their diaries look perfect, I track for me and me alone and im honest down to the last half tablespoon of butter! cos i'll only be cheating myself if I dont.

I love how we are all so different!! :-) I think I have mine set to friends only. I look at my friends logs sometimes to provide POSITIVE feedback, if they aren't asking for advice then I don't give it. I also like to look because sometime people have awesome healthy snacks that I have never thought of or tried. Some people feel that what they eat is private and that's fine too. If I eat 5 slices of pizza I put it down for everyone to see, I mean we are human after all.

Absolutely, if we were all the same what a boring world this would be lol

I keep mine open for friends to view, just to keep myself accountable, not because I'm necessarily asking for "help" or "advice".
What I don't understand is the mindset of not writing down everything just so you "appear" to be under your calories. Who are you cheating? I am not doing all this hard work to look good on paper....I want to look good in real life The only way to do that is to be 100% honest with what calories one is taking in and burning off...whether one's diary is viewable or not. If some people need to keep their diary private so that they CAN be honest with themselves without being criticized, i respect that.

I started out using the iPhone app and didn't know about the forums or that anyone else cared about what I ate. I made mine public, and I find it interesting to read others food diaries. But who cares? Or, who should care? I am here for rme - the forums and communities are an interesting diversion.

Same reason I'm not on facebook anymore....It's nobody's business! I grew very weary of too much info, being plastered all over the internet. Thats just me, I guess. I'm a uber private person....

The reason why I decided to stop my diary being seen by others was because I had a group of people who made very judgemental and nasty remarks about what I was eating. It was bullying and upset me so much that I blocked them and made my diary private so it couldn't happen again.
A real shame but I'm not about to pit myself in that situation again

I think it's truly your choice and you shouldn't feel bad for keeping it closed. I keep mine all to myself and who says I'm not honest? I log everything that I eat , good or bad. I'm here to keep myself accountable and it's no one's business what I'm eating. After the horrible post that someone started by copying and pasting this poor girls' food diary, I won't ever keep it open. Those people who choose to cheat or feel guilty about what they eat, won't truly ever lose the weight that they want to. To each his own.